Ripon, WI

Riggs Park

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2.35(based on 10 reviews)
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7 0
Doc13
Bronze level trusted reviewer
Experience: 3.8 years 43 played 24 reviews
3.00 star(s)

What do you expect from Prairie Golf? 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:May 8, 2021 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

An incredible course for bird watching while discing. The course is on a prairie overlooking a big cattail marsh that provides for lots of wildlife viewing opportunities. The course has a nice mix of longer and shorter holes for beginners and experienced players. Good signage and easy to navigate, there is a course map next to hole 1.

Cons:

The biggest con are the tee pads. They are just gravel and are very uneven. I usually don't use them and tee off to the side. There isn't much for obstacles but then there usually aren't many obstacles in an open prairie.

Other Thoughts:

There is a lot of tall rough but I don't downgrade the course for that because there is supposed to be a lot of tall nasty rough on a course that is built in a prairie, if the rough was tended like a lot of reviewers think it should be it would ruin the prairie. The solution to that is to use spotters, of course that isn't possible when discing alone and I have lost discs here but that is the price to pay for the scenery.
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9 0
wellsbranch250
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 10.2 years 652 played 631 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Leave Your Discs In The Car Or Lose Them On The Course 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 30, 2019 Played the course:once

Pros:

(1.906 Rating) A scenic prairie style course with one tunnel shot.
- RAW BEAUTY - I showed up at the break of dawn and got to experience wide-scape views of the sun rising over the prairie grass horizon. It was dazzling. I enjoyed the fact that this course is almost completed removed from the built environment. Although the grasses were wicked tall in spots, it was graceful to watch them dance in the mild breezes.
- DETICATED DISC GOLF SPACE - The course occupies an area that only houses disc golf. There are no walking paths, adjacent park roads, parking lots, structures or multi-use fields in play. Yet somehow a dog walker decided that 7 am was the appropriate time to let her dogs off the leash and completely ignore my presents. I said hello when they finally neared me and got the silent treatment. I did not even throw a disc until she passed by. I recently had a passing thought to organize a group of players to take a few baskets to the local dog park and act like we own the place.
- SIGNAGE - Excellent course map on the way to tee (1) and excellent tee signage.
- NAVIGATION - Near flawless. The tee signage has next tee direction on them and the paths between holes are exceptionally intuitive. I never once looked at my map.
- CHAINS - Adequate MachVs

Cons:

Grass from hell.
- PRAIRIE GRASS - I read the review warnings about the tall grasses during the summer and decided to come anyways. And Wow, it's absolutely insane on a few holes. The first six holes weren't epic bad. 40 to 50 foot wide mowed fairways and then knee to waist high grass off fairway. I was able to keep out of the rough, basically the whole time for this portion. Then on (7) and (8) the weeds got thicker and taller, as in chest high. By hole (9) the off-fairway weeds were over my head in spots and this lasted through hole (12). To make matters worse on (9) through (12), the fairways were tighter and averaged about 30 feet wide. I spent 10 minutes searching on (9) and lost an ace disc on (11). On several tee shots I threw abbreviated putters 150 feet in hopes to avoid the wicked overgrowth. I have a feeling many locals avoid playing here from mid-June till mid-September.
- LOST DISC POTENTIAL - Due to the prairie grass, the disc loss odds during the summer is extremely high. As noted above, I lost one, but also found one without markings while searching on hole (9). I later lost that disc 4 days later in Milwaukee on another prairie style course. This is case and point on how a disc lost in one area ends up 50 miles or more away. Baggers spread discs like pets spread flees.
- NOT BEGINNER FRIENDLY - I would not bring a new player here. They will lose all your discs.
- AVERAGE CHALLENGE - All the challenge on this course is going to come from the wind and the fear of losing a disc. Trees come into play on only a handful of holes and power requirements won't scare anyone who can chuck it 325. I could see Advanced players averaging 12 down out here.
- CHARACTER - Like a cheap cheese pizza. Nice signage, the crust. Adequate MachV baskets, the sauce. Uneven gravel and dirt tees with some moderate pitting, the imitation cheese. There are no extra toppings on this course. No alt tees, no alt baskets, no practice basket, no tee shade, no tee seating or end of round gathering shelter, etc. It's the pure basics only.
- UNIQUENESS - 17 straight prairie style holes starting on (1). It looks like (7) and (8) may have some nice fairway lining trees in ten years. There are a couple par 4s but they are all short ones under 500 feet in length. Elevation is limited to minor 10 to 15 gradual inclines and declines. No water features.
- HOLE 18 - A six foot wide and 114 foot long dinker tunnel shot to end it. Despite it being nothing like the rest of the course, I did not like it. I think the trees forming the tunnel might be ash trees. So if the emerald ash borer get into them, its going to be an open dinker in a few years.
- TIME PLAY - It depends, those that care about keeping their discs will be here a half hour longer than those that don't.

