New Hudson, MI

The Lyon's Den

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3.645(based on 7 reviews)
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9 0
JeffBeaumont
Experience: 28.8 years 19 played 2 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Wide Open Spaces drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 21, 2022 Played the course:once

Pros:

All baskets and tee pads are in great shape. For the most part navigation is good. Many holes have a blue ground marker pointing towards the next hole.
Hard to loose a disc here.
Holes are just long enough to be challenging for most players.
On many holes the trees have grown in to make the course more challenging.
Many holes now have garbage cans.

Cons:

A few picnic tables and benches adjacent to the course but generally needs more seating on the course itself.
A few holes are hard still hard to find without a map.
Flags are very helpful on longer holes but all are either faded or frayed. Essentially useless until they are replaced.
No hole numbers on baskets. This would help navigation especially near the parking lot where it's hard to tell the practice basket from the holes.

Other Thoughts:

As previously mentioned, this is a great antidote to loosing discs at Kensington. Practice driving without risk (except 18 which has tall grass and bushes).
Pay box on the driveway has scorecards/maps though I'm not sure the box at hole 1 always does.
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3 1
mr_ruxbin
Experience: 6.9 years 13 played 6 reviews
4.00 star(s)

WIDE OPEN 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 10, 2017 Played the course:once

Pros:

Course is wide open, so losing discs isn't an issue. Easy to see most baskets. Allows you to really learn flight patterns of your discs and throw hard.

Cons:

Lots of seemingly straight shots, especially on the front 9. Long holes are LONG, at least for my puny beginner arm. Windy day = very challenging.

Other Thoughts:

Cool course, good for walking around on a nice day. Not my favorite course, but it's good.
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7 0
tbonesocrul
Bronze level trusted reviewer
Experience: 183 played 21 reviews
4.00 star(s)

The Long and Windy Course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 20, 2017 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

- Practice Basket (don't confuse it with 9 ro 18's basket)
- Trash can's scattered throughout
- Concrete Teepad with distances
- OB is reasonable and well defined (rocks for traps, and
- Elevation is used well (more on this in Other Thoughts)
- Dedicated disc golf parking
- Bricks in ground mark 30ft/10m circle
- Brick with arrow painted on it points to next hole.
- Most of the hard to see holes have flags on the basket
- I think the course flows well
- The course tempts you to risk it at times
- Good variety in hole length
- This course is often windy, and is a great place to learn how it impacts your throws.

Cons:

- No Benches installed on course ( a few holes coincidentally have picnic tables nearby)
- No shade, make sure to wear sunscreen
- Parking lots, roads, and other OB walking paths can be hard to see from tee
- It can be hard to find discs in tall grass (it does get mowed occasionally)
- A few holes are probably safer with a spotter

Other Thoughts:

This course presents a different style of DG not found in other area courses. A lot of other local courses are built in parks and forests and feature wooded fairways. This course is instead built upon an old landfill and uses this fact to its advantage. The holes are mostly open with young trees that force you to shape your shots wisely.

The last time I played this course I had a new revelation. I believe this course was designed to make you want to challenge OB lines. The shots seem simple and safe but then you forget how the wind wants to play with you. It also does a good job of using hills/elevation to conceal the dangers of a poorly placed shot. This course has some hidden dangers from the tee so make sure to walk the fairways and spotters never hurt.

As an aside I really enjoy the design of hole 2. The hill with trees on makes you forget that beyond the hill and left there is a OB trap. I like the way that the gap in the trees shows where a good RHBH shots should go. If you can get a solid drive straight through that opening on the right it will fade back towards the basket and leave you with a good look.
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10 0
BogeyNoMore
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 19.8 years 479 played 183 reviews
3.50 star(s)

When the wind blows, this Lyon roars 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:May 7, 2017 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Well-executed, well-maintained course sprawls across a shared use park atop an old landfill. Features a fun mix of elevation, distance, and judiciously utilized OB.

