One shot at Michigan

[Mando]

must plays...
flip city
beauty
beast
leviathan
hickory hills
carlys playground

honestly these are the only MUST plays(keep in mind i havent played 4 of the courses you have listed). the northwest courses are the real pretty scenery courses, and are set in cooler towns and places to vacation. the popular courses in southeast mi are great courses but dont have the look and feel of the northern ones but there are some great ones.

Hmm...interesting. That list of must plays would definitely cut down on the travel.
I will be spending a couple days in Linden, but will be spending time with a non-dg buddy, so will probably hit only one course per day.

 

[B3NDER]

Definites;
*Flip City
*Hickory Hills
*Holly Woods
*Hudson Mills

Contenders;
Addison Oaks
Mason County
Rolling Hills
Independence Lake
Stony Creek
Hammond Hill
Fallasburg
River Bends
Myles Kimmerly
Carly's Playground

longshots;
Memorial
Victory
Deerfield
Leviathan
Whitehall

I'm glad to see riverside didnt make the cut.

 

[fishmich]

Hmm...interesting. That list of must plays would definitely cut down on the travel.
I will be spending a couple days in Linden, but will be spending time with a non-dg buddy, so will probably hit only one course per day.

how long will you be in the linden area? 2 days?

 

[DirtyMittenDG]

How long will you have in state? There are a lot of worthy courses if you have the time.


*Flip City -YUP
*Hickory Hills -YUP
*Holly Woods - YUP
*Hudson Mills -Yeah

Contenders;

Addison Oaks - One of my favorite courses in SE MI. Play it if you can.

Mason County - Beauty and Beast atleast should be must plays.

Rolling Hills - Fun course, $10 for out of county residents.

Independence Lake - Fun/nice course, $10 for out of county residents.

Stony Creek - Play if have extra time.

Hammond Hill - Fun/unique course, kinda in the middle of nowhere tho.

Fallasburg - Heard its solid.

River Bends - NO! lol.

Myles Kimmerly - YES! lol.

Carly's Playground - Never played the redesign but the scenery on that property is great.

longshots;
Memorial - I would give Memorial a better chance. Very nice course and not like most others in the state. I prefer it over 4 or 5 courses on the list above

Victory - Fun but no where near a must play

Deerfield - Heard this one is solid, I hope to play it soon.

Leviathan - Meh, I still dont understand the hype...



Others to consider-
Sleepy Hollow - All around solid everything.

Kensington Black Locust - Again, all around solid everything.

Hanson Hills - Cool course on ski hill with good scenery.

-Tittabawassee Trails - One of my old personal favorites. Very unique

-The Jungle- Very well taken care of, very wooded..

-Ponds at Lakeshore- Solid!

 

[Mando]

how long will you be in the linden area? 2 days?

Yea, 2 days and then driving to Flip City. I probably should have mentioned it earlier, but I HATE to wait when playing DG...

 

[Mando]

How long will you have in state? There are a lot of worthy courses if you have the time.


*Flip City -YUP
*Hickory Hills -YUP
*Holly Woods - YUP
*Hudson Mills -Yeah

Contenders;

Addison Oaks - One of my favorite courses in SE MI. Play it if you can.

Mason County - Beauty and Beast atleast should be must plays.

Rolling Hills - Fun course, $10 for out of county residents.

Independence Lake - Fun/nice course, $10 for out of county residents.

Stony Creek - Play if have extra time.

Hammond Hill - Fun/unique course, kinda in the middle of nowhere tho.

Fallasburg - Heard its solid.

River Bends - NO! lol.

Myles Kimmerly - YES! lol.

Carly's Playground - Never played the redesign but the scenery on that property is great.

longshots;
Memorial - I would give Memorial a better chance. Very nice course and not like most others in the state. I prefer it over 4 or 5 courses on the list above

Victory - Fun but no where near a must play

Deerfield - Heard this one is solid, I hope to play it soon.

Leviathan - Meh, I still dont understand the hype...



Others to consider-
Sleepy Hollow - All around solid everything.

Kensington Black Locust - Again, all around solid everything.

Hanson Hills - Cool course on ski hill with good scenery.

-Tittabawassee Trails - One of my old personal favorites. Very unique

-The Jungle- Very well taken care of, very wooded..

-Ponds at Lakeshore- Solid!

Now we're talkin...an actual list with actual comments !

