Flower City DGC - Orange is the second course in the park, utilizing the woods and hills in the back part of the property. This new course provides a more secluded setting than its older brother, and uses elevation, trees, and a variety of shot shapes and lengths to provide a challenging round for anyone that plays here.
Location of Flower City Park is on the Northwest side of town, requiring navigation of a couple local roads after exiting Route 61. This is a smaller town of a few thousand, but gas stations and restaurants are around if you need to stop before or after your round. The orange course is a few minutes' drive within the park from the original course, and provides a much different vibe. The black course provides a setting of houses and other park amenities throughout its 18 holes, while the orange course only interacts with woods, corn fields, and a nature trail. If you drive onto the gravel road in the back of the park towards the nature trail and river access, you will eventually come to Well Shelter 1 to your left. Hole 1 is on the other side of the shelter, next to the pond.
Park Amenities are aplenty in Flower City Park, as this park makes up a good percentage of the city's land. The park has 7 total shelters, three of which have water, electric, and playgrounds nearby. There are bathrooms around the park, though it seems like some of them are seasonal. The park also has a large nature trail in the back of the park, multiple tennis courts and baseball fields, and a community pool. There are county fairgrounds in the park as well, making for plenty of infrastructure for larger events.
Course Equipment is coming along nicely on the orange course, with most of it being in place. The baskets are DISCatcher Champion Targets with 28 chains, all of which look super fresh being only a year or so old. The tee signs have a simple vibe to them, with hole numbers, distances, pars, next tee directions, and a graphic of the hole layout. Like with the black course, each hole has a unique nickname, which is always a fun quirk to a course. Most of the concrete tee pads are installed, and are very nice to throw off of. The folks putting this course together have made sure to keep the tee pads level despite some awkward ground levels, which is awesome to see. A few transitions between holes also have next tee directions.
Course Design
Shot Shapes and Hole Design - Flower City Orange incorporates a lot more wooded holes than the black course while also providing some open holes early and late in the round. The course mixes different shot angles to require you to throw plenty of shot shapes for a good score, with plenty of opportunities to throw hyzers, anhyzers, touchy up shots, and longer bombs.
Distances - Hole distances range from 188 to 675 feet long on this course, with the longest hole being the first one you step up to. The course is a par 61 as of the writing of this review, and mixes shorter wooded shots with longer open drives next to corn fields and wood lines. Most of the longer holes are at the start and end of the round, though hole 10 provides a break from the shorter holes at the mid-point of the course.
Elevation - There is a good amount of elevation variety on this course. While the black course mainly has flat or downhill shots, Flower City Orange mixes flat, uphill, and downhill shots throughout the round. Holes 6 and 8 are the most notable uphill shots, with this course having around 3 more uphill shots overall than the black course. Holes 7, 10, and 15 are the most notable downhill shots. The rest of the holes are fairly level with the exception of the valley on hole 9.
Use of Land - This course really snakes around corn fields and valleys to make up its 18 holes. The land this course sits on is surrounded or shared with corn fields, valleys, creeks, trails, and a railroad track, which results in a course that's very spread out. This could be a pro or a con depending on your preferences, but I will say that playing this course made for one of the quietest and peaceful settings to play a round of disc golf so far in my course bagging ventures (when I wasn't smacking trees with plastic).
Difficulty - This course is more challenging than the black course in terms of risk/reward opportunities and accuracy required for a good score. This makes for a nice compliment to the black course, both in terms of course design and difficulty.
Navigation - This seems to still be a work in progress, but there are multiple directional signs along the course that help with navigation. Despite some longer walks, I didn't have to check UDisc for the location of the next hole more than once or twice.
Highlights - Hole 7 is a very fun downhill ace run that also provides a challenging number of trees between you and the basket. Hole 10 is a very fun downhill drive into a gap in the woods, with plenty of risk/reward if you are wanting a birdie. Holes 17 and 18 are fun par 4s with opposite fairway shapes to end the round, with hole 18 challenging you to navigate the gap between the road and a cornfield, a fun challenge when the stalks are high.