Disc Golf Course Review

First I want to give thanks to the people who revamped New Hanover (NH) over the years. Kudos. I seen the results at least twice of their efforts, they do try... but the course also valiantly and viciously fights back.

Unlike a lot of other lower rated niners, it's not because NH is overly easy or boring. Never that, far from it actually. It just has other issues.

Mostly, at its core, #4, 5, 6, 7 which are side by side by side, they are long enough, but the small footprint made the fairways laser tight, unrealistically so, I feel. And the brush on the sides thick and unforgiving. Lots of pickers too.

The short distances on paper never matched up to its utter difficulty but yet doesn't attract the advanced crowd either. NH is my #3 course in the immediate area, after Boyertown Community and Kenilworth, but far ahead of Earl Township and Boyertown HS, despite the low points. Yet, I don't come here much, 30x in 7 years maybe? Fundamentally, these aren't enjoyable rounds, especially in summer.

It's a good fit for someone that thinks they have excellent aim and trajectories and wants to really prove it. Others can scramble, although the heavy brush makes it a pain.

It's also that rare course tilted towards LHBH/RHFHers. They will do well on #3, #5, and #9. Even hyzered #1 can be thrown a left trajectory over the parking lot.

If you make par here on advanced tees, unlike most other 9ers, it's a bit of an achievement. Idk if I ever quite reached it. Several holes usually foul it up for me.

+I make an unofficial #10 out of the practice basket near the beginning/end by teeing off from across the street hockey rink.
+Interesting terrain, especially the ravines by #3/4 and valley by #5.
+Park portopotty near start
+No DG crowd.

NH has a way of making average days bad and bad days miserable. Maybe it can make good days excellent but I have yet to experience that here. That's just how playing here is and why I don't get to it more often.

Shortly after every cleanup, it's like the course wants to fight back with fallen trees and what not. There were several tree trunks on fairways this time. The brush also sucks and a good retriever makes the course far more bearable.

Tees are a joke, concrete the size of a mat, and often badly placed by several feet in terms of angle. I've taken to ignoring them when it suits me. Some tees are more hidden over time but still findable. Some of the advanced ones in the middle are really hard.

Niceties like signs are from the stone age, an arrow and distance on fiberboard. Since a number are uprooted from their original position, complete with a concrete foot at the base, I doubt many accurate with the course changes anway. Don't expect next basket arrows or a course sign.

-This is a winter only course for me. Playing it end April / beginning May is already too much vegetation.

After #3 tee, I walked out straight back and there is good amount of land on wider trails with no one on them. Easily enough for 3 more baskets. It leaves me wondering why they designed the middle holes so packed next to each other.

Once, on #7, this narrow serpentine hole doing a reverse 'S', my friend chucked a forehand roller from the tee through the tees onto #2 and it somehow curled back to the middle of 7's fairway putting distance from the basket. I just had to laugh since it was inventive but also far farther than I ever got off the tee cause that fairway is not much wider than a bowling lane.

-Concrete tee pads
-Useful tee signs when present
-DGA Mach III baskets in varied states of repair
-Mild variety of shots, with uphill downhill, a few wooded holes, but mostly open shots
-Water in play for a few holes. #10 lets you decide if you want to water carry at 275' for a chance of birdie, or lay up for a safe par. Good fun
-There are a few downhill bomber holes that really let you air out your distance drivers

-Bathrooms appear to be permanently closed for cleaning
-Moderate amount of parking
-I don't believe any drinking water is available
-Wayfinding is very limited. No "Next Tee" signs. A few tee signs are missing and there is almost a quarter mile walk between holes 8 and 9. GPS is a must for first timers
-Park upkeep is not the best. the rough is very rough as well as swampy in a few places
-A number of the holes seem long with no good reason. I'm happy for long holes that make use of the environment, but there are a few that are over 600' and don't require any shot shaping

This course is close to my heart as it was one of the first courses I played as a beginner, starting almost 20 years ago. It's changed in a few ways, but is still a long course that lets you flex your distance drivers. The water adds real consequences, but is achievable for most players that are willing to be humble. if the upkeep would be better, the missing tee signs were replaced, and signage was put between holes, this course would be much more welcoming to new players. I hope that these changes can be made, but until then you can still push your limits on your max distance to get those edge of the circle birdies.

