Pros:
(1.566 Rating) A beginner friendly park style course.
- QUICK PLAY - It's usually not a good sign when I start a review off by noting how quick it is to play. Most baggers like me will spend less than 20 minutes throwing this one. It generally flows well and the navigation, which I'll touch on more below, is good enough.
- NAVIGATION AND SIGNAGE - I had no problems figuring this one out. My tee (1) was actually tee (8) as I parked by the wintertime locked restrooms. Transitions were generally short, the tee signage was good and the tee signage had next tee direction indicated on them. I highly doubt anyone is getting lost here, unless they have the direction sense of a headless chicken.
- BEGINNER FRIENDLY - The course set-up here will be great for new players. I could see first timers carding a couple pars and enjoying themselves. The layout is most ideal for MA4 level players with enough pizazz to also appease MA3s. There is high ace potential for veteran players.
- MAINTENANCE - This looks like a well maintained park. Very few overgrown areas along the line of play. As long as they keep mowing, this course should almost always be in good shape.
Cons:
Typical small park weaknesses.
- LACK OF CHALLENGE - As noted above, I thought the course will work well for MA4s and MA3s. For those above that level, it will be, check, played it, moving on. There is very little challenge here technically speaking. Holes (3) and (7) offer this element a little bit, but these holes are so short that they still won't be much fun unless metal gets pinged. A couple of the holes are also featureless throws.
- WALKING PATH - A walking path basically comes into play on every hole. On busy park days I could see lots of time spent waiting, but I doubt any holes will need to be skipped. Hole (7) will sort-of have a playground in play along the left for those that can't throw straight.
- LAYOUT FLOW - Hole (1) starts over 400 feet away from the parking area and (9) finishes a similar distance. I'm not sure why they did this. Tees (7), (8) and (9) are all better starting points than (1).
- AMENITIES AND EXTRAS - The equipment is below average. The baskets are Mach IIs and a couple are leaning and may have been hit by mowing equipment. The tees are natural without a defined throwing line. There are no benches, extra tees or alternate basket locations. There are shelters, restrooms and playgrounds however.
- HOLE VARIETY - The play variety is below average as well. Generally park style with one tunnel shot. No water in play and very little elevation change. Holes (1) and (9) are listed as par 4s on the tee signs, but I did not give credit for that as they are both about 400 feet long.
- NATURAL BEAUTY - I scored this aspect about 35 percentile. It's a nice well maintained small park and all, but it's not anything special compared to the typical park. No water features, rock elements or backdrop views to spark an enhanced interest.
Other Thoughts:
The course in Argos is a textbook example of small-town small park disc golf. It'll do its job of introducing the game to the locals and keep players interested up until they reach the MA3 level. The course is perfect for baggers traveling along US31 as well. One can literally pull off the exit and be back at the same point in under 30 minutes. No need for the destination course pilgrim to check this course out as it only grades out to a strong 1.5 rating to me. It reminds me of courses like Spassland near Milwaukee, Brent Johnson in Illinois, John C Poole near Nashville, Deuces Wild in Michigan, Lifepoint in Alabama and Thelma Stovall in Kentucky. I could easily name a dozen more as this is a very common type of course.