Michigan New Course Updates

[ru4por]

Speaking of Boyne...As I recall there are like 2 horribly uphill holes. Uphill is bad enough but I remember those fairways to be super duper sandy and excruciating to walk up. I get why there has to be uphill holes but with all the land do they have to be THERE?

Boyne is not a bad course, just fails to take advantage of some potential. They are limited in the area they have decided to put the course. There are a plethora of ancillary activities, made available to guests, in addition to disc golf. Walking paths, golf, zip lines, ATV's, bicycling, mountain biking... all vying for the same area. The area is determined by adjacency and convenience to the lodges. The starting hole is kind of determined by the chairlift and the final hole needs to come back to the lodges. While they could take away the sand holes, better quality is limited still and not a sure thing.

I have always enjoyed some of the benefits of resort golf, maybe to the tune of accepting some flaws in the design. A beautiful chair ride up to the first hole, a quick sandwich and couple beers to go, a mostly downhill track and a dip in the pool with a couple cold ones, when done. :clap:

 

[klodkrawler05]

Played Toboggan Saturday with some friends, we did best shot doubles for 2 players near top of ma3 rated and best shot triples for 3 median ma3 rated players. Absolutely brutal as always, but at least there are occasional par/birdie looks (Assuming your doubles partner is one of those MA3 guys with 450' of power that can't putt to save his life) even with 5 guys only keeping 2 scores we still shot +5 and +7.

I agree with the 4 Motrin rating.

 

[ChrisWoj]

Toboggan. Wow.

Absolutely fantastic updates. I was busy last summer and missed the changes made last year. So they're all new to me. And they wowed me. Massive massive improvements, and I loved the course before.

 

[klodkrawler05]

Played Green Lake and Hickory Hills while camping at Interlochen this weekend, my thoughts compared to playing the same courses last year:

Green Lake has both blue and white baskets now. The course is still on the longer side no matter which layout you play. Since last summer only the white baskets were in I decided to play blue, 4 holes under 300', 6 par 4's ranging from 540'-700' My thoughts more or less mirror what has already been said. The woods are pretty cool with lots of mature trees but it starts feeling repetitive with no elevation or real signature holes to break the course up. The shot lanes are fairly open on many holes which gives plenty of room to work some flex shots/distance drivers (which I needed to come even close to reaching most pins) I found that pretty fun also watching faster discs navigate through the trees. The turf tee pads seem to be still holding up quite well and were plenty long/grippy enough for me.

Hickory Hills has had a redesign since I was there last summer and now also has a blue/white layout. We knew we'd be pushing daylight so opted for the shorter blue layout. Udisc says this layout uses 14 of the original layout holes with 4 new ones. I'm not sure what the original layout is but there weren't 14 holes that were the same as I played last year. I really liked the new layout overall aside from 14, 15 but that's more me being a lefty and both holes requiring nearly identical 325' RHBH hyzer shots up a large hill that plays more like 400'. By far the biggest feature of the new layout is after playing those holes you get a fun little breather with a 180' ace run along a tricky spine which leads you to 17's teepad and signature view looking out over both bay's. We made it to that teepad about 9:30pm and the view was stunning with the carnival lights from cherry festival and the sunset painting the sky. The one downside to the new layout comes promptly after you finish hole 18. Unless we missed a path (possible in the near dusk conditions we were facing) Hole 18 finishes in a bowl at the bottom of the mountain which means you need to turn around and hike back up the hill nearly to 17's basket to get out of the bowl. But wait there's more! then you get to hike back down the hill you just hiked up to get to parking lot level. I wouldn't let that prevent me from playing the course, and it probably wouldn't even have bothered me as much had there been a better hiking path out but you're skirting along a ridge on a super narrow trail with a pretty steep drop to the side. You can tell that some folks simply hike up/over but with a toddler, 3 month old, our BOB stroller and my wife it was a bit more adventure than we could handle that late in the evening. As a local I'd probably wind up skipping hole 18 most of my rounds and just heading for the parking lot after playing 17 (again, unless there's a better exit strategy that we missed, which is possible because navigating the signage at hickory always requires a sharp eye)

If we camp at Interlochen again next year I suspect we'll skip Green Lake and try a new course, but Hickory is likely to make it back into the rotation again because my wife loves the workout of hiking up/down the hills

 

[elmexdela]

Played Green Lake and Hickory Hills while camping at Interlochen this weekend, my thoughts compared to playing the same courses last year:

Green Lake has both blue and white baskets now. The course is still on the longer side no matter which layout you play. Since last summer only the white baskets were in I decided to play blue, 4 holes under 300', 6 par 4's ranging from 540'-700' My thoughts more or less mirror what has already been said. The woods are pretty cool with lots of mature trees but it starts feeling repetitive with no elevation or real signature holes to break the course up. The shot lanes are fairly open on many holes which gives plenty of room to work some flex shots/distance drivers (which I needed to come even close to reaching most pins) I found that pretty fun also watching faster discs navigate through the trees. The turf tee pads seem to be still holding up quite well and were plenty long/grippy enough for me.