It does have six baskets and it is mowed

It's down to six baskets the tee pads are covered up there are no signs. No trees no obstacles no elevation

This was a good idea but the baskets needed to be put somewhere else and now that some are stolen it's not worth it

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4 x 8 level poured concrete tees on Gold and Silver layouts, excellent signage including elevation change, new Innova baskets including a practice basket. Kiosk at the parking lott. Brooms at most tees. Thorough wayfinding signage to the various tees, and the teeposts themselves include arrows pointing to the more forward tee positions. Bronze tees are natural, with lines of flush bricks indicating front.


The three layouts provide differentiation for level of challenge. The Bronze tees are well-forward, inviting and fair for newbies. The 12 separate Gold tees (6 are shared Gold/Silver) add an average of 100', and they play at the same par as Silver: a clever way to increase the challenge when you don't have a lot of room to stretch out the holes


They've cut down a lot of tree to create fairways, and they've created some really beautiful greens (3, 5 and 6, and another handful on the back nine. 18 is a large framed island with wood chips). Gold plays to two island greens; Bronze and Silver play to one island green (#18)


Crossing the park road to #8 and the course changes completely: three steep uphill holes and lots of elevation change on most holes

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- A lot of the front nine is hardly higher than the creek, and subject to being flooded out. Check conditions before heading out


- uDisc has this as "Not Cart Friendly" and I think that's more accurate than the "Somewhat" here. If it's wet, you're pulling a cart through mud, and the back nine will require dragging it uphill and navigating across a couple of steeply-side downhills. So it's possible, but probably not worth the effort.

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~ So many nice touches that improve play: logpiles guarding greens (and a few guarding tees from incoming fire), tight marked OB (don't be left throwing uphill on #8). Low bulkheads on a few hillside greens to protect against rollaways, and to encourage ace runs. Bells on a few blind holes to indicate clear. C1 whiskers here and there.


~ Signs indicating sponsors on each hole (and some holes have different sponsors on the different tees). Great indication of local support.


~ You could put together a short nine here if you want to leave out the steeper hills (1-7, 15, 18).


~ The finisher might be a little controversial: it's under 200' with a big downhill (20' of drop) to a large bordered green that plays as an island. A fun challenge, if not the typical closer (I was a bit disappointed to find it as the finisher). But when I looked past that one hole, I could acknowledge that the designer threw a wide variety of challenges on the closing four holes: #15 is a long and straight par 3 that requires clearing a stream in a ravine crossing the fairway, #16 is a very narrow downhill hallway with close OB on both sides (the road on the left will catch anything that goes nose up or fades too much), #17 is short uphill with a large tree at the top creating a low ceiling, and then #18 is a controlled putter to an island green. Whew. Lots of precision and concentration required to close out your round.


~ New, though mostly broken in already. Thoughtful design, fun, and lots of challenge variety to make it desirable for multiple plays.

nice tees
great signage
love the teak trees, no need for manicure
easy road in and out

just too short for me, played with a putter
5 down first time playing is not what i want personally
has some elevation not taken advantage of, just 1 shot and short

this could be a great course with some work as most things are in nicaragua.
overall, if you are in the area, it's worth a stop. you do not need to contact anyone, just show up, they will point you to the start. it's primarily for paintball, but it's a lovely little place that could be a gem for disc golf. 2nd best course i've played in nica, jiquillilo is the best for all levels of players.

There are a lot of pros. First of all, the maintenance of the course is generally very good, most of the time when I play this course I see the creator out there maintaining it and seeing what needs improvement.
It is a very good mix of open and wooded, you start and end with longer more open holes with tough OB's then the middle is all woods. There is a good variety of angles and shot types, elevation is very well used too.
Very difficult course, with many tough shots through the woods.
They are adding long baskets for some of the holes that make them even more fun and challenging.

In the summer, holes 1-3 and 17-18 have corn fields on either side that can make it easy to lose discs. I almost put it as a pro because the corn fields are OB, which makes the longer, straighter holes more challenging, but they can be a little annoying.
There is currently a very long walk from hole 9-10, but Chris (creator of the course) is putting in 9 more holes and some of them are going in that walk, so this con is getting addressed.
Not very stroller/small child friendly with some of the walks through the woods. There's a steep slope downhill and some bumpy paths that make strollers difficult.

