Manitowoc, WI

Silver Creek Park

4.135(based on 52 reviews)
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4 0
Johnsondere
Bronze level trusted reviewer
Experience: 9 months 136 played 83 reviews
4.00 star(s)

A Wisconsin Favorite!

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 17, 2022 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

- 36 Holes to be played!
- Plenty of different layouts.
- Tee Pads and Baskets are fantastic.
- Plenty of parking space.
- 2 tee pads for every hole with a 3rd (Champ tee pad) on a few.
- Very well maintained course.
- Beautiful views along Lake Michigan.

Cons:

- Some holes are honestly fillers (especially the prairie holes on the "back 18")
- Can get pretty busy from time to time.

Other Thoughts:

One of my top 5 courses of all time! It's a great course for all skill levels. Location of a well run tournament every year - Silver Cup!
Highly recommend checking out Silver Creek!
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14 0
Jukeshoe
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 14.6 years 315 played 266 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Sterling!

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 10, 2023 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

- Silver Creek's 36 (!!!) holes challenges players of all stripes with a compelling mix of parkstyle, wooded, and prairie disc golf. Distances range from short ace runs (e.g., hole #2 at 147') to long downhill bombs (e.g., hole #14 at 478'). The course can be played as one 36-hole monster, as separate 18-hole loops, or as an 18-hole Silver Cup with even longer tee pads and pin placements. Silver Cup holes have their own signage so keep an eye peeled during navigation. The Silver Cup holes, which my review will reflect, are a real challenge of length, line shaping, and course management.
- Good use of water, from the several wooded holes along the creek (e.g., hole #'s 1, 4, 5, 14) to the raised lighthouse basket (hole #26) located on a peninusula surrounded by raging Lake Michigan. No big water carries or anything of the sort, but the creek is lurking, especially over the first 18 holes, waiting to spoil a round for the careless or unlucky.
- Great use of elevation throughout. Big bomber hill, check. Rolling prairie-style holes, check. Fast greens dropping off into creeks, check. Downhill doglegs through woods to elevated baskets on the shore of Lake Michigan, check. Awesome uphills aceruns (hole #17), check. This place does elevation right. Nothing mountainous or crazy, but they squeeze all the goodness out of the property, and it's pretty darn good.
- Plethora of ups, downs, rights, lefts, into the woods, out of the woods, etc. Mandos in several places to facilite safe play and rule out cheater lines. This course will give your shot repetoire a workout over the full 36 or playing the longest Silver Cup layout.
- Concrete tees, good signage, large map at kiosk near parking lot.
- The only course I know where you can run straight into Lake Michigan for a quick swim mid-round with your own private beach. Bringing trunks and cooling off mid-round is a pro move.
- Not a ton of the typical multi-use park amenities on site (or at least, right at that parking lot). This is pretty much a disc golf centric area of the park. However, the courses itself has tons of wooden structures to help mitigate wayward shots falling on players at the next tee, benches, bridges, etc. Course signage, baskets, tees, and next tee signage (for the most part) are all in fine condition.

Cons:

- The shortish walk to hole #1 isn't immediately apparent. Walk straight past the kiosk along the edge of the woods until you see the signs for hole #1, tucked inside the trees along the creek. Check the map if uncertain. After that the course flows pretty intuitively. The one big confusion, every time I play here, is I seem to want to always climb the hill after hole #20 and go over the bridge. Don't do that! Instead, go underneath the bridge to reach the next hole.
- A few of the holes play a little close to roadways (hole #'s 4, 12, 36) and park infrastructure (hole #4 has some small utility building in play).
- Hole #36, the penultimate hole, is a weak open ace run with only a small bush mid fairway as an obstacle. Obviously a throwaway hole for routing back to the parking lot, I can't help but feel a bit let down by such a bland finish after such an epic round.

Other Thoughts:

- Be aware, the pictures as currently shown are out of date and do not reflect the current layout/numbering, although the actual physical hole remains. For example, hole #16 according to the pictures is now hole #21 with the current numbering configuration.
- Silver Creek, an old friend I've revisted several times over the years, is a chewy, challenging course (or courses) definitely worth stopping by and getting to know. The design offers a ton of variety: a shorter 18-hole beginner's layout, a 36-hole slog utilizing the longer tees to the short pins ideal for intermediate/advanced, the 18-hole Silver Cup challenge, or any combination/permutation thereof. Mix and match this course to your heart's content.
- If this course were chopped in half, I'd rate the first 18er a 4-disc and the second 18er a 3.5-disc. I'd rate the Silver Cup layout a 4. That's a lot of quality golf. Combined into one mega-course, Silver Creek clearly deserves a 4.5-disc rating.
- Silver Creek brings the disc golf.
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18 0
DFrah
Gold level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 5.8 years 227 played 225 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Memorable disc golf right on Lake Michigan! 2+ years

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Sep 24, 2021 Played the course:once

Pros:

Silver Creek Park is located on the south side of Manitowoc, WI. It occupies a large, hilly piece of land right on the shores of Lake Michigan. The park is home to a whopping 36 holes of disc golf.

