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Fitzgerald Park reviews
10
0
Decent, but missed potential for more
Reviewed:
Updated:
Played on:Jul 12, 2024
Played the course:once
Pros:
Fitzgerald Park is located in Grand Ledge, MI - a short drive west of Lansing. The park is home to 18 holes of disc golf, among other amenities.
The first five holes here are park-style golf, with a light to heavy dose of old growth tree trunks to work around depending on the hole. Hole 6 plays UP a sledding hill, so it is mostly open. The designers pushed the tee off to one side to make the hole play as a dogleg left. The course then dives into a wooded area for holes 7-16, before emerging into a more open area again for the final two holes. There is thick brush off to the side of all three more open holes, so even those aren't gimmes.
The hole that stood out to me here was #15. It's only a 190' hole but there's this huge...mound? right in the center of the fairway for the first 150' or so. The mound is maybe 8'-10' high and slopes down to almost perfectly flat woodland on both sides. It looks like a giant decided to lie down in the woods and then got covered with dirt over time. I've never seen anything like it. Then you get over/around the mound and see where some of the dirt probably came from. On the approach to the basket is what looks like a big sinkhole, full of downed tree branches. Just a bizarre and interesting hole.
Overall, I'd call this course friendly to rec level players and probably still enjoyable at intermediate level. There are four holes that play 400' or longer and are signed as par 4s. The rest are mostly in the 200'-300' range.
The basic course infrastructure is mostly adequate. The baskets are Chainstars in fine shape, although they can be tricky to spot on the wooded holes. The tee pads are concrete and long enough, if a bit narrow. The tee signs have a funny clip art style, but they are fine. These have hole distances to the nearest 0.1ft. I like precision, but honestly any course could round to the nearest 5ft and I wouldn't mind. There are trash cans and benches periodically.
There is a kiosk with a course map at the first tee. That map is pretty faded, but there is also a QR code to download an electronic version. There is a restroom between holes 1 and 2.
You could play only holes 1-6 or 7-18 if short on time.
The first five holes here are park-style golf, with a light to heavy dose of old growth tree trunks to work around depending on the hole. Hole 6 plays UP a sledding hill, so it is mostly open. The designers pushed the tee off to one side to make the hole play as a dogleg left. The course then dives into a wooded area for holes 7-16, before emerging into a more open area again for the final two holes. There is thick brush off to the side of all three more open holes, so even those aren't gimmes.
The hole that stood out to me here was #15. It's only a 190' hole but there's this huge...mound? right in the center of the fairway for the first 150' or so. The mound is maybe 8'-10' high and slopes down to almost perfectly flat woodland on both sides. It looks like a giant decided to lie down in the woods and then got covered with dirt over time. I've never seen anything like it. Then you get over/around the mound and see where some of the dirt probably came from. On the approach to the basket is what looks like a big sinkhole, full of downed tree branches. Just a bizarre and interesting hole.
Overall, I'd call this course friendly to rec level players and probably still enjoyable at intermediate level. There are four holes that play 400' or longer and are signed as par 4s. The rest are mostly in the 200'-300' range.
The basic course infrastructure is mostly adequate. The baskets are Chainstars in fine shape, although they can be tricky to spot on the wooded holes. The tee pads are concrete and long enough, if a bit narrow. The tee signs have a funny clip art style, but they are fine. These have hole distances to the nearest 0.1ft. I like precision, but honestly any course could round to the nearest 5ft and I wouldn't mind. There are trash cans and benches periodically.
There is a kiosk with a course map at the first tee. That map is pretty faded, but there is also a QR code to download an electronic version. There is a restroom between holes 1 and 2.
You could play only holes 1-6 or 7-18 if short on time.
Cons:
There are only a couple of holes with appreciable elevation change, and no water hazards. That is the case even though you catch glimpses of some wild-looking ravines and creeks around the edges of the park. These features seemed like they could have been brought into play to add more variety and spice up the course. Some of the walks between holes seemed unnecessary too - like there was room to add another hole in. All of this felt like missed opportunities to make the course more exciting.
