Pros:
Grand Woods Park is near Lansing, MI on the Grand River. The park plays host to 21 holes of disc golf that stay well away from other park amenities. There is a main 18-hole loop, then three add-ons which can be played between holes 7 and 8.
There are several holes here where water could come into play. The most significant of these is hole 6, which is a narrow 313' fairway with a pond on the left and some thick woods on the right the whole way. The fairway first curls a bit to the right, then slowly arcs back around to the left. The basket is on a little peninsula jutting out into the pond. Fun hole. I turned over my attempt too far and it landed up a tree and took me about 10 mins to find.
Away from the water, there is a decent mix of fairways. The beginning and end of the course have a couple of mostly open holes in the main park, and the ones in between range from moderately open to tightly wooded. The distances range from 220' up to 460', making a good challenge for rec to intermediate players. There isn't any extreme elevation change here, but most of the park is on gently rolling terrain and it's enough to affect play on several holes.
The baskets are red Chainstar Pros that appear to be a relatively recent upgrade. I appreciated the bright color of these on the wooded holes. One per hole.
The tee pads are mainly concrete. They are really long, almost comically long in my mind since I don't really run up much. If you have a big run up you'll be happy with these. I think a couple of holes had short tee positions and those pads were well-secured turf. The A-C extra holes also have turf. Many tees have picnic tables and trash cans nearby.
Restrooms are available at the parking lot.
Cons:
This course really suffers from lack of signage. There are no tee signs, at all. There are only old wooden posts next to most tee pads that have stuff handwritten on them by players. There are no navigational arrows, and several long or branching paths between holes where I really needed one. After teeing off on hole 8, I had this weird premonition and decided to check UDisc to see where the extra holes A-C fall in the layout. As mentioned above, they are actually between holes 7-8 so I looked at exactly the right time. I would have otherwise entirely missed A-C. I also couldn't find the main tee for hole 13 so I think I threw from a short turf tee on that one. The DGCR map looks old but it is still reasonably accurate for the main 18. There is no map on the kiosk, and I weirdly did not have reliable cell service through much of the course here. Plan accordingly.
This course has been around a long time (per the course info page) and that becomes pretty evident when standing on some of the tee pads. What was once probably a clear line/lines off the tee, now has foliage grown into it making some throws seem much less reasonable than they probably once were. A prime example of this is #5 - which once was probably a great view from the tee, and a throw 380' slightly downhill across a low-lying area to the edge of the lake. Now, tall shrubs and small trees fill the low-lying area, making it very likely that one of them will interrupt your disc's flight and leave you stomping around in the mud through the thick weeds trying to find it. I felt very lucky to throw a perfect drive on this hole - it must have come within inches of a couple of the shrubs - and just barely clear the mess. Hole 14 off the tee has a similar problem - just less soggy. The park staff should consider cutting down some of the brush to re-open clearer lines to baskets.
It seemed like there was an overall bias towards right turning fairways, especially on the shorter holes. As a player who throws RHBH almost exclusively, I felt like I was trying to turn over drives and approaches a lot.
The Grand River itself defines the back boundary of the park, but never really comes into play on the course except for hole A. This felt like a bit of a missed opportunity.
There is no practice basket, despite there being plenty of room for one.
Other Thoughts:
Overall, Grand Woods Park DGC is decent but the signage and what I'll call "longer term maintenance" (e.g. trimming back brush) are holding it back. Hopefully these items are coming once budget allows. In its current state, I'd gently recommend the course if you are in the Lansing area and have already played Burchfield Park.