Overall Borderland is an excellent, challenging, and charming course with beautiful boulders and rock outcroppings and the Ames Mansion.

Two rubber tees and two baskets on every hole providing a bevy of playing options from really long pro length to intermediately short. Mix of technical mostly tight wooded lanes where landing your disc in the fairway is primo, and some open spaces to throw some bombs although still requiring control to setup the next shot.

Navigation was more intuitive after hole 5. Lots of bridging between holes to traverse over the rocks and muck.

Restrooms and drinking water by the visitor center.

Basically one big loop of 18 holes back to parking lot. Took me awhile to find hole 1 blue tee, literally right behind the visitor center. I found hole 4 before I found 3, didn't think you would have to backtrack halfway down the fairway from the long basket. It was also a very long and confusing walk from hole 4 to 5 for me, but probably isn't that bad if you just follow the path straight across the field.

Busy park with some interference from other park users. Rocky and muddy terrain in places. Some of the rough is nasty thorns and poison ivy, not hard to end up in there with tight wooded lanes kicking discs off the fairway. Thirsty mosquitoes.

I really enjoyed Borderland even with some of the navigation issues I had. IMO the current rating is spot on at about 4.20 and would rate it that if was possible. Maybe if there was more elevation I would rate it higher with more fun factor. I highly recommend anyone play here, although it might be a little tough on rank beginners.

Two rubber teepadss and two baskets on every hole makes for multiple layouts for each hole. All teepads and baskets are in good condition.
Fair gaps and fairways in the woods; typically more than one legitimate route from the teepad to the basket. Some wide open shots make for a great mix during a round.

A lot of rocks throughout the woods can really beat up discs quickly.

Great course, looking forward to playing it more!

-Great variety of hole types and layouts
-Two tee options, two basket options
-Located in a beautiful state park
-Really strong disc golf community
-Relatively close to Boston
-Each hole seems thoughtfully designed
-Enough trash cans and recycling
-Dog-friendly but also clean
-Many different creative lines that play to different players' strengths

-No water holes
-Gets crowded
-Not a lot of elevation change

Borderlands is awesome. Objectively speaking, Maple Hill is probably the best course <50 miles from Boston, but I love playing these two equally. The course is designed really thoughtfully, with many different options and unique lines to the basket. For example, my forehand drive gets an extra 50 feet of distance at the moment, and I have a friend who's the opposite, but there are many holes here where he will choose to throw forehand and I will choose backhand because we read the hole differently. I've played here more than anywhere else, and while it is a little too far for me (I live in Somerville, MA) to call it my home course, it's definitely near and dear to my heart.

The only two 'meh' holes are IMO 8 and 15 (white baskets) and the blue basket on 2 is kind of insanely long. White to white is fun, basically a par 3 course. B-W and W-B are both challenging and varied. B-B gets pretty difficult and you have to be in the mood for it. It can be confusing and slightly dangerous if there are a lot of people playing different layouts, as you might not realize it until there are others directly in your path. Being vigilant should take care of most of that, however.

Borderland State park disc golf offers the best disc golf in eastern Massachusetts. The variety from hole to hole is fantastic, featuring different terrains, open fairways and dense fairways, guarding trees and a constant need for creative shot shaping.

The Blue course and the white course offer multiple layouts so regulars can mix up the routine.
Layout allows for easy access to main parking lot from hole 1 and 18.

Not too many cons here, it is hard to play 9 holes since, the 9th hole is a long way from the parking lot.

The bottom line is, this place is fun. With so much variety and so much challenge on the course, it draws out the creativity in each player. The parking is a bit Costly parking ($5). Park gates don't open until 7am. Not super easy to find the next tee. Plenty of poison ivy in the late spring and summer, so keep your eyes open, 'leaves of three leave them be.'

