It's finally time for me to write a review on Idlewild (I've been requiring at least five rounds on a course before writing, because I'm still a rookie at disc golf). Everything seems to have been said about this, one of the finest courses in the world. But did you know that despite being rated as near-perfection, they keep IMPROVING it?
Perhaps the best variety of holes (distances, elevations, water, tight shots, bomb shots...), challenging layout, fantastic tees, baskets, benches, trash receptacles, manicured fairways and 'Augusta'-like landscaping, from retaining walls to bridges...has been enhanced just this year with new full-color tee signs and course map, astroturf (!) on the creekside island greens, and the formal incorporation of holes A-F bringing Idlewild up to an incredibly challenging 24.
Unlike some other courses, the new holes complement the course well, and flow nicely, adding more water hazards and variety (yep, I've put one in the pond on hole D: the mando forces you to go 'over'). Holes A-E follow the long basket on #2 (just go up the hill to reach A), and lead nicely back after E to the long tee for #3. Then after #4, F doubles back very well to #5. The design clearly is intended to enhance the long tee experience, making Idlewild range from a brutal 7200' 18 hole course to a monster 10,500' 24 hole course. Even playing doubles, the Idlewild long course has taken me three hours to complete, but what fun!
We are so blessed in the Greater Cincinnati area with this course. I have to keep reminding myself: most folks don't have it this good. The chance for a beginner to get out here and happily get beaten up by this course is one I won't take for granted. As a first year player, but one who is hooked enough to have already logged 166 rounds of disc golf, I do have a love/hate relationship with Idlewild: it's beautiful, but I don't score well here; it's clearly the top course in the area, but if given the choice (at my skill level), I'd probably divert to Lincoln Ridge. BUT that's not a knock on Idlewild at all, because it's not really a course intended for me. Idlewild is obviously a course designed to challenge the best to bring their A-game every time. It's enough of a challenge to break 100 here on the 24 holes, but there are multiple tees and pin positions, as well as OB options from relaxed to ultra-strict, to custom tailor the Idlewild challenge to the best pro's in the world. Some holes (particularly #13 & #14) double in length (and nearly triple in difficulty) playing the 'longs'.
For me, the signature hole isn't the 1001 foot #15, which punishes your drive if you miss the fairway (the rough can be a disc-eater), and finishes at the base of a hill on an island green across the creek. It's not my nemesis hole, the 588' uphill, tightly wooded #6. It's not even the right-bending meadow-like 609' #10, where I first 'communed with nature' on a disc golf course (late last fall, on a sunny cool day, when I quietly stood in the fairway as deer grazed by about 40' away). For me, the beauty here is the downhill #11 mando through the Y-shaped tree, landing in a moderately wooded glade, still 100 feet from a tiny (the size of a small garage) island green across the creek, with strict OB all around. My best moment in disc golf was hitting this once for par! I would think getting this pretty hole for a birdie would be more of a thrill than hitting a simple, short ace (but then, I've done neither, yet!)
Truly, Idlewild is a wonderful experience, and one of the best courses the sport has to offer. You know, now that I think about it, even the cleverness of the course design is impressive. After your journey through every type of challenge imaginable, you finish on the 651' #18 by working your way up through a long shaded tunnel of trees to emerge at the bright open field finish. If I was a psychologist (actually, I am...) I'd almost interpret the design as intentionally representing rebirth at the finish (...nah, I'm not a Freudian, so it's just a great way to complete the experience, wipe your brow, and say to yourself, "I'll be back!")