-Rubber Tee-pads an improvement over the old dirt ones.
-Great course design utilizing the extreme elevation changes in the area.
-Good diversity of shot shapes.
-Most baskets in decent shape.

-Can be very swampy in the valleys.
-Ground Bees on hole 10 halfway between tee-pad and basket. They don't seem to be aggressive, but if you can't drive the basket you might want to leave your shot more to the left edge of the fairway.
-Hole 4 basket has been vandalized and bent out of shape. It is useable, but very uneven.
-Course can be very busy, you will likely find yourself sitting and waiting a lot between holes due to some very large newer groups playing 10 people to a hole.

Overall one of my favorite courses in the Rochester area. I will always hit this course up if I'm in the area and i have the time. The course utilizes some extreme downhill, uphill, and cross hill play. Be prepared to get a proper hike in while playing this course. Mostly some pretty open lines to the basket, but there is good use of trees throughout to force some finesse drives. Hole 12 is a very picturesque wildly down hill 524' shot that i look forward to every time i come here. Would definitely recommend this if you find yourself in the area.

Fantastic Wide open course with some trees here and there
Lots of hills
Well marked course

Not the most technically challenging... or a more technical course go to Basil Marcell Park
Crowded on and off-peak times
poor rubber tees

Over all this is an awesome course! Some great par 3s that are a very exciting birdie if you get your drive right.. like other have said hole 12 and others are amazing because you are throwing downs some steep hills!

-Well maintained, mowed, and clean.
-Variety of types of shots needed
-Bathrooms in the parking lot
-Fun top of the world shot (12)
-Nice new signs that are informative and accurate
-Little chance to lose discs
-Great use of the hill
-Wooded holes have multiple routes
-Multiple ace run opportunities
-A deli down the street sells discs and has great burgers

-Can be crowded
-Some wet spots, especially if it has rained recently. Particularly on holes 5 and 11.
-Climbing up and down the hill can be a bit much for the out of shape
-I'm not a fan of the rubber tee pad, but I have played on much worse
-The baskets are not the greatest, but again I have seen much worse

A great course that utilizes elevation, distance and just enough trees to add difficulty. The holes all seem to be well thought out and the course is easy to follow.
Newer players will learn the difficulty of throwing up and down hills quickly, as the first 5 holes mainly use elevation to challenge the player. Holes 6 though 10 play through a slightly wooded mostly flat part of the park that requires some shot shaping. 11 is back up the hill to lead you to hole 12. A top of the mountain shot that will make you want to throw all of your discs. Holes 13 through 18 lead you back into some more technical lightly wooded holes with a few ace run opportunities for well placed shots.
This course does a great job of making every hole unique. Despite it being very busy most of the time, it is definitely worth playing a round and is one of the best Rochester area courses. Stop down to Sonny's Deli, grab a new disc, a slice of pizza, your beverage of choice and go throw a challenging fun round.

-decent redesign from the original layout improves the flow
-great use of the terrain, with many different types of shots required
-serious challenge for players of all abilities, requiring length & accuracy off almost every tee
-great workout for 18 holes, as the course traverses a massive hill
-the original Rochester dg haven

-rubber pads are getting beat, and the baskets are ancient, but still fair
-frequently mobbed with players...which is great, but can make a round last well over an hour
-navigation is decent, but there are several holes where wayward shots could flirt with people
-seasonal course=no winter rounds

Ellison is our town's original championship course, and it's reputation/central location have led to it also being the most popular course in the area. I grew up a few blocks away and have been playing here since I was a kid, and it is a great challenge every time I go. The crowds may detract somewhat from the overall experience, but they speak to the greatness of the course. If you are in the area while the baskets are in, Ellison DGC is a must-play; you will not be disappointed.

-Great location
-Fun, challenging course
-Good variety in types of holes / shots
-Excellent course design

-Can be very busy
-Large hill to walk up
-Some tees are close to baskets
-Baskets can be hard to spot sometimes (Plain grey baskets)

The Ellison course is a great place to play. With 18 holes, it makes for an awesome day of disc golf.

The course runs along a pretty steep hill, with several of the holes running along or up / down it. You also move in and out of the trees along the course, giving a good variety of long bomb holes and more technical ones. Most of the holes are straight shots, with the notable exceptions being hole #4 and maybe hole #6.

