Manton, MI

Wild Haven - Yetisburg

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4.215(based on 7 reviews)
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Wild Haven - Yetisburg reviews

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1 0
jmadgiroux
Experience: 6 played 6 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Worth the trip 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 16, 2019 Played the course:once

Pros:

Beautiful, well-maintained and varied. Baskets are in great shape, solid concrete tee pads on gold.

First pass takes some scouting as baskets are not always obvious, and yes, I mean that as a pro!
Course is fairly open but you still need to aim your drives if you want a reasonable approach shot to par (or if you have a strong arm and good control, birdie).

Cons:

6 tee locations on each tee (with some very short for kids / beginners), but only gold have concrete pads.

Other Thoughts:

Played this on Father's day while on a long drive from NYS to ND. Was definitely worth the detour, and as there are several other good courses in Michigan, could be part of a solid discation.

This course has high replay value. Being on a road trip, we only played it twice but both my son and I dropped 5 strokes on the 2nd run (mostly from turning bogeys into par). I'd love to play this course again and again and turn these pars in birdies!

Also, there is so much room there that I hope they eventually add more long concrete pads. This course could play all sorts of ways with some additional pads and pin locations. Beautiful property!
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6 0
kw83028
Experience: 13.8 years 79 played 25 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Great Times Here 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 15, 2017 Played the course:once

Pros:

-Terrain - plays through an area with rolling hills and valleys
-Baskets are excellent condition Innova Discatchers
-Solar lights on baskets for night golf
-Tons of variety here from open bombers to short tight lines
-Rustic camping on site
-Only $5 to play all day on 2 courses
-Fairways were mowed and the grounds were well maintained
-Trash buckets on almost every hole
-Tee signs and next tee signs everywhere. We never got lost
-Porta potty on site
-Tons of different tees on each hole from long to very short
-Concrete teepads are in for longs, the other tees are natural marked with flags
-Easy 9 hole loop if you need it
-Scorecards with map and distances
-Basket placements are excellent. Hill sides, top of hills, bottom of valleys, buried in trees. This has it all
-Small pro shop on site
-Owner is a great guy. Shot the breeze with him for a bit before we played

Cons:

-Not a biggie for me, but worth mentioning, the course is mostly sand
-Hole 10 drives across the driveway, but I loved that hole. Shouldn't be a big issue since visibility is good, but there's that chance I guess
-There aren't many, if any, holes with a variety of lines off the tee. Mainly either an open shot, or follow one line. Not a biggie for me

Other Thoughts:

We had a great time here. I wish we had time to play the other course too, but it was getting late. I loved the rolling terrain. It was hot and humid when we played. Bring your sunscreen as it is mostly wide open. Wind could become a factor here. Overall, I really liked this course and I will definitely go back next time we're in the area!
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2 2
kgaarder
Experience: 1 played 1 reviews
4.50 star(s)

I would've paid much more... 2+ years drive by

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

Pros:

Huge hills---you're throwing across valleys and get awesome throws.
Cheap---I seriously would've paid $10 to play here, so much maintenance is done to have it in such great condition.
Camping---Awesome flats to camp ON the course.
Buy discs---there's tons of discs to buy at the little shop there.

Cons:

Seriously I don't think there are any.

Other Thoughts:

He's adding another 18 holes. Thinking of making a trip up to Michigan again just to play this course again...
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10 1
Innovadude
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 25.8 years 235 played 180 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Workout 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 20, 2014 Played the course:once

Pros:

- Amazing landscape, similar to Mason County, but overlooking the freeway instead of the lake.
- Well maintained at the moment, all fairways mowed, no overgrowth anywhere and clearly won't ever be.
- Absolutely NO POISON IVY to be found as far as I can tell.
- Well marked: signs, next tee arrows, maps, etc.
- Multiple tees for skill levels.
- Variety of shots

Cons:

- Middle of nowhere for everyone.
- Does favor RHBH throwers, but is not at all unfair for LHBH/RHSA throwers.

Other Thoughts:

- Sad to see even the half-dozen discarded beer cans etc. on the course, when it's private property with many signs stressing the please do not litter (but I picked them up). Hopefully that doesn't continue.
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9 0
BogeyNoMore
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 19.8 years 479 played 183 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Didn't see any Yetis, but I had a blast 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:May 25, 2014 Played the course:once

Pros:

Set on open to lightly wooded rolling hills - terrain so well suited to disc golf, you could have thrown 18 tees + 18 baskets in the air and had a pretty fun course no matter where they landed. Throw in an experienced designer to think up some tricky placements and multiple tees and the result is a really fun course suitable for a wide range of skill levels and some interesting holes.

