Disc Golf Course Review

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.

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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!

**3/24/2020 Update** Now has new concrete tee pads. Multiple concrete tee pads on holes 2, 3, 7, 12, 14, 15, and 16. Tons of underbrush cleared out in the park. Hole 13 has been altered. I feel it is a much tougher hole now.

New Veteran baskets and signage. Classic design appealing to beginners and advanced masters utilizing the hills and woods well.
Some short and long tees, plus multiple pin positions.
Family friendly with other amenities in the park to utilize.

May be too short for more experienced players. Hole 12 long pad doesn't really fit the hole and seems like a bad design. That's because it is a tee pad for a hole after current 18 that was previously removed and design intent was not to 12's basket.

I personally loved the original baskets and the history of them, but all the upgrades to this course are amazing!

Hole 14's signage is now missing. It's a shame locals destroyed signage of the donor that lives and breathes diversity instead of virtue signaling.

First I want to give thanks to the people who revamped New Hanover (NH) over the years. Kudos. I seen the results at least twice of their efforts, they do try... but the course also valiantly and viciously fights back.

Unlike a lot of other lower rated niners, it's not because NH is overly easy or boring. Never that, far from it actually. It just has other issues.

Mostly, at its core, #5, 6, 7, 1-2 which are side by side by side, they are long enough, but the small footprint made the fairways laser tight, unrealistically so, I feel. And the brush on the sides thick and unforgiving. Lots of pickers too.

The short distances on paper never matched up to its utter difficulty but yet doesn't attract the advanced crowd either. NH is my #3 course in the immediate area, after Boyertown Community and Kenilworth, but far ahead of Earl Township and Boyertown HS, despite the low points. Yet, I don't come here much, 30x in 7 years maybe? Fundamentally, these aren't enjoyable rounds, especially in summer.

It's a good fit for someone that thinks they have excellent aim and trajectories and wants to really prove it. Others can scramble, although the heavy brush makes it a pain.

It's also that rare course tilted towards LHBH/RHFHers. They will do well on #3, #5, and #9. Even hyzered #1 can be thrown a left trajectory over the parking lot.

If you make par here on advanced tees, unlike most other 9ers, it's a bit of an achievement. Idk if I ever quite reached it. Several holes usually foul it up for me.

+I make an unofficial #10 out of the practice basket near the beginning/end by teeing off from across the street hockey rink.
+Interesting terrain, especially the ravines by #3/4 and valley by #5.
+Park portopotty near start
+No DG crowd.

NH has a way of making average days bad and bad days miserable. Maybe it can make good days excellent but I have yet to experience that here. That's just how playing here is and why I don't get to it more often.

#4/5 is most likely where you can lose a disc with bad kicks or simply rolling into the stream.

Shortly after every cleanup, it's like the course wants to fight back with fallen trees and what not. There were several tree trunks on fairways this time. The brush also sucks and a good retriever makes the course far more bearable.

Tees are a joke, concrete the size of a mat, and often badly placed by several feet in terms of angle. I've taken to ignoring them when it suits me. Some tees are more hidden over time but still findable. Some of the advanced ones in the middle are really hard.

Niceties like signs are from the stone age, an arrow and distance on fiberboard. Since a number are uprooted from their original position, complete with a concrete foot at the base, I doubt many accurate with the course changes anyway. Don't expect next basket arrows or a course sign.

-This is a winter only course for me. Playing it end April / beginning May is already too much vegetation.
-Two Discatcher baskets on #7/8, but rest are old DGA that often look abused by falling trees and such.

After #3 tee, I walked out straight back and there is good amount of land on wider trails with no one on them. Easily enough for 3 more baskets. It leaves me wondering why they designed the middle holes so packed next to each other.

Once, on #7, this narrow serpentine hole doing a reverse 'S', my friend chucked a forehand roller from the tee through the tees onto #2 and it somehow curled back to the middle of 7's fairway putting distance from the basket. I just had to laugh since it was inventive but also far farther than I ever got off the tee cause that fairway is not much wider than a bowling lane.

