Trapp Family Lodge plays host to an 18-hole disc golf course nestled around the hills, woods, and meadows around the Bierhall. This course provides a great variety of shots and challenges, and my round at Von Trapp was easily one of the most fun I've played in 17 years of chucking plastic discs.

Location of the Trapp Family Lodge is in Stowe, which is about 50 minutes outside of Burlington depending on how many slow and overly passive drivers you get caught behind (sorry, my Chicago roots needed to get that out in at least one Vermont review). You'll pass through some smaller towns on the way here, but I'd recommend getting gas and food before you begin your adventure to this course unless you plan to get food at the Bierhall. For course baggers, there's other courses not too far, including Center Chains and the Smuggler's Notch duo.

Amenities are limited to what's in the Bierhall, though I'm sure you can get water at no charge. They also have a bathroom inside that's available to you, as well as discs in the gift shop.

Course Equipment was in great shape during our round at Von Trapp. The baskets are Mach 5's and were in great shape and caught well. There are two tees per hole, with the blues being rubber and the white tees being natural and signified by stakes. The tee signs have all the info you want, with a hole layout, distances, par, and next tee direction. There's also plenty of next tee location signage to avoid folks getting lost. The kiosk at hole one also has QR codes you can use to pay the fee to play the course (you can also pay in the Bierhall). There are also bridges and steppingstones where you'd want to see them, as well as benches/huge boulders (stones? Rocks? Bueller?) to sit on at every single hole. The course is maintained super well too – hole 8's tee had some stability issues when we played but that was fixed when my friends went back to play again two weeks later. All in all, A+ equipment, even with the rubber tees.

Course Design at Von Trapp uses meadows and woods around the Bierhall to provide a round of disc golf with elevation, varying levels of foliage, and everything else rural Vermont provides within the green mountains. The course is designed to be enjoyed by all skills levels, and it manages to provide a lot of fun shots without getting too overly technical. All in all, this course is an absolute joy to play thanks to its maximization of the land it sits on, and most skills levels will have a blast playing this course.

Shot-Shaping opportunities are plentiful across this course. Holes 2, 8, 12, and 15 all have varying degrees of RH hyzer shots, with some like hole 8 including a downhill slope to consider as well. Other holes like 7, 10, and 14 curve to varying degrees to the right, giving RHBH players an anhyzer challenge and lefties an opportunity to throw some hyzers themselves. Other holes 1, 4, 6, and 13 are straight but have other obstacles to consider, such as tight greens, trees in the fairway, or rolling hills. All in all, there's a bit of everything to this course, and well-rounded players will be rewarded with lower scores than one-trick ponies.

Elevation is also a very prominent feature at Von Trapp, with most of the holes featuring at least some level of elevation change. Hole 16 is the most obvious case, with the short 183-foot hole having an extreme hillside to throw over before reaching a more level green. Outside of that though, the first three holes are really the only ones on the course that I wasn't thinking about elevation on. Holes 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 16, and 18 all have uphill features to varying degrees, with 4 and 6 being more gentle and the others being more prominent. Holes 5, 8, 9, 12, 14, and 17 all have downhill drives, with 8, 12, and 17 being the touchiest because of tighter landing zones or steeper changes in elevation. Hole 13 has rolling hills, with a hill being in the halfway mark of this longer hole. 7 Also is a pretty unique case, with a slight downhill in the first half and a steep green to navigate on your second shot. All in all, plenty of elevation is present on this course that's amongst the green mountains – go figure.

Openness runs the full spectrum across the 18 holes, varying from open field shots with just one or two trees to navigate to tough wooded shots that require a particular line. Holes 4, 6, 9, 10, and 13 are the most open, with a rogue tree or high grass along the fairways being the most to deal with for the most part. Holes 2, 11, 14, and 15 are the most wooded with varying degrees of tight fairway lines to navigate. Other holes fall somewhere in the middle. 7 for instance has a woods gap to hit followed by an open approach. Hole 17 is similar, with a tight fairway to hit off the tee and plenty of trees to the right, followed by a more open second shot with a pond on the left to avoid. Hole 3 borders the eood line but isn't too closed off.

Distances are pretty forgiving to those with shorter drives in their arsenal, with the course ranging from 183ft to 602ft. Some of the par 3s are on the longer side and will be pretty hard for a lot of folks to birdie, but are more than reachable for par. Holes 7 and 13 feel like they could be 4s in my opinion, but 4s would be really easy to birdie in both situations. Hole 17 is the true par 4 of the course and is appropriately designated as just that. All in all, the distances feel very welcoming as a whole to a variety of players, and I think the course caters well to any newer players that are stopping by the Von Trapp facilities as a whole and want to give disc golf a try.

