Disc Golf Course Review

A distinctive desert course with rolling hills, sporadic rough, and deceptively difficult short holes.

-Amenities: Nicely cared for. Concrete pads, signs with info and maps, numbered DISCatchers. Course kiosk with map. Two practice baskets. Occasional next tee arrows. On the few multi-pin holes, they needed a position indicator.

-Navigation: Other than one or two blind baskets, the course is a breeze to navigate. The next tee is usually visible from the previous basket. Plenty of chances to stop at the car.

-Distance Accessibility: I'm not sure I can call this beginner friendly with the wind and rough, but it is designed in such a way that players with less distance can still enjoy the course. Most holes are in the 200-250' range. I think it stays engaging for players at least up to MA2 if not MA1. I feel like it would be the kind of course for an aging but experienced player whose arm resents full sends but has good touch.

-Topographical Challenge: Two forms. The first is the consistent and moderate hilliness of the area, which offers equal portions up, down, and along hills. The second is the windy nature of the area. I wrote in my notes in the middle of the round that it resembles Chavez Ridge, but the main component of the challenge is wind instead of ultra-steep slopes. Consistent 20+ mph winds prevailed in my round.

-Shot Shaping/Gameplay: A curious challenge that harnesses wind, moderate slopes, and intermittent groves of bushes to create an extra challenging pitch n putt layout. Due to distance, many holes will feel like must-birdies to the experienced player, but in my case they eluded me more often than not via a guardian tree, a misread on the wind, or a misplay of the elevation's effect on stability. A few longer holes with low ceilings will feel like rewarding birdies for any player. I think players will need to be technicians in the sense of knowing their discs, understanding the effects of various natural aspects, and committing to their unique lines. That said, it is not a technical course in the sense of only having one line, and quite a few holes here will be fairly trivial if you have accuracy.

Malloy is a fascinating playing experience, but the nature of the land and its status as a Regional Park present a few drawbacks.

-Other Land Uses: Multiple of the Regional Park's many dirt trails wind through the playing area. Picnicking and fire areas appear multiple times. There's also an amphitheatre in reach of multiple holes. I didn't get the sense on a Monday that any of these are in particularly high demand, but I did have to temporarily skip one hole due to a camper, and I worry about walking paths in play on a course with so many blind shots.

-Rough: The main area of the course (including all fairways) is very well cared for. However, the rough around the perimeter of the playing area is quite thick and bushy. I had to wade in twice and it was not very pleasant. If I had to guess, it also presents a higher than average chance of unpleasant run-ins with critters.

-Blind Shots and Disc Loss: Lots of holes crest hills and come down on the other side, so this course has a high number of blind shots. This, combined with the rough, can lead to easily losing track of a shot that gets blown off course. I lost an overturned midrange.

-Multi-Shot Holes: There is only one par-4 on the course in the pin layout I played, and it could easily be tackled putter-putter. In fact, other than about 5 holes, everything is under 300'. Thus, it's mostly a drive-putt type of course, which while perfectly enjoyable, has its limitations to appeal.

-Wind: It may be a pro in terms of challenge, but for newer players or those who want a slightly less calculated round, the wind could quickly get on your nerves.

-Access Road: A dusty and bumpy ride from the main part of the park to the auxiliary parking lot for this area. A standard sedan will do fine at a slow speed, but will need a wash afterwards. If you want to avoid this option for the sake of your prized automobile, you can park in the paved lot and take a 0.5 mile walk to the first tee.

-Standard Desert Cons: Not much shade, very dusty, and the rough is thorny. Par for the course on non-manicured courses in this part of the country.

Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park is an interesting experience. Its designer used the hills and schule creatively to craft a course of birdieable but non-trivial holes that effectively speaks to MA2-3 players looking for a bit of frustration. That said, it suffers from some of the same drawbacks as many Southwestern courses whose desert environments preclude the use of tall trees in favor of shrubbier, grabbier obstacles. On the whole, I found it a Good experience and a slight beatdown.

~Similar Courses: Chavez Ridge (Los Angeles, CA); Gates of Hell (Valley Center, CA); Brushy Creek MUD (Round Rock, TX); Lake Dillon - Family (Dillon, CO).

