A distinctive course with unusual elevation and shaping plays.

-Amenities: Quite solid. Concrete tees, Mach IIIs, signs with all hole info, though signs aren't helpful. Taped spokes for navigation.

-Elevation: Lions Den uses elevation in more unusual ways than I've seen elsewhere. There are the basic kinds of plays--gentle downhills, sloped greens, perched baskets, etc. But additionally, a lot of holes play with unusual elevation features, like multiple gulleys/ditches, uphill holes combined with low ceilings, and fairways that travel over lower ground than the rough rising to its side. It's extremely distinctive, and often lots of fun.

-Novice-Friendly Length: The shaping is too tricky for many novices, but lower power players with a good natural eye for disc flights could find this place enjoyable. Lots of holes under 200', and many more under 300'.

-Shot Shaping/Gameplay: An exceedingly strange collection of blind shots. The course opens with the most normal four holes of the entire course, but (5) and on, it seems as if every hole is blind with a crapshoot of possible routes. You could probably grenade many of the holes out here, but for normal players there's an odd assortment of options. Extreme angles are necessary on some holes, and I think the utility discs will come out for skips and strange flex shots often out here. Adding to the oddity, most holes are short. The majority have very thick foliage that's likely to stop you outside Circle 2, but very few will lead to frequent bogeys for most rec players.

This course is really weird. And hard to play.

-Lines: I think they don't exist on many holes. Unless you count lanes 3' wide, more than 100' down the fairway, as lines. Often the lines are simply weird, but more than once they cross into implausibility.

-Blind Shots: So, so many holes where you have to walk up the fairway to find the basket, return, throw, then wander a bunch to try to find your throw that flew out of sight. It's a real drag. One of the hardest courses to play quickly I've ever encountered. Additionally, risk of disc loss is particularly high throwing all these blind holes (especially with the concentration of thick trees).

-Overlapping Fairways: Speaks for itself. Could be dangerous, or just plain annoying.

-Navigation: Despite the taped spokes, this is a beast to navigate (pun intended). It's hard to tell what tee belongs to what hole, as sometimes alternate tees don't have signage. The hole overlap doesn't help with this, and throwing to the wrong basket is entirely likely. The course also plops you pretty far from hole (1) with no guidance for returning.

-Roughing It: On my play, lots of insects and lots of tall grass. Not a giant issue, but makes it less enjoyable.

The subjective side of me hated Lions' Den. I thought it was miserable to play, and very few of the bizarre lines appealed to me. After all, what's fun about walking down the fairway to find a hidden basket, throwing on a spitball guess of a fairway, inevitably hitting a tree and standing in tall grass to make an easy upshot, and barely carding birdies? The objective side of me recognizes that I probably had a bad experience. I could see a lot of players enjoying Lions Den, especially after they got to know it well. Overall, I've decided it's a pretty Decent course. Not Typical - it has far too many distinctions for that - but a middle of the road course that is worth it for some and not for others.

I really like the flow of this course. The opening few holes (1-3) are fairly straightforward and warm you up for the trickier holes further up the hill. The layout uses tree cover and elevation to create a wonderful variety of challenges. The mountain setting is gorgeous, and the high desert and pine forest surroundings make finding wayward discs relatively easy.

Almost every hole seems to have a special throw or angle that unlocks it, though it might not be immediately apparent. Hole 11, or "the hall of hawk" as my friends and I took to calling it, is a great example.

The relative remoteness of this course means there usually aren't too many other players around except for tournaments.

A few holes have layouts or obstacles that could lead to frustration for newer players. As has been mentioned, the opening holes don't present much challenge. Hole 18 is a let down, as last holes go. (I think it's more than made up for by some of the drives on holes preceding it though)

This course is relatively remote if you're driving from anywhere but Colorado Springs

Mountain weather can get inclement quick! A few of my games were cut short by thunder and threatening clouds. Checking the weather could help, or just bring layers and sun protection in case it moves through quickly. Also, bring water! This is a strenuous course, you're already at elevation, and it can get pretty hot and dry in the summer.