This is a very unique course with at least two signature holes, and several more that are memorable. I have to start with hole 26. It plays down a slight incline for maybe 250'-300' (depending on tee) and then curls to the left, where there is what looks like a man-made platform that is maybe 100' x 100' jutting out into Lake Michigan. The basket is on a raised pedestal made to look like a lighthouse, near the center of the platform. This is without question one of the coolest individual holes I have ever played.

The lighthouse hole kind of overshadows hole 14, which would be an impressive signature hole on most courses. On this hole you tee off from the top of what looks like a sledding hill. Your drive will sail down the hill and across a flat open field that might be 300' or so wide. Then there is another downward incline with a few old growth trees, and 50' or so further to the basket. The course's namesake creek lurks behind and to the left of the basket.

The creek comes into play on many other holes as well. According to the hole info it's only #1-5, but I thought there were a few more in the #15-#19 range. I think for the most part the creek is probably shallow enough that you could find your discs in it, but I'm saying this after playing in early fall. It might be tougher in the springtime.

There is lots of elevation change here as well. Besides #14, several other holes have extreme uphill/downhill change, risk/reward baskets, or both. Hole 17 is only 170' but plays up a steep hill with the basket on top of a wall. Hit the wall and your disc might roll most of the way back down to the tee.

The variety of holes here is outstanding. Even with 36 holes it doesn't get boring. There are short tightly wooded holes by the creek. There are several more open holes that have only a few trees and rolling terrain to contend with. And plenty more in between. Holes 27-32 or so play through a meadow area that has a little bit different feel from the rest of the park. Holes 21-26 or so play through a sandy wooded area right on Lake Michigan. Overall there seemed to be a good mix of left-turning, right-turning, and straight shots. I only carry a small disc bag, but I'm pretty sure I used each disc in it on at least one occasion.

The baskets are Mach X models. Some are painted red and some are unpainted. All are in good condition. There are multiple pins and pin locations for many holes, but on this course I'm calling that a Con as it stands today - see below.

Similarly, the teepads are all concrete and in good shape. There are either two or three pads on each hole. As with the baskets this will be discussed more in Cons. There was generally one bench per hole, which was nice.

I liked the Next Tee signs. They appear in many places throughout the course and point towards the next tee with an identifying hole number. These signs also include a small map of the entire course with a "You Are Here" marking. I thought this was a really nice touch, and made the course even easier to navigate. A couple of Mandos on the course are also well marked.

There is a large parking lot with a fieldhouse at the back side. I think the fieldhouse is a rentable event space, but there are flush toilets around the right side of it that you can use. A couple of porta potties are also strategically located around the course. A kiosk at the front of the lot has a large, detailed course map.

Cons:

The multiple pin locations/multiple tee pads are not executed well here. Some holes have only a red painted basket. I think a couple holes only had an unpainted basket. Many holes had two baskets. Some of the holes with only one basket, had a mount in the ground to install another basket but only that. There was never any indication as to which pin location(s) were currently in place - the only way to tell was to walk up from the tee and check.

On the tee side of things, some of the pads change the hole significantly but others just make it 25'-50' shorter or longer. There were a couple holes where three pads were just located one in front of the other. Strong tee signs could clarify things regarding the pads and baskets, but the current ones here are just OK. They have a rough sketch of a flight line and the distance and par for each hole. Some of them also have a photo of the hole, but it's not consistent. Some of them show alternate pin location(s) and the additional distance that tacks on, but others did not. There was no mention of water in play on several holes where water was in play. There was generally only one tee sign per hole, located either at what I deemed the "main" tee pad, or somewhere out of the way between two of the pads. Also, as of this writing some of the holes had other tee signs in a completely different style that appeared to be for an event. I think there is a tournament taking place at the course next weekend so maybe these extra signs (and some of the baskets) were put in place for that. I think the tournament may not be using all 36 holes. Interestingly, some of the event signs that were at the same tee pads as the other signs had different distances listed.

