Because my car needs its brakes fixed–don’t worry, they still work–I didn’t want to travel too far for this review. So, I found myself at Winnebago County Park despite some of the reviews on UDisc. The reviews had me thinking this course was rather difficult and that I would lose a disc on every other hole, but in reality it wasn’t that bad.
The first day I played the Green tees. Needless to say, it was not a good day for me. Let me tell you why.
After practicing my putting on hole 18 of the yellow tees, I started off hole one with a par. It wasn’t too far to the basket, only 289 feet. I didn’t hit a tree on my drive, surprisingly, and had a good up-shot with my Buzzz.
Hole two was fairly the same. I ended up in the middle of a pine tree, so I got a bogey. No big deal. Hole three is where my troubles began. I couldn’t sink a putt to save my life, and that carried over to the next hole.
After an impressive drive, I landed close enough to the basket that I thought I could use a putter. The range was a little outside my comfort zone–I don’t like throwing my Polecat very far because I can’t control it as well with its thick ridge–but I thought I’d challenge myself. Bad idea. I shanked the disc so bad that it landed on the pond.
The pond wasn’t frozen enough for me to walk on it, and there wasn’t a stick long enough in the area to get it either. I was sad, but it was my dad’s disc, really. He didn’t care, and it was only $10.
Hole five was an even riskier shot around the pond, similar to hole six at Adelaide Park. I didn’t want to lose another disc, so I aimed farther right than I normally would to avoid the pond. I would have landed safely on solid ground had my disc no skipped three or four times. Great. On the ice again, but this time with my Wraith, the disc I use on 95% of my drives. I wasn’t going to leave this one behind.
So, you bet I rolled up my pants, took off my socks and shoes and went to rescue the disc. I knew that I’d break through, so I just went as slow as possible, reaching with a stick each step to see how much farther I had to go. The whole time an old man watched me from the park, probably waiting to call 911, but I got it.
I had one redeeming moment when I birdied hole six–it was only 189 feet and I threw my Leopard–but after that it went all downhill. I blame it on the fact that I wasn’t fully dry and warm until hole 10. Plus, my attitude was horrible. When I went out the next day, I shot 10 strokes better. I should have remembered my lesson from Jack; just go out and have fun.
Aside from how bad I did, the course was actually set up nicely. Even though some of the signs were just a piece of laminated paper, it was clear to know where I was going. The only confusion I had was on hole 16. I saw a basket far away in the distance and thought, this can’t be it; it’s too far. After checking the distance to the basket on my app and the signage, I went for it. Turns out it was the basket for hole 18. It was the cherry on top of my struggle sundae.
I liked the yellow tees far more than the green; it’s set-up reminds me of Riggs Park. There are far less risky shots around the ponds and more in this tall-looking brush.
There are a set of baskets, eight through eleven, that play with elevation in much the same way that some of the baskets at Red Arrow Park do.
The only part that makes yellow more challenging than green is the fact that there are two holes that are par four. One totals 507 feet and the other 544 feet.
Hole 16 is 633 feet, but it’s still a par three. I think this is to encourage people to throw directly over the pond for a straighter path to the basket. I know I can’t throw that far, so I took the curved path around the pond. I learned from the day before to avoid rescuing discs from the pond.
Whether you play the yellow or green tees, this course requires a driver and putter that are brightly colored. I’d also suggest bringing some of your old discs out from retirement that you won’t care to lose in case they do end up on the pond and the ice still isn’t thick enough to cross.
The park as a whole is huge. As the picture above shows, there’s archery–quite close to hole 10 on green tees actually–softball and baseball diamonds, rugby, tennis courts, and, my favorite, a dog park. There so much to do here that, even if you don’t go to play disc golf, you’ll still have a fun-filled day.
| Fee | N/A |
| Holes | 2 sets of 18 |
| Teepads | Concrete |
One Toss at a Time 