• Variety: Plays longer than most local courses, with enough shorter holes to achieve decent balance (i.e. several holes are reachable for Ace and birdie opportunities for noodle arms like me). Pretty much every hole is open enough to allow various lines/strategies off the tee, but all of them feature one or more elements that can add strokes.

• Elevation: Present in one way shape or form on all but a few holes, and ranging from subtle to substantial. Uphills, downhills, over gullies, rollaways, fairways that play parallel to a drop off ...all present and accounted for. Many holes play longer or shorter than the posted distance.

• Challenge: For the 300 ft and under crowd, much of the challenge will be distance related, but the vast majority of holes present one or more features to make you think about your tee shot; well-placed trees, elevation, OB and wind all come into play to affect decision making. Sloped greens + wind can make running the pin on longer approaches a dicey proposition. Some will hate the OB, but most of it's safety related (uneven/rocky footing or roads/ paths), and it serves to place a premium on placement vs. sheer distance.

• Equipment: Basic, but well-executed, and all in wonderful condition.
+ Spacious concrete tees with simple tee markers (hole # and distance).
+ Pavers with painted arrows point you toward the next tee... just look for the turquoise & white brick in the ground behind the baskets.
+ Red brick pavers in the ground show you when you're 10M from the basket,
+ Home-made distance markers indicate distance left to go on longer holes.
+ Some baskets are flagged for visibility where obscured by elevation
+ Scorecard w/map available at the Pay to Play drop box (still a bargain at $2/person, with no park entry fee).

• Maintenance: Park has been keeping this place up very well (even the mulch around the baskets).

• Memorable holes: #'s 3, 4, and 17 stand out to me. # 15's Island green is a quintessential deuce or die: if your tee shot lands outside the circle of rocks (approx 60' diameter), you're throwing from the DZ for what should be a circle 4.

• Not quite disc golf exclusive: definitely brings OB walking/running trails into play, and while it's possible come across non-DGer's, most other park goers don't have much reason wander out where the course lies, and this park simply doesn't get much pedestrian/jogger traffic.

Cons:

• Drainage: Poor. Expect standing water and sloppy fairways for quite some time after the spring thaw and several days after a good soaking. Things get much better in the summer.

• No holes force specific lines that you must execute and most are pretty straight. Except for # 16, there really isn't any need for shot-shaping.

• Hole #13: 190' Ace run that some will think is just "meh." For the record, this hole wasn't designed as it exists today. Originally had several more trees preventing you from running the pin straight up the gut. Shortly after the course was installed, the park bulldozed the area around this hole, removing those trees and making this section of the course feel sterile... no clue why they did this.

• Very little shade on hot summer days - plan accordingly.

• Vents from the landfill dot the landscape and are an eyesore. I've never noticed an odor, but apparently some have.

• Some players will think this course feels a bit repetitive (but personally, I think the holes are different enough to avoid it).

Other Thoughts:

The open layout of Lyon's Den is a refreshing change of pace from the well-wooded, brush lined fairways you'll find on most metro Detroit courses.

• Wind: More of a factor here than any other course in SE Michigan. The fact that the course sits atop a landfill, combined with open design of the fairways mean there's nothing to impede the wind, so it has the opportunity work on your disc pretty much the entire length of every hole. Some will hate this course specifically for that reason (especially when you consider the OB hazards), but it definitely places a premium on disc selection and shot execution.

• Cart Friendly? If you don't mind pulling a cart up some serious hills... but there are no obstructions or rough to deal with.

• The holes are spread out quite a bit, so expect a few long walks between holes (which actually makes sense on a windblown, bomber course like this). None of them are all that bad, and spreading things out keeps tees out of play, greatly cutting down of shouts of "FORE!"

• Very much the Yin to Kensington's Yang. The two courses are located minutes apart and complement each other quite well. Together, they make a solid destination for the visiting player, with each offering what the other is missing to provide a great day's discing.

