Black Diamond Disc Golf Course at Emery Park

Emery Park sits in the hamlet of South Wales, about 25 miles southeast of Buffalo, and Erie County Parks lists its 18-hole disc golf course as "Black Diamond at Emery Park." The county bought Josiah Emery's original 175 acres from Helen B. Emery in 1925, making this one of the four original Erie County parks, and grew it to 457.5 acres. Most of what stands here is old: the county counts sixty-nine structures in the park, roughly 95 percent of them built in 1935 or earlier, including the Emery Inn from 1926.

The course plays through heavy deciduous woods on ground shaped by two tributaries of Cazenovia Creek, which cut ravines across the property and drop over Emery Falls and the 30-foot North Emery Falls. The same slopes carry a Magic Carpet ski lift and cross-country trails in winter. Access to the park is free and open year-round. Beyond disc golf there are tennis and pickleball courts, ball fields, playgrounds, picnic areas, and hiking trails. Erie County maintains the course in partnership with Niagara Regional Disc Golf, which also covers Chestnut Ridge, Ellicott Creek, and Como Lake. Spring and fall play best; the hills here hold snow well into March.