- Multiple tee pads for all levels
- There are so many ways too play the course ( White-White;Blue-Blue;White-Blue;Blue-White-Alternate Blue/White...etc)
- Fairways are well defined and there are multiple routes on most holes.
- Easy hiking compared to most 18 hole courses I have played (very little up and down hiking)
- Blue-Blue will allow you to use multiple drivers/fairways/putters in a single round.
- The course has risk reward shots all over.
- I have played many courses and always will go to borderland for a round.
- Good disc golf community that will return discs and help if in need.
- If get out early in the morning you can have the course to yourself. (grass holes can be wet)

- It is a heavily wooded course, there are some shots that look great that will be knocked down.
- Your discs will take some damage.
- Can get packed late in the day or weekends.
- Not great elevation holes, it is fun seeing a disc fly for 15-30 seconds down hill.

If you are anywhere south of Boston I would make this course your home course. It is the best in the area. Dacy is a good little course but I would rank borderland head and shoulders above.

I would give this course a 4.5 if I could because it's an amazing course but not quite at the level of Maple Hill (which I've now played a few times). I live about 10 minutes from the course and I would guess that I've now played it at least 100 times.

Whether playing the Whites (par 3) or Blues (par 3, 4, and one 5), the course is very manageable and is a nice mix of moderately wooded holes, open fields with grass, and a mix of dirt (allowing for some skips) and rocks (prevent skips).

There isn't any water you play over so if you're losing discs it's going to be buried in the woods somewhere although I don't lose many here.

I could go on about this list of pros but bottom line: I'm extremely lucky to have such an outstanding home course and would definitely recommend anyone to play it if they have a chance.

Walk from hole 4 to 5 is across a decently sized field and annoying in my opinion. You can park, start at hole 5, and end at hole 4 to save some waking but it just doesn't fee right playing the holes out of order.

I'm very allergic to poison ivy and I'd say that about 1/5 rounds I end up with a fresh patch of it on my skin. Definitely not a reason to avoid playing here though.

Also, I feel as if Bland could afford some holes over water for scenery but this is only because I've now played Maple Hill and that is debatedly the nicest course in the country right now.

Not too many cons here get out here and play!

Disc return system is completely legit and although some people hold onto discs when they find them, the office at borderland has probably 200+ disc waiting to be picked up from their previous owners.

-18 hole layout
-36 baskets, each hole has a white and blue tee and basket (some share the same tee), providing a shorter, easier course and a longer, harder course
-The signature hole, #17, is absolutely beautiful, with the mansion in the background.
-Provides paper scorecards
-Variety of uphill, downhill, open, and wooded holes
-Sign says there are discs for loan for beginners
-Visitors center has lost and found kiosk for discs
-Has a website: http://www.borderlanddiscgolf.com

-Fee is only $5 for parking or $6 for out of state

-Small fee for parking
-Hole 2 and 17 can sometimes have pedestrians in the field, which is warned about on the welcome sign, but it wasn't a problem
-Lots of poison ivy in the area, but only if your throws go errant
-Hole 3, 5, and 18 were a little tricky to find the teepad, but not a huge problem. (For hole 5 we had to go across the big field, through the left side of a parking area, onto a small trail on the left, and then we got there. (There is a map at the start, I recommend getting it online too for better quality.)

For us it was definitely worth the 50 or so minute drive. We're relative beginners; this was the third course we've been too, and it was a blast. A great park, with some great history. Seems to be a very active disc golf community here Awesome time.

(Also only 50 minutes south from Medford, where the Boston Whitecaps play.)

Easy to find for visitor
Multiple tee placements adds variety
Very nice hole design, especially some of the back holes
Very scenic course

pay to play (or park)
as noted on other comments - a lot of potential for conflict with other golfers and/or park users
walk from 4 to 5 confusing for new visitor

I played while staying in Providence during a trip from Georgia. Took about 45 minutes or so from Prov. It was an overcast, drizzly day with only one other golfer and a few hikers on the course. I loved the design and course layout but I was shocked at all the trash (coffee cups) around the tees and in the woods. I am sure it was just an aberration but it was enough to keep my rating only at a 3.5. The course itself plays like a 4.25 but the trash and conflict keep score down for me. Would definitely play it again, though. Would even drive up from Providence (after playing Maple Hill and Pyramids, though)