Anyway, as you can probably tell the end result of all this is confusion. I tried to play from the "main" tee pad on each hole (the one with the sign) to the red baskets, but there were definitely a few holes where I had to deviate. I hope that when there isn't an upcoming tournament, things make a little more sense...but I am certain it would be a Con nonetheless.

There were a couple places where the layout gets a bit funky and I would have appreciated a couple more Next Tee signs. I accidentally skipped holes 10 and 11 initially because I saw hole 12's tee pad near hole 9's basket.

There is a fairly long walk to hole 1 from the parking lot, and it crosses straight through the bomber hole 14's fairway. It's all line-of-sight but I still don't like this at all. A couple holes also play pretty close to (along) the park drive, and a couple holes are pretty close together like 15-16 and 19-20.

From the "main" tees there are a lot of sub-200' holes. I feel like some of these should be lengthened a bit.

I thought a couple of the wooded holes by the creek were too tight, just poke and hope.

I don't think there is a practice basket. There is one in the field next to the parking lot, but I think that is supposed to be one of the alternate pin locations for hole 36.

Nitpicking, but there are only a couple of trash cans around the course.

Other Thoughts:

There is lots of wildlife in the area. During my round I saw two rabbits, three garter snakes, and countless other birds and small mammals. I'm not going to pretend to like snakes, but the others added to the course aesthetic for me.

It might be obvious, but with 36 holes on hilly terrain this course is a marathon and quite a workout. It took me 2 1/2 hours to play a solo round, and I didn't really have to wait for any other groups. Plan accordingly.

I feel that the pars here are extremely generous. I was using DGCR to track my round and at first I thought the hole info had to be incorrect, but upon review it looked like what is here mostly is close to what is on the tee signs. I threw 3 eagles on holes 10, 13, and 33 (which I think might be my first 3 eagles ever) and finished the entire round -1 from the previously mentioned "main" tees. It felt great, but also a little too easy.

I enjoyed my round here immensely, but I left a little frustrated because I feel that the course has the potential to be even better. Start with holes 14 and 26 from the current layout. Combine some of the other holes to lengthen them a bit, improve the flow, and eliminate safety issues. Keep two teepads per hole, and install exactly two permanent baskets on each as well (no more, no less). Add new signs at each tee and color code everything like at Rollin Ridge or Wilderness. Some of the holes are probably great as is, just need to be signed better. Give me a few more interesting throws right on Lake Michigan. Maybe in the end there are only 24 holes or even 18 after the redesign, but with better executed multiple layouts you're really still at 36...or more. Between Lake Michigan, the creek, and all the elevation, the land is absolutely here for a 5.0 course...but the design needs to be rethought some to reach that point.

As it stands today, I wouldn't call this course a destination but it's definitely worth playing if you are anywhere near the area. It was still one of my favorite courses played out of twenty-one different ones that I visited on a recent trip through Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. I am going to be dreaming about that lighthouse hole!
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18 0
ElementZ
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 14.9 years 212 played 197 reviews
5.00 star(s)

Incredible. 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Apr 23, 2021 Played the course:once

Pros:

You know what? I'm going to do it. I'm going to give this course five stars. It has everything you could want and fantastic signature holes.

The course has many pros. One of it's biggest is that it has 36 holes on site that contain every single shot one could reasonably ask for. It has an awesome top of the world shot, it has a sweet lighthouse basket on a picturesque green right on Lake Michigan, it has plenty of wooded shots, it has prairie holes, creek holes, it just has it all. The variety here is outstanding. Often going from one hole to the next feels like you're going to an entirely different course. You never know what's coming (except for the last 9 or so holes).

Each hole also offers multiple tees and multiple pins placements, further adding to the variety.

With 36 holes, it can support massive tournaments and dozens of groups playing at the same time without issue.

Course equipment was top notch. Mach X baskets are, in my mind, one of the best baskets on the market, tees are concrete, and the tee signs are perfect.

I thought the course was pretty clean. Grass was cut and there wasn't much trash around.

Scattered porta potties throughout the course was fantastic as well.

Elevation and trees were utilized very well here.

Signage was okay between holes, but we still had to ask locals a couple times.

Cons:

These are all a little nitpicky, but I have to say them to be fair.
Currently there's only one tee sign for both tees. It'd be great if there was a sign for both short and long tees.

The last couple prairie holes are a little bit of a let down. Then again, I suppose one could argue that they allow you to wind down after a long round. They're the easiest ones on the course in terms of obstacles, elevation, and distance.

I can imagine that this course gets quite buggy in the summer. With this, I'd imagine that the rough surrounding a couple of these holes can get a bit yucky.

