Pros:
- newer concrete tees, even for most secondary tees
- undergrowth is fairly thin, making it easy to find discs
- great wooded/technical challenge
- several garbage/recycling setups with notes about keeping the course clean
- nice tee signs, most of which were in great shape
- both recreational and pro tee lengths on almost every hole
- includes practice basket
- ample free parking
- course was generally well mowed and maintained
- variety of shot selection requirements throughout the course
- next tee signs in 2 places were helpful
- rocks laid down on some inclines to help with mud
Cons:
- Mach 3 baskets are a bit mediocre and let a few discs blow through
- holes are on the extremely short side in general
- a few tee signs in need of repair
- most pro tees don't have their own sign (but it was generally clear where they were)
- Hole 1 plays past practice basket which was a bit confusing at first
- no course map available online
- clearly the chance of flooding during heavy rain from some of the water marks, though this didn't affect me
- next tee signs were appreciated but could be more obvious
- a few muddy spots that could use some rocks/woodchips, particularly near baskets
Other Thoughts:
I had a lot of fun on this course, despite it being barely over 40 degrees and quite windy. This is a technically challenging course, though most holes are under 225 feet. The focus is definitely on shot placement, which I enjoy.
I think the biggest things I have to add to previous reviews are the updates to this course: one of the most common complaints has been horrible rubber teepads, as recently as late 2016. Visitors will be happy to see that the course now has some solid concrete tee pads, generally on both the recreational and pro tees. This should be a huge improvement for most people.
In addition, there may be some confusion on layout - Hole 18 apparently was removed during student housing construction of some sort. A new Hole 1 was added and Holes 1-17 were shifted to become Holes 2-18. The course is still 18 holes but is slightly different than it used to be. I'm not sure exactly when this change took place. One of the confusing outcomes of this is that Hole 1 plays past the practice basket which was a little weird. Because of this, I was the clueless person playing Hole 1 the wrong way and searching for the basket for 10 minutes before I figured it out.
Other than those details, navigation is fairly straightforward, with a few next tee signs to help. The course has a fair amount of elevation change with uphill, downhill, and valley shots. It's this kind of challenge that makes it a lot of fun. This is also a course where despite being heavily wooded in a lot of places, it's almost hard to lose a disc because the undergrowth isn't bad at all. This makes it a lot harder not to have fun.
Hole 10 has a nice bridge to cross over a ravine. This was relatively dry when I was there but clearly would carry water during any heavy rain. In fact, there were several places that clearly were wet the day before I was there due to the heavy rain. I'm impressed with how dry the course was in light of this. There was standing water on a few walks between holes, and a bit of mud here and there, but in general the course seems to drain well.
I don't know if I just caught a particularly windy day, but it was challenging to knock down putts in particular. You'll want to make sure you have something overstable to throw on your drives or some of your shots will be launching.
The UW-Baraboo campus is tobacoo free, including the disc golf course, which I certainly enjoyed but others may not. There are ample garbage and recycling cans throughout the course to place an emphasis on keeping it clean. In general, people seem to do a fairly good job of this.
This definitely isn't in the upper echelon of courses I've played, but it was very fun and is a great use of the space available. Next time my family is vacationing in the Wisconsin Dells, I'll be sure to pay it another visit.