Haubstadt Johnson Township Park Disc Golf Course in Southwest Indiana

Basic Information

Course Location: Haubstadt Johnson Township Park

Geographic Location: Haubstadt, IN (38.19297, -87.56416)

Date Visited: May 2024

Number of Holes: 18

Course Length: 4685 feet, par 54

Cost to Play: free
Difficulty Level: recreational, high

Carts: usable, but expect some steep areas

Potential to Lose Discs: high due to dense woods and forced water carries

DG Course Review Page: https://www.dgcoursereview.com/courses/haubstadt-johnson-dgc.11068

UDisc Page: https://udisc.com/courses/haubstadt-johnson-township-dgc-bX1v

Course Walkabout Video (Front 9): (coming April 11, 2025)

Course Walkabout Video (Back 9): (coming April 25, 2025)

Driving Directions: north of Evansville, take I-64 to US 41 (exit 25B).  Exit and go north on US 41.  Drive US 41 north 1.8 miles to SR 68 and turn left on SR 68.  Drive SR 68 west 0.6 miles to CR 1100S and turn left on CR 1100S.  The park entrance is 0.2 miles ahead on the left.  Turn left to enter the park, and drive the park road across the creek and up the hill to the Community Center at its end.  Park in the parking lot for the Community Center.  #1 tee is near the course map sign at the rear (east side) of the parking lot.

Course Constructions:

Tees: concrete, 1 per hole

Baskets: Veteran, 1 per hole, in great shape on my visit

Signage: course map at parking lot, hole sign on each tee

Amenities: practice basket, port-o-let, playground, some benches and trash cans

Summary Review: 3.5 Stars (out of 5)

The disc golf course at Haubstadt Johnson Township Park mostly occupies a small heavily wooded piece of land between the park's ball fields and community center.  The course has a large number of short technical holes with only 6 holes measuring over 300 feet and no holes measuring over 400 feet.  15 holes are heavily wooded, while only 3 are mostly open.  Also, the 3 open holes come consecutively.  Thus, the large number of short wooded holes can get a little repetitive.  The tightness and shortness make the course feel a little crammed, but there is only 1 true safety hazard posed by closeness to other park structures or other holes.  The course has a decent bit of elevation change after you get past the first 3 holes.  The tightness, elevation, and forced water carries push the difficulty level toward intermediate.  I don't typically rank courses that measure less than 5000 feet as anything above recreational, and I did not make an exception here.  There are a couple of holes where finding the next tee can be a challenge, so I recommend taking a picture of the course map near the parking lot before starting your round.  The course maintenance was flawless when I came here, and I encountered only 1 other person on the course even though there were other people elsewhere in the park.  Overall, this is a nice course that needs a little more length and variety to keep players interested.  If you find yourself in southwest Indiana and don't mind playing short tight courses, it is worth playing a round here.

Hole-by-Hole Review 

Distances taken from hole signs.  Picture sequence for each hole is 1) tee, 2) approach, 3) basket to tee.

Hole #1: 303 feet, par 3

Comments: The opening hole is a rude start to your round: it is both one of the longest and tightest holes on this course.  The area around the basket is fairly open, so if somehow you can navigate the 250-foot tunnel of trees in 1 throw, a birdie is possible here.  If your disc hits bark, don't despair: better birdie opportunities lie ahead.  #2 tee is to the left.

Hole #2: 245 feet, par 3

Comments: a slight dogleg left, this hole is short enough with a wide enough fairway that a good throw will set up a birdie opportunity.  #3 tee is to the right and back toward the tee.

Hole #3: 212 feet, par 3

Comments: a slight dogleg right, but even shorter and just as wide of a fairway as the previous hole.  None of these first 3 holes have any elevation change.  #4 tee is behind the basket.

Hole #4: 283 feet, par 3

Comments: another heavily wooded dogleg right with a fairway of fair width.  This hole starts on the flat ridgetop, but the part after the dogleg drops steeply downhill to the basket.  A small stream sits just beyond the basket, so account for the hill and don't overthrow.  #5 tee is to the left and back up the hill toward the tee.

Hole #5: 220 feet, par 3

Comments: Yet another heavily wooded hole with a sharp dogleg right.  An accurate left-to-right throw will set-up a birdie opportunity.  #6 tee is behind the basket.

Hole #6: 117 feet, par 3

Comments: The shortest hole on this course is also one of the tightest, but there is a clear (albeit narrow) direct line between the tee and the basket.  While I like technical courses, this hole has a poke-and-pray feel.  #7 tee is to the left.

