For this review, we're going to keep things local and take a look at the disc golf course located in Prince Gallitzin State Park!
The first thing you'll notice about this course upon arrival is the beautiful scenery that this state park has to offer.
Besides some recreational fields, playgrounds, picnic pavilions, and beach areas, you'll be able to take in all the sights and sounds of nature as you play through the wooded forest surrounded by a gorgeous lake.
But enough about everything else, let's talk about the course!
The heavily wooded course will certainly challenge you, and I suggest warming up as your arm will be tested on many of the holes.
The difficulty is manageable throughout with a wide variety of hole shapes that will require you to think outside of the box at times with use of your whole bag, all with just enough guardian trees to make things interesting.
While the difficulty is there, so is the opportunity for birdies that you'll need to take any chance you get!
Now that we got the disc spinning,
Let's get into the full review!
Course: Prince Gallitzin State Park Disc Golf Course
Location: Patton, Pennsylvania
Tees: Rubber Mats
Baskets: DISCatcher
Pay to Play? No, free to the public
18 Holes
What I liked:
Scenic
Multiple pin/tee locations
A lot of free activities at the state park
Hole stats on the front of the tee pad
What I didn't like:
Could use better signage in spots for navigation
Needs better tee pads
Could add difficulty with multiple pin locations and short/long tee pads
Tee Boxes- 3.5/5
The tee boxes throughout the entire course consist of 2 types of rubber matting.
Some holes have a solid rubber matting as shown in the first picture below while some are built using a holed rubber mat.
While it wasn't raining when I played this course, we had gotten a lot of rain throughout the week and the tee pads were still rather slick on some of the holes.
This seemed to be due to a slight film being on the tee pads simply from forest dirt and debris that dries more slowly than if the tee pads were brushed clean.
The holed tee pads did seem to be better for this, but on many of the holed tee pads, there was so much dirt and forest debris in the holes that I'm not sure it was much better than simply having a packed in, mulched tee box.
One thing I really did like about the tee boxes was that the front wooden part of the tee box had the hole number, par, and hole length etched into it.
One of the biggest upgrades on the course would be installing full concrete tee pads, which would definitely boost up my rating of a 3.5/5.
One of the solid rubber mats used for a tee off, these were a but slick in places!
One of the tee pads with a holey rubber mat, better grip, but much more debris!
Baskets- 4/5
Moving onto baskets, and all I can really say is that they all did their job as you'd expect, but there is some wear and tear starting to show.
Some of the DISCatcher baskets looked like they had been worked on at some point, and are certainly showing some rust, but all in all they did their job and earn themselves a 4/5.
Navigation- 4/5
Surprisingly, despite there being very few signs overall throughout the course, it does navigate very well, as the signs are in good enough places to get you going in the right direction.
There are a few places where you need to somewhat find where a tee box is, or where there the basket is, but it doesn't take away from the overall experience of playing here.
One thing I would like to see added is a sign of the shot shape and basket location, because there are some holes where the basket could be anywhere and you need to hunt it down before throwing.
These small signs throughout the course are small, but rather effective!
Replacing these signs with more detailed info about the hole would be a great improvement from these ones they have now. They're fine, but they don't really do much for you besides give you the hole number you're on
Difficulty- 4/5
For difficulty, I gave this course a very respectable 4/5.
There are definitely some bomber holes where you need to throw for distance, but there are also extremely short holes as well that offer a nice high risk, high reward scenario for the player.
The fairways are extremely manageable, but definitely tight in places with thick vegetation on either side which helps increase the difficulty level.
As mentioned, there are also some "well placed" trees in places that you would not want a tree to be, but are perfect to up the ante and risk factor some.
All in all, this course will challenge all players of all skill levels.
You will have to take par when you need to, will end up with some bogeys, but will also have your fair share of birdie opportunities. A nice blend that you'd want to see on any course. Difficult enough to make it interesting, but playable enough to make it fun.
Having this basket on a hill side after a very narrow fairway and blind look to the
basket is sure to make this a tough Par 3 for any skilled player
Appearance- 3/5
The course is managed somewhat well, but there is a lot of room for improvement to bring this course back up to standard.
I won't be too critical of the fairways, because of the rain and standing water mowing would have been difficult leading up to my Saturday here playing, but the grass and weeds were definitely high enough to be somewhat annoying at times.
The standing water can't be blamed on course management but more so on mother nature, so again, I won't be too critical.
There are some old natural wood benches in places, but many of them had been moderately rotted away to the point where I wouldn't want to sit on them. They're a nice touch if in good condition however, so I'd like to see them replaced.
The grassy fields out of the woods did have a fairway mowed into them, which was very nice as the grass in the remaining portions of the field was pushing 3 feet tall in places!
The mowed fairways definitely helped with navigation down the fairway in grassy areas!
All of these things, in addition to the upgrades needed in other areas already discussed and some minor grooming needed, earn this course a 3/5 in appearance, with it being noted that this course could quickly improve this rating with some sweat equity.
The plants on the fairway were manageable when I played, but I would
not want them any longer or thicker than what they were
Overall- 3.7/5
Taking everything into consideration in the state that I played it in, and this course earns an overall rating of just above average, and nearly outright above average at 3.7/5.
While there are many things I love about this playable course, there are equally many things that can be done to make it better that I discussed for each individual topic area.
You will be challenged, you will have fun, and you may even lose some discs, but this is a course that you should check out if time allows and you're in the neighborhood.
If the state park puts in the work to make some minor improvements, I will definitely update my review, but until then, I also won't hesitate to play it again, so go check it out whenever you get the chance!
Have you played this course before ? Let us know what you thought of it in the comments!
Shop all things disc golf at infinitediscs.com by clicking on the banner above!
*Some links are affiliate links meaning, we may earn a small commission when you make a qualifying purchase with the links that we provide. You can read our full affiliate disclosures on our home page*
コメント