Disc Golf Course Review

—Disc Golf Park (Discmania) baskets are new
—Geothermally active valley with plenty of other things to do (golf, steam bathing, restaurants)

—Tee areas are worn dirt with tree roots interspersed.
—At least two holes (6, 7) seemed to lack tee box signs.
—Quite short

I am happy to provide the first DGCR review for this course. It appears to be a bit of a work in progress—a par 30, 10 hole offering with new baskets set with Icelandic precision. Most holes have tee poles, but there are no maps in the tee area, and some of the holes are blind. Watch your footing, as roots travers the tee areas, but to be fair, this course is short enough that run ups are unnecessary. I think they could get away with 1 x 2 meter tee boxes, and I hope these are added later.

This was my second Icelandic course, and just like nearby Selfoss, this is short and very technical. On most holes, you are asked to throw low and hit 2 meter gaps. On those holes where you can take to the air (e.g. 5, 6, 7, 10), you will likely encounter some challenging winds most days. Of the two, Hveragerdi is much shorter than Selfoss, and has only 10 holes instead of 18. You can easily play it in 20 minutes.

That said, if the the wind/sleet/cold lets up tomorrow, I'll probably be back for another go at Hveragerdi. It's surprisingly fun for a pitch and putt, and the town has the sort of geothermal amenities which usually attract busloads of tourists, but for whatever reason, this place isn't on their radar yet.

Besides, my Thunderbird is still 20 feet up a tree near the basket on 7…

- The park itself is massive and absolutely gorgeous. There are a TON of amenities here. It's very secluded and peaceful, sprawling, and with some beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. On a beautiful sunny day in late April, it just felt like a pure joy to be out in that park all afternoon regardless of playing disc golf or not.
- The course has a great sign at the beginning and has a little box to sell discs. I wasn't 100% sure how it works, but I think you can make an online payment on your phone and get access to buy a disc which is a cool feature to allow new players to try
- The layout was pretty fun, though fairly basic. There was a bit of variation though not much in terms of truly wooded holes. This is mostly park style golf. There is some elevation that comes into play. Aside from the main layout, there are other holes that are part of other layouts still out here, though some of the other layouts also involve temp holes which are no longer there.

- On a busy day, safety is for sure a concern. Multiple holes throw over, at, or along walking paths. I was there on a Monday afternoon so it wasn't an issue, but on a weekend I could see some holes being very difficult or impossible to safely play. Some are even throwing at blind bends in the path where you could throw not knowing someone is walking towards you and about to turn the corner where you disc is flying.
- If you don't have udisc on your phone, there is ZERO chance you can follow this layout. There are no tee signs. Tee pads are often just areas of dirt within a grass field. Be prepared to be glued to your phone and the udisc map to figure out where to go.
- As mentioned, tee pads are not cement or anything. Sometimes they are dirt patches with a wooden railroad tie in ground in the front marking the front edge of the pad. Others were just kind of worn down dirt areas in otherwise fields.
- One hole (12 I think) had a missing basket, as the area it was in is now fenced off to protect some mature trees. After exploring a bit though, I found an older basket buried behind some thick bushes on the other side of the path. So I threw to this basket instead which was fine, but this was a hole that was dangerously throwing down a path.
- Some fairways have very deep (like knee high) grass on them. It's frustrating to throw a good drive into the middle of the fairway only to spend 15 minutes stomping through thick grass to find my disc.
- Spread out. Don't expect a quick round. For both layouts I played, udisc told me I walked over 3.5 miles.

I played the main 18 which was decent, then noticed a SwissTour layout on udisc that was fairly different so tried playing that. Mostly it was quite fun and different from the main layout. Though a number of holes were temp holes with no baskets (including all the ones on the other side of the bridge). Though some did have random baskets that I found that are nowhere near the actual main layout. I think this course could be improved by reducing the main layout holes that throw along paths and leverage the more remote areas that already have unused baskets. However, those areas do tend to throw over more wild prairie fields, so unless mowed I could them being very difficult in the summer due to long grass.

I was in town for a work meeting and was staying less than 2 miles from the course, so it was fantastic to get out and play in a gorgeous park on a beautiful day in late spring. The park itself is absolutely wonderful and makes me jealous we don't have more parks like this in the US near major metro areas. I really enjoyed my rounds for the most part, though there were some frustrations that came with it being a likely very under utilized course in a large, busy, multi-use park.

I played Edgewood DGC at a Doubles tournament. It was two rounds from the short tees, except for hole 1. I came away with a very favorable opinion of this mostly wooded course.

