Fore Palms is a course I get to play during my trips to Jacksonville about 2-3 times per year. Outside of my home course in St. Louis it is definitely the course I am most familiar with in the country. I really enjoy this course.
1. Course Maintenance is always excellent. Many small town courses in Missouri and on my travels are great when new or just before or after a big tournament when they get cleaned up. Otherwise you have to wait until winter to go on expeditions to courses in small town USA. Not Fore Palms. She's always in solid shape. Obviously not in a small town, just pointing out that I always appreciate good course maintenance.
2. Course design. Jax isn't blessed with an abundance of forest where you can stick a disc golf course. If there is such aplace it's usually too swampy. The designers did the best with the woods they have here and found a way to sandwich big scoring separation holes in the woods in the park. Hole 3 with the cart path playing OB can be a round destroyer. I've seen 6's and 7's taken on this hole...not to be outdone by the double trouble of holes 6 and 7 back to back. hit the first gaps and progress over 100ft and it's an easy 3 or better. hit early and ALL you've got is a roller or a pitch out. I even glossed over the "I don't have a forehand so please go straight Hole 5" Hit a tree and kick left early and you'll be lucky to take a 4. Awesome punishing hole design on an otherwise open course.
3. Water. The tiny pond in the park takes many a disc. 9 and 10 require throws directly over to score and both are 275+ feet of control. You can bail out with hyzers on both holes but your upshots will be more difficult than just trying to bombs it over the water.
4.Airing it out. We don't have many parks like this...1 or 2 in all of St. Louis that really let you air it out with control required. There are control bombs required on several holes when you add all the Alternