Pros:
(1.271 Rating) A tourist destination that happens to have a basic nine hole course.
- BEAUTY... OFF THE COURSE - One of only a handful of places I've been to where the other aspects of the location trumped the disc golf. Well in this case, it far out shown the course. Mackinac Island is like a journey through time. Getting off the ferry is something else. Tons of bikes and horses. Lake Shore Drive along the Ferry's pier is flanked with 3-story early 20th century historic buildings. The flowers and maintenance of all the businesses and houses was surreal. The only drawback was the smell of horse doo doo everywhere. Watch your step.
- BEGINNER FRIENDLY - Overall I would rate the challenge of Turtle Park as Novice level. Perfect for beginners to work on distance and RHBH hyzer shots. The odds of losing a disc is low.
- CHAINS - This is the first time I ever saw 9 portable DISCatcher baskets on a course. This will make it easy to tweak the layout into something more appealing.
- EXTRAS - Restroom, water bottle filling station, shelters and playgrounds are on site.
- QUICK PLAY - I took up less than 30 minutes of my families time to bag this one.
Cons:
Lots of issues with this course.
- MULTI USE HAZARDS - Staring down the first hole I quickly got into the mindset that this course does not care about the surrounding built environment. Paths in play, buildings in play, sport fields in play and playgrounds in play. Almost every hole has a safety issue. Visitors who come here during an active park setting will likely have to skip several holes. I think more could have been done to limit some of this.
- LACK OF CHALLENGE - As noted above, it feels like a novice level course. I grabbed just one disc from the bag before boarding the ferry here and it did me just fine. I actually finished 3 under and should have been lower. Mostly park style shots. A couple are sub 150 foot dinker length. Even par I'd guess would draw ratings in the 830 range. Very little power or precision is needed here.
- MISSED OPPORTUNITIES - Man I wish more of the woods were used. Hole (5) is the only shot that makes a teasing poke into the euphoric woods. This course would be so much better if it played mostly in woods with a few treks into the open areas.
- LOCATION - This is officially the most remote course I've ever played, so good luck to all the hardcore 1000 courses bagged peeps on getting here. I only saw one of y'alls as marking this course as played. I seriously want to know how the f dgcr member Cox3 played here. Dudes from Louisiana and he's the sole 1000 courses played member claiming to have played this course. How did I end up here? It seemed like a good family pit stop on a drive between NE Wisconsin and Traverse City Michigan. If you end up here, I highly recommend checking out Arch Rock. I also enjoyed the graveyard. The drive across the Mackinaw Bridge is awesome as well.
- DISTANCE FROM PARKING - Also officially the farthest I've traveled from my car to get to a course. (I don't count Golden Gate DGC as I took the bus.) I parked 7 miles away. A twenty minute ride on Shepler's Ferry, then a good mile walk to the course. Bikes are rentable or you can also take a horse drawn carriage.
- PAY TO PLAY - It's not technically pay to play, but might as well be listed as one. My ferry ticket was $29. I spent over $100 to send my family of four over to the island.
- NAVIGATION AND SIGNAGE - Only rudimentary pieces of the hole signage is left. Players will need an app to play this one correctly. Only about half of the stone paver tee markings are left or at least that's all I found. No directional cues or course map on site.
- COURSE AMENITIES - Just nine nice baskets. Natural tees, no benches, no extra tees, no alt placements and no practice basket.
- HOLE VARIETY - Very bland considering the backdrop around the course. Mostly sub 250-foot park style shots. Many players will be able to get by with one disc if they are ok with not being competitive. Hole (5), imo was the only cool shot with the basket in a blind pocket at the top of a 15-foot mini bluff. Hole (1) and (9) has some modest appeal. The rest were forgettable.
- COURSE BEAUTY - I think I walked about 3 miles while on the island. The course part was literally the worst looking section I saw the whole time. Not god awful, but no better than 10 percentile among all the 500 plus courses I've played now.
Other Thoughts:
One of the more unique places I've ever been too. Like taking a time warp back to 1900 due to the banning of regular motorized vehicles like cars, trucks and buses. I would come to Mackinac Island even without the disc golf course bonus. This place is a gem. As for the course, it needs lots of work. Definitely not a destination course. I would only recommend the regular player to come here if they are here for several days. It's very likely that most visitors that come here have a better disc golf example they call home.