South Point High offers a mostly very-good 11-hole layout. I really enjoyed the course through the first eight holes. Sadly, the course stumbled at the end.
- By local, school course standards, and most 9-hole/short course designs, this is an above average course through the first eight holes. I'll get to the closing holes in the cons, focusing solely on the good here.
- There is some really good variety, with great use of the slight elevation and a variety in the hole lengths. Throw in a couple creative hole layouts, and I was really impressed.
- #1 and & 2 are both good downhill baskets. #1 is mostly a flat shot until you get to the basket, which offers a risk of discs sailing past the basket, or rolling down the hill. #2 is a downhill tee shot, throwing over a school service road. This is a fun hole to throw a couple discs on. #8 also offers some similarities to these holes, with its downhill layout.
- #6 is a good, up shot to a basket on a hill. It's listed at 198 feet, but with the elevation plays a good 50 feet longer than that.
- #7 is the course's longest hole at 344 feet. It's a relatively open hole, with woods on the right. The biggest obstacle here is the lack of a natural tee area.
- I'll also throw out #4 as an intriguing, fun layout. It's a 168 foot hole with the fairway going through an opening in some trees, to a dogleg right basket. To the designers' credit, they took advantage of the only cluster of trees in the area to make a good layout.
- Course is easy to navigate. Once you find the first hole, which is behind the school building, to the right of the tall, black stand used for the band director, it's easy to make your way through the course. There are even a couple next tee markers. That said, one or two more could be used to make it even easier.

There are a couple throw away holes here that take away from the course's overall quality. In a sense, they're not even needed because this is an 11-hole course. So one has to wonder, why the sense of trying to squeeze in a couple of dogs?
- The two worst holes, which are completely dreadful are #9 and 10. The holes play in the space between a baseball field and tennis courts. Both are short - 124 and 140 feet respectively. And neither offers any obstacle. You play a couple of challenging (relatively) holes, then get to two pitch-n-putt holes that have no reason for existing. Eliminate those and somehow make #11 a longer finishing hole. #11 was somewhat boring as it was, which may be simply be the stink-factor of the prior two holes. But, adding distance would create an added challenge.
- Speaking of added distance, I think #6 could be even better if the tee pad was pushed backed. You have a decent walk from #5's basket to #6's tee, so why not make the uphill shot even a little tougher. If they're willing to allow a long walk here, why not pull #9 & 10 and allow for a long walk there as well?
- I did have a somewhat hard time finding the tee for #7. A sign would help. But, what's worse is the tee area itself. The ground isn't flat. You're throwing on the top of a hill, so the ground is sloped. That makes it hard for any realistic run-up, especially when you're paying so much attention to your safety.

South Pointe High is a good nine-hole course if you eliminated holes #9 & 10. That's not even just by school standards, but in comparison to all 9-holers (or 10, 11 & 12 holes) I've played.
- This course makes for a fun play and can be appealing to most skill levels. Beginners will enjoy, and I think mid-levels will enjoy playing this course a time or two.
- This is a great course for practice. There are some open areas where you could play safari holes and really crank some big drives.
- After the first eight holes, I would have rated this course a 2.0; however, with as bad as #9 & 10 are, and how blah #11 is, those holes do knock down the course's overall rating. Still, at 1.5, it's an average 9-holer-esque course in my book. I'd play here a lot if I lived close by.

Restoring Hope Church is a primarily open nine hole course with red-banded DISCatcher baskets and natural tees.

While the course is mostly open space, there are a couple of wooded holes mixed in to keep the course interesting. The holes that are open also utilize the space and elevation available to force better shot shapes. Hole 5 has a late gap to hit as you throw uphill into the woods. Holes 7 & 8 both have early gaps to hit, playing out into open space.

As mentioned before, the course utilizes the terrain really well to create some interesting holes with the elevation at play. Hole 4 is an absolutely fun downhill shot and the longest hole on the course. Most of the course only a midrange and putter is needed, but some players may benefit from a fairway driver for Hole 4.