It's a one and done. Playing this course more than once a day is a death wish because of it's length and elevation.

Course flow is a bit awkward in places like #19 and finding the first tee. I understand why #1's tee is protected from 14's top of the world shot though.

Other Thoughts:

All in all, this place is certainly a destination course. Then there's the fact that Rollin Ridge is like 30 minutes away and it's certainly a disc golf destination. We came in from Madison and don't regret it at all. Check it out and you'll have an incredible day. If you have the energy to play it again (or will be in town multiple days), the replayability here is immensely high. This course is up there with the best of the best.
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1 5
Killerbies89
Experience: 4 played 4 reviews
5.00 star(s)

World class course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 20, 2020 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

This course is the best of the best for the state top 5 for sure. World class course and great views. Has 36 holes I believe so enough for people really trying to play a few holes. Wooded and open shots good for all skill levels.

Cons:

I really can't think of many cons, other then they have events there sometimes and that can effect the hole layout.

Other Thoughts:

Play this course!
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2 3
waxpaperjones
Experience: 24 years 13 played 2 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Excellent Course In Wisconsin 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 3, 2020 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Beautiful course right on Lake Michigan. The course includes a wide variety of holes from wooded hallways to wide open holes down hillsides.

Cons:

If you don't know the course well, it can be difficult to navigate.

This is a pretty difficult course if you play from the mens tees. There are lots of places to lose discs so make sure you have someone spotting.

The course (36 holes) span a large area with lots of hills. It can be pretty intense. Great way to get in shape, but you will definitely feel fatigued by the end of the round.

Other Thoughts:

Great park with picnic areas and jungle gym equipment.
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2 1
Peltier
Experience: 29 played 16 reviews
4.00 star(s)

excellent variety of terrain, elevation, distance, and difficulty 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 11, 2019 Played the course:once

Pros:

2-3 tee boxes per hole. Rotating basket placements, looks like 2-3 per hole. Well maintained. Lighthouse hole and top of the world are awesome. Cement tee boxes. Mach X baskets. 36 holes very spread out. Relatively easy to navigate due to signage.

Cons:

A couple holes are muddy. Some signage is misleading. Par on a couple holes is screwy.

Other Thoughts:

Excellent 36 hole course, a gem in the area. Certainly replay worthy.
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13 0
MrFrosty
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 31 years 764 played 386 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Plenty of Enjoyable Disc Golf 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 25, 2018 Played the course:once

Pros:

Bigger is not always better , but then again , I have never played a course that had 36 holes on it . Many of these also have multiple pin placement and 2 sets of tees . in the span of these 36 holes , you will face righty/lefty pin placements , heavily wooded to open throws , lots of elevation , decent amounts of length on the long tees . This course will not blow you away at every tee , but you will like a lot of it . Holes to remember are #14 ( ? ) a top of the world shot , and what is now one of my top holes of all time , #26 , which is a dogleg left that goes down an embankment and on a grassy square that has an elevated basket that sits on top of a miniature replica of a lighthouse . With the waves of Lake Michigan hitting against the cement guarding this square , it reminds you of sounds of the beach . Plenty of holes to keep you interested , and the holes come around to the parking lot enough that you can bail if you need to . Spacious parking loit , the cement tee pads are plenty long and in good shape , good solid mach baskets . Plan to be here for a few hours , but it's worth it . The course is manicured and clean .

Cons:

First and most important con : Navigation . Even with a map , which was still hard to follow , I had to backtrack on holes . I went from 6 to 9 and threw 9 before realizing that I was supposed to cut through the woods behind the 2nd pin placement for holes 7 & 8 . Maybe put signs up , or at least colored tape on the bottom of the basket to point to the next tee . Other parts of the course were also confusing . The rough here is extremely thick . I made a few midrange throws just to keep my disc in the fairway . You could spend a lot of time looking for wayward discs . I also had to have a local point me to the first hole , which is down the tree line into a small opening into the woods at about 75 yards from the parking lot

Other Thoughts:

If I lived within 25 miles of this course , I would play it all the time .Plenty of fun factor with this course and challenging enough to hone your game along with it . There is a donation slot near the first hole . They don't pressure you into putting money in it , but I feel that the money is going to the upkeep of the course , so put some singles or a 5 in it . A definite play if you are in the Manitowoc area .
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3 1
Freebird
Experience: 15.8 years 19 played 19 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Great course in a nice park 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 19, 2017 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Multiple tees and basket placements add variety and made me wish I lived closer. Great mix of terrain and obstacles, wooded, right, left, up, down. Clean and well-kept, and the other players we met were friendly.

