Cloudland Canyon State Park

The Ultimate Recreational Course. PROS: + RECREATIONAL FRIENDLY + At 4,685 feet, and with simple obstacles, newer thru recreation players will love this course. There are a couple longer holes, to test and encourage the development of a bigger arm. There are a few short technical plays to test and encourage the development of greater accuracy. The hazards are minimal with just a few areas with moderate overgrowth. + TEES + 18 large concrete tees that are 6 feet wide by 12 feet long. It was ...
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The Ultimate Recreational Course.
PROS:
+ RECREATIONAL FRIENDLY + At 4,685 feet, and with simple obstacles, newer thru recreation players will love this course. There are a couple longer holes, to test and encourage the development of a bigger arm. There are a few short technical plays to test and encourage the development of greater accuracy. The hazards are minimal with just a few areas with moderate overgrowth.
+ TEES + 18 large concrete tees that are 6 feet wide by 12 feet long. It was great not having to stand from off the tee for a change.
+ CHARACTER + In addition to nice tees the overall amenities were about average or a touch above. A great shelter with picnic table next to tee (1). Seating is at a few holes spaced along the layout. The baskets were in great condition. Nice hole signage and a community board. As for things to add? An additional set of back tees are most warranted.
+ QUICK PLAY + Plays really quick for an 18 hole course. I completed my round solo in 50 minutes. Figure a group of 4 should be in and out in an hour and a half.
+ NAVIGATION + Adequate. I forgot to download and print a map before arriving. Normally not an issue for most courses but I lost cell phone service. Even with this conundrum, figuring out the layout isn't terribly difficult and I spent no more than 5 minutes doing recon. The course is mostly open and the next tees are often in view from the prior basket. Regardless, I would still advise printing or download the map before arriving.
+ MAINTENANCE + The course grounds were in marvelous shape during my round.
+ RAW BEAUTY + I gave Cloudland an above average score (3.0/5.0). Unfortunately however, the course is located in one of the blandest portions of this stunningly beautiful park. The State Park is 3,500 square acres (4.5 sq miles), and it’s 98% wooded. Yet on this course layout, there's only one fully wooded tunnel shot, hole (16). The vista views are very much subdued or non-existent in this portion of the park as well. No water features in play or to look at. There are a few minor rock elements that the course plays through but I came in here expecting to see a whole lot more it.
+ THE REST OF THE PARK + If you enjoy hiking in addition to disc golf, this is the place to go. There are two highly photogenic 50 foot water fall hikes in the park. There are amazing vistas of the canyon. There are hiking trails all over the place. There are cabins and camping locations as well. Cloudland Canyon State Park is one of the few places I’ve been where my enjoyment of the rest of the park exceeded my disc golf experience.

CONS:
No major flaws with Cloudland, but it could have been so much more.
- UNIQUENESS - Cloudland has way too many open shots and it very much impacted my experience of the course. The course is an all par 3 layout with holes ranging from roughly 350 to 200 feet in length. 16 of the 18 holes are straight or veer by less than 10 degrees. The only exceptions are holes (7) and (8) which are back to back 90 degree left benders. In addition, no water is in play and as for elevation… see below.
- SURPRISING LACK OF ELEVATION - For being on top of a mountain, I had assumed there would have been some 50 plus down shots or perhaps even a “top of the world” shot. Nope, not one hole on this layout varies by more than 30 feet. A few holes in the beginning (2) (3) and (4), shoot over a shallow valley but they all pretty much start and end at the same elevation which lessons the elevation's impact . Hole (7) and (8) were the only decent down shots but they are both 90 degree benders where you can’t admire your glorious run at the basket. My favorite elevation shot was on (17) where the 25 to 30 foot up shot starts in a framed tunnel and opens up at the very end.
- LACK OF CHALLENGE - The difficulty here is underwhelming to say the least. I’m an intermediate level player and I threw 6 down on first attempt. Advanced players should be able to flirt with 10 down or more from time to time. The challenge from the one set of tees is aligned closest to the recreation level. Very few shot shaping opportunities and only three holes that exceed 300 feet in length. The course could really benefit from a second set of longer tees.
- MISSED OPPORTUNITY - I’m going to assume that the location of the disc golf course was not chosen by the course designer. That said, it still seemed like the design could have gone a lot farther to engage the surrounding fringe elements. Perhaps the direction was to deliver a family friendly layout, if so, design success. However, if there was ever a desire to bring in tournament level play, lots of changes would need to occur. I think the site has the potential to deliver, but I have no clue whether the park leadership even wants that aspect for this course.
- POISON IVY - I spotted a few small poison ivy plants. From reading a few of the other reviews, it appears that it gets really bad during the summer.
- PAY TO PLAY - As of November 2017, it was $5 for the parking pass and an additional $4.28 per person to play. IMO, $9.28 for the course itself is not a good bargain. However, players coming here for the other park amenities as well, the cost may very well be worth the price of admission.
- WIND - Very few trees on most holes and the course is on top of a mountain. I was very fortunate to get a day were the gusts were under 10 MPH.

Upon arrival and driving through the park, my hopes were really high that this was going to be an exotic thrilling gem. After playing a few holes I realized that my initial hopes was really just some wishful thinking. Don't get me wrong, Cloudland is a really nice course and if I lived within ten miles I would play it all the time. But make no mistake, this course is not a destination like the actual state park itself. If the course wants to make a grander appeal, it's going to have to offer more to skilled players. A second set of longer tees would probably be the easiest solution or perhaps adding alternate longer basket locations. An even better, but more costly solution would be to redesign the layout to incorporate the existing terrain features more thoroughly.
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