The course is really well suited for Beginners and Rec level play, but can be enjoyed by any in the area. Really well done, and probably a lot of fun for the youth group to play.

A lack of signage and missing tee markers was a real bummer. I could still find the tees thanks to the pictures, but only Holes 3, 6, & 7 still had flags marking the tees. Would love to see, at the very least, some Innova tee markers installed.

Holes 4 & 5 have crossing fairways. This could be fixed by shortening Hole 4, but I wouldn't want that to happen either. Being a course at a church, where there is unlikely to be multiple groups playing - it is fine.

The house mentioned on Hole 9 won't be an issue for experienced players, but newer players from the church's congregation may not be able to hit the side of a barn with their drives, but will likely hit this house at some point.

Not really a con, but I did notice that there is what almost looks like a fairway cleared out behind Hole 7's tee. It would be interesting to see that hole lengthened. Would also be interesting if Hole 1's tee was pushed back into the woods a bit more too. This would create even more gaps to hit throughout the course.

A lack of amenities and limited hours during church events.

By now I should know not to make snap judgments about a course the moment I pull into the parking lot, but I still find myself doing it from time to time. When I saw a bunch of baskets around the field, I was less than enthused. I still enjoyed the first four holes, as they ramped up in difficulty - but once seeing Hole 5 I was pleasantly surprised. I am giving Restoring Hope Church a 2.0 rating for now, but if better tee markings and/or any signage were installed, the course would likely deserve a higher rating.

Favorite Holes: 4, 5, & 7

WHAT TO EXPECT:
Free to play Camp Course in a scenic portion of the Tennessee woods. Course closes when camp is in session in the summer months. Medium to short hole distances that play through moderately to heavily wooded sections of the camp. Lots of elevation changes utilized.

TEES/SIGNAGE/BASKETS: Tees are astro-turf short fake grass style and were extremely slick when I played. It was cold and a little wet out but the tees kinda of felt like throwing on ice. Probably much better in warmer temps. Signage was basic but useful with Tee signs providing the basics of hole number, distance, and a general shot shape hole map. Navigation signs assist here as the course zigs and zags instead of playing in a direct flow. Baskets were new and in good shape, pretty sure they were Veterans (I didn't write those in my notes for some reason, but I believe I remember them being red white and blue Veterans).

DESIGN: Course utilizes multiple angle wooded golf, medium distances, natural OB (dense woods and rough), small creeks and existing infrastructure, along with rolling elevation to create a unique and fun experience. While this is no pro level course by any means, the shots here are mildly challenging, the rough formidable, and the overall experience fun.

EXTRAS: Course was well maintained, rough excluded, and trash free even in the off season. There were multiple trash cans throughout which probably assisted with this.

- No bathrooms available to the public that I saw. Possible since I played in December that they were either closed or removed.
- Plenty of lost disc potential in the rough areas
- Certain that poison ivy, bugs, snakes, and other problematic nature issues abound during the warmer months if that bothers you.
- Not particularly cart friendly with elevation and rough ground.
- Several portions of the course are not aesthetically pleasing from throwing over and around an obstacle course area, to teeing off next to a disintegrating maintenance building, an abandoned lawn mower, and a seen better days basketball court. This course does balance that out with some really nice nature views, but if eye sores bother you, this course has several.
- Not particularly challenging for intermediate and up players.

I think this course does exactly what it intends to do and provide 18 solid disc golf holes for its campers. I feel they maybe could have expanded out further and used more of the woods rather than bunching everything close together and putting some holes on shared land. This may have been intentional to keep campers close and within ear shot. While this course won't win any beauty contests or show up on coverage, it was a quick fun little play through. Not a destination course unless you are already in the area and desperate to try something new. Biggest knock is this course is closed during the prime disc golf travel and play season summer months.

The course at 65th infantry is a course fit into an area that is mainly walking paths between houses in a heavily residential area.

It almost plays like a links style golf course, with a there and back layout circling around a large pond and drainage area that is present on about half of the holes.

Starting with the basics, you have a nice big full color map by hole 1, concrete pads on all holes with two pads on many tees. Pins seem to have two placements for most holes and though you can't easily see which is in place from the signage there is only one blind basket so that's not an issue.