Borderland is a great course on a great park. It has two sets of tees (white and blue) and two sets of baskets (white and blue). They share parts of fairways but offer different lines from tees to baskets (both lefty and righty friendly). The tees and baskets can be mixed and matched (i.e. white to blue, blue to white, etc.) which provides lots of options and varied levels of difficulty. All of the tee pads are rubber mats and complete with a sign showing the fairways and distances to the white and blue baskets. The baskets are great shape as well. There is a variety of wooded and open fairways. There are some elevation changes and tight fairways that make things interesting. There is also a lost and found box to drops discs that are found. At the end of each day, the rangers collect them and bring them into the office for people to retrieve.

It gets extremely busy during the weekends and with the sharing of blue and white fairways, it can be tough to have your round go smoothly. Sometimes park goers end up meandering through the course or post up on the fields of hole 2, 17, and 18. Some people can get a little lost going from hole 4 to 5 and 17 to 18. Parts of the course can get very muddy during the spring season (although to a true disc golfer, this will not stop them from playing). Not many trash cans for trash (please carry out what you carry in)

For those allergic to poison ivy, beware throughout the warmer months. As a heads up, there is a $5 parking fee for the day. There are also lots of trails and other activities that happen at this park aside from disc golf.

For those that have an issue finding hole 5: walk the path from the hole 4 basket, walk across the hole 18 fairway until you see the dirt road/path going across the field (the mansion will be on your left and the parking lot on the right). You will then reach the entrance to the park. On your left you should see a pathway that leads to the tee pads for blue and white.

For those that have an issue finding hole 18: from the basket, walk up by the right side of the tennis court, and you will see a path. Walk through the little stone garden/fountain area and up the hill. You should then see a little hill and a stone roadway. The tee pads for 18 are just past that.

Borderlands State Park is super crazy awesome. The dual tee, and dual basket layout is the best I have seen at achieving a disc golf double helix, 18 holes that feels like 36. Instead of the white tee being on a similar line as the blue, but shorter distance, here they are frequently carved out on a separate line with a totally different look. Placement on every available tee area or pin location were skillfully chosen, this layout rocks. Tees were good, nicely done rubber mats, usually spacious and level. Very complete signage marking every tee. A pair of Chainstar baskets on every hole, white and blue. All were in good shape, as I recall. While the 4 configurations of each hole optimize versatility, the park is an ideal setting for disc golf. The course mixes in woods, with sometimes extremely rocky fairways, and grassy meadows and hills, with a few scattered trees. Elevation can be a factor, but usually in moderate amounts. Water is never a major issue. Playing the longest blue/blue layout would be epic, I chose to play a slightly less difficult white/blue layout. Did not fare too well. Finished with a 65, 1 over par. It is a short walk from the parking lot and the practice basket, past the visitor center to the first tee. From the first hole you know you're in for a treat. I can't give hole by hole breakdown, but they are all quality just about any angle. 2 is a monster par 5 on the blue pin. 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, and 15, were all cool, 3 being my favorite. The blue pin is on the edge of a boulder, and if you miss right side you are putting from the bottom of it 8 feet beneath the level of the pin. I did just that, and two putted for par. The rocky outcroppings and stone walls dividing parts of some holes are a great element.

Parking toll at park entrance $2. The front nine is interrupted by a long walk between holes 4 and 5. After 4, you walk past the 18th tee, across the grass, into the woods again. There are no trash cans, guests in the park should pack out their trash. Should but don't, litter was on the ground throughout. Not a ton, but way too much for a park this nice. Dogs must remain on a leash.

One or two average holes, majority good to great. Borderlands was fun and totally worth the visit. Rating of over 4 fully valid. A course that has complex and interesting personality.