All in all, I love this course! The cons are pretty tame all things considered. There's not much I dislike about it, would highly recommend to anyone in this area or passing through.

A course or not a course? Either way, a nifty park to throw in.

To depart from my enigmatic start - this is a totally charming park. Medium hills, thick pines, other trees, lush grass, and a central pond make for about as good a city park setting as you could imagine. I played here as the day was beginning to cool off, and it was lovely.

Three of those elements - great trees, big hills, and water hazards - make for great disc golfing. I threw some really enjoyable downhills, carefully shaped drives, and nervy water carries during my time here.

The seven DISCatchers are good, and their placement carefully thought out to provide a variety of approaches and greens. This is good, since most rounds here will involve rethrowing to the same basket a couple of times.

Okay, now the big problem: there are neither tees nor tee signs. Period. This is literally just baskets in a park. The definition of safari golf. Is it even a course if there's no defined layout?

Even if you did follow a layout such as the current 18-hole recommended on a certain app, you're going to be looping back on yourself, throwing across and back over fairways, and undoubtedly running into other throwers if any disc hurlers are out at the same time as you.

I hate to scrape so hard against this course. I really enjoyed most of the tee locations suggested by GPS, which made truly compelling shots. But its capacity, at best, is one group, and its flow is infinitely malleable.

Beyond this, there is a big issue of things being in the way. "Things" refers to people and buildings. Two baskets bring the playground into play, several options play over sports courts or storage sheds, and all of the water carries will put fishers in danger all around the pond. Add in some blind walking paths and mid-fairway picnic tables, and you have a safety nightmare.

I loved playing at Ford Park. It had all the gameplay elements of a great city park course. Unfortunately, its lack of clear flow, on-tee nature, constant human and civic risk, and the inability to play the entire property thoroughly due to high numbers of park-goers all draw this back more than substantially. It's a bit of an impossible rating, but overall I wanted to be nice and called it Reasonable. If you want nice safari golf, go ahead, but PLEASE be ultra-cautious of all the innocent park-sharers.

~Similar Courses: Well, none really. But if you ignore the glaring flaws, the gameplay has the feel of Earlewood Park (Columbia, TN), McCurry Park (Fayetteville, GA), or Tyus Park (Griffin, GA).

This place is beautiful. It has water (creeks), risk/reward, OB, Mando's, mostly wooded holes, layouts that force a huge variety of shots, and the architecture of the holes are amazing. Viewing the photos, will show you what I mean. The tunnel shot on 17 is a fantastic challenge for disc control. Some of the pin placements are tough but fair on many of the holes. It is fairly easy to get around as most of the walking paths are obvious. The creeks here seem to drain the holes nicely and help keep it in decent shape during the rainier months and sunnier days it provides nice shade throughout most of the course.

The uses pavers for the tee boxes and still have just a few holes left to complete that.

The Fun Factor was truly the layout and hole designs. I cannot express enough how nice and fun the holes are to play. It felt like you were really being spoiled with the tree cover protecting you from the sun and the light rain. This has become of my top ten favorite courses in Texas. When I retired, I moved to Longview and live near this course to make it my home course. That is just how much I like playing it.

Review #100 and Course #149 for me is Perryville City Park, a fun park style 18-hole course that snakes all around a vast, 100 acre park. This course makes the most out of the space provided, and has a little bit of everything you'd expect out of a recreational park course.

Location of Perryville is right on I-55, about an hour and a half south of St. Louis and 45 minutes north of Cape Girardeau. You'll most likely access the park via S Kingshighway, where you can take an immediate left and then complete a U-Turn to the right till you reach the parking lot with the disc golf course map next to it. There are some fast food options, mainly a McDonalds by the highway, as well as independently owned foot stops in town. There are also a few gas stations on Kingshighway. If you are wanting a day out of disc golf, There's also a 9-hole course at Northdale Park, just a couple minutes up the road. There aren't really any other super close courses; going south, you'll find another pocket of courses around Jackson and Cape Girardeau, and Chester and Ste. Genivieve have a couple as well.