Baskets are older Disccatchers with yellow bands but generally in good shape. Great signs, and next tee arrows(though some were pointing in the wrong direction).

It's all flat, but between the lightly tree covered fairways, copious water and frequent backyard OBs it's not an easy course. You do have some shorter must birdie holes in the 200-270 range but from the longer tees you have several 450+ holes and a couple of legit par 4s. One is even a really legit multi shot 600ft hole that was probably my favorite.

It's very flat, tons of OB and water, houses close. You need a lot of accuracy and though that's a strength of mine I still donated a disc to the gators when a headwind flipped my usually stable driver,

A newer player could easily rage quite from lost discs by hole 13.

The design is good for the land they have, but a couple of holes are too close to one another. You have to wait for pedestrians a lot with the walking path so close, and the parking lot is right on top of hole 18.

I was there in a weekday morning and it was okay, but on a busy afternoon it's probably hard to play.

Overall it was pretty fun and proximity to the airport is a big positive for the bagger on the go.

In FL you often see an "alligators may be present" sign, this one is "alligators ARE present" in English and Spanish. I saw a small one, so be careful out there.

Sweet Cement Tee Pads
(will have) Disc Golf Park tee signs and course map.
DiscGolfPark new baskets

Not much to work with
The walk from basket 9 to hole 1

Avery always seems to get the most out of an area when he designs a course. When playing this course, you can see the little things he does that makes the course fit into the park and not bring other park users into play as much as he can.

The course mostly flows clockwise. Hole 1 is a decent little uphill shot with a tree to navigate around on the RHBH shot.

Hole 2 is on the other side of a little pavilion throwing down what could be a fun double Mando shot.

Hole 3 throws back up the hill with both a lefty and righty hyzer shot available with a tree and a small water spot to navigate. This is probably dry most of the year, but after the snow we got a few days before I played here, there was a good puddle of water in there.

Hole 4 throws back down the hill and is a wide open shot.

hole 5 is the longest hole on the course with trees and bushes on the left and wide open on the right. At 345ft this hole can be reachable with the right shot for most players.

Hole 6 is one that shows you how to design a disc golf hole. Most players would want to back up the tee shot or put the basket further back, further to the right or further to the left. In every case, this would actually make the hole dangerous to other park users. Avery placed the tee in the middle of the area between the parking area and the slope down to the walking path. He also placed the basket 250ft down between the same things. You can't throw a hyzer shot without risking hitting the limbs of the trees lining the parking area. But this also helps keep most players from hitting any cars in the parking area. The hole is kept shorter and in the middle so the walking path you can't see from the tee is out of play unless you really overthrow the shot.

Short walk to hole 7 that is the shortest hole on the course, throwing from the parking area up to a basket sitting on a small hill. There is a walking path to the left, but it takes a bad shot to really get over there on this almost jump putt distance hole.

Hole 8 is just a basic uphill shot to a wide open basket. This hole does play harder than it looks with a south wind.

Hole 9 throws back down the hill for the 2nd shortest hole on the course, another ace run shot.

To tell the truth, someone who does NOT know how to design a course would have made this hole longer or so there was not a longer walk, but that would have been a mistake. Any other route other than what he put in would have put other park users, specially during a baseball game, into play.

So, we have a longer walk back to the practice basket or hole 1.

I did play 2 rounds when I played this course, I wanted to hit all the birdies I missed in my first round.

would I play here again? Probably not, not because it's not a decent little 9 hole course with some good ace runs, but because it's 26 miles from my house and we have SO many courses in the area. Considering we lost North Park for a while, it's cool that the city installed another course for now.

On the site of a former bolf course, a remarkably technical course with great elevation plays as well.

-Layouts: Several options for players here. A Red 18 provides short tees in the putt or approach range for many holes; the Nessie 9 is an abbreviated loop; I'm not exactly sure how the Sunday 18 played; and the Tournament or main loop, which is still accessible to any experienced player.

-Amenities: The four layouts are carefully color-coded to keep them separate. Turf tee pads, nice numbered Lat64 baskets. Good tee signs with all info and map for Tournament layout. Two practice baskets. Next tee arrows much of the time.