 

[ovar]

If your in the Grand Rapids area I would play Fallasburg. It's a great course with a mix of wooded and open shots (mostly wooded). The course sits next to a river and is beautiful. Hands down my favorite course in the area. If you plan on playing Flipcity the Fremont course is not too far away and is a great course as well.

 

[discNDav]

My favorites in Michigan:

Flip City - my #1 overall fun course
Hudson Mills (original) - my 1st favorite
Independence Lake - very nice and close to Hudson
Kessington Black Locust - like the redesign and added holes
Victory in Albion - beautiful!

I didn't like Leviathan at all, especially the back 9.
Nothing in Grand Rapids is a must play that I know of.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Something to consider

You might not be too concerned with park entry & pay to play fees because other trip related costs are far greater, but if you don't plan well, $9 for Rolling Hills, and $7 for Husdson Mills, + whatever Addison Oaks charges for non-county can add a lot of unnecessary costs. If you're not careful, you could spend $40-$50 bucks just hitting up the good courses on this side of the state - seriously. But a little planning and hooking up with locals can easily could drop that to less than $15.

Play courses in the same park system on the same day, and/or hooking up with a local who has an annual pass for that park/system will definitely save you some dough in the Ann Arbor/Metro Detroit area.

Example: play Indy Lake and Rolling Hills same day for a $9/car/day non-county resident entry fee; 1 fee works for both parks if played the same day. Splitting costs makes it cheaper by the carload... cheaper still if you find a host that lives in Washtenaw County.

Play Addison Oaks with an Oakland County resident (like me) and it's $4/car/day for park entry (instead of a few bucks more for non-county res).

Hudson Mills, Kensington and Stony Creek are each $5/car/day park entry + $2/day to play. Many locals can get you into the park for free, but you still gotta pay $2 to play.

Many locals will have the state passport to get into Holly Woods and Sleepy Hollow for free - dunno what the fee is for outta state/no passport, but it shouldn't exceed the $10/year "state park passport fee."

At this point, you prolly have more info than you can process. When your ready, hit me up for any questions you have - happy to help any way I can.

Hope you enjoy your trip to Michigan as much as I enjoyed my trip to Charlotte!

 

[esdubya]

re: Independence Lake - There is a 20 hole layout that is very well marked out there right now. IMO it is the most scenic and secluded course in SE Michigan. Also a good idea to hit Rolling Hills on the same day to split that $9 park pass up on two courses.

My personal favorite course up in the Ludington area is Leviathan long tees. I just think it is the ultimate championship level course in all of Michigan. Mason County and Flip may be more 'fun', but Leviathan to me is the best design.

Lansing - Sleepy Hollow is pretty nice, and it is centrally located.

Victory Park in Albion is one of my favorites also. Must be played for the back 9 water holes alone. So unique, nothing like it.

Honestly though I'm not sure how much time you have but if it was up to me I would spend most of it in the Ludington / Traverse City area.

Have fun ...

 

[DangeRuss]

If you come to the Lansing area, Burchfield park is a must play. 36 holes. First 18 has two sets of pads and baskets with some very challenging holes. The back 18 might have some of the toughest holes in Michigan. I've played a decent amount of courses in Michigan and honestly that back 18 is the toughest Ive played.

 

[sgamerp]

Trying to sift through all the good courses in Michigan is proving to be a tough task, so I thought i would try and get some input on must plays, since this will likely be my only dg trip to the state.
Right now my order of priority is;
Flip City
Hickory Hills
Leviathon
Hudson Mills
Addison Oaks
Deerfield
Mason County
Victory
Rolling Hills
Independence Lake
Stony Creek
Hammond Hill
Fallasburg
River Bends
Myles Kimmerly
Carly's Playground
Riverside
Looking for some input as far as must play order and courses that I might have missed...BTW,
I really like aesthetically-pleasing, scenic courses.

I think Fallasburg is a lot better then Hammond Hills. While HH is good, the back nine seem a bit out of place and aren't as well put together.

Also let me know if you play Fallasburg I can come meet you and show you around.

 

[dagwood112]

Nice fee info from Bogey. That is important to consider if money is an issue.

I probably should have mentioned it earlier, but I HATE to wait when playing DG...

As is probably the case everywhere, getting to the popular courses early in the day can save you a ton of headache. In my neck of the woods, I'm thinking Kensington and Holly Woods in particular, and I assume Stony is similar. These courses can be nigh on unbearable in the afternoon/early evening if the weather is nice. I walked off Kensington a couple days ago because the wait at the pads was so bad.