THE PROS:

+FUN LINES: I like woods golf as much as the next guy, and this course delivers lots of it. Most of the course is wooded, with only holes 17 and 18 being completely open. I enjoyed almost every hole, as Edgewood does a great job of delivering that good old-fashioned woods golf we all know and love.

+GOOD MIX OF OPEN AND WOODED: As I mentioned above, there are some open holes as well. I personally believe they add to the overall experience.

+TWO SETS OF TEES: I only played from the shorts, but if you are a more experienced player, there are two sets of tees for most holes.

+COURSE FLOW: It could have just been because I played during a tournament with people who knew the course, but I had no trouble finding my way around on this course. The flow seemed to make sense. The only spot that could get confusing is the walk from 17 to 18.

+STANDOUT HOLES: Holes 7, 8, and 13 are three holes that stick in my mind from this course. 7 is a 240' par 3 with a tricky hyzer line or a line straight up the middle. 8 is another multi-route hole with a forehand or backhand line. 13 is a fun, partially wooded par 4.

+O.B.: I enjoy courses more when they are not littered with O.B. Edgewood seems to have just the right amount. It all makes sense and provides a fun challenge instead of a frustrating one.

-BASKET PLACEMENT: This is the elephant in the room here. Most holes are good, or even great, but a few make no sense. This is the main reason why this course isn't a four star or even higher for me. Maybe when the local club gets new baskets like they are planning to, they will adjust the placement on some of the holes, but as of right now, it's the only thing holding this course back.

-SCHOOL PROPERTY: This isn't a huge deal, but you can't play this course during school hours as it is on school property.

=There are bathrooms by the tennis courts by hole 17. I'm not sure if they were open when I was there.
=The baskets and tees are fine. Like I mentioned before, the local club is looking to replace the baskets here, but I didn't have any problem with them (A.P. Spiderweb 3). Maybe they have some deep, dark secret that I don't know about, or maybe I putt with the force of a wet tissue (I don't think I do), but I thought they were A-OK. The pads are typical concrete hog slat style.
=If you are driving through Indiana, or staying in the area, this course is a good one! Not a reason to come, but worth checking out for sure.

3 sets of tees
Orange baskets for the Orange Man designer
Par's can be hard to get if you get off the fairway
Course flow is decent

It's very very new and not done yet. I put this in as a con. The course is NOT done yet.
A few of the holes have pretty long walks.
The rough is THICK,

So, I contact Bo Kirk to tell him I will be in his area this week to collect a few courses including #1800 that I planned on being Eagles Nest. (A UDisc top 5 courses of Mississippi) He told me he was about to install the last baskets at his new course and would wait so I was the first to play it. he really wanted it to be my #1800th. Shoot, he even had the local paper reporter out to walk a few holes and interview me.

Anyways, Bo created a BEAST of a course. It's only been 3 months since he started and I can't believe the work he has put in so far to get this course into playable condition.

Multiple par 4 holes and I believe 4 par 5 holes are included. Of course there are 3 sets of tee's on every hole, Blue (shortest) White (the ones I played this time) and Red's (Champions/longs)

Only a few of the holes would be park style, most of the course has been carved out of the woods. Nice elevation changes on some of the holes, not extreme, but adds to the challenge.

I think even from the whites, only a few holes were around or under 300ft. The shortest hole on the course has the lake right behind it and it's downhill. Overthrow the basket and your disc is wet.

Hole 7 is probably the signature hole. it's one of the par 5's with a lake crossing to the basket. I got off the fairway, hit a tree at lakes edge and another tree near the basket taking a 7. I really want another crack at this one.

The signature hole for the back 9 would be hole 18, A good finishing hole as it is a 1000ft hole from the Red tee box. it throws WAY down a pipeline clearing to an open field, the basket is on an island to the parking area. Come up short or long on your upshot and you are OB.

I can't say enough good things about what this course will become. It isn't perfect right now, but give it some time. Bo said he is doing more clearing, leveling the ground and has a pallet of grass seeds to plant on the fairways.

Would I play here again? Oh heck yea. This will be a fantastic course when it's done. I normally would have waited to play it when it was done, but given a chance to be the first to play all 18 holes with baskets, I had to take it. I had to play 6 other courses before I got here and was pretty tired, I was dragging by the end of the round, but I still had a BLAST.

Thanks Bo for inviting me, waiting till I got there to install the last baskets and giving me the opportunity to be the first. I only wish I remembered to take more pictures. I did upload what I took.