-Concrete tee pads
-Useful tee signs when present
-DGA Mach III baskets in varied states of repair
-Mild variety of shots, with uphill downhill, a few wooded holes, but mostly open shots
-Water in play for a few holes. #10 lets you decide if you want to water carry at 275' for a chance of birdie, or lay up for a safe par. Good fun
-There are a few downhill bomber holes that really let you air out your distance drivers

-Bathrooms appear to be permanently closed for cleaning
-Moderate amount of parking
-I don't believe any drinking water is available
-Wayfinding is very limited. No "Next Tee" signs. A few tee signs are missing and there is almost a quarter mile walk between holes 8 and 9. GPS is a must for first timers
-Park upkeep is not the best. the rough is very rough as well as swampy in a few places
-A number of the holes seem long with no good reason. I'm happy for long holes that make use of the environment, but there are a few that are over 600' and don't require any shot shaping

This course is close to my heart as it was one of the first courses I played as a beginner, starting almost 20 years ago. It's changed in a few ways, but is still a long course that lets you flex your distance drivers. The water adds real consequences, but is achievable for most players that are willing to be humble. if the upkeep would be better, the missing tee signs were replaced, and signage was put between holes, this course would be much more welcoming to new players. I hope that these changes can be made, but until then you can still push your limits on your max distance to get those edge of the circle birdies.

It does have six baskets and it is mowed

It's down to six baskets the tee pads are covered up there are no signs. No trees no obstacles no elevation

This was a good idea but the baskets needed to be put somewhere else and now that some are stolen it's not worth it

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4 x 8 level poured concrete tees on Gold and Silver layouts, excellent signage including elevation change, new Innova baskets including a practice basket. Kiosk at the parking lott. Brooms at most tees. Thorough wayfinding signage to the various tees, and the teeposts themselves include arrows pointing to the more forward tee positions. Bronze tees are natural, with lines of flush bricks indicating front.


The three layouts provide differentiation for level of challenge. The Bronze tees are well-forward, inviting and fair for newbies. The 12 separate Gold tees (6 are shared Gold/Silver) add an average of 100', and they play at the same par as Silver: a clever way to increase the challenge when you don't have a lot of room to stretch out the holes


They've cut down a lot of tree to create fairways, and they've created some really beautiful greens (3, 5 and 6, and another handful on the back nine. 18 is a large framed island with wood chips). Gold plays to two island greens; Bronze and Silver play to one island green (#18)


Crossing the park road to #8 and the course changes completely: three steep uphill holes and lots of elevation change on most holes

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- A lot of the front nine is hardly higher than the creek, and subject to being flooded out. Check conditions before heading out


- uDisc has this as "Not Cart Friendly" and I think that's more accurate than the "Somewhat" here. If it's wet, you're pulling a cart through mud, and the back nine will require dragging it uphill and navigating across a couple of steeply-side downhills. So it's possible, but probably not worth the effort.

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~ So many nice touches that improve play: logpiles guarding greens (and a few guarding tees from incoming fire), tight marked OB (don't be left throwing uphill on #8). Low bulkheads on a few hillside greens to protect against rollaways, and to encourage ace runs. Bells on a few blind holes to indicate clear. C1 whiskers here and there.


~ Signs indicating sponsors on each hole (and some holes have different sponsors on the different tees). Great indication of local support.


~ You could put together a short nine here if you want to leave out the steeper hills (1-7, 15, 18).


~ The finisher might be a little controversial: it's under 200' with a big downhill (20' of drop) to a large bordered green that plays as an island. A fun challenge, if not the typical closer (I was a bit disappointed to find it as the finisher). But when I looked past that one hole, I could acknowledge that the designer threw a wide variety of challenges on the closing four holes: #15 is a long and straight par 3 that requires clearing a stream in a ravine crossing the fairway, #16 is a very narrow downhill hallway with close OB on both sides (the road on the left will catch anything that goes nose up or fades too much), #17 is short uphill with a large tree at the top creating a low ceiling, and then #18 is a controlled putter to an island green. Whew. Lots of precision and concentration required to close out your round.