Other Thoughts:

An interesting course to rate as I think there is some definite seasonal enjoyability. I'm kind of surprised that the review spend isn't wider. If 30 members had reviewed this course, you'd likely see some 0.0s and some 4.0s. I think the fun factor will go way up in the fall and will last till late spring. I think the ideal audience is 850 rated players to 925s. Of the two courses in town, I'd play this one more, 8 months of the year, with summer being the exception. If you don't like prairie style disc golf, I'd stay clear of Riggs, cause this is a textbook example of one.
- THANK YOU - A big thanks to local player Ben whom found my ace disc in the heavy overgrowth on hole (11) two days later. Thankfully I was still in town to arrange a pick up. Per my normal tradition, he was financially rewarded for his kindness.
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3 0
smatthew854
Experience: 22.8 years 22 played 13 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Better than the reviews give it credit for. 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 27, 2015 Played the course:once

Pros:

Well maintained fairways in a country setting. Both right and left doglegs throughout this course make for the need of controlled fairway shots that you can place in both directions. There are a good mix of distances with even the longest holes still being reachable within the appropriately marked course par.
Which is one of my big ups to this course. The par for each hole is what the pdga standards would have it be and therefore appropriate and accurately give you a feel for how you are doing.
The baskets are in great shape and catch perfectly.

Cons:

The biggest con is without a doubt the tees. These are gravel tees, which id never played on before this. They are terrible. You slide all around on the loose gravel when you make your stop in your throw motion to pull out your torque. It is very dangerous and with a couple actually heading slightly downhill you could easily twist something or fall. As i nearly did. All shots should just be taken from the grass instead and those gravel tees should be either replaced with blacktop or concrete or just changed to all natural.
Though the fairways are in great shape if you miss and hit the rough its nasty out there. Long grassland areas that swallow discs (2 lost in the first 4 holes by my playing partner) and are probably full of ticks too. They are also full of thistles and even low laying raspeberries that tear your legs up.

Other Thoughts:

This is a pretty good course with distance and short holes right and left doglegs to go with dead strait shots and a very nice walk. But you'll want to go in a group as you'll need spotters to help find your discs and shorts can make for a painful game with all the thistles and other prickers. By far the signature hole of this course is hole 18. its less than 200ft long but its very narrow. Your opening is no more than 10 feet until you are to withing 15 feet of the basket where it opens up again.
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4 1
Stardoggy
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 12.7 years 1002 played 214 reviews
2.00 star(s)

The definition of prairie golf 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 11, 2014 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Riggs is a very open, very prairie course on the edge of Ripon, right on Highway 23. Plenty of parking right next to the road.

Nice DGA baskets, in good repair. No issues here.

Nice variety in distance. Everything from a 114' ace run to 450+ holes will let you use different discs, if nothing else. Nice bomber type holes abound.

The fairways are usually well manicured, and the fairways are wide and generous.

Really nice color tee signs that cover all your bases.

What elevation there is here, is used nicely.

Cons:

Gravel tee pads are the pits in general, and these are somewhat subpar, even for gravel. Big bummer when you're trying to throw 400'+.

The rough here is ROUGH. If you throw a disc deep in this stuff (at least when it's full grown), good luck finding it.

There isn't really a hint of obstacles here, other than tall grass and wind. The wind, especially, will make you think twice about what you're going to throw.

Other Thoughts:

This is about as ho-hum as a course is going to get. A certain degree of accuracy IS needed here, but mostly because of the fear factor of having to search for your disc in the unrelenting prairie grass.

For what the land offers, they've done a decent job. Fairways are mowed in turning lines, at least, which is nice.

The fairways are wide enough that this wouldn't be a horrible place to bring a beginner (assuming they don't throw too far), as there's really nothing blocking you from the basket on most of the holes.