Hole #7: 185 feet, par 3

Comments: another short heavily wooded hole, but this hole plays across a small swale, and each of the next 4 holes have significant elevation.  There used to be a tree directly in front of the basket, but all that remains today is a stump.  #8 tee is to the right beside the community center building.

Hole #8: 242 feet, par 3

Comments: This hole plays back across the same swale, but the swale is deeper and steeper now.  The fairway is still quite tight, and the ravine is steep enough that it will be hard to get good footing if your disc hits a tree and falls into the ravine.  #9 tee is behind the basket and to the right.

Hole #9: 318 feet, par 3 (I forgot to take a picture at the tee.)

Comments: Now you throw across the same ravine for a third time, but again it is deeper and steeper than the first 2.  The tightness remains for the first 290 feet, but the basket is in an open grassy area.  For the first time in this round, the wooded tunnel breaks.  #10 tee is behind the basket and across the park road near the picnic shelter.

Hole #10: 318 feet, par 3

Comments: After a super tight and super heavily wooded front nine, now the course starts to open up, and this is a transition hole.  This hole plays moderately downhill, but more attention-getting is the fact that you are throwing diagonally across the park entrance road, which is out-of-bounds (OB).  The road creates a bad safety hazard: from the tee you are blind to inbound traffic coming up the hill from the left.  The basket is also not visible from the tee, and you want to aim for the gap in the trees to the left of the island in the park road.  A creek is only a few feet beyond the basket, so don't overshoot.  Due to the blindness and safety issues, this is the most problematic hole on this course.  #11 tee is several hundred feet away.  Walk back out to the park road, use the road's bridge to cross the creek, and walk out to the large gravel parking lot on the right.  #11 tee is beside the right field foul pole on the north softball field.

Hole #11: 393 feet, par 3

Comments: The next 3 holes play around the park's softball fields, and I might not want to play holes #11 or #13 while ball games are going on due to their proximity to the field.  This hole is a dogleg left that arcs around the north softball field's outfield wall.  The softball field is OB, but that is the only real obstacle on this hole.   #12 tee is to the right part way across the grassy field.

Hole #12: 380 feet, par 3

Comments: a monster of a par 3, this hole starts in the open mowed-grass field but ends in the woods with a forced carry over a creek along the way.  2 routes to the basket are possible: a very narrow direct route to the left and a longer but wider route near the excellent bridge to the right.  So you get to decide how much risk you want to take and how you want to shape your disc flight.  This is my favorite hole on this course.  #13 tee is back up the fairway near the right field foul pole on the south softball field.

Hole #13: 329 feet, par 3

Comments: a copy of hole #11 but slightly shorter and playing the opposite direction.  To get to #14 tee, walk out to the park road, turn left, and look to the right where the park road curves sharply left to cross the creek.

Hole #14: 229 feet, par 3

Comments: Now we head back into the woods, where we will stay for the rest of the course.  This tee shot may be the most memorable throw on this course: you throw uphill with a forced carry over a creek and an eroded dirt bank.  A throw into the creek or the woods to the right will likely be a lost disc.  There are also quite a few trees on the other side of the creek, but if you can get through the creekside trees the area around the basket is rather open.  #15 tee is behind the basket past the playground.

Hole #15: 252 feet, par 3

Comments: This hole plays level at first but then drops steeply to a basket near the creek.  If you overthrow, the creek will come into play.  There are plenty of trees on this hole, and this fairway is plenty tight.  #16 tee is to the left.

Hole #16: 248 feet, par 3

Comments: an exciting dogleg right that plays around a bend in the creek.  In and across the creek is OB, but a daring line to the right entices you to throw over the creek and cut the dogleg.  I found that line too risky, but I love the fact that it is there.  #17 tee is behind the basket.

Hole #17: 148 feet, par 3

Comments: This hole needs some explanation.  It's an uninspiring hole: very short and slightly uphill with a single small tree between the tee and basket.  But in some sense this hole used to be even worse.  This course used to finish with a horrible long hole that played right beside the park boundary and directly over a basketball court, but a recent redesign "fixed" that problem by eliminating the old finishing hole and creating this one.  As boring as this hole is, I do view it as an improvement over the old finishing hole for safety reasons if none other.  #18 tee is behind the basket.

Hole #18: 263 feet, par 3

Comments: This is the old 17th hole; it is a heavily wooded and moderately uphill dogleg right with a low ceiling.  A mandatory (mando) on the inside of the dogleg forces you to thread your disc through and under the trees as opposed to using the open field to the right.  This hole is too much "poke and pray" for my taste, but it is better to finish this way than by throwing over a basketball court.  The parking lot is behind the basket and around the trees.