• Discplay: quite good with nice variety overall.
+ Elevation: Oodles of it, and used in several ways: big uphills and down hills, rolling hills, pins on/near slopes for roll-aways. Topographical changes come into play on the vast majority of holes, but a few play flat to give it some degree of balance in that regard.
+ Fairway types: Mostly wide open with some well-placed trees with a few holes that are moderately wooded, or start out open and become moderately wooded as you approach the basket. Some favor power, some favor placement, a couple require both.
+ Fairways shapes: reasonably varied, but not outstanding. Fairly open design doesn't really require specific lines, but allows for several routes and forces decision making. Some holes have well placed trees to take certain lines away but still offer a few different options, so you can sort of dial in as much variety as you want.
+ Hole Lengths: There a few opportunities to bomb as well as a few holes reachable from the tee, with a nice range in between. Distances are well balanced, especially given that the elevation makes most holes play considerably longer/shorter than posted, and there's always the alternate tees.
+ Risk/Reward: Several holes with rollaway potential... even if you reach the green in 1 or 2, you can pick up some strokes putting.

• Equipment:
+ Yellow Discatchers: easy to spot, pretty much brand new condition - you can read the hole # from a pretty good distance. Solar lights mounted on them for glow rounds.
+ Red, blue, gold tees appropriately challenge beginners to advanced players. Concrete tees for the golds were nice sized, level and grippy. Pretty much all the long (gold) tees were concrete, and I saw wood forms near the holes they still had to pour, so the gold tees should be complete pretty soon (might already be done at this point). Short & med tees were natural and marked with red or blue flags - not sure if they plan to pour concrete for those. Different color tees usually provided reasonably different looks at the hole.
+ Tee signs: provide hole layout and all pertinent info (laminated, but a bit flimsy). Next tee markers where necessary for the most part.

• Memorable holes: #3 downhill Ace runs... always fun.
#6 is a Scenic and long, open, bomber hole that plays down to a gulley and rises back up as you approach the tee. Elevation's not much of an issue if you can really bomb, but many players will have to throw uphill approaches.

• Routing/Nav: Laid out well with good flow. Loops back after 9 so you can easily start on 10 if you wish. Finding next tee was usually pretty easy, but we had to look around a few times. Had to check ahead to spot baskets on some, and threw to wrong basket on one (threw to 15's pin from tee #7 I think)... should've checked the tee sign first.
• Fairways were nicely mowed, well-defined and everything was well-maintained.
• For a course this open, there was surprisingly little tall grass flanking fairways to obscure discs.

• Aesthetics: Green rolling hills and woods in the distance create a very pleasant setting. It's a great place to feel "unplugged" as most of the course feels decidedly away from it all, except for Hwy 31, which runs along one edge of the property and was the only thing that kept me from being able to completely forget about the outside world.

• Extras
+ Disc golf dedicated - no other activities to be concerned with.
+ Porta-john by parking on the way to 1st tee.
+ Scorecards w/ distances (no map)

Cons:

• It's nice to have so many holes that allow a variety of lines off the tee, but that's not the same as having a few which force some specific lines and make you pay if you miss it. A few of those would have made for a more complete and balanced course.
• Map of some sort would have been nice, (on back of the scorecard would have been really nice)
• Not much shade on hot days - bring sunscreen and plenty of water.
• OB
1) I'm fine with using it to define a fairway and punish shots that land on adjacent fairways, but some of it felt artificial and "there just for the sake of being there" (particularly #2).
2) OB lines marked with thin, red twine; too thin (about 1/16") and not enough contrast to be easily seen from the tee. White or yellow rope that's thicker (maybe 3/8") would be much more visible from the tee. Not fair to land OB if you can't tell where the OB is before you throw.
• Highway is very audible while playing some holes - kills that "escape from it all" vibe.

Other Thoughts:

Wild Haven's a very scenic course that's pretty challenging and has a really high fun factor. Played the concrete (gold) tees even though I don't have the distance to score well from them, and still had a blast even though I ended up with a bunch of 4's and 5's. The blues were more suited to my skill level, but I have no doubt that decent MA1 players should be able to card 3's on most of the gold tees.

As open and hilly as the location is, wind's likely to be a factor here - being able to read it and use it to your advantage will bode well for you. Inability to do so will add strokes.
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9 0
volklgirl
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 15.6 years 110 played 56 reviews
4.00 star(s)

A New Gem In Northern Michigan 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Apr 20, 2014 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Elevation on every. single. hole. along with creative basket placement makes this course surprisingly fun, interesting, and challenging. You'd think that a hilly but basically wide-open plot of land would make for a rather ho-hum round, but that's totally not the case here. While most fairways are pretty wide open, all the baskets are guarded by trees or placed on massive fall-away slopes making the player really consider the risk/reward decision of either going for it or just laying up.