Cons:

I have this gripe about a lot of courses, this is another one where the basket is only a couple feet from the (extreme) rough, at least in the back placements where they were when we played. The signage was good and the navigation issues seem to have been mostly corrected, but we were confused by some of the distances - the short-long differential was 100+ feet and sure didn't look like it, especially since the back pin placements were separately noted with the extra distance they added. The "Fieldhouse" was locked, and all we could find for restrooms was two porta potties, one on each 18. There were a lot of wet, muddy spots around the course, including a couple hillsides where springs must seep out.

Other Thoughts:

We were vacationing in the area and played this course, the first day we only had time to play the first 9, then we came back and played the 36. Blind shots with rough/creek/Lake Michigan behind the basket can force even the best players to lay up or risk a lost disc, so a shorter player like me feels somewhat competitive. Whoever made the pars here helped with that, also, a good player should play almost everything at least one under. I really do wish I lived closer, I'd play this course often, and will make a point to come out next time I'm in the area.
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10 0
SneakyJedi
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 14.8 years 143 played 83 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Disc Golf Marathon 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 25, 2016 Played the course:once

Pros:

- 36 holes of varied disc gold with plenty of elevation and line shapes and distances.

- Multiple concrete tee pads on most holes.

- Baskets are in good repair and catch well, multiple pin positions on many holes.

- Located in a clean, well maintained park.

Cons:

- The new holes have caused navigation to be even more of an issue than it may previously have been.

- 36 holes is overly long. A split into two separate courses, or an easy way play 9/18/27 holes at a time would be nice.

- Long grass and thick rough in many places pose a risk of lost plastic.

Other Thoughts:

At 36 holes, Silver Creek Park is a monster of a disc golf course. Even from the short tees, you will be out here for a long time if you plan to putt out at every basket. Fortunately, it will be several hours well spent if you embark upon this endeavor, as the quality of golf here is some of the best in the Midwest. It is very hard to maintain a constant level of high quality golf over 36-holes. Silver Creek has a couple of holes that could be considered filler, or that simply do not stand up to the quality of many others, but I never felt bored during my round, and I don't think I ever went more than 2 holes without excited about a shot.

There is some spectacular elevation in play here (Holes 6, 8, 14, 17, 18 to name a few) and I'd say most fairways have at least some manner of rolling terrain if not an exceptional uphill or downhill shot. The eponymous creek comes into play on a handful of holes, but usually isn't much of a threat, probably could have been used a little better. There is a good mix of tighter fairways that force lines, and more open shots with mature trees providing obstacles. The signature lighthouse hole with Lake Michigan as a backdrop really is quite fantastic.

A number of the newest holes were among my favorites (including the incredibly uphill 17, with wooden steps courtesy of local boy scouts) but routing really needs to be improved to reflect the new layout. My 4-some had trouble on multiple locations, including going from 14 to (new) 15 and 18 to 19 (old 15). The holes after 14 have been re-numbered, and in many places the signage directing you to the next hole is incorrect. It did seem like all the tee-signs had the new numbers taped on, and number on baskets seemed correct. While my group eventually found where we were supposed to go without too much trouble, there was definitely a good deal of confusion. Updated signage would help a lot.

The rough can be really thick here, and with many of the holes featuring blind or semi-blind shots to the basket, the risk of lost plastic is very real. My group came up on a capable looking single player no fewer than 5 times during the round after he had spent long periods of time looking for a lost disc. Many of his shots weren't really bad at all, just hard to spot. We spent our fair share of time looking as well, and by the end of our 36-hole marathon, were playing many of the holes from the short position, just to reduce the chance of lost discs. A few more benches would also be helpful, especially on such a long course.

Silver Creek Park offers some truly great disc golf. Multiple pin positions and tee pads offer variety and good challenge for multiple skill levels, and there are a ton of really fun holes. I'm not sure it's feasible, but a split into two 18-hole loops with clear and helpful signage would, I think, certainly be an improvement. This is a truly great disc golf experience, and pairs very well with Rollin Ridge 30 min away for an absolutely stellar day. Just be prepared with plenty of water and snacks, you'll be out here for a while.
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3 2
Wetlawnmulch
Experience: 26 years 12 played 5 reviews
4.00 star(s)

A little bit of everything 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:May 1, 2016 Played the course:once

Pros:

1 - Multiple concrete teepads
2 - great layout, uses the whole park, play along lake Michigan, and elevation
3 - Good mix of short, medium and long holes

Cons:

1- Distances seemed to be off from the signs at times.
2 - New holes are being installed to the layout is a little different then the map.
3 - Probably wouldn't play in wet conditions. Some of the tee pads were slick just from the morning dew.