The course design is great, lending to a pretty straight forward tee / basket / tee path. This makes it easy to find where you are going quickly, allowing for a good flow to the course. The downside to this is that some of the holes are bunched up close to their corresponding next tee, especially on the last three or four holes. There have been a couple of times I have been waiting to throw on hole #15 or #18 only to have a disc land right near the teepad.

With this being a great course to play, it does get pretty packed quickly. This can lead to bottle necks if you have someone that you just can't seem to catch up to to ask if you can play through. Each time I have been at the course, there have been a lot of people playing. If you come during a busy time of the day, just expect to let someone play through or ask a group to let you play through, and you should be alright.

Overall, this is an awesome course to play. I always enjoy my time here and get quite a bit of exercise while playing. I highly recommend giving this course a try.

Very scenic course. It has a nice change of pace between open holes, wooded holes, uphill, downhill, and different lengths. Just 15 minutes outside of downtown Rochester and not far off the thruway makes this course very easy to get to.

Super busy. I got there at 8:15AM and their was already a couple groups of guys on the course. We started playing at 8:30 and by the time we were done their was a line to play. I've never seen that before on a disc golf course. Maybe it was busy because Dynamic Disc had a booth setup in the parking lot that day.
Also, the course is a little confusing. I threw in the wrong basket on one hole so bring a course map.

Great course if you like being in the woods. Worth the trip.

The holes were well placed and marked
It was easy to find the next hole
I loved the holes that were back in the pine trees
It's challenging but not too much even for this Noobie
Love the shots that let you air it out full power

The hills are killers if you're not in top shape
Lots of dogs running loose which made me hesitant to throw lest they want a chew toy
Pretty wet and muddy in spots
Fairly windy the day I played

It was my first time playing here and even though it was quite the leg workout I really enjoyed it. I started at 10am pretty much alone and after I finished 18 holes I noticed the parking lot and park were pretty full of DGers. I would recommend this course to anyone.

- Fly pads on every hole
- Good use of the hill, with uphill, downhill, and side hill shots
- With its changes over the years, course stands the test of time in terms of challenging disc golf

- Can feel repetitive at times because long holes grouped with long holes, short holes grouped with short holes
- Very wet in spots
- Holes are packed tight in middle of course, keep your head up and eyes moving

The course is relatively wide open, but the hill presents a challenge. I don't think the course is beginner friendly since there are some very technical shots. While hole 12 is fun to empty your bag, a less then perfect shot has a chance to hit people on 4 other holes.

-great use of the trees and elevation
-rubber fly mats, new tee signs, old baskets
-good mix of shorter and longer holes, open and wooded
-the big hill is used well with holes playing up, down, and across
-the new layout flows well, it splits up the walks up and down the hill better, and the new holes are decent

-still has some filler holes
-still gets really busy and crowded with players and pedestrians
-still no alternate tees or pin locations
-still closed during the winter
-it's a real bummer that they lost hole 16, that hole was a lot of fun and one of my favorites on the course

Ellison Park got itself a face lift but little has really changed other than the order of the holes. The large hill is still the predominate feature of the course and the hole at the top of the hill (old hole 7, new hole 12) is still the signature hole.

A few of the holes are tweaked with a new basket position (8, 18; old 15, 3) or tee location (16, 18; old 4, 3) and old holes 6, 8, and 16 are gone, replaced with new holes. Hole 10 plays to old hole 8's basket but from the opposite direction.

The course still has a bunch of great features. The patches of trees are used well, providing trouble near the tee or basket, or a major obstacle to avoid in the fairway. The tee shots go uphill, downhill, and across adding variety to all the elevated looks that make up half the course.

The rubber fly mats that were installed for Am Worlds a few years back are still in great shape or the course is much easier to play than it was in the days of awful, rutted tees. This is still the most-played course in Rochester and the closest to downtown. It's probably the best course to bring beginners as well. Ellison is a solid course that is a lot of fun. My old review gave it a 3.5 but I think 3.0 is more accurate.


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This is a city park with big elevation. That probably tells you 85% of what you need to know.

Every hole here incorporates some amount of elevation change, and I felt like I got to hole 14 or so before there was anything even close to flat. That isn't a complaint. I loved it. There weren't any bad holes here, and I never got bored.

The signature holes for me:
Hole 5 is 237' (according to the site; I thought the sign distance was longer) straight downhill. I overthrew it with my putter by 70 feet easily, and I never overthrow anything with my putter. This presented an interesting ranging issue.