Good baskets
Relatively easy to navigate
Most tees are not excessively wooded
Lots of tee signs with measured distances
Multiple basket and tee combos scales course to any skill level and/or keeps course fresh.

Many tee/basket combos result in potential collision situations as the paths cross and cannot see each other. Watched a group almost huck into another group but fortunately they spotted a disc flying by.

Some baskets are heavily wooded and I could see easily losing a disc.

Many sections are used as shortcuts by wandering park goers.

I like what they tried to do with the multiple tee pads and baskets, but this opens up a fair bit of confusion and on a few holes risks of throwing at others.

A few holes are quite heavily wooded and throwing a disc off the fairway not only yields a wasted throw, but stands a good chance of causing you to lose the disc entirely.

Two very well kept, level, rubber pads on each hole.
Two excellent condition baskets on each hole.
4 available layouts to challenge all skill levels.
Excellent layout, flow, and design of course.
Good blend of shots needed to score well here.
Fair lines and basket placement on each hole.
Course favors placement and approach much more than distance.
Practice basket and open field next to parking lot.
Clean, beautiful park, clean beautiful course.
Upkeep is very good here.
Plenty of parking, only $2 to park. (This has changed, $5 Mass. residents, $10 Out of State)
Drinking fountains available in season, bottle water for purchase outside bathrooms.
Bathrooms at hole one (ranger station).

Course takes on and retains water. Things can get muddy after rains.
No set par for alternate course layouts.
No water holes.
High volume of traffic at peak times.
High volume of rec players lacking etiquette.

Great course. I would pay $5 to $10 a day to play this gem.( Me and my big mouth!) The 45min drive from my home is well worth the pleasure and peace I get from playing here. There really isn't a standout signature hole (Blue 2 maybe?) but that doesn't seem to matter. Each hole presents a different challenge in a very even and consistent manner. This is a solid 4 star course that will have you comparing the other coursers you play to it. If you are thinking about playing this one, stop thinking, pack your bag, and hit the tee.

Set in an absolutely beautiful wooded state park.

2 rubber tee pads on each hole, with a tee sign for each. Tee signs are good, with distances to both baskets (see below), as well as accurate topography. I don't usually love rubber teepads, but these were almost all completely flat, and even a bit wet, they performed well.

2 different baskets on each hole (DGA and Discatcher). White/blue placement. I LOVE this concept. You can play this course in 4 different configurations, which offers a very high replay factor. All baskets caught well.

Navigation was pretty simple, with signs at nearly every hole pointing out the proper direction. Hole 4 to 5's transition is long, and not overly intuitive.

Heavily wooded course, but there were fair lines on every hole. Some were tight, but if you're throwing well that day, very satisfying to hit.

Brooms on nearly every hole to sweep off the tee pads was a nice touch.

Great course for all skill levels, as the white/white configuration isn't overly long.

Decent elevation changes in many spots, although no "top o' the world" shots are found here.

Not many to speak of.

Rubber tee pads aren't the greatest, but these are about as good as they get.

$2 for parking, but it's a pittance for what you're getting. If anything, it probably helps to keep the chuckers away.

No water in play here (with the exception of some marshy areas).

This is probably one of my new favorite courses. If you prefer open courses, this probably won't be your cup of tea.

Parking is ample here.

Lost disc box near the visitor center.

In my opinion, this is a must play if you're in the area. Be prepared to hike a bit, though, as the terrain is rough. Lots of rocks and boulders to be found. Wear good shoes!

Full disclosure: I am a beginner player and this is my home course. Consider this an addendum to the reviews written by more experienced players.

The setting is beautiful. You could spend a whole day hiking, biking, golfing, napping, and learning the history of the Ames family. (The owners of the original estate.) The disc golf course takes you through only a small part of it.

The course is challenging, without being daunting. You'll need to make a wide variety of throws to have a good game, but there are safe landing zones for short distance throwers. Some undergrowth can be prickly or cause rashes. It is well-managed on the fairways, but grows like crazy in out-of-bounds areas. Tees and baskets are well maintained. See other reviews for details.