Other Thoughts:

After having played Rolling Ridge and Winter Park this course was great for our group. I could see were course traffic could get to be an issue on a nice day. This would be a great everyday course.
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3 5
Spike Hyzer 23
Experience: 30.7 years 92 played 87 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Silver Medal Course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 25, 2015 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

The signage is good and the scorecard made me think I'd be bombing for aces, but the first hole alone is such a righty hole that I nearly bogied. It wasn't until #4 that I found a comfortable lefty shot and made an easy deuce. The mix of right and left and straight is fair, but few courses have as many blind shots to extremely protected greens as this one. The 15th and 16th are particularly great, especially the mounting of the 16th pin and view of a bridge above. The pin for the 22nd is one of the best in the state.

Cons:

There really are no cons to this course other than a lack of really big elevation. It has a mix of long and short, is very technical and makes great use of the beautiful land along lake Michigan. Only the lack of huge elevation keeps it from getting a perfect rating.

Other Thoughts:

Go. It's gorgeous near the lake.
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2 12
holmslice
Experience: 15.6 years 25 played 14 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Signage Update Desperately Needed 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Nov 14, 2015 Played the course:once

Pros:

• Well maintained and manicured fairways
• Multiple Concrete Pads
• View of Lake Michigan from a couple holes
• Some interesting hole layouts, good variation of terrain
• Decent amenities including bathrooms

Cons:

• Very poor, inaccurate directional signage
• Limited tee signage, one per pad with basic layout and distance information plus a couple photos
• Outdated course map
• Not much variation in distance, most holes are short-medium in length

Other Thoughts:

I assume that this course was recently expanded from 27 to 36 holes, however neither the course website, course map (online or at the park), nor the on course directional signage has been updated to reflect these changes. We spent around 20 minutes looking for hole 15. We followed signage to the spot where it was also shown on the map, but we ended up at hole 19. After this happened several more times, we ended up playing 24 of the 36 holes. Navigation impossibilities aside, the course was in great shape. There are a decent amount of benches and trash cans, most holes had one bench and every three or so had a trash bin. The course does not play very long, even from the longs, but the holes offer some technical challenge and are interesting enough to be inspiring. The parking lot is centrally located to the course which I always consider a plus. Certainly a worthwhile stop, but a local guide is a must.
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9 0
Horsman
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 17.6 years 222 played 100 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Another Gem in WIsconsin 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 15, 2015 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

- An absolutely beautiful park and course layout. Even if you are not playing disc golf this course is still a lot of fun just to walk through and look at.
- Mulitple Concrete teepads on every hole making the course harder or easier to your liking.
- Nice Catching DGA baskets.
- Nice large Parking lot
- On Site Bathrooms
- A very good mix of short technicle holes and long holes.
- Id call this a course with a decent ammount of trees to play through. Not a crap load and no where near wide open. This course really exemplifies what Wisconsin Disc Golf is all about.
- Almost every hole out here can be birdied and they can also all be bogied. This makes for a fun style of play where you play your game and see just how good you are.
- The course uses the elevation and water pretty perfectly. A lot of risk reward in these shots where playing hard can get you a great shot and also an absolutely horrible one.
- The light house hole is one of the most picturesque holes in Disc Golf and one to not let you guard down on.
- Perfectly placed fairways and pins. There is never really an issue where a bad shot will lead to another tee or fairway. A very good designing the course here.

Cons:

- There is a lot of walking here but what else can you expect from a 27 hole course that is not short.
- The bugs do get pretty bad here during the summer but where dont they get bad in the summer in WI
- I can see navigation being a bit tricky on a hole or two. There are a few longer walks where if you dont know the course then you might not be able to find where to go next.

Other Thoughts:

The ammount of work that has been put into this course in the past couple of years is just amazing. They keep adding more to it, harder pin locations and harder tees. This course is a lot of fun to play and one of the top course in WI
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1 7
FoxRacer23TW
Experience: 19.8 years 12 played 12 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Silver Creek Park DGC Review 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 14, 2015 Played the course:once

Pros:

The park is very well kept. I don't think I saw one area that had garbage in it. The grass is maintained and the trees/bushes are trimmed as well. The tee-pads are very good. They are poured concrete and have brush marks in it for added grip. It is very scenic and makes great use of the area they had. The view of Lake Michigan is awesome. The added holes are great, and make for a way longer game.