• Conveniently located near restaurants and convenience stores, as well as Wal-mart if you need to re-stock supplies to continue your road trip.
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5 1
apdrvya
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 13.9 years 350 played 293 reviews
4.00 star(s)

I love the smell of methane in the morning... 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Oct 12, 2016 Played the course:once

Pros:

Aesthetic-- plays on an existing garbage dump. I think there are still areas on the west end of the area that are STILL a dump. The smell of methane and methane release hatches dot the landscape like green mushrooms (non-edibles). Non-DG'ers shouldn't be an issue. there is a walking trail near hole 2 but I think it should be fine.

Teepads-- Super nice. big and spacious. You really shouldn't need much more room to run up except on a few longer holes. Part of the nice part of having your teepads on small hills is great drainage and you don't end up with some flooding issues like some of the metro parks.

Teesignage-- adequate. a diagram would be nice as the baskets aren't super visible

Baskets-- Either Chainstars or DGA, I couldn't tell but orange bands and/or flags really need to be added next year. Although most of the holes are really straight, the hills can hide the baskets and the fairways aren't always super defined.

Routing and nav-- pretty easy, there are "next tee" pavers on every hole that point the way. The map at the parking lot is great, just snap a pic on your cell phone so there is absolutely no question where you're going.

Airing it out-- in more way than one, you are going to air it out here.. the holes are WIDE open and the wind will come into play quite often. A great opportunity to work on your windy play without much risk of losing plastic.

Potential-- there is a ton of potential to add more holes out here, there is nothing but land to work with...

Landscaping/manicuring-- just as a special mention. the landscaping on the OB traps is great along with the ring around each hole, this place is beautiful in a lot of ways and has a nice country club feel. Without the beer cart :(

Cons:

Benches and shade-- none. Benches would be very nice out here, you are trudging up some hills and traversing very rolling terrain. I wouldn't call this very hilly but moderately hilly. The ski hill courses are very hilly, diamond x is very hilly, this is not.

Wide open-- very little obstacles (though I found most of them). Most holes are very very straight.

Variety-- as I've said twice now, most holes are very straight.

Other Thoughts:

I like what has been done here so far. I think that the challenge here is in the length of the holes and the wind. This is not a terribly difficult course but what it lacks in difficulty, it makes up for in distance and hills.
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7 1
waterhyzerd
Experience: 125 played 20 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Morning Dump 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 30, 2015 Played the course:once

Pros:

Sprawling course with well-spaced holes/ fairways
Decent sized teepads
Teesigns on every hole with distances indicated
Good utilization of the available elevation
Well-placed OB traps on some holes
May help cut down the Kensington course traffic
Great distance driver and wind practice

Cons:

Wide open; not much stress or forced lines off of any teeshot
The teepads are good-sized, but some are sort of propped up or elevated so if you need extra run-up space you're often stepping up onto the pads.

Other Thoughts:

It's a course on a former trash dump that has been converted into a large, multi-use park. Compared to other courses, it's like a combination of the Ponds at Lakeshore and the MSU campus course. It's very affected by the wind, which I expected and appreciated.

The existing O.B. provides enough drama on some holes to make you think about your shot a little. I feel like this aspect has much more potential for tournaments or some league rounds where there could be additional roped off or painted O.B. to really slim down the fairways and create a USDGC Winthrop Gold style of course. The O.B. in its current state is sufficient for casual play.
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6 2
hoc124
Experience: 14.2 years 2 played 2 reviews
3.50 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 26, 2015 Played the course:once

Pros:

-Great use of the land that was given for the design.
-Nice sized level tee pads.
-10m Bricks dug in on EVERY bucket.
-Next tee arrows by every basket.
-OB traps marked really well with stones.
-Every basket has wood chips circled in stones which gives a nice look.

Cons:

-Not a ton of shade for those nice 90 degree sunny days.
-Parking lot (CARS) may come into play on a couple holes on busy days if someone really shanks (REALLY SHANKS) a drive.

Other Thoughts:

-Course is located in the police's backyard so I would think that will keep all the casual shenanigans down which will be nice.
-Kensington has needed a course like next next door for a long time!

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