Hole 6 was maybe my favorite, a 610' downhill (more gentle than steep) shot with a few branches forcing some decisions off the tee. You can avoid the issue with a sweeping RHBH flex shot, or just go straight under them. The fairway then brings some widely spaced trees into play. A three is certainly possible with a great drive.

Hole 11 wasn't fun, per se, but it required two full drives uphill to get within sniffing distance of the hole.

Hole 12 is the signature hole, a 500-foot bomb off the top of the hill. The wind comes into play. I threw two drives and turned both of them over. Getting the full flight out of the disc will be troublesome if there is much wind, but man it's fun.

Navigation was pretty easy, with the next tee pad usually nearby. I consulted the map once or twice.

All of the pads were concrete.

The course is pretty open for maybe 2/3 of the holes, and you can definitely get away with some inaccurate drives. That, combined with the fun elevation, means this is a rec-friendly course.

The rec-friendly conditions combined with the elevation mean you'll get some errant discs that present some danger. On hole 16, I walked up to my approach shot and saw a disc plunk down 15 feet from me and then a guy at the top of the hill (teeing off from 12) say, "Oh, sorry!" Right, a little heads up would have been nice. I was there on the Tuesday after Labor Day in the early afternoon, with maybe 6 other people on the course, so I can only imagine how things play out when it's packed.

I didn't really notice it while playing, but other reviewers mentioned the tee signs were just moved after the re-design but not updated.

The course has been re-designed, so if you came before 2013, this isn't quite the same course.

I had a blast here. For those that have played in Kansas City, this reminded me of Swope but with the elevation of Waterworks. There were a lot of really fun shots.

Pretty wide open for the most part but very interesting. A good course to practice up and down hill shots and deal with wind. Not an overly difficult course, but there are trees and accuracy counts. Holes are well mapped and no problems wondering where the basket is or where the next tee pad is.

Played it before noon on Saturday and was fine, came back after 2 to play it again and it with very crowded. Good for the course, bad if you're playing solo. Would be best to play during the week I would guess.

Nice that Sonny's Deli is up the hill. When there for lunch and browsed a very good selection of discs! Only place I have sen that carries Prodigy discs.

-The course is mostly wide-open, and even the areas that aren't that open are still not so dense that you couldn't find your disc.
-It's very forgiving for beginners, or if you're practicing your technique.
-It's a great hike with several holes built into the hill.
-The course is very well maintained - there are "regulars" who take it upon themselves to clean up as they play.

-Because it's such a beginner-friendly course, it's often quite crowded.
-As with any other course, there will still be some trash and empty bottles strewn about.
-The hill is quite steep, and can be discouraging for those with weaker arms.
-It can get a bit soggy after a decent rain.

Overall, I can say with absolute certainty this is my favorite course to play. Sure, there may be prettier, better thought-out, more challenging courses in the area, but this one's always a pleasure.

The re-design is a minor change overall, and I think it was well-done. Sure, it sucks that the old #16 is gone, but life goes on; and the flow of the course is still excellent.

As long as you plan for the worst (i.e. wear crappy shoes/clothes that you don't mind getting a bit soggy and/or muddy) it's a great place to throw!

The flow has improved, still has all of the pros that the old lay out had; elevation, good mix of open and wooded, decent mix of distances, and facilities on site.

The signs were just moved, never changed. For example the sign for hole 7 shows the picture of the old hole 7, so you can step up to the pad and see 260 as the distance when the basket is 410 away.
Poison Ivy and dog poo still rule the course. some patches of snake filled grass provide fun for the kiddies, but can eat your discs.
Your discs will fear getting tetanus from the old baskets and avoid staying inside them.

Ellison needed this change, but the change is not a cure all, there is obviously more room for improvement.
Fixed signage is the first step.
The Pizzeria still sells discs. They had a nice variety of Prodigy, Innova, and Discraft as well as some Vibram.