Cons:

If it is your first time, finding hole one is kinda confusing. There wasn't much for signage in the parking area to direct you to hole one. After you find it, its fairly easy to find your way after that. It was kind of confusing to find some holes later down the course, but after some searching it is easy to find. We did notice the signs are sometimes way too far away from the tee's. When someone had a question on hole par, you'd have to go walk back to find the sign for the current hole you were on.

Other Thoughts:

The whole place itself was great. There was plenty of other disc golfers playing the course, and other people just walking the trails. If I lived closer to the area, I would probably play here more often. Definitely a place to check off on your list. I'm glad I did.
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9 2
apdrvya
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 13.9 years 350 played 293 reviews
4.50 star(s)

I got sunshi-i-ine... 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 10, 2015 Played the course:once

Pros:

Aesthetic-- plays through a very very large multi-use park on the shores of Lake Michigan. There are many areas that are certainly NOT dg-exclusive so throw wisely. We started our round at 5:45am so the park was essentially empty save for a few metal detector guys. I can see this park being very busy at times.

Teepads-- Very nice pads. Gnurled in the center for extra grip. Concrete pads in ALL tee positions including "champ" tees make for an extra enjoyable round for anyone.

Teesignage-- Good. IIRC only teesigns at one tee per hole which is a bit distracting but the map provided here is more than adequate for figuring out distances and what teepad, etc.

Routing and nav- a couple tricky spots but overall easy. 14 to 15 is probably the worst routing out here but overall, the map is the shining star here.

Baskets--DGA baskets with orange neck bands. Nicely visible for the most part. Flags could/would be useful on some holes where it's not evident which pin position the basket is in.

Upkeep-- this park is immaculate. Honestly, for a city park, there was very little trash and the grass was freshly mowed. Couldn't ask for a "cleaner" round.

Variety/ Challenge-- there is so much variety here it's rediculous. You play in so many different areas of the park. With open fairways, tight fairways, creek, lake, sand, trees, bomber, technical there is a bit of everything here. With the multiple teepads in play on every hole, it's a create your own adventure at this course. For those who say it's too short, well, it may be but then you could play the four champion tees and add to the length. When I was there, the baskets that had long placements were all in the long placements so that adds distance as well.

Signature hole-- #22 is amazing. The graceful left sweep to a platform green overlooking the lake were amazing in the morning. Your first throw here had better be a good one or you are not going to have a good day.

Man-made-- barriers around holes 20-22 to prevent cross-contamination between holes are much appreciated and a great touch for this course.

Cons:

a couple minor cons here:

Length-- I know, I just said it was a make your own adventure but there are an abundance of short holes. The challenge factor could be higher with longer holes.

Out-of-towner disadvantage-- It would be nice to have a way to tell everyone which position the basket was in. We had a hard time knowing which position it was in (it was consistently inconsistent if it was in the mid-long or long-long position) this was especially difficult on hole 18.

Other Thoughts:

Truly a great way to start our road trip. Couldn't have asked for a better "starter" course for the morning. Truly a gem here.
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1 4
Barefooter
Experience: 11.8 years 178 played 16 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Fun golf, looks to be a nice daily player. 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 5, 2014 Played the course:once

Pros:

Well thought out holes.
Great mix of control shots and bomber holes.
Very close to the car ferry.

Cons:

We only played the front 9 because we were just stretching our dogs legs before the 4 hours on the car ferry, so we encountered no cons.

Other Thoughts:

Seemed like a great little coarse, we played 8 the 14 back to the parking lot. Several fun holes in there. The local players we saw were pretty good.
I wish we had more time here.
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3 0
Badger45
Bronze level trusted reviewer
Experience: 22.9 years 131 played 22 reviews
4.00 star(s)

One of my favorite WI courses 2+ years

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jun 28, 2014 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

The city of Manitowoc takes very good care of this course. As public courses go, it's one of the cleanest and more well groomed that I've played.

If you get to this area of the state, it's well worth the stop to play Silver Creek. You start the first few holes with some nice warm-up type holes, but if you play from the long tees, they still force you to pick a good line if you want a chance at a birdie. You work your way to slightly longer holes and then head to a great uphill hole that will test your abilities if it's not something you do often.

The mix of long and short technical holes with a few long and short open holes really makes this a fun place to play.

Hole 14 offers a great shot off the top of a sledding hill. No matter your skill level, this is going to be a memorable hole!

Hole 22 takes you out to the lake on a long narrow fairway shot with a hard left-hand downhill turn to the bsaket. The basket sits on top of a small lighthouse and the putt / approach area is surrounded by the beach with a good view of Lake Michigan.

