Hiestand Park Disc Golf Course

Hiestand Park sits on Madison's east side at 4302 Milwaukee St., next to Hiestand Woods Conservation Park, and its 18-hole disc golf course threads through the dense hardwood tree cover that gives the woods their name. The land has a military past: an 8.13-acre parcel here was the Truax Communications Facility Annex, a U.S. Air Force site that locals still call 'Radar Hill' after the equipment once installed on the park's highest point. The city won a 1972 bid for the surplus land over Madison Area Technical College, added more acreage in 1979, and the park has grown to 57.8 acres today. On the course, four of the 18 holes play to par 4, and several stretch well past 500 feet to the long tee and blue basket, including a 666-foot par 3, so it demands more distance and tighter shot-shaping through the trees than a typical short city course.

The course runs seasonally, spring through fall, and is currently still equipped with its original baskets while the city plans to install new Innova Tour Targets. As with every Madison Parks disc golf course, a permit is required for anyone 16 or older, sold as a $7 daily pass or a $50 annual pass. Outside the tree line, the park also has a playground, a reservable solar-lit picnic shelter, a sledding hill, and the Autumn Ridge Path bike route under construction to connect Milwaukee Street to Zegler Road.