Tucked away in the beautiful city of Wilmington, Delaware is this nice, 18 hole course located within Canby Park West.
The rolling hills and wooded scenery provide plenty of challenge for players of all skill levels, with options to play shorts or longs and multiple pin locations to mix things up every round.
We were fortunate enough to play a round on a gorgeous sunny afternoon and take in all this course has to offer.
While there were plenty of things to love about this course, there were certainly areas for improvement as well.
So let's take a look at all the things we liked, disliked, and would change in our full review of the Canby Park West Disc Golf Course!
Course: Canby Park West Disc Golf Course
Location: Wilmington, Delaware
Tees: Artificial Turf
Baskets: Some appeared to be DISCatcher, some were unmarked
Pay to Play? No, free to the public
18 Holes
What I liked:
Scenic and wooded
Multiple pin/tee locations
Located within a nice city park
What I didn't like:
Could have used better signage in spots for navigation
A noticeable amount of trash/debris
Tee Boxes- 4/5
One of the brightest spots of this course was the artificial tee pads on every hole.
As mentioned, we had sunny and dry weather, so the tee boxes functioned as expected. But had it been wet and rainy, the artificial grass should have provided plenty of grip to prevent slipping on tee offs.
There is some deterioration/wear showing on some of the tees as you might expect, but they all still functioned as they should, so no complaints from us on that front.
For this, the course earns a solid 4/5.
Baskets- 4/5
Moving onto baskets, and this course again earns itself a healthy 4/5.
All of the baskets showed some wear, but very subtle and all were still 100% functional showing no rust.
What prevented this course from scoring higher is that some of the baskets throughout the course were missing, but without any consistency.
For our round, we played short tees to short baskets, and for some holes, the short baskets were simply not there, despite the receiver still being there.
You'd think that the course is meant to be moved around, but other holes had both baskets in place, so its almost as if some of the baskets had been stolen at one point or another.
Regardless, we were able to effectively play our round without issue once we determined what basket we would play to if we recognized the short basket was missing.
Navigation- 3.5/5
Overall, the course was fairly easy to navigate in most areas, but we did have to do some searching for some, even with a downloadable map that can be found via a QR code on every hole sign that you scan with your phone.
Without the downloadable map, some of the holes and tees would be more difficult to find due to lack of other signage or because changes had been made to the course that were not reflected on the map or Udisc yet.
When you get there to play, download the map from the sign and you'll be good to go!
The course is somewhat cart friendly, but there are several places where you will need to carry it over creek crossing and ditches.
The signs on most holes do a good job of showing you were the tees are supposed
to be, where the baskets are supposed to be, the general shape of the hole, and
the distance from tee to basket with fairly consistent accuracy.
Difficulty- 3.5/5
There are some more difficult shots throughout the course, including some mando's, OB's, and water hazards, but for the most part, the course is very attackable with very nice and obvious lines to play through.
Many holes are wide open and throw into a small wooded area, or play out from a wooded area into an open field, so you don't need to worry about chopping down trees with your discs for too many shots.
The course is rather wooded, but does not have as many guardian trees as you might see on other, more difficult courses.
The length of many holes is also very manageable as players with average arm strength will be able to reach the basket using a putter or mid-range.
Playing from the longs does add a level of difficulty for most holes, as you would expect, and will force you to bump up to a fair way driver.
Appearance- 3.5/5
The wooded course is in okay shape as far as maintenance, but the course could definitely use a volunteer clean up day as there was trash and debris all throughout the course, especially in the wooded sections.
In places where tee pads had been replaced due to fallen trees, the remnants of the old tee pad were left to lay in the adjacent bushes, which does not leave a nice aesthetic look when playing a round.
As for the trash, garbage cans located throughout the course should help with the littering, but the course would need cleaned up first to make a significant impact.
As far as the vegetation, the grass was mowed down nicely for our round and the bushes off the fairway were all trimmed back nicely and did not get in our way at all. So no complaints there.
Additionally, if a disc went into the rough, the vegetation was not too thick to make recovery all that difficult.
On a side note, there were no visible bathrooms at the park, even when we drove around specifically looking for them. It did not affect our round of playing or our overall rating, but it is definitely worth mentioning to players who are interested in playing here.
Overall- 3.7/5
All in all, the course averages out to a solid 3.7/5, meaning that it is slightly better than your average disc golf course, which is a fair assessment in my opinion.
It's worth noting that this course does have a TON of potential and with a motivated club or group of locals could really become an extremely nice course.
It would take some sweat equity, but enhancements to signage from hole to hole and a full day clean up effort would be 2 things to make the most immediate impact that would push this course over the 4/5 threshold.
It would also be nice to see the full layout without missing baskets, but the course is completely playable as is. If the baskets were intentionally taken out, an information board notifying visiting players of the current layout and basket locations would be a big upgrade to player experience.
That all being said, if you're in the city limits of Wilmington, be sure to check out this course!
Have you played this course before ? Let us know what you thought of it in the comments!
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