-Scenery: No specific jaw-dropping overlooks, but really pleasant natural beauty (which to this American, made sense considering its Highland location).

-Elevation: There are remarkably few flat holes for a former bolf course. Many of the technical holes utilize a steep slope on the woods, while open holes offer elevation plays moderate and large, mostly downhill. There are both top-of-the-world shots and moments requiring delicate landing on a slope.

-Flow: Other than a couple holes that double back along the previous fairway, the course does a nice job flowing from hole to hole without big gaps. The course ends near the start, though there's no middle return to the parking.

-Shot Shaping/Gameplay: A varied experience with moderately technical, full woods, open bombs, and transitioning holes. Three par-4s range from short to long. Most of the course either plays in the bowl that houses the original golf fairways, or in the woods around its outskirts. As a result, most holes are one of three: highly technical, mostly open, or playing from the one into the other. The pacing of each of these three is well done and keeps you on your toes. Just when you tire of the one kind, it switches up. In terms of difficulty, it fits between MA2 and MA3.

Certainly a few detractors to note, which keep this in the range of a very good city park rather than a destination.

-Walking Path: Many holes on the course are cut through or paralleled by a busy walking path. I had to wait more than once on a brisk winter day.

-Mud: When it is muddy as when I played, some of the woods section of this course is treacherous. It was slip n slide on my way up or down to several baskets perched on side hills. It was also very marshy, though I'm not if that was just the unusually high amount of recent rain or a usual feature.

-Tee Finding: The flow is okay, but sometimes figuring it out is trickier. Some places have next tee signs, but there are other places they are needed.

-Disc Loss: Water is in play on the last three (mainly the thrilling 18). There is also a secured area accessible to discs from the first and second tees.

Torvean offered a varied experience with technical, bomber, and elevation plays in a pleasant environment. It fits comfortably as a Very Good course, worth a visit if in the area but not a destination course. It was a delight to play as my first non-US course, and offered a similar taste to my original Southeastern DG roots.

~Similar Courses: DeKalb Memorial Park (Atlanta, GA); Paragon Park (Perris, CA); Alexander Park (Snellville, GA); the more open stretches of Camp Canaan Riverbend (Rock Hill, SC).

(2.929 Rating) A pleasant parkstyle course with two tees on every hole.
- NATURAL BEAUTY - Riverwalk is an extremely well maintained park with a pleasant atmosphere. The course layout generally follows along a creek's greenway space and has some thick woods along the left several times. I think it would have been cool if a few more plays engaged the creek and the heavy woods more, but perhaps those features were asked to be avoided. I scored the beauty aspect around 60 percentile.
- CHALLENGE - I threw the short Red layout and finished 8 down as an MA2. The longer Green Layout adds over 1000-feet in length, and would thus be more applicable to my personal skill set. I was limited on time, wanted an ace, and it was 35 degrees out, which were my reasons to throw the shorts. I think MA2s and even some MA1s will be content by the provided challenges here from the backs. A few holes are even over 400 feet long.
- AMENITIES - DISCatcher baskets check. Turf tees check. Two tees check. Tee signage check and course map check. A restroom and pavilion is located next to both tee (3) and tee (10). I do wish there were benches.
- NAVIGATION - I had a guide, so I didn't observe this as closely as I normally do. As noted, posted course map and all 36 tees have a planted tee sign. I liked the affixed basket arrows on the base of the cage. I don't see how players are getting lost here, unless they are terrible with directions anyways.
- TIME PLAY - I logged a 68-minute two-man card. There are a couple of extended gaps, but nothing crazy.