Probably because of proximity and number of holes available, Hudson doesn't seem to get the crowds, regardless of time and weather. If you can swing it so you get to Kensington and Holly in the morning, do it.

Also, count this as another vote for the Traverse City area. From an all-around perspective (disc,food, drink, art, natural beauty), I don't think it can be beat.

 

[tallpaul]

So, Mando you will have probably noticed that Leviathan is a love/hate type of course. It is personally my favorite; over the Beauty/Beast/Goliath group as well. But, it is a beat down type of course and a little tough to navigate. So, that one all depends on whether you want to play one of the tougher courses around. Beauty/Beast group is prettier and they are good courses as well.

Ann Arbor area: I'll agree that Cass Benton was my favorite of the courses used for Worlds; but, it was brand new then, and does sound as if it's been beat up and is full of chuckers these days. Original and Tunnel are good courses; the monster is another one of those beat down courses; and seemed to me that it was "unfair"; in the sense that many of your drives could end up behind foilage, making a very awkward stance/shot on your second shot. Playing that course at worlds, was perhaps, one of the most frustrating rounds I've ever played. It had me beat up, before I had played 1/3 of it.

Flip has enough good courses surrounding it, to spend two or three days, in that area alone.

 

[tallpaul]

More on Flip/Ludington area: I really liked Shore Acres Park from a different sort of beauty stand point, very sandy/beachy. A no one there, when we were there. If you can get yourself an invite to The Farm, that's a wonderful group of people to play glow disc with. Couple of the deisgners of Leviathan and Beauty/Beast complex, played with us...

 

[harr0140]

Shore Acres is going on my shortlist . . . it sounds cool. Ocala Greenway is built on a bunch of sand dunes in an old barge canal . . . one of the most unique properties I have ever played in disc golf

 

[BogeyNoMore]

So, Mando you will have probably noticed that Leviathan is a love/hate type of course. It is personally my favorite; over the Beauty/Beast/Goliath group as well. But, it is a beat down type of course and a little tough to navigate. So, that one all depends on whether you want to play one of the tougher courses around. Beauty/Beast group is prettier and they are good courses as well.

Ann Arbor area: I'll agree that Cass Benton was my favorite of the courses used for Worlds; but, it was brand new then, and does sound as if it's been beat up and is full of chuckers these days. Original and Tunnel are good courses; the monster is another one of those beat down courses; and seemed to me that it was "unfair"; in the sense that many of your drives could end up behind foilage, making a very awkward stance/shot on your second shot. Playing that course at worlds, was perhaps, one of the most frustrating rounds I've ever played. It had me beat up, before I had played 1/3 of it.

Flip has enough good courses surrounding it, to spend two or three days, in that area alone.

^100% correct about Ludington courses: While it's far from ugly, Leviathan is all about the challenge - not a good choice for your 3rd round that day. :doh: Mason County's "Triplets" make for more scenic, friendlier rounds (not that Beast is cake walk).

The degradation that's occurred at Cass Benon is truly sad: a once great (perhaps even spectacular) course that's simply been beat down by storms erosion, certainly by idiots. Used to be a must play course, but now I'd only recommend it behind most of the others being considered.

Events to consider/plan for or around:
Addison Oaks, Sun 8/19: Motor City Open (Motor City Chain Gang)
Hudson Mills, Fri, 8/24 - Sun, 8/26: Discraft Great Lakes Open (Dyanmic Discs)

Sun dubs @ Kensington (noonish) = slow discing
Fri dubs @ Stony Creek (6PM) = slow discing
Sun dubs @ Rolling Hills (lat morning)...
Anyone else know when not to plan a casual round at Ludington/Flip?

 

[sgamerp]

Anyone else know when not to plan a casual round at Ludington/Flip?

Flip leagues are Wednesday at 6. if you want to join us you are more then welcome. 5 bucks to play and you'll get a group of fun people to play with.

 

[TheWCG]

If your on the west coast of MI, Branstrom is WAY underrated IMO. Really cool course. Although the teepads can become an issue with some wet weather. I would call it a "must play" if your near it.

Branstrom
http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=1037

 

[apdrvya]

If your on the west coast of MI, Branstrom is WAY underrated IMO. Really cool course. Although the teepads can become an issue with some wet weather. I would call it a "must play" if your near it.

Branstrom
http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=1037

I already suggested that one