Difficulty caters to a wide range of players given the multiple tees. I think rec and intermediate players will find this to be a fun yet challenging course from either tee pad, and I think higher skilled players will also find the shot shaping fun as well. I think the overall risk reward regarding potential penalties off fairways make this a pretty forgiving course as a whole. If you want an easier round, the white tees are much shorter and have more open and direct looks at the pins.

Course Highlights for me are holes 13, 15, and 17. 13 is just a nice open hole that's pretty forgiving but has just enough obstacles to keep things interesting; a great opportunity to rip a full speed drive. Hole 15 is a great wooded hole with an absolutely beautiful approach with the basket atop some boulders. 17 is such a nice hole that I kind of wish it was the finale; with that picturesque look off the tee and the need to intentionally place two drives, one around the tall trees to the left and then a long blind shot to the pin. If I ever consider what my dream 18 would be out of all the courses I have played, 15 and 17 would definitely make the initial list of contenders, especially 17.

Course Equipment is great overall and well taken care of. That being said, the tee pads could use improvements long term. The white tees are natural and marked by stakes, and some sort of intentional surface would be an improvement. The blue tees are rubber, and while they are level and nice to throw from when dry, I'm not a fan of rubber tees given how slick they can get when wet. Pavers, turf, or concrete would be great – maybe one of the first two options as those were great up at Smuggler's Notch. Also, the directional sign between 16 and 17 could be moved just a hint further up the path to before the split in the trail; Go left when you reach that point.

Safety Only really came into consideration for me on 13 in the event you throw a long drive too far left onto that road/trail, though I'm not sure how much that path is used anyways. Some holes are blind to the pin which is a minor concern for me but can lead to issues, so make sure you know if a group is somewhere in front of you (it's easy to tell from previous holes in a bunch of spots).

Pay-to-Play is a negative for some, and this course is $6 a round or $60 for a season pass. I'd pay this amount again in a heartbeat. If it was a public course, I'd probably feel a little differently, but I personally don't sweat private courses having a fee.

Course Design Limitations mainly just revolve around the course not being championship level, and not having as many longer holes as many other courses. That doesn't man I think the course is poorly designed; I just think they likely maximized the land available to them for this specific purpose without doing any serious tree extraction.

After playing the Smuggler's Notch courses back to back, my friend and I were questioning whether we wanted to go back out for more the following day. Ultimately, we convinced ourselves to play one more course, partially because my wife is a huge Sound of Music fan, wanted a hat, and would have judged me heavily for not taking the opportunity to visit the Trapp Family Lodge. I'm glad we decided to go as well, because this is easily one of my favorite courses now and one of the most fun rounds of disc golf I remember playing.

In case you haven't picked up on this when reading about the courses in these parts, Vermont is gorgeous, and just like with Fox Run Meadows, this course really highlights that with plenty of views of the surrounding green mountains. The course doesn't have to lean heavily on that to be entertaining though, as Von Trapp gets more entertaining the further you get into it. After you get through the first 6 holes that are a little more level and have more open shots, 7 hits you with the curved fairway and gap hit, and then after 9 and 10, it's all woods or intentional shots the rest of the way. The balance of open and tight fairways an open and wooded shots is perfect and provides some great variety.

This is a course that I think is so much more fun than it appears on paper when you just look at stats. It has the views and the mix of hole types to be a good course, but it also has a level of difficulty that I think hits the sweet spot of being accessible to newer players, while also being plenty of fun for more experienced folks. While this is a more objective thing, I think this course is designed in such a way that the fun factor really hits well and makes for a memorable round of disc golf. Plus, you can have food and beer afterwards in the bierhall? Sign me up.

Smugglers Notch was the absolute priority during my visit to Vermont, with everything else being a bonus. That being said, Von Trapp is a gem of a course, and I had just as much fun on this course as I did on either Brewster or Fox Run. While I'd recommend still prioritizing that two-headed monster up north, Von Trapp deserves love and a serious look if you are going to be in the area and have time to play a few courses.

Prost to the folks who own Von Trapp. Your disc golf course is fantastic, and I hop I get to play it again one day.

- Excellent Brewery and Food right there. I mean right there. What a way to pass a day
- Technical fun and fair golf that winds its way around the brewery.
- ace runs and some streams/ponds come into play
- fun technical lines that make you think before you throw

- tee pads are a good starting point, but this course would get another half to a full star if they were concrete
- pay to play, but fee is minor compared to the fun you get out of the course
- like any course, maintenance is key. If you visit when the grass is long, it could be annoying
- not a long course overall.

Just a pure delight to play. In fact, I enjoyed this course as much as some of the others in the area if not a little more. Why? Because it has an alpine feel and twists around delightfully while giving mere mortals a chance to score. Additionally, the brewery is right there and serves some mean schnitzel and of course beer. What's not to like?