~ New, though mostly broken in already. Thoughtful design, fun, and lots of challenge variety to make it desirable for multiple plays.

nice tees
great signage
love the teak trees, no need for manicure
easy road in and out

just too short for me, played with a putter
5 down first time playing is not what i want personally
has some elevation not taken advantage of, just 1 shot and short

this could be a great course with some work as most things are in nicaragua.
overall, if you are in the area, it's worth a stop. you do not need to contact anyone, just show up, they will point you to the start. it's primarily for paintball, but it's a lovely little place that could be a gem for disc golf. 2nd best course i've played in nica, jiquillilo is the best for all levels of players.

There are a lot of pros. First of all, the maintenance of the course is generally very good, most of the time when I play this course I see the creator out there maintaining it and seeing what needs improvement.
It is a very good mix of open and wooded, you start and end with longer more open holes with tough OB's then the middle is all woods. There is a good variety of angles and shot types, elevation is very well used too.
Very difficult course, with many tough shots through the woods.
They are adding long baskets for some of the holes that make them even more fun and challenging.

In the summer, holes 1-3 and 17-18 have corn fields on either side that can make it easy to lose discs. I almost put it as a pro because the corn fields are OB, which makes the longer, straighter holes more challenging, but they can be a little annoying.
There is currently a very long walk from hole 9-10, but Chris (creator of the course) is putting in 9 more holes and some of them are going in that walk, so this con is getting addressed.
Not very stroller/small child friendly with some of the walks through the woods. There's a steep slope downhill and some bumpy paths that make strollers difficult.

All in all, I love this course! The cons are pretty tame all things considered. There's not much I dislike about it, would highly recommend to anyone in this area or passing through.

A course or not a course? Either way, a nifty park to throw in.

To depart from my enigmatic start - this is a totally charming park. Medium hills, thick pines, other trees, lush grass, and a central pond make for about as good a city park setting as you could imagine. I played here as the day was beginning to cool off, and it was lovely.

Three of those elements - great trees, big hills, and water hazards - make for great disc golfing. I threw some really enjoyable downhills, carefully shaped drives, and nervy water carries during my time here.

The seven DISCatchers are good, and their placement carefully thought out to provide a variety of approaches and greens. This is good, since most rounds here will involve rethrowing to the same basket a couple of times.

Okay, now the big problem: there are neither tees nor tee signs. Period. This is literally just baskets in a park. The definition of safari golf. Is it even a course if there's no defined layout?

Even if you did follow a layout such as the current 18-hole recommended on a certain app, you're going to be looping back on yourself, throwing across and back over fairways, and undoubtedly running into other throwers if any disc hurlers are out at the same time as you.

I hate to scrape so hard against this course. I really enjoyed most of the tee locations suggested by GPS, which made truly compelling shots. But its capacity, at best, is one group, and its flow is infinitely malleable.

Beyond this, there is a big issue of things being in the way. "Things" refers to people and buildings. Two baskets bring the playground into play, several options play over sports courts or storage sheds, and all of the water carries will put fishers in danger all around the pond. Add in some blind walking paths and mid-fairway picnic tables, and you have a safety nightmare.

I loved playing at Ford Park. It had all the gameplay elements of a great city park course. Unfortunately, its lack of clear flow, on-tee nature, constant human and civic risk, and the inability to play the entire property thoroughly due to high numbers of park-goers all draw this back more than substantially. It's a bit of an impossible rating, but overall I wanted to be nice and called it Reasonable. If you want nice safari golf, go ahead, but PLEASE be ultra-cautious of all the innocent park-sharers.

~Similar Courses: Well, none really. But if you ignore the glaring flaws, the gameplay has the feel of Earlewood Park (Columbia, TN), McCurry Park (Fayetteville, GA), or Tyus Park (Griffin, GA).