Basic Information
Course Location: Rocky Fork State Park, South Beach
Geographic Location: southeast of Hillsboro, OH (39.18211, -83.47666)
Date Visited: October 2023
Number of Holes: 9
Course Length: 2710 feet, par 27
Cost to Play: free
Difficulty Level: recreational, medium
Difficulty Level: recreational, medium
Carts: should be fine here
Potential to Lose Discs: medium; water in play on several holes
DG Course Review Page: https://www.dgcoursereview.com/courses/rocky-fork-state-park-south-beach-9.14362
Course Walkabout Video: (coming May 10)
Driving Directions: From Hillsboro, take SR 124 east 7.5 miles to SR 506. Continue straight to begin heading east on SR 506. Drive SR 506 east 0.4 miles to Blue Ribbon Road and turn left on Blue Ribbon Rd. Blue Ribbon Rd. ends at the state park's South Beach area. Park in the large paved beach parking lot; #1 tee is to the left behind the practice basket and course map sign.
Course Constructions:
Tees: concrete, 1 per hole, some in bad shape on my visit
Baskets: DGA, 1 per hole, older but in good shape on my visit
Signage: course map near #1 tee, hole sign on each tee
Amenities: restrooms, picnic shelter, beach, practice basket, other amenities elsewhere in the park
Summary Review: 1.5 Stars (out of 5)
The South Beach disc golf course at Rocky Fork State Park is a rare example of a prairie-style course in this part of the world. Prairie-style courses are characterized by their flat terrain and open grassy landscapes. They typically have mowed-grass fairways and tallgrass/wildgrass rough. Prairie-style courses play best when the wind is high, and thus they are common in Great Plains states such as Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. This course is definitely exposed to the wind coming off of Rocky Fork Lake, but the wind was rather calm on my visit. The terrain is completely flat with no observable elevation change on any hole. The course route is not the best: the first 8 holes form a loop with hole #9 playing away from the parking area, thus forcing you to walk all the way back up hole #9 at the end of your half-round. That said, I had no trouble following the course route. Course maintenance is an issue here: a couple of the tee pads were literally falling into the lake on my visit. I was the only person on the course when I came here on a nice fall Monday afternoon, so this course is not heavily used, at least not in the shoulder season. Most players will not like this style of course due to the lack of hole variety, and it offers very little challenge when the wind is down. I would much rather play at nearby Paint Creek State Park than play here.
Hole-by-Hole Review
Distances taken from hole signs, pars from dgcoursereview; link provided above. Picture sequence for each hole is 1) tee, 2) approach, 3) basket to tee.
Hole #1: 326 feet, par 3
Comments: Every hole on this course is very open, so I will write that statement once and never again. A single tree guards the front right of the basket, and the mowed-grass fairway is fairly narrow for a hole of this length. Fortunately, it appeared that they had just mowed the rough when I played here, so the "rough" was not very rough. #2 tee is beside the park boundary to the right.
Hole #2: 464 feet, par 3
Comments: very long for a par 3, dense woods and the park boundary go down the entire left side. Thus, you must make your miss in the rough to the right and not in the woods to the left. The basket sits on a peninsula with Rocky Fork Lake on 3 sides, so approaching this basket from distance comes with risk. Maybe this hole should be a par 4, especially if it is into the wind. #3 tee is to the right, beside the lake.
Hole #3: 223 feet, par 3
Comments: this is the first of 3 holes that play along side the lake, which is to the left in all 3 cases. The concrete tee pad on this hole is literally falling into the lake. Keep your disc to the right to avoid the lake and you should be fine. #4 tee is to the right, about 200 feet across the field. The tee you can see through the pine trees behind the basket is #5 tee.
Hole #4: 237 feet, par 3
Comments: pine trees guard either side of the fairway near the basket, but the fairway is pretty wide. A good straight tee shot will set up a birdie. #5 tee is to the left, near #3 basket.
Hole #5: 199 feet, par 3
Comments: the tightest hole on this course, a pine tree guards either side of the entrance to the basket area, and the gap between the pine tree branches is only about 10 feet wide. But this hole is short enough that a good throw will still lead to a birdie even if it grazes those branches. If your disc goes into the body of the tree, it will likely get swallowed alive by the tree. #6 tee is to the left near the picnic shelter.
Hole #6: 308 feet, par 3
Comments: a slight dogleg right, a couple of pine trees guard the inside of the dogleg. There is more room to maneuver a disc on this hole than on the previous hole. #7 tee is to the right near the lakeshore.
Hole #7: 263 feet, par 3
Comments: the next 2 holes are the other 2 lakeside holes. This hole is a dogleg right that curves with the lakeshore, but nothing guards the inside of the dogleg. Thus, take a direct path to the basket, keep your disc to the right, and take the lake out of play. #8 tee is to the right near the lakeshore.
Hole #8: 264 feet, par 3
Comments: same as the previous hole but the basket is closer to the lake, in fact only about 10 feet away from it. Thus, more caution is warranted, but there is still plenty of room to the right. #9 tee is several hundred feet to the right on the other side of the parking lot.
Hole #9: 426 feet, par 3
Comments: the closing hole has a forced water carry; it is about 150 feet to clear the pond. No other obstacles stand between the tee and basket, and this hole makes a rather uninspiring end to a rather uninspiring course. The parking lot is behind you, beside #9 tee.
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