Course Spotlight: Bellamy Park Dover, NH
Thursday, December 22, 2011 by mcmanus
This past weekend, I headed up to Bellamy Park Disc Golf Course in Dover, NH with a few good friends. Its always exciting to play a course that you haven't been to yet and Bellamy did not disappoint. A wooded course from start to finish with some holes that mix open and wooded areas quite nicely, Bellamy offers an excellent variety of short, medium and long holes that can be fun for novice players and challenging to the pros. Hole 1 starts out on a stone patio type area where you're throwing across a creek to a forested upland area replete with beautiful white pines. A decidedly lefty friendly hole, it also offers opportunity for righty anhyzer or righty flick drives. Crossing the bridge to the other side of the creek of hole 1's fairway, one can't help but feel excited about this course with such a unique and challenging starting hole.
(looking back at practice area & parking lot on way to hole 1's fairway/green..hole 1 tee is off to the right of practice area)
On hole 2, the creek comes into play for errant drives that happen to coast too far right (very steep drop off the embankment to the creek which meanders along the right side of the fairway). The creek also comes into play on holes 9, 11 & 12. for errant and/or overthrown drives/putts. As a testament to the quality of folks who play the course, I landed my champ sidewinder in the middle of the creek off hole 2 towards the end of the day with quickly fading sunlight.....too dark to see it anymore for retrieval, we headed back home. The very next day I got a phone call from a NH area code asking if I owned an orange champ sidewinder as it had been retrieved from the creek....always nice to see that kind of effort and honesty!
(basket on hole 11)
Overall, Bellamy Park flows quite nicely as the course designer(s) took full advantage of the land available for the layout. Did I mention that all the tee pads are concrete?...perfectly flat, wide and smooth from beginning to end. Be sure to check out the hyperlink at the beginning of the blog for more information about Bellamy Park Disc Golf Course leagues, happenings, photos and directions. Dover is roughly 20 minutes past Amesbury just over the Mass state line and the course is easy to find. So, if you're looking for a course that offers terrific variety, challenges and concrete tee pads throughout, Bellamy Park is worth the trip!
** If you'd like to have your local course featured in a course spotlight, give me a shout at staraviar@yahoo.com. Wishing everyone in nefaland and beyond a happy and healthy holiday season and prosperous new year!**