Only minor blemishes.
- ROAD CROSSINGS - There is very little to complain about here at Riverwalk. The most concerning item I could come up with, which is really not that concerning, is the road crossings that occur after holes (3), (5), (15) and (18). The (5) and (15) crossing is just a small residential road. Not a big deal in my opinion. After (3) and (18) a four-lane divided road needs to be crossed. Not ideal, but if someone were to tell me the deal breaker was walking across this 4-lane road, I'm throwing all my discs at em.
- OPEN HOLES - Barring a major grip-lock, I recall five holes from the shorts that didn't have a tree in play. Yawn. The land, as with most disc golf sites, kind-of is what it is. The terrain dynamics and existing surroundings could only allow for so much here. In my opinion, the designer(s) did an honorable job laying the course out despite a few short comings.
- PATHWAYS - A walking trail comes into play on a majority of the holes. I don't recall any blind conflicts, but having to wait from time to time will likely occur.

Riverwalk DGC is a well done professionally laid out course. It may not be the bread winner for the Maryland disc golf scene, but it would outduel many small town 18ers I've thrown through-out the country. For those headed to Frederick Maryland and that want to throw something real close by, I'd say this is a solid hit. However, I very much doubt it's a top 5 course within a 25-mile radius as courses like Senaca, Clark's Run, Ditto and Woodsboro are inside that distance. Regardless, I very much enjoyed my time here. It was fun, well kept up, easy to follow and lacked frustrating elements. I'd be thrilled to live close by. Overall a solid 3.0 "Good" course to me. It reminded me of courses like Graham Creek Prairie in Mobile, Northside in Gainesville Florida, Dineen in Milwaukee and Black Mountain near Asheville North Carolina, but prior to it's Hurricane destruction.
- THANK YOU - Much appreciation to Monocacy for joining me and being my guide for my first Maryland course. Fantastic company and a solid disc golf player. I also learned that I had been mispronouncing Monocacy for the last 5 years. I Hope to throw a V-Rock round with him in the next couple years.

WHAT TO EXPECT:
Medium length pretty moderate to heavily wooded short technical course in the wooded sections of a massive sports complex. There are multiple soccer fields, walking trails, and other non disc related amenities throughout in a very active and busy park area. For being crammed in a large sports complex this course actually has a real beauty to it aesthetically that you just kind of have to experience to understand. Pretty flat terrain.

TEES/SIGNAGE/BASKETS:
Tee pads are large, flat and relatively new concrete. Tee signs remind me of Ball Golf style wide pillars with smaller but full color and well detailed hole signs imbedded. Baskets are grey DGA Mach V (I think V) baskets in newer and solid condition. Lots of directional signs throughout to aide with navigation.

DESIGN:
Course design went for short, super technical, tree lined intermediate skill level track. While the tree lined rough on either side of most narrow hallway fairways exists, it isn't oppressive and is decently maintained, but still punishes you for being there. You can still scramble out of most places without shedding blood or losing discs in the process. Lots of straight tight low ceiling tunnels mixed with some shot shaping. Tons of variety maintained throughout in moderately challening but not insanely difficult 225-275 foot range on most holes.

EXTRAS:
Tons of wooden bridges, benches, and wood steps, to add to the look and practicality of the course throughout. Water somewhat in play on a couple holes but would take effort to actually dunk a disc, so mainly just adds to the beauty instead of the challenge of playing the course. Easy to follow course flow and navigation.

- Very busy park. Your round may not only encounter multiple golfers, but soccer tournaments just a few feet away from some of your tees, runners, walkers, people walking dogs, people playing in some of the more open spots. Be aware of your surroundings as not everyone expects a disc to come zooming through their area and are usually oblivious to us.
- Erosion and flooding issues appear to be a problem. Course looks to sit in a flood plain and has signs of holding water. Sandy soil and the course sitting lower than most of the soccer fields could pose a risk for some swampy rounds and the bugs that come along with that.
- No real chance to air the disc out. I love these types of technical wooded courses, but they are not for everyone. (So I put this as a slight con for some)
- Tee pad height. Though the tee pads are nice and in great shape, they are poured on top of the ground, without tapering on the edges. This leaves them 4" above the ground level all the way around and if you are wreckless with your footwork or follow through I can see twisting ankles possibly being an issue.
- There are some longer than normal walks between basket and tees in certain areas, including after you finish Hole #18 headed back to the parking lot. I'm not sure this could be avoided given that this is multipurpose land and the course kind of has to use the areas left over. Again not a major con, just something to be aware of going in.