Park Amenities are robust at Perryville City Park. This park has pavilions, baseball fields, pickleball and tennis courts, numerous walking trails, wildflower preservation spots, and a dog park, just about all of which you will see during your round. The park also has plenty of bathrooms, and I remember seeing a few throughout my round, including one right after hole 9.

Course Equipment is very nice as a whole at Perryville. The baskets are DISCatchers that I'm pretty sure are the originals installed in 2013, and while they're not looking the shiniest at this stage of their life, they're still catching great. The course also has a practice basket right by the parking lot with plenty of space to practice long putts and even approaches. The tees are all concrete and were very nice to throw from. The tee signs have all of the info you can really ask for, including pin locations, which pin is in use, pars, distances, and a basic hole graphic. The course map is also handy by the parking lot, providing a nice overhead shot of the course along with the park as a whole. My favorite equipment on site has to be the prominent next tee directions on every basket, which single handedly made navigation immensely easier on this course given some of the longer transitions. This course also has benches at plenty of the holes.

Course Design is composed of mostly 200 to 350 foot holes with varying numbers of mature trees to navigate. There's a nice mix of tee shots that either require straight drives, a particular shape in either direction, or careful navigation of low ceilings. The distances are fairly accessible to newer players when considering pars, with this course being more scorable for intermediate and advanced players, especially in the back 9.

Elevation doesn't necessarily vary to the degree the hole info page suggests, but there is plenty of subtle slopes throughout the course. Holes 1, 6, and 14 are the most uphill holes (especially 14), and holes 5, 15, and 17 play the most downhill. Other holes like 2, 11, and 12 have either valleys through the fairway, or pin placements that are on hillsides that make roll aways something to be wary of.

Shot-Shaping is going to be an essential skill for you to have on a lot of the holes at Perryville. Holes 5, 7, 9, and 11 are particularly right hand back hand favoring shots off the tee, while hole 13 is the primary spot where an anhyzer is going to be most beneficial for that same throwing style. Holes 2 and 3 will have you navigating a low ceiling. Many holes like 5, 14, and 15 have multiple lines to the basket. Others like the A pin of 14 and 3 require a pretty straight shot. Overall, you'll need a little bit of everything here at some point.

Distances are mainly in the 200 to 350 foot range, though 16 and 18 have B placements that are par 4s and around 450 feet. A lot of the longer holes feel shorter than their lengths suggest, even those that aren't downhill. For the most part, there's a decently consistent ratio between the length of a given hole and how many obstacles you'll need to navigate, with a lot of the shorter holes having more specific shot requirements.

Difficulty leans towards intermediate players. Newer players that don't have good accuracy or distance on their drives will find a lot of the shots challenging on this course, and may have a little trouble hitting par, as the distance/par combos are fair but tough on a lot of holes, especially in the front 9. Advanced players, on the other hand, will likely be able to score really well on this course. DGCR usually has me in the 890 to 920 range of rating, and I was able to hit a -7 on this course with 5 birdies to end the round. If you can throw 250 feet somewhat accurately, ending with a turkey is in the cards with two fairly open 450 foot holes and a very short hole 17.

Course Highlights: Hole 15 is a fun one, downhill with plenty of trees. You can either go for the straight shot, or hit a wide line either direction. Hole 18 is also a fun design, with 450 feet and a slight hill about 2/3rd of the way to the pins. The A placement is at the top of a drainage ditch with trees on either side, a fun tunnel challenge to end your round if the basket is in that spot.

Proximity To Other Amenities is definitely the main con to this course that was on my mind throughout my round. This park has plenty of other park uses and pathways, and this course snakes around jus about all of them. That comes with plenty of spots where you're throwing close to other paths and fields. Hole 2's pin is close to a path that isn't visible until you are on the green. Hole 4's pin is close to a shelter. Hole 5's pin is close to a path that many player's shots will curve towards. Hole 8 plays over a path, though you can see pedestrians before throwing. Hole 11 plays towards a baseball field that is much easier to end up in than it looks (trust me). Hole 15's pin is also very close to a path. I could see on nice Spring and Summer days, especially those when ball games are being played, a risk for discs to end up where they shouldn't, especially if the disc golfer isn't looking before they throw.