Brand new DD Vet baskets.

VERY small area to cram in 9 holes

Ok, this course hopefully is not finished yet. I found out about it 2 days ago and made the trip up to check it out today.

What I found was 7 baskets and 8 surveyor sticks with hole numbers on them. The baskets had hole numbers on them too. The hanging basket has both a 6 and 8 on it. But no 9.

The park is larger I think, not sure why they put the course here unless they just don't want (or can't afford) to clear and keep clear the area on the other side of the single lane bridge. There is a football/soccer size field that does not look like it is getting used over there.

I was unable to figure out where to tee off for hole one. I spent half the time I was there looking for a downed stick or hole where the stick might have been. I eventually did an educated guess on where I would have put the tee and threw it from there. That does give you a nice little right handed turnover shot to the basket.

Holes 2 and 3 parallel each other, #2 is a little chip shot with rough on the right. Hole 3 throws back along the park road. Nothing marking a mando, but I would mark one on the poll just to keep players from throwing over the road and making another turnover shot.

Hole 4, the basket is hidden by a tree from the tee, but it's just a little chip shot over the parking lot behind the 2nd large tree next to the horse shoe pits.

Cross the road for hole 5, this had a narrow fairway over some PAR equipment to the basket next to the park sign. The RHBH shot is got a low clearance, but it's a short hole.

Cross the road again for hole 6, this plays along a tree row on your left and way right is the city fire station. The basket is a hanging basket over a drainage ditch that did actually have running water today. You are also throwing over hole 7's tee pad.

Hole 7 is the longest hole on the course, you have a tree line to the right, the fairway is the ditch and to the left are some ball fields.

Hole 8 Throws back to #6's basket and is a shorter shot with tennis courts to your right and that tree line to the far left.

Then there is hole 9. The stick was having you tee off from the cement of the horse shoe pit. If you look straight at the stick, it points to basket #3. The only other basket in that direction was basket #1 that is further back to the left. I threw this shot over the parking lot/road and aced the basket. I looked for a #9 on both baskets 3 and 1 and even walked back to 2 to make sure none of those baskets had a 9 on them. So either basket #9 is not installed yet, or you are suppose to play to the 3 basket and they didn't put the number on it (yet)

In general, this is what you find in small towns. I hope they eventually put signs in at least. I don't mind the shared baskets or shared fairways because you are not going to get a lot of play out here.

Would I play here again? No, it's a one and done course for bagging. I might stop by again if they do get tee signs or tee pads to update the pictures, otherwise I will never be out there again.

Good for practice shots. Hasn't been any other park users there when I have gone out. Fun mid range course. Some decent tree obstacles. Pick alternate lines for more fun. One tunnel type shot.

Not too great of a course, but there wasn't much there to work with so no big deal really. Decent job considering what's there.

Not too much to say, it's pretty simple.

Multiple pins are great for throwing your choice of round. Beautiful park side with decent variety. Cart friendly. Seasonal bathroom at hole one. Two practice baskets near the start.

Bathrooms non existent once you start and could use more of them on such a large loop. Prairie dog infestation has rendered the power station side unplayable, it's just rather disgusting at this point and should be skipped. First hole layout is kinda backwards. Extra curricular park activities sometimes get in the way of a fun round.

Holmes Elementary DGC consists of nine baskets in various locations around the school lawn.

The course features a few man-made obstacles to work around. I recommend treating all pavement as OB here, as it will make things more interesting for you. With that assumption, #5 becomes a very tricky hole where you are trying to drop your disc onto a small strip of grass that might be 30'-40' wide but is no more than 8' deep, and about 125'-150' away.

The baskets are red Chainstar Pros. No issues there! The tees are marked only by four individual patio paver blocks for each hole. These blocks are consistently arranged in a square pattern but with a couple of inches of grass between the blocks. I didn't really understand the arrangement, but it's a stand-and-throw kind of course so I thought these were better than nothing.

Everything else.

Lots of safety issues. The school's parking lot/drive and various sidewalks come into play on many holes. The school building itself, two different playgrounds, a soccer field, and a tennis court present further potential for problems. Even if you visit when the area is totally deserted, all of the pavement means there's a higher-than-usual risk of scuffing up your disc.

The course is flat and short. I mean EXTREMELY short. There are five holes listed under 100' on here. I think the distances on here may be a little off, but the overall picture is correct. Several holes will feel like putts, even for rec level players.

No signage of any kind, or other extras. Strongly recommend downloading the "verified" map here for navigation. Even though the course is small enough that you can see all nine baskets from some vantage points within it, you'll need the map to find all of the tees and figure out the layout.