Gentle warm up on the first three holes and then it does get challenging with technical shots. They did a great job designing this course and I was super impressed.

The tee signs aren't aligned with the hole. You can go read a sign and it is facing away from the actual hole or sideways and you can be confused. Note:this is a super minor con.

Great spot, just make sure you don't adhere to the driving directions. Just go to the town park signs (no pizzeria signs anymore but it was at the lake George lodge sign currently heading west on 24). It is on the West side of the main drag of town.

Tee signs were very helpful with tee lengths and basic satellite view of hole.
Nice paths looping throughout area.
Next tee tape on the baskets helped in most instances. Not always accurate...
Great level concrete tee pads for the very hilly sections
Fun short holes that required real TOUCH to get the line just right and park the hole
Good use of terrain and rocks
Made you find creative lines with both forehand and backhand

Trees were just too tight on a handful of holes with little real defined fairway. Made a few just poke and pray shots
If there were people on the trails up out of the park it would get dicey with flying discs

Really fun course with no traffic on a Saturday morning when we were there. First three holes were open and really just a warmup before you hit the hills and trees galore. Some hard to reach uphill shots for sure. Had a great time with the short flexy shots to guarded pins. Requires some real creativity. Really a good course for being out in the boonies.

The course is placed onto a great piece of land for disc golf. Plenty of tall pines mixed with more open areas along with lots of elevation and rock outcrops.

Hole lengths vary from very short (115') out to the longest of 415'. There are six holes shorter than 200' which would appear to be a negative, but most of those have a significant element of elevation and/or tree cover, so they are not gimmes.

The new concrete teepads are excellent. Approximately 5' x 10' with good texture. Brand new DGA Mach III baskets catch well and have number plates facing the tee. There was an alternate basket sleeve for every hole.

Once you get past the first couple of bland holes (see cons), things get interesting. Hole 3 is an open uphill drive to a basket placed up in a rock formation and shielded by a tree. What looks like an easy par gets really tricky around the basket.

Holes 4 through 15 play up and down the mountain and through trees that vary from spread out to thick. Many of the baskets utilize rock outcrops, boulders, or sidehill placements to make the greens tricky. Lots of places to turn one putt into three if you aren't careful. Some great risk/reward opportunities.

For example, Hole 11 plays across a small canyon to a basket perched on a group of boulders on steeply sloping ground. I managed to roll two putts in a row down the hill. And Hole 9 is a crazy short (115') downhill holes with sloping ground behind the basket. It requires a lot of "touch" to get the birdie. I got a four...

Several holes have mandos that eliminate the obvious route and require a more creative drive. Other holes use natural obstacles like a huge boulder (Hole 6) or guard trees (Hole 8) to shape the drive.

The first couple of holes are sort of "meh". They play in the open area around the park baseball diamond. Good warm-ups for the rest of the course I suppose.

Hole 18 was anti-climatic. The tee faces out into this giant corridor and I was expecting an epic 400'+ finishing hole. Turns out to be this little 165' hyzer to a guarded basket in a shallow drainage swale. Kind of a mild finish.

There is a 1/4 mile walk from the 18th basket back to the parking area (assuming you park near the ball field).

Several of the holes have no fairway and require an "over-the-top" drive. Challenging but frustrating if you don't have the arm to get over.

There are a few potential conflicts in the park, though it doesn't look heavily used. Holes 1 & 2 may not be playable if the baseball diamond is in use. Hole 17 plays through the park archery range(!). And the main walking trail winds through the course in a few areas, but again it looks seldom-used.

The South Park Disc Golf crew has gotten another course built in a small Colorado town (population 500). Good for them!

There were no tee signs the day I played. I recognize that this is a brand new course and I understand that signs are in the works, I will raise this to a 4-rated course once those go up.

Very decent cafe/pizzeria located immediately adjacent to the course. A good place to get a bite to eat.