- The overall flow of the course, with the new layout, has been improved. (Just moving hole #1 helped)
- The elevation climbs are much more efficient than the previous layout, leaving less distance from previous basket to the next tee pad. I think this really helps new players to transition quickly
- The additional wooded shot adds a little more variety to shot approach
- The flow of the back 9 holes are especially great way to end a round.
- Although some holes can be challenging to a newbie, this is still a new player friendly course (Just make sure to follow DG etiquette)

- Signs' distances and layouts currently don't match. This may confuse new players to the course.
- Most holes still seem pretty much straight shots
- The overall challenge level has seemed to decreased a bit with the new layout

At first I was a bit hesitant to like the change, but I would have to say that, all in all I believe the layout change is an improvement.

Sure some people will miss a couple signature holes, but in reality the right signature holes still remain. Bombing a drive down the fairway of #12 is still a highlight of my round, at times it is the only reason I want to play hole #11

Elevation is what makes Ellison a great course to me, and I'm glad to see the hill being used more efficiently and wisely.

R.I.P. (old) hole #16. You'll be missed but not forgotten.

- Great use of elevation. Wow. There are some painful (in a good way) uphill holes paired with a few nice downhill shots and one great top of the world toss. Just amazing watching a disc fly that far and it felt great. Even the relatively flat holes seem to have some sneaky elevation either up/down or across that make you wonder why you came up short...or overshot the hole....until you walk to it and realize there was more elevation to it than you thought. Definitely kept me on my toes.
- Park is very well maintained & mowed.
- bathrooms on site
- rubber fly pads for tees
- Minimal chance of lost discs
- Good mix of lightly wooded holes throughout. Even better is that most low branches / brush are removed meaning that even if you are offline and take a bad tree kick you aren't searching forever and the recovery shot almost always has a line.
- The course was easy enough to navigate although this was greatly aided by a full course so I could follow the flow. Course flowed very well throughout.
- There are not a lot of easy birdies, but even the more difficult holes still felt very fair.

- Hopefully only temporary, but many of the tee signs are still showing old hole info. It definitely confused me when I see a tee sign for a 180' hole and there is no basket in sight...only to see the group ahead of me throwing a second full drive on what was a long par 4.
- There are many holes with fairways that are too close together for my comfort. This is especially the case with long downhill throws where the margin for error is amplified. It was quite busy when I played and through 1 round I had 4 discs come too close for comfort. I also had quite a few where I felt the need to wait because the people on the next/prior tee were closer to my fairway than I was comfortable throwing.
- Elevation - it is a workout. I was ok with it, but my wife/son who only play casually headed back to the car after the trek up the hill on hole 11.
- only 1 set of tees - more is always better.
- Mid day on a weekend the park was packed with DG'ers. A group at almost every tee.

I had a great time at this course and can't wait to go back and get a few more throws on #12. If it weren't so busy I'd have probably emptied my bag there. I normally max out at 250 on a good throw and ended up ~475 with the help of the hill. Just felt great. It was also fun to watch my son (9) throw a ~250 downhill shot, he was so excited as well. I was very close to giving this a 4 and would have if not for the constant fear of errant discs coming my way. I just wish there was a way to spread out some of the fairways more.

Enjoyable mix of wooded and open holes.
Great use of elevation on several holes.
Good mix of short and long holes.

Two holes that were highlights ( 16 down the hill and across the field, and 8 hyzer to a blind basket ) are gone.
The new layout allows for drives across tees.

- bathrooms on sight
- rubber fly pads
- healthy amount of elevation
- There are signs with distance and pars, however I don't know if they are all updated for the redesign, but if they aren't I am sure that will come soon
- More wooded holes than last design to give more of a mix between wooded and open (still mostly open though)
- A good mix of short to far distances. It doesn't seem overly challenging or too easy (at least for me)
- Lots of other things to do in the park besides play disc golf (However the disc golf course is mainly disc golfers with a dog walkers)
- There is a good flow to the course and there aren't any huge walks in between each hole. I would say the course is pretty easy to navigate, but always bring a map just in case

- It would probably be pretty busy with disc golfers and other people after 10 am on the weekends. I play early so that's usually not a problem
- Some of the holes are facing each other so you might have to weight until a group is done with some of the holes before you start or risk getting hit with discs

I think the best part of the redesign was that the hilly holes are separated from each other so that you aren't exhausted after going up and down hill several times on the front nine. I also like the addition of some more wooded holes. The designers were able to keep most of my favorite holes except for hole 15 which the county told couldn't be used anymore. I liked the course before, but I feel there is more variety of hole design in the remake or at least the holes that were similar to each other are spread out throughout the course. Overall I am very pleased with the redesign.