This course might be OK for disc golfing parents showing their young kids how to play on evenings and weekends. If I lived within walking distance, I could see myself coming here for putting practice or to rack up aces. Solo baggers with a course map in hand could knock this one out in 10 minutes flat. But for everyone else, this one definitely isn't worth the time. Depending on your skill level and who is around when you try to play, it will be boring, dangerous, or both.

A wide open, nearly pancake-flat practice course.

This is one of those courses that you can take one look at and know the entire extent of it. In this case, one look is all it takes to see the whole property.

In the large fenced field of Moore Middle School lie nine baskets. No tees or signs of any sort; but, playing basket to basket creates a fairly sensible nine-hole chain.

In terms of true pros, there aren't too many. There are only a small number of obstacles, so presumably this would be beginner-friendly. It's flat, so no rollaways. It's fenced in, and you're likely to have the place to yourself since you'll be playing after hours or on a weekend.

In a slightly confusing twist that contradicts the beginner-friendly openness, one of the strongest traits of this course is a good variety of distance, up to about 400' on some holes. You can do some actual driving if you aren't an upper 25% distance thrower.

On the much more lengthy side of the review, this course is one of the least compelling plays I've ever encountered.

No tees and no tee signs are always a bit of a weak start for a course. Basket to basket is fine, but feels rough around the edges. Is it even a course or just practice baskets?

The flatness and openness are detractors. For someone like me who throws in the 300'-350' range on a good drive, it was basically fieldwork followed by a lengthy putt. Minimal shaping requirements came into play a few times (one hole had a single tree and another had a baseball backstop to contend with), but mainly because of the steep slope marking the boundary of the fenced field. Worst case, you crash into it at the end of the disc's flight and roll back down level with the basket.

The course isn't available all the time since it's on school property. On a philosophical note, it seems like a misplaced course. Middle schoolers aren't going to be throwing 350', right?

The school building is at risk on the first hole. If multiple groups somehow chose to play simultaneously, some fairway crisscross would ensue.

Also annoying is that the course finishes on the far side of the large field from the access point. Nothing like a quarter-mile walk to finish off the round!

To recreate Moore's course, find a flat field and place 9 baskets 280'-400' apart from each other in roughly a straight line. Add one tree and some ugly fences and you've done it! It's a practice course through and through, but perhaps not ideal for its clientele? I don't know. But I know that compared to other disc golf courses it is a Poor example.

** I will be reviewing this course in both English and Dutch. Aan mijn Nederlandse vrienden: Ik weet dat die een beetje primitief zal klinken. Sorry!" **

—Sloterpark is worth an afternoon stroll even if you left the discs at home. In spring I found it well populated with Gray Herons, Crested Grebes and several other bird species that I did not recognize.
—Easily accessible by public transportation
—The bespoke Sloter Park baskets are works of art. Alas…not all holes have them. The rest are resemble yellow Disc Catchers, although one actually said Discmania on it.
—Free
—Not a lot of other options around Amsterdam.
—Good use of elevation in a country that is basically flat as a pannenkoek.



—Prachtige park! Ik heb vooral al de grote vogels boven de 10te hole genoten, en ook de sculpture op 7 tot en met 9.
—Jullie openbare vervoer is het beste. Ik heb geen probleem om naar het park to aankomen.
—Ik houd van de "Sloter Park" poleholes.
—Gratis
—Jullie hadden geen heuvels, dus jullie een heuvel opgebouwd hebben. Dat is zo Nederlandse.

—It's below sea level. It's flat. It gets wet. Don't wear your wingtips.
—Course design is bizarre bordering on dangerous (see below)
—Doesn't call for much versatility


—Het ontwerp is gek, bijna gevaarlijk.
—Het was nat toen ik het gespeeld heeft. Ik denk dat het bijna altijd is. Er is geen fout hier. Het is gewoon het beschikbare landschap, toch?

In addition to this being my first bilingual review, Sloter Park was my first international play. I chose it because when we travel to the Netherlands, we use public transportation almost exclusively, and this was going to be the easiest target from our rental.