Navigation isn't the best here. There is only the faded physical or QR code-electronic map on the kiosk. This map is decent, but still lacks important context (i.e. showing the adjacent hiking paths in the woods, some of which are utilized as paths between holes). Because of that, I still got confused a couple of times. Also, since I normally say that "use UDisc for navigation" is inadequate I have to call this solution inadequate as well for consistency's sake.
Some minor safety concerns. The first five holes play around the edges of multi use areas, and some remaining holes play near hiking trails. Nothing egregious though.
No practice basket.
Navigation isn't the best here. There is only the faded physical or QR code-electronic map on the kiosk. This map is decent, but still lacks important context (i.e. showing the adjacent hiking paths in the woods, some of which are utilized as paths between holes). Because of that, I still got confused a couple of times. Also, since I normally say that "use UDisc for navigation" is inadequate I have to call this solution inadequate as well for consistency's sake.
Some minor safety concerns. The first five holes play around the edges of multi use areas, and some remaining holes play near hiking trails. Nothing egregious though.
No practice basket.
Other Thoughts:
There is a booth near the entrance of the park that looked like a pay station, but I got the impression that it was permanently decommissioned (meaning that the park is now free to enter, and the disc golf is free to play).
This is a decent course, but after seeing the available terrain I left a bit disappointed. I feel like this course could have easily been better, but instead the designers decided to "play it safe" and restrict it to the more "boring" areas of the park. If it were redesigned to use the ravines and creeks, this could probably be a 3.5 to 4.0 type of course. As is, a weak 3.0 - a fine option for locals but nothing to go out of your way for.
This is a decent course, but after seeing the available terrain I left a bit disappointed. I feel like this course could have easily been better, but instead the designers decided to "play it safe" and restrict it to the more "boring" areas of the park. If it were redesigned to use the ravines and creeks, this could probably be a 3.5 to 4.0 type of course. As is, a weak 3.0 - a fine option for locals but nothing to go out of your way for.
2
1
leindecjoeld
Experience:
12.5 years
18 played
5 reviews
Fun to play, hard to navigate 2+ years drive by
Reviewed:
Played on:May 19, 2013
Played the course:5+ times
Pros:
Great use of elevation- Holes 3,8,9,10 all utilize the park's hills quite well. I really like throwing hole 3, because the hill allows me to finesse a disc near the basket nicely. Also, hole 8 allows for the same sort of finesse with a forehand throw.
Scenic Park- The grand river has carved a beautiful park with nice elevation changes, and the disc golf course weaves through it nicely.
Nice variety in hole length- Two holes under 200 ft, ten holes 200-300 feet, five holes 300-400 feet, and one hole +400 feet.
Good mix of wooded and open holes- The course starts and ends on open holes, and the majority of the middle holes play through the woods. I like this because the first few holes warm up the arm nicely before you start the finesse shots in the woods.
Scenic Park- The grand river has carved a beautiful park with nice elevation changes, and the disc golf course weaves through it nicely.
Nice variety in hole length- Two holes under 200 ft, ten holes 200-300 feet, five holes 300-400 feet, and one hole +400 feet.
Good mix of wooded and open holes- The course starts and ends on open holes, and the majority of the middle holes play through the woods. I like this because the first few holes warm up the arm nicely before you start the finesse shots in the woods.
Cons:
Hard to navigate- as the other reviewers stated, it is hard to find your way around the first time you play the course.
Tee pads suck- The tee pads are marked by painted rocks... sometimes. Other times you are left guessing by the worn in spots others seem to have thrown from.
Tee pads suck- The tee pads are marked by painted rocks... sometimes. Other times you are left guessing by the worn in spots others seem to have thrown from.
Other Thoughts:
Once you learn your way around this course it is a very fun course to play. The hole variety is nice, but the course will not wear out your arm. With only six holes over 300 feet you will rely more on finesse throws than power throws, but the terrain and foliage make even the short holes challenging.