Hickory Hills has had a redesign since I was there last summer and now also has a blue/white layout. We knew we'd be pushing daylight so opted for the shorter blue layout. Udisc says this layout uses 14 of the original layout holes with 4 new ones. I'm not sure what the original layout is but there weren't 14 holes that were the same as I played last year. I really liked the new layout overall aside from 14, 15 but that's more me being a lefty and both holes requiring nearly identical 325' RHBH hyzer shots up a large hill that plays more like 400'. By far the biggest feature of the new layout is after playing those holes you get a fun little breather with a 180' ace run along a tricky spine which leads you to 17's teepad and signature view looking out over both bay's. We made it to that teepad about 9:30pm and the view was stunning with the carnival lights from cherry festival and the sunset painting the sky. The one downside to the new layout comes promptly after you finish hole 18. Unless we missed a path (possible in the near dusk conditions we were facing) Hole 18 finishes in a bowl at the bottom of the mountain which means you need to turn around and hike back up the hill nearly to 17's basket to get out of the bowl. But wait there's more! then you get to hike back down the hill you just hiked up to get to parking lot level. I wouldn't let that prevent me from playing the course, and it probably wouldn't even have bothered me as much had there been a better hiking path out but you're skirting along a ridge on a super narrow trail with a pretty steep drop to the side. You can tell that some folks simply hike up/over but with a toddler, 3 month old, our BOB stroller and my wife it was a bit more adventure than we could handle that late in the evening. As a local I'd probably wind up skipping hole 18 most of my rounds and just heading for the parking lot after playing 17 (again, unless there's a better exit strategy that we missed, which is possible because navigating the signage at hickory always requires a sharp eye)

If we camp at Interlochen again next year I suspect we'll skip Green Lake and try a new course, but Hickory is likely to make it back into the rotation again because my wife loves the workout of hiking up/down the hills

green lake is so flat it stands out to me as an ada approved course

also 18 at hickory had an unofficial exit trail when i played a few weeks ago

 

[klodkrawler05]

green lake is so flat it stands out to me as an ada approved course

also 18 at hickory had an unofficial exit trail when i played a few weeks ago

That's good to know, we must've missed it. Not having to walk back up/over the hill to get to the parking lot would make that hole significantly more fun :clap:

 

[davetherocketguy]

Lake Arvesta in South Haven is going to be an amazing DGPT level course but it has a looooooong way to go before it's complete. So buyer beware before spending $10 for a day pass.

 

[davetherocketguy]

And that first review is complete garbage. 5/5 for an incomplete course is incredibly stupid.

 

[wolfhaley]

Added Chassell elementary schools DGC last week and played it yesterday. There's 9 nice Prodigy baskets and some decent potential with the property. Unfortunately there seems to be nearly no upkeep during the summer months. Would be a pretty difficult course for elementary school aged kids even if it was somewhat maintained. Added pictures last night so you can see what to avoid

 

[tomjulio]

And that first review is complete garbage. 5/5 for an incomplete course is incredibly stupid.

No offense, but I think a 2.5 rating is also "complete garbage." Played the course during it's first tourney in the fall of 2021 and had a blast. You are right though, it is a monster to walk and definitely is catered to AM1 and above players, and I believe that's what the designers (Eagle Wings) are aiming for. Realistically at this stage of it's development I would give it a 3.5 or a 4, and a must play if larger pro style courses are your thing. Definitely still a grand idea of a project in devolpment.

 

[davetherocketguy]

Thanks for your feedback.

 

[elmexdela]

And that first review is complete garbage. 5/5 for an incomplete course is incredibly stupid.

i agreed 100% with your review

that course at a 5/5 is laughable

you forgot the safety concern on hole 1 and 18 with that wind whipping off the lake and those holes being so close together if/when "they" have it packed full of people there is bound to be some close calls

also too much throwing down fire/logging roads

 

[DFrah]

Added Chassell elementary schools DGC last week and played it yesterday. There's 9 nice Prodigy baskets and some decent potential with the property. Unfortunately there seems to be nearly no upkeep during the summer months. Would be a pretty difficult course for elementary school aged kids even if it was somewhat maintained. Added pictures last night so you can see what to avoid

Looking forward to trampling it down for half an hour in a couple months.

 

[tomjulio]

Just came across this new Michigan course in West Michigan and it seems like they have a pretty good vision for it. Opening this weekend.

Duneberry Farms in Shelby (close to Flip city and Mason County)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/432852077169973/user/100067422056231

https://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=13315

 

[Future_Primitive]

Boyne is not a bad course, just fails to take advantage of some potential. They are limited in the area they have decided to put the course. There are a plethora of ancillary activities, made available to guests, in addition to disc golf. Walking paths, golf, zip lines, ATV's, bicycling, mountain biking... all vying for the same area. The area is determined by adjacency and convenience to the lodges. The starting hole is kind of determined by the chairlift and the final hole needs to come back to the lodges. While they could take away the sand holes, better quality is limited still and not a sure thing.

I have always enjoyed some of the benefits of resort golf, maybe to the tune of accepting some flaws in the design. A beautiful chair ride up to the first hole, a quick sandwich and couple beers to go, a mostly downhill track and a dip in the pool with a couple cold ones, when done. :clap:

Sounds like Boyne has heard the calls for what it could be. Concrete pads going in as well. :thmbup:

https://www.mlive.com/news/2022/07/...-golf-course-then-play-down-the-mountain.html

 

[davetherocketguy]

Just got this in a FB chat:

Announcement: Pads are in at Arvesta! Well, technically 14 are in, but the other 4 will go in tomorrow.

Also..... No more hole changes at Arvesta, it's locked in! Tee pad signs are ordered and should arrive in 3-4 weeks.

Also -- AUGUST 26, 27 and 28 -- come check out Arvesta! Learn the course. Admission half price! Check out the eatery and disc golf pro shop while you're there!

This is good news.

 

[davetherocketguy]

So apparently Lake Arvesta calls the numbers on the back of found discs. That's pretty freaking cool.

 

[Jukeshoe]

So apparently Lake Arvesta calls the numbers on the back of found discs. That's pretty freaking cool.

C'mon, Dave, I know you're coming around to a 5-disc rating.

 

[davetherocketguy]

C'mon, Dave, I know you're coming around to a 5-disc rating.

Lol not happening

 

[BogeyNoMore]

C'mon, Dave, I know you're coming around to a 5-disc rating.

That's just a good niner on U-Disc.