Overall I enjoyed this course for the things it got right and was only mildly noting the very minor cons this course has as I played it. Tough course to rate as it was one of the better courses I played in the area, but it doesn't stand up to the 3.5 and 4 stars in other areas when compared side by side. It feels doing this course a disservice to rank it as a 3.0. 3.25 really feels like where this course belongs, but I will give it the positive round up and say 3.5 this time. Certainly not a destination course on its own merit, but definitely a course I would go out of my way to hit if I lived within and hour or two or was planning on bagging through the area on my way to somewhere close.

The Memory is the name of a 9-hole disc golf course at Clear Lake State Park, near Atlanta. That's the small town of Atlanta, MI - not the metropolis of Atlanta, GA.

For only being nine holes on flat terrain, there is a lot to like about the hole design here. Holes are generally on the more wooded side, with a couple of more open areas (predominantly at the beginning and end of the course) to balance things out. The course generally provides good challenge for rec to intermediate level players.

Hole 4 is a nice 220' throw straight along the top of a small wooded ridge overlooking the lake. Unfortunate tree kicks or throws that fade left too early (or overshoot the basket) could easily get wet, but should be retrievable. Just a pretty little hole here. The lake is arguably in play again on hole 7, although it would take more of a poor throw AND the unfortunate tree kick on that one.

Elsewhere, hole 3 plays down into a little sinkhole and hole 6 has two separate, clearly defined fairways. After the first seven holes play in the 200'-300' range, the difficulty is ratcheted up for the last two holes - both of which are around 400' and signed as par 4. Hole 9 requires players to select one of a couple of very narrow windows to clear a few small trees just off the tee, then opens up for most of the rest of the distance. For most of us, a chance at birdie will require throwing full power off the tee and successfully clearing your chosen gap. However, it's pretty doable to ease a low power throw through the gap, clearing the way for a full power second shot and an easy approach and par.

The baskets are DN Liberty models. I did not notice whether they were still mounted low like EspressoPatronum said in his review. Maybe a little bit low? I'm not sure. Regardless, I haven't seen too many of these but they seemed to catch fine to me.

The tee areas are great. The pads are large slabs of concrete with drainage holes. The tee signs have all of the info needed and even a nickname for each hole (they do list the distance in "yds" which is clearly wrong given the numbers, but those numbers seem to be correct in feet). There is also a bench behind every tee.

A practice basket, and a kiosk with large course map are both located between the parking lot and first tee. There is a restroom nearby as well, and trash cans scattered around the course.

I'd be cautious right around the lake, but other than that the course basically plays in an area dedicated to disc golf. With other trails elsewhere in the park, I bet it's pretty uncommon to find non-DGers on the course.

There are no "Next Tee" signs, but the correct paths between holes are covered in gravel (and other paths leading away from some baskets are not) so it is always very clear where to go. My small gripe with this is more that...

...the gravel covering is also present ON each hole, lightly covering each fairway on the shortest path from tee to basket. It isn't that thick, but I don't like the idea of my discs getting scuffed when I actually threw a good shot for once.

The course is mostly flat, and probably too short and easy for advanced players. Better players might find holes 1-7 boring, and only really be engaged when trying to birdie the last two holes.

Even though this course feels like it is in the middle of nowhere, I had strong cell service.

While not "pay to play" per se, you do need some form of a Michigan State Park pass to play here. Check out the latest info at https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/buy-and-apply/rec-pp.

As implied by the review title, I chose to make The Memory my 300th course played. It was the last of 11 new-to-me courses in northeast lower Michigan played over a 3-day bagging trip, and also ended up being the last of about 75 new-to-me courses played in 2024. I have no regrets choosing this one as #300. While it's no world-class destination, it is a solid course in an area with very few courses and a strong 3.0 in my book. I have overall been happy with the courses I have played at Michigan state parks, and this one has some nice views of the lake as well. It also ranks within the top 5 or so 9-hole courses that I have played to date. I had just enough time left before sunset on the cool, dreary October Saturday I visited to play through a second time.

In closing, The Memory is definitely worth a detour to check out if you are anywhere near the area. You just might make a nice Memory, as well!