Cons:

Holes 4 and 5 tend to remain wet. Not terribly, but watch your step and choose your path carefully after your tee shot on 5.
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9 1
Stardoggy
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 12.7 years 1002 played 214 reviews
4.00 star(s)

One of Wisconsin's best 2+ years

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jun 22, 2014 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Wonderful 27 hole course that runs through a large, wooded park along the Lake Michigan shoreline.

DGA baskets on all holes, and they all are in good repair and catch well. No issues here.

Two (and sometimes three) rectangular concrete tee pads on almost every hole (with 15 being the exception...natural pads there). The different tees offer somewhat different lines, although in a lot of cases, it's mostly a distance difference.

Great offering of different lines here. You'll get straight, left to right, and right to left all over this course. Lots of different discs will be used over the course of 27 holes!

Elevation is used very well. Hole 14 is a classic top o' the world shot from the sledding hill. Many of the holes here offer some sort of elevation drop/rise and will play into your shot decisions quite a bit.

The river that runs through the park comes into play on several holes, although it's not usually an immediate danger, but more of a punishment for severely errant shots.

Good mix of distances, especially from the longs. There's some short technical, long technical, and bomber holes from the longs. Still a fun course for a beginner/int player from the shorts. A bit of something for everybody.

Multiple pin positions exist on most of the holes, and the long positions turn some ho-hum holes into quite memorable ones (17 comes to mind).

Plenty of parking here. I've never seen the lot even half full.

Cons:

It can get a bit busy here on weekend afternoons. Show up early (before noon), and you'll have the course mostly to yourself.

Navigation is a bit wonky in spots. Hole 1 is across the field and to the right of the parking lot. The walk from hole 14 to 15 really needs to be marked out better...without a map, a first timer is going to have trouble finding it. Most of the other navigation issues from 18-27 are fixed with good signage and beat down paths.

Being right next to Lake Michigan, the bugs are plentiful here. Wind can also become a big factor.

Other Thoughts:

This is a great course that has a bit of something for everybody. The replay factor is ridiculously high, with several memorable holes, including the famous "Lighthouse Hole".

Much work has been done in the last few weeks, including large wooden benches at many of the long tees, and structures to guard against wayward shots on several as well. A great course getting even better.

Do yourself a favor...get out and play here! If you can make a day of it, swinging Winter Park, Silver Creek, and Rollin' Ridge is about as wonderful a day of discing as you'll ever have.
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8 0
wolfhaley
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 19.9 years 970 played 542 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Very nice city park course 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:May 17, 2014 Played the course:once

Pros:

The course is set in a large public park right along the shores of lake Michigan. The strong winds coming off the lake can wreak havoc on shots, especially along the lake. That along with a bunch of elevation change and wooded fairways throughout make for a challenging round. There are at least 2 sets of tees on all holes with some having 3 sets. The tee pads are all level and grip nicely. The baskets are nice Mach 3's with number plates on top and facing the right direction. These all caught well. Hole 14 is a fun downhill bomb that lets you air it out. Hole 22 has the basket set atop a replica lighthouse about 6 feet off the ground. There is a fantastic mix of left, right and straight shots on this course. The course doesn't have any super long holes except 14. There's a solid mix of lengths for the terrain here. Every hole has a fair lane to the pin, but with some challenging trees to make things interesting. The tee signs at each hole show all the necessary info on them. There are also a number of next tee and directional signs where needed. There is also a beautiful, clear creek running through the park that can become a factor on a number of holes. The course is permanent and free to play. They do have a donation tube at hole 1 which I threw some money in. It's worth it for a course of this caliber. They are also building a few walls as wind blocks by a couple tees near the lake and the behind 22's tee is going to look like a lighthouse I was told. This will be really cool when completed. The also are adding a bunch of benches behind the tees, another bonus.

Cons:

It's a little confusing to find hole 1 at first and then there's a long walk to hole 15. Some of the park roads can come into play with an errant shot. Also 10 and 11's fairways are right next to each other. Just something to pay attention to. There were large swarms of gnats in spots and I would bet the mosquitos can get bad in summer, but it is Wisconsin so that applies pretty much everywhere.

Other Thoughts:

This is a really nice park course. It's extremely well maintained and visually appealing. This is definitely a course to go out of your way to play. We played 2 rounds here and had a blast. It was better than I expected. I'd actually rate it somewhere between a 4 and a 4.5. Either way it's worth playing a round or 3 here. There are a number of other excellent courses in the area. This is a really good area to take a disc golf road trip too.
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