Not a destination, but a course to bag on your way somewhere else, for sure.
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7 1
wolfhaley
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 19.9 years 970 played 542 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Average prairie 18 holer 2+ years

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jun 1, 2013 Played the course:once

Pros:

It's 18 holes. The mach 5 baskets are in good shape and catch nicely. Tee pads are gravel and are somewhat slick. I prefer just grass pads over gravel anyday. The signs are very nice. They have a colorful basic hole layout map with hole #, par and distances on them. All signs were present as well. Fairways were well mowed when i was there.Theres a good variety of different distances on this course. They range from 114 feet on hole eighteen to 478 feet on hole 8. The wind makes for the biggest challenge on this course by far. The short wooded tunnel shot on 18 feels out of place compared to the rest of the course but offers an easy ace opportunity to finish the round. Theres a very nice course map right at the begining of the course near hole 1. This is always nice to have, especially on 18 hole courses. Even without the map, navigation is not a problem at all. Course wouldn't seem to be too busy ever which is nice.

Cons:

Hole number 1 is a blind dogleg right. I would recommend a spotter on this hole. We found a disc in the rough and spent about ten or fifteen minutes looking for my throw. The rough on the whole course is just ridiculous. Even on straight on shots you will spend time searching for discs even if you thought you saw where it landed. There just isn't much variety due to the land. Theres not much you can do on these prairie courses. Again the gravel tees are dangerous if you do any kind of run up.

Other Thoughts:

Overall if you are in the area its worth a visit for one round. However these open prairie courses just don't offer much challenge. I gave it a 2.5 which may be a little generous. With it being 18 holes i felt it was at least decent. Nothing special about it though. Just a typical prairie course.
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5 0
mashnut
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 22.1 years 831 played 767 reviews
1.00 star(s)

Not my style 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Oct 2, 2011 Played the course:once

Pros:

The course plays through an open prairie. There are some minor elevation changes that add a little bit of variety, and make a couple of the greens have some rollaway potential. The first hole brings an old barn into play for a fun blind anhyzer shot, and the last hole is a tight little tunnel shot offering one place on the course where you really have to hit a specific line. The holes have a pretty good mix of lengths, with several reachable holes and some that let you open up and throw a full drive. There is a course map by the parking area, and the flow of the course is quite easy once you start with mowed paths connecting each hole. The hole signs have hole layout and distance, and a next tee marker.

Cons:

This course has 17 holes of my absolute least favorite kind of golf - mowed fairways through tall prairie grass. That kind of rough adds frustration and wastes time and plastic without adding any difficulty to shots from off the fairway. As this type of course goes, the elevation helps keep things a little more interesting, but it just gets really old. The tees are awful, the gravel is not level and shifts underfoot. They're actually worse than natural tees and make footing pretty treacherous when using a sunup for the longer holes.

Other Thoughts:

Beginners will likely be frustrated here. The rough eats plastic, and the openness of the land means wind makes it even more difficult to stay on the fairways. More experienced players might like the shot placement challenges, and there are some chances to test your accuracy on some longer shots. Others (including me) will find this type of course more frustrating than interesting.
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3 1
matthewswitzler
Experience: 13.9 years 12 played 3 reviews
3.00 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 9, 2011 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Riggs Park is the better of the two courses currently in Ripon. Many of the holes have interesting elevation changes. The park is mowed weekly so the fairways as well as the paths between holes are well kept and make the course easy to follow. There is a mowed path from the parking lot to the beginning of the 9th hole which makes playing only 9 holes or just the back 9 easy. The course has markers at each tee to show some of the hidden baskets.

Cons:

On a windy day, the course can be rather challenging and you may spend a while looking for your discs in the tall grass. The only real obstacle on this course is the tall grass since the course is very sparse when it comes to trees. The loose gravel tee boxes can be frustrating at times while some tee boxes are uneven.

Other Thoughts:

There are currently saplings planted. As these trees grow, wind will be reduced for some holes but will still be a major factor on others. Better tee boxes would be the best improvement to this course.
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4 0
appleseed
Experience: 6 played 2 reviews
2.00 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:May 10, 2010 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Three big factors are put into play at this challenging course: length, elevation, and wind. The lack of trees forces you to play the wind. The new tee signs are great and the baskets are nice as well. New tee boxes are nice though made with somewhat loose red granite. #11 is a par 3 that drives right into a scenic hole location just barely into the woods while the par 3 #17 is just about the same, making the two have a tougher approach shot than the rest. If the course were to have a signature hole, it would be #18, the shortest, but maybe the most difficult par 3 in the area. A birdie shouldn't be hard with a straight tee shot through the line of trees on your right and the bushes on the left. A hyzer shot is also a possible option. The hole also gives an opportunity for an ace.

Cons:

The course gets somewhat monotonous as you get further into it due to the fact that it's located in an open field. Tall grass on the sides of fairways makes it difficult to find errant shots so make sure you have a spotter or focus on where your disc landed. Loose gravel on tees makes tee shots somewhat difficult.