On that topic, I would suggest getting yourself to Amsterdam Sloterdijk station by train—one of the easiest destinations on the map. From there, you have several options. First and easiest is the 369 bus, which stops either just before or after the park, leaving about 10 minutes on foot to the 1st hole, which you will NEVER find without UDisc and the knowledge that the course is located on the SE side of the road/park. The app directions did not load for me. I tried to get there with my phone turned off and had to concede defeat after eventually stumbling onto the 10th hole with no other real way to make my way to #1. Second, there is a small parking lot available. You could try to drive here and hope for a spot. Best of luck to you—this is not the high percentage throw. You could combine the 369 bus with the #7 tram, which shortens your walk. Finally, you can walk from the train station, but it's going to be about a half hour. You will pass by some fine smelling Middle East and African themed restaurants on the way, but you can also avail yourself of these options by bus and/or tram.

For the sake of argument, let's suppose you made it even easier than I did. What will you find?

First of all, Sloter Park is rather large, and split by a busy road. There are a seemingly endless number of things to do there, but the SE section is mainly occupied by walkers, joggers and a few bikes. Time for a HUGE caveat. I played the course on April 27, which is King Day, a national holiday during which people get together with family, friends, neighbors, or just pour into the nearest large city to party. I'm certain that I found the course with 10% or less of its normal traffic, which leads me to my most serious quibble with the course:

Under normal expected conditions, Sloter Park is difficult, even unsafe (although not necessarily for you) to play. This is clear from the very first tee, which is not apparent to the people walking on the path a couple dozen meters ahead of you, cutting directly across your line of flight at a 90 degree angle. Given the relative lack of traffic on Koningsdag, I was able to time this, but just barely. Consider this a spotter-required hole on almost any other day. By hole 2, even this tactic won't help, as the narrow fairways is now sandwiched between two paved pathways, that even on a holiday were fairly populated. Yeah, they are OB, but that's not really going to help the person you just brained with a frisbee. If you play Sloter Park, you will need to play those shots least likely to harm other people enjoying the park, leaving almost nowhere to throw on the hypothetical warm/sunny day which might find Nederlanders sprawled all over the grassy center of the course, catching some usually elusive rays, having a picnic etc. I can go on, but you get the point. Onto memorable holes:

I liked 3, the first of two water clearances, and one of the only holes where you won't necessarily have to watch out for other park goers. Unfortunately I stumbled onto the tee, following my phone only to find it occupied by a young couple getting busy, not knowing what disc golf was. They were actually really nice and watched me play before moving on. When I again encountered them later on the 9th tee, it made me feel like a bit of a stalker, and I ended up teeing off in the wrong direction from the wrong spot to avoid them. Anyway, #3 is very reachable, but vegetation is growing from the left side over the edge of the pond (The Netherlands is basically a cold rain forest—overgrowth abounds) forcing a more pronounced RHBH hyzer approach. I landed it but couldn't take birdie. #7 is a U-shaped par three, presumably on the basis that you could try to get across the intervening vegetation. Perhaps this was the case when the course was laid out, but in 2024, this would be a very risky if not impossible approach. It does, however, give you your first real glimpse of the man-made hill and giant sculpture that stands in the middle of the course. On #8, you skirt the right side of this mound uneventfully, most likely, but #9, arguably the signature hole, sends you up to the top to attempt a 700 foot par 4. 10 is a bit of an outlier on this mostly open course. It's a short par three with a difficult gap which makes sticking the tiny green unlikely. Choose your best miss. The trees overhead were nearly bent over with very large, brooding gray herons. Love. 17 gives you one more try at a short water clearance, but overgrowth has made it impossible to see the basket from the tee.

I've said before that I'm not sure a perfect 5 exists, but given my love for The Netherlands, I was prepared to give one out if Sloter Park stuck all the landings. They did not. Nevertheless, I had a good time, and would happily play a re-designed course on this beautiful property.

_____________________


Sloter Park was de eerste discgolfbaan dat ik buiten de VS gespeld heb. Wat een prachtige park!! Ik heb er op Koningsdag gespeeld, dus het park was bijna leeg. Dat is niet normaal, denk ik.

Ik hield niet van het ontwerp. Het is geen goed idee over voetgangers heen te gooien. Ja, de voetpaden OB zijn, maar hoe helpt dat diegene die je net met een frisbee geslagen heb?

Mijn favorieten holes waren de twee over het water en nummer 10. Op tien heb ik veel grote vogels in de bomen gezien en gehoord. De grote sculpture op 7 TEM 9 was een goed verrassing. De Sloter Park poleholes waren zoals kunst. Het leek om ze ouder dan de anderen poleholes waren, maar ik hield er heel beter van.

Als iemand van jullie komen ooit naar Minnesota aan, ik zal blij om je de lokale discgolfbanen te tonen. Totdat dan, Fijne Bevrijdingsdag!