The white and blue fairways overlap. This gives players the options of playing pure white or true blue, along with blight and whue if you mix them.

Technically, there is a yellow course. However, there are no permanent tees for it. It is marked with painted wood blocks in the fairways. It is suitable for first-timers, young children, or that girlfriend who is curious about what you're doing with your Sunday mornings.

Lots of skilled players to learn from.

There's a practice basket near the parking lot. If you get there before the day campers, you can warm up your arm with long throws over a wide-open field.

Trash. Trash is becoming an issue. I'm the guy with the labrador pup. (Apologies if the mouthy little brat has nibbled your throwing hand.) He has chewed about a hundred coffee cups and three glass beer bottles. It is not fun trying to get shards of broken glass out of a frisky puppy's maw. There are barrels in the picnic areas. A short detour after holes 1, 4, 7, and 18 will bring you to them.

While there are brooms (and snow shovels) at most every hole, many need replacing. The rain and weather has rotted the bristles or the joints connecting the head to the handle.

**Edit** Several of the brooms have been replaced. Many of the tees have been rebuilt with crushed stone under the rubber matts. A few holes have new plank walkways over the swampy bits. This course just keeps getting better and better.

There are 2 quality rubber tees and 2 permanent baskets on every hole, so there is plenty of variety in distance, as well as hole shape, as the baskets and tees are often in very different places. The setup is almost like 4 different courses if you wanted to play each combination. There are both open and wooded shots, requiring a variety of shots. Nice tee signs at each set of tees, but they only provide information for white-white or blue-blue. Set in a scenic, well-maintained park with nice amenities at the parking lot. Some fun rock formations near the baskets on a couple of the holes. Nice boardwalks across the wetlands between holes. The more open holes had nice mowed-grass fairways.

Pace of play is a little slow due to crowds. Course navigation was a little tricky for a first timer, especially the walk from #4 to #5 and also between #17 and #18, but if you pay attention to the tee signs, there are next tee indicators there, and usually additional indicators near the baskets, but when you forget to look at the tee sign for where the next tee is, you sometimes need to pause to look for the next tee. There was also a fair amount of poison ivy.

I only played white-white, and really enjoyed the course layout. There was plenty of variety in the holes, and felt the course was a lot of fun. Having looked at the teeshots from some of the blue tees, it looked to be very challenging. A couple of the teeshots I almost laughed at, but if you want a challenge, it looked like the blue tees would be great for that. There are a couple of very long as well as very technical holes in the blue layout. The white-white layout was great for a quick round, as I did not have a lot of time, and I don't really enjoy punishing myself on disc golf courses. For an amateur, white-white is still plenty challenging and requires decent execution for scoring opportunities. The 17th was a fun hole to look at, with the mansion straight in front of the hole.

The pros of Borderland: everything between the tees and the greens. This course is incredibly well-designed. It's hard to point out the great parts of the course because it's all great. It's hard to single out notable holes, because they're almost all notable.

Borderland features outstanding rubber tees and signs that give all the information that is needed.

Borderland features my favorite terrain: Wooded, with plenty of trees, and barely any brush. No pinball here. Every fairway features multiple lines that reward accurate throws but will punish misthrows with knockdowns and kickouts.

The quality is recognizable almost immediately. From the second hole, it becomes obvious that it's going to be at least 4 stars. It's that apparent that this course was designed with expertise.

Ok, I'll mention a few favorite holes since I can use it as an example of the brilliance that is featured throughout the course . 2 looks like a wide open bomb, and it is from the white tee to the white basket. From the blue tee, its a bomb after an early, narrow gap. Shoot the white tee to the blue basket and be prepared to send that bomb to a precise location if you want a decent look down the second part of the fairway towards the green. Shoot blue to blue? That's a damn hard hole. Four completely different looks at just one hole. And that's just one for example.

