Pros:
This course is truly a pleasure to play!
Despite being a young course, everything is detailed and clean.
Fantastic signage!!! (photos to come) Someoneput serious time into hand carved wood signs with burnt etching to show details. The designer actullay carved the number, footage, and layout of the hole into the sign, and then went over it with a torch to burn in the highlights of the script and hole layout,
Tee pads are really nice. They used recylced rubber to create nice smooth pads with lots of space to run up on. Wood chipping around tees for a little fancy detail. Dual tees on every hole, but they aren't setup like Red Oak. The 2nd pad is for recreational distance, not for creating a different type of shot.
Great mix of open and wooded holes. Open hole fariways are nicely mowed, and the wooded holes are undercut very well so if you miss your mark, you can still find your disc easily. They even cut out some relief areas on the wooded holes, so if you can annie your disc to the hold, you can bail out and still have a makeable/attemptable 2nd shot.
Elevation on every hole, and is featured on two holes. Number 7 is a big uphill shot through a decent size alley of trees, no mando here you have to get it going straight. Number 9 is a big bomber downhill to a basket jailed in pines.
Cons:
It really hard to find negative things about this course.
We tee'd off around 8am, and the gate to the park was locked even thought he park was open. We had to park outside on the road and walk in about 300 yards to the first hole. That's about the only negative thing I can come up with, especially when we finished and the gate was open.
Other Thoughts:
This might be the best 9 hole course in MN. Very impressive with it's desgin and small touches, i.e. signage. I'll upload photos soon!
Course is part of the Side Lake Community Center (ice rink, playground, etc.)
Great camping nearby at McCarthy Beach State Park. Eat a meal at Bimbos on the lake, great pizza and tap beer.
Please respect this course, it would be a shame to see vandalism after all the ahrd work and time that went in to designing the course.
As always with me, if you come up to this area go play Giants Ridge and Hibbing DGC. The combination of the three courses is a treat! It doesn't get any better than frolf on the Iron Range!