Other Thoughts:

Great place to go if you're looking for a challenge. Porta-potty on the opposite side of barn from where you park, close to tee box on #2.
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8 0
harr0140
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 15.2 years 1508 played 475 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Another Prairie Style Course 2+ years

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Dec 3, 2011 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

1) Nice new baskets.

2) UPDATE: NICE BRAND NEW TEE SIGN AT THE FIRST TEE AND VERY NICE TEE SIGNS AT EACH TEEBOX. THEY HAVE NICE PICTURES THAT ARE FAIRLY ACCURATE TO THE MOWED FAIRWAYS AND CERTAIN KEY TREES. THEY ALSO HAVE THE DISTANCE LISTED AS WELL AS THE NEXT TEE ARROW.

3) Flow through this course is pretty easy as the mowed fairway shows you your line. Then from the basket you can follow the mowed path to the next tee and so on and so forth.

4) Elevation changes and rolling prairie are the signature of this course. The wind is an added challenge because of the current setup of this course. Some of the holes go across the wind and some are into and some downwind.

5) Although inconsistant to the rest of the course is #18. It finishes with a 120' tunnel shot with a low ceiling. Get out your putter or mid range and throw at your ace!!!!

6) Some of the slopes around the greens or on the fairways may create a harder shot than you want. If you happen to land in the tall rough. You will have a hard time with a runup so get used to flat footed approaches.

Cons:

1) Loose gravel is horrible. It is better to tee off on the grassy areas. They are mounded and loose creating a hazardous situation. The gravel is too coarse and will never pack well because there isn't enough fine material in the mix. I would rather have seen some excavation done first so the gravel isn't higher than the soil. Then put in 1/4" traffic bond (crushed limestone) because it will pack pretty tight. Now if they use the gravel to pour concrete or asphalt they will also have to slope the soil around the tees. Better planning would have had excavation first then adding gravel. Those could always be upgraded to concrete whenever money was available. UPDATE: Gravel seems to have set fairly well . . . although a few of hem have little ruts or low spots, the gravel has compacted pretty well . . . so it seems like i played it right after the gravel was installed initially.

2) Not enough trees on the property. They have been putting some in to help define some of the fairways, but I wish they could have worked the course closer to the mature Oaks at the northend of the property just to have a little variety.

3) No water to speak of and no wooded holes only a couple baskets tucked underneath or slightly in front of large Oaks or Willows.

Other Thoughts:

Normally I don't like the open prairie style courses, but this course has some real punishing rough. You really want to try and keep it on the fairways as opposed to taking the shortcuts on some of these holes. That makes this course better than expected. The wind also really contributes to the difficulty on this course. I can't think it would ever be calm out there because it is kind of set into a valley and has at least 1/2 mile of wide open prairie to its west (where the prevailing wind would come from).
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7 0
tallpaul
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 35.8 years 934 played 133 reviews
2.00 star(s)

open but windy 2+ years

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jul 29, 2009 Played the course:once

Pros:

One of two new courses in Ripon. Lots of elevation here, and if as windy as it was on day we played, forces wind decision making.
Signature holes; #16, @400 foot hole, requiring 300 foot shot to make edge of down slope to pin. Blind from tee.
#18: extremely cute @117 foot tunnel shot with very low ceiling. Ace run every time, but tough to keep disc high enough to go in. My throwing mate made a kneeling drive! He managed to get just past pin; but he's good at this difficult/kneeling shot.
No tee signs at present; but mowed fairways lead you to next tee with no trouble.
Good amount of moderate elevation. We played with windy conditions. Elevation and wind (which I believe is going to be in play here often) requires an extra level of skil, and may prove to be one of the more prominent features of this 18.
Lots of black eyed susans and what I believe is wild bergamot (similar to bee balm), amidst prarie grasses. (end of July)

Cons:

Primarily a open field course. Little oaks planted, but it will be many years before they are mature.
Red stone/gravel tees are new and currently domed; probably prior to tamping or anticipating wear to levelness; or, perhaps they plan to flatten them level and pour cement on top. If they remain gravel, these tees, as with all such tees, will eventually be a spread out mass of stone with undetermined tee end; unless marked; which is rare.
High grass determines edge of most fairways. Therefore, spot/mentally mark you landings well.
Nothing really signature until the end. Even then, only moderately signature.

Other Thoughts:

Two foot tall stone in middle on right side of field in front of parking area is near first tee. There is a raised mound of earth on that end of field as well. Opposite end of grassy area than hole #18 finish, if you see that first.
First tee shot is anheiser around red barn. Barn not really in play, but an interesting look all the same.
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