Sogginess and Drainage Holes are also very prominent throughout the course. Hole 5 plays close to a ditch, which was pretty wet given recent rain. Hole 14 has one as well. Hole 18, while a fun design, also revolves around a drainage area. There are also plenty of other spots where there are drainage areas a disc could end up in. Most of them are covered with grates, but there are still plenty of disc sized holes in those areas and I've seen weirder things happen than a disc hitting such a spot just right.

Trainsitions can be pretty long, especially 8 to 9, 9 to 10, 11 to 12, and 12 to 13. The directional arrows on the baskets really are helpful and will get you to the next hole; just expect some long walks, many of which have zero shade.

Course Equipment seems to have been improved overtime given some of the older reviews, particularly with signage. That being said, I wonder how much more life the baskets have given how they are looking. I didn't have any issues with them catching, but the bands and metal are far from pristine at this point.

Course Difficulty may not be very welcoming to newer players, as many of the holes will be hard for any new or novice to score on. At the same time, advanced players will likely score all over the course. The pins don't add too much variety in shot shapes or challenge.

Overall, Perryville City Park provides a fun round of golf. My expectations weren't super high driving down for the afternoon, but the setting throughout the park was very nice to walk around, especially with the parts not around the ball fields. The park gets plenty of use by the community, and it's obvious that groundskeepers and the parks and rec department take good care of this and other parks in town. Perryville really seems to punch above its weight in the parks and amenities department for a town of its size.

This isn't a course I'll be driving an hour and a half out to play again, but I'd be happy if this was a home course for me, and I'll be keeping it in mind if I find myself traveling south on 55 in the future.

If you're driving up or down 55 and want a disc golf break, this course is a nice option for you. I hope this course gets plenty of traffic by the community, and while it's not a destination course by any means, I'm happy to have it be my 100th review for DGCR. Here's to the next 100!

Swope has all the trimmings of a nice course, with 18 massive tee pads and 18 MachX baskets in great condition. Benches have been installed on about half of the tees and 3 and 11 have trash cans on their pad as well.

A few spots of tricky elevation. 1, 2, 9, and 18 have scary slopes on some of their pin spots. Long downhills on 6, 13, 14, and 18 are contrasted by shorter uphill throws on 5 and 16.

Some trees to avoid off the tee of 1, and staying low to reach the longer pins of 3 is important. 18 has a treeline on the left to either avoid or go around, and 8 and 9 are shorter holes with a bit of tree challenge.

Eight of the holes have zero obstacles, and in certain pin spots that number could go up to ten! The obstacles that exist are fairly easily cleared besides 18's trees. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's pitch and putt as some of the open holes approach 400 feet, but bogies are hard to come by if you have decent distance and approach game.

Wayfinding has declined over time. In the beginning each tee had a large white sign, now the only one remaining is on 15. Paths through the grass are somewhat worn to help, but longer transitions (5 to 6, 17 to 18) may be difficult without a map.

Creek crossings are highly dangerous. Hole 1's long pin, 1 to 2, 3 to 4, and 9 to 10 all require crossing a creek just large enough to be annoying. Wood pallets were out down early on to keep you from having to jump over... all but one of those have rotted away.

Maintenance is below average and inconsistent. Thigh high grass awaits if you get off the fairway on 2-9 and 13 and 14. 1, and 15-17. 10-12 and 18 were freshly mown, but who knows how they'll end up. Just be aware it may be an unpleasant time.

Parking might be an adventure as this is a popular hangout for locals and there isn't much parking available for the course proper.

At the beginning, improvements were said to be coming. It's been nearly four years since course installation and things have only gone south from there (apart from the benches being installed).

I don't recommend this course to anyone unless you just have to bag it, and especially if you've heard the name "Swope" as something great. I'm glad I never got to play the old one so I have no comparison to make. The course of legend sits half under an animal shelter since the city lied about where it was going (do NOT bring that up with the locals. Still very sore), and the replacement is a bore that no one seems to care about improving. Change is welcome, but doesn't seem to be on the horizon.