Pros:
- Camp Cullom is a seasonal 24-hole DGC located in a private day camp's beautiful property. Distances range from short aceruns and deuce-or-die style holes from the am tees, to a longer, more grueling style of golf from the pros. Heavily wooded with lots of elevation and water, Camp Cullom is a borderline destination course.
- Elevation in spades, used liberally: a downhill bomb (hole #6); tricky uphill, follow-the-road, heavily-wooded ravines-to-both-sides kinda holes (#'s 2 & 20); across-the-ravine aceruns (#'s 5 & 19); across-the-river-through-the-woods, then uphill to a pin with a massive dropoff behind, and a gorge to the right to boot (#10); steep-drop-offs to a riverbend below bounding the left of the fairway (#11); a tightly-wooded short up-and-over with a steep drop-off behind the green (#14); and more. There are plenty of flat holes, too, so the course has an exceptional balance between holes with elevation and holes without.
- Water in play on hole #'s 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 18, & 24. Only #10 requires a water carry, though, and that's a small creek not far off the tee. The rest of the water is lurking off the fairways in the form of creeks, streams, and swampy ponds. Usually only a terrible or very unlucky shot will find water, but it can happen.
- Straightforward routing and navigation. Wooden arrows under each basket show the way to the next tee. Other signage (albeit very faded) points the way to pro/am tees where needed. The transition from hole 22 to hole 23 is a bit tricky, as it is easy to skip ahead to 24. Keep your eyes open. A course map is located near the bathrooms, although it probably won't be necessary.
- Standout holes are the downhill bomb (#6), hole #10 (described above), hole #11 because of the massive riverbend drop-off, hole #14 with its insanely fast green, and the bigger of the two across-the-ravine aceruns (#19).
- Gorgeous nature scenery: woods, ravines, creeks, streams, marshy ponds, a few scrubby prairie-ish areas (hole #24 in particular), and some good hills to hike. Be sure to look for the riverbend drop-off on the left side of #11's fairway: it's stunningly secluded and beautiful.
- Amenities include practice basket, bathrooms, course map, trashcans at the parking lot (but not on the course...please pack in/pack out), latrines, playground area (for the kiddos), and gravel tee pads with both pro and am tees on most if not all holes.
Cons:
- Deteriorated and/or neglected gravel tees. Hole #2's pro tee was slightly overgrown. Hole #'s 8 pro tee is crushed by a tree limb at the moment. Hole #20's pro tee washed completely away a decade ago. The gravel tees can be rutted and mushy in places.
- Seasonal.
- Rough is rough in places. And by that I mean, if you get off the fairway, you'll be wading through a nipple-high nettleverse of pain. If you don't know what stinging nettles are, or look like, you'll be familiar with them after Camp Cullom. They're definitely not on every hole, but they're lurking, waiting for their opportunity to hot-sauce your leg.
- Shared roadway/fairways.
- Intersects with walking trails. Peds have right of way. Usually not an issue, though.
- Does play through some less-scenic camp building areas, mostly at the beginning.
Other Thoughts:
- No alcohol.
- May want to call the camp in advance if traveling to ensure the course is open.
- Sign in at entry kiosk prior to play.
- Camp Cullom is really exceptional disc golf. Challenging yet fair, with a really impressive balance of hole types and distances. Add the top-notch scenery (at least for this area of the country) and Camp Cullom easily makes my relatively exclusive "Favorites" list. If a bit of scruffy rough and some less-than-perfect tees aren't your thing, then maybe skip the Camp. But if you're looking for epic, challenging golf from the pro tees in a secluded natural environment, this is the place.
- If this course wasn't seasonal, somehow removed the nettles, and did some minor tee maintenance, it would easily be a 5.0 course. But seasonal closures are never fun, and the tees here do need some serious attention/upkeep. I don't mind the nettles too much, but they may render the course unpalatable for novices and or families.