Hello,I was charged with making maps for a few courses in my area, currently they are poorly marked and no maps exist. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on software, preferably free, that i could design a simple map with.

Find the site on Google Earth, take a screen snapshot and paste it into PowerPoint and draw the course map. Works pretty well unless the course is so wooded you can't tell where to draw.

Unfortunately the woods are quite thick throughout half of the courses. That was my first idea to design a map however upon completetion I realized just how much of it i was guessing on.

Check to see if your county has online dynamic aerial views where you can add and remove layers. Maybe you can get a map view that allows you to see trails and paths that aren''t visible with the tree foliage. Another alternative is to visit the city/county and just get printed maps like topos that you either scan first and then draw on the computer or draw the course map directly on it then scan it in.

Egad... powerpoint? Really Chuck? :) Billowb - The thing is, what you're looking for is a combination of two things... 1: Something that looks good and 2: Something that accurately guides people through the course. Your map may be guesswork overlaid on top of the woods, but it also can really help people get around the course. Do it, print it, ask for the opinions of people that you know that play the course a lot, tweak. Repeat.