LOVED the placement of the red tees. Mike did a masterful job of making the red tees much shorter but no less challenging by changing the angle of the drive as well. The red tees offer lots of forced anhyzers or hyzers and most are uphill drives from the box. Don't discount the challenge from the short tees if you don't have a huge arm - the distance to the pin isn't the only story here!

Signage is descriptive and well placed with all tee pads, distances, pars, and next tees marked on the sign. There are also numerous Next Tee signs on the course. New, permanent signage is coming shortly. The signage was good enough that we only had to wander around looking for the basket or tee on 2 different holes, even on our first time there (to find the #17 tee, go straight down the hill from the #16 pin past the pines to the road, you'll find the "next tee" sign near the bottom of that hill). There are a couple of places where more than 1 basket is visible, but the signage is good enough that figuring out which to throw to was a snap.

My favorite hole was the one that runs along 18 1/2 Rd, up the hill, then right at the top (#12??). Accuracy fully rewarded on that hole!

All but 4 of the long tee pads are concrete, although the area surrounding each pad needs some finishing work. I'd expect the rest to be done by the end May at the latest. Even the temporary tee pads were well chosen for angle to the pin and flatness of the area allowing for safe run ups.

Cons:

Sand, sand, and more sand....expect erosion to happen pretty quickly given the abundance of traffic we saw on Sunday and the sparse ground cover in the area. This and the massive elevation changes may make for some pretty treacherous hiking once this starts to happen. You'll definitely want supportive hiking shoes to play here.

Throwing across the main driveway from the long tees on #10 seems pretty short sighted although at least it's not a blind area. There were a couple of other places where the course design seemed a bit risky and that seems kind of odd given the amount of land he had to work with.

Other Thoughts:

Playing in this very hilly area with absolutely no cover means it'll be VERY hot and strenuous in temperatures above, like 70 degrees. Come prepared with plenty of water and snacks. There is no water available on the premises but there is a Shell gas station with drinks and snacks available about 2-3 miles away, right in downtown Manton. Don't bother to ask them anything about the course, though, as they're completely clueless that it even exists.

This course is on the personal property of the designer Yeti Tech, the same person who designed Whitehall, Udell Hills, and Silver Mountain. He asked us, as players, if we see dune buggies out on his land to please POLITELY remind them that it's now private property.
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12 0
apdrvya
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 13.9 years 350 played 293 reviews
4.00 star(s)

a true experience... 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 25, 2013 Played the course:once

Pros:

Aesthetic-- this course plays on a disc golf exclusive property. you will not run into any non-disc golfers ( I don't think) this property runs along 18 1/2 rd and SB 131. the highway can be slightly loud but not overly bad all the same.

Baskets-- the baskets are brand new DisCatchers. nice and visible in the fields and trees here. All are equipped with solar lights for night play.

Routing and navigation-- a map would be nice but the signage and next tee signs don't really make this a huge requirement. I was rarely lost. I think when full tee signs are in and pads are in, the routing here will be a snap.

Challenge/Variety-- the elevation and pin placement along with the use of natural landscape and trees to carve in fairways is genius. having three pads on each hole gives you a different look at the hole from each. truly there are 54 individual holes here.

Variety-- a little of something for everyone. from long open field shots (with little obstacle) to uber tight shorties with baskets buried in tree clumps to valley shots to EVERYTHING you could possibly want.

Family friendly/camping on site-- this course has a tee for everyone. the shorts are really really short in some spots but this could be friendly for the beginning discer to the little kids playing with mom and dad. the gold tees are big, don't get me wrong, they are huge in some spots. Not overly long but very very challenging. Also, having camping on-site is nice. There are designated camping sites at certain holes (#6 and #18 were the ones I noticed) off of where the baskets were placed and not in a dangerous spot.

Pay to play- not at all unreasonable to pay $3 for play here, you can seriously spend the day here playing and get your money's worth. the $10 per night per person includes DG both days and seems more than reasonable.

Tee Signage- stunningly nice for what it is. For right now it is just laminated 8x11's on wooden stakes but I'm sure this will be updated. I also expect to see signage at all the teepads eventually. For now, colored flags mark your teepads.

Basket placement-- this is the true star here. the baskets are placed on hillsides, valley floors, hill tops, guarded by heavy trees, and out in the open. there is so much variety in the basket placement, it will keep you guessing the entire round.

Cons:

Teepads-grass and sand for now. I'm sure these will be updated. You can tell which ones are used more frequently. Some of the pads have calf deep weeds in them...

potential danger- hole 10 plays across the parking lot. I'm not sure how to remedy this issue as this is a really sweet hole...

Uncontrollables-- sand. sand sand everywhere but nothing that can really be done about it.

Other Thoughts:

I think this was my favorite new course this year. I have played 60+ courses this year and this one stands out as potentially a 4.5-5 disc course in the future.

I rated at a 4 because of the two minor issues. this puts it at an excellent. it has every potential to be better.
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