Pros:
--Facilities (in season)
--Discatchers in good shape
--Elevation a factor on several holes
Cons:
--Dirt tees
--Hole #6 crosses access road
--Tee of #9 is overgrown
Other Thoughts:
Faribault, Minnesota is located roughly 50 miles south of the Twin Cities. Home to about 25000 people, it boasts two disc golf courses, both 9-holers. It is also home to one of the Minnesota Correctional Facilities, specifically the one where I started working about a month ago. A thus-far kind winter gave me an opportunity to extend my season and check out both of Fairibault's (FAIR-bo) offerings.
The park takes its name from the Wahpekute, a sub-group of the Dakota Nation. It sits within a residential neighborhood and in addition to the disc golf course hosts a picnic area, restroom facilities and basketball courts. The land slopes downward from northeast to southwest, providing some elevation. The edges of the park are populated predominantly deciduous trees, with older oaks dotting the center of the park and providing guardian trees.
Tee areas are bare earth, with trip-worthy tree roots crossing some of the throwing areas. Playing in a snowless December, I noted that a couple of the tee areas were strewn with grass seed, from which I inferred that creation of gravel, mat, or concrete pads is probably not in the works. Baskets appear to be Discatchers, complete with the yellow top bands, but they lack the usual text label. At any rate, they did their job, and were not askew or excessively worn.
Wapacuta is a par 30 course, with 3, 4 and 5 being designated as par 4's. 4 and 5 are at least somewhat understandable, both having sharp doglegs left, the former finishing downhill and the latter finishing up. I can't imaging the justification for rating #3 a par 4, but the fact that it is provided me with the pleasant surprise of finding out, upon putting my glasses back on at the end of the round, that I had finished under par.
Of the two courses in Fairbault, this is the more interesting. The city would easily pick up an extra 1/2 star, in my opinion, by installing tee boxes. Beyond that, it's a decent town course--an asset to locals and somewhere for travelers to play if their affairs otherwise lead them to this town.