The other hole that has to be mentioned is 17. You emerge from the woods to fun yourself in the backyard of the 1910 stone mansion that the park is built around. From the blue tee the throw is straight towards the estate but fades to the right before climbing the hill to the structure. It would be an outstanding final hole. I wouldn't mind so much a longer walk to the parking lot from there, especially with so much course behind you to sink in.

The only reason, and really the only reason, that this course isn't a 4.5, is the stuff that happens from the basket to the tee. The issues are in large part due to the distances between the white and blue baskets, but that doesn't mean that there aren't many times where the navigation is not intuitive. Many times there are arrows that point towards the next tee. These completely fix most of the tricky situations, but there are a few times out there where a few more arrows along the longer routes would be helpful.

It doesn't completely help that there are a couple paths that cross each other, and it definitely does not help that there are two very long walks. The last one is particularly bad, as it leads from an incredible 17, a long way to a more forgettable 18. It's very anti-climactic, and I hate that you lose the chance to bask in 17 because you're entirely confuse about where 18.

The flow here, where it's broken isn't the biggest deal. It doesn't affect the enjoyment of the holes too much. To me it takes a 4.6/4.7 course, based on holes alone, down to around a 4.2.

Still, I feel that this is one course that would get better as it was played more. After taking advantage of all four possible layouts, I'm pretty sure I would not be able to deny granting it a 4.5. Amazing course, that I would make sure I played every time I was in the area.

Long course with two baskets and teepads per hole.
-Challenging
-Scenic
-enjoyable changes in elevation
- enjoyed being able to throw all manner of hyzer and anhyzer shots.
- Great mix of open and tightly wooded shots
- great pin placements

Poor next tee signage. Generally speaking the next hole signage is difficult if playing the blue holes. I found that the blue tees were hard to find for a first timer. Hole three is very difficult to find from the blue basket on two.

I really enjoyed the challenge and hope to par it next time. Loved it.

Excellent course layout with different tee/basket combinations being challenging enough to replay several times in a day. I enjoyed the diverse pin locations and skill shots necessary to score well. Very upkept and the mansion is a beautiful side trip!!

Slow large groups block play but normally are courteous enough to let people play through. Course map is useless, please make larger and not so grainy!!

Overall awesome course, only pet peeve is with the players not the course...if you're experienced enough to carry 20+ discs play from the blues and stop bragging about -10 rounds from the whites! Free up the whites for inexperienced players to have some fun!

Two sets of Fly Pads on every hole with two sets of pins means a wide variety of layouts can be played. If an issue exists on the course it is taken care of immediately. The club puts all of it's money back into the course to keep up with improvements.

It gets really crowded with beginner players that play in large groups on the most difficult course. Often times that will be followed up with groups of 2 players that are playing the short course and want to play through every group.

Course is beautifully upkept. Most holes have some seating, and there are trashcans spaced out periodically. In regards to actually playing, this course caters to all experience levels. White layout is a pretty straight forward layout of par 3s that is a great starter course for beginners. Blue layout is a long, tricky layout that will challenge even experience players. Then you can mix it up with the White to Blues or Blue to Whites. Works wonders for keeping trips to the park from feeling stagnant or repetative.

I wish there were pars listed for the Blue to White and White to Blue layouts. Only info available is for the White to White and Blue to Blue.

Lot of wetlands, so mosquitos are pretty nasty during the summer. Also, this is a VERY popular park. Aside from errant hikers, you also need to contend with vast herds of newcomers. It is wonderful seeing how popular the sport is becoming, but there are some days where they make the park almost unplayable. It is not uncommon to find yourself stuck behind a group of 10 who won't let you play through because they were there first. When I played this past Sunday, I saw 3 seperate groups of 9+.

Unfortunately if it is remotely nice out and its a weekend, I would really advise against playing here. Dacey Fields right up 495.

I can't even try to count the number of rounds I've played here. One of the courses I learned on, and keep coming back because it is just that good. The layouts are challenging, the surroundings are beautiful. One of my favorite courses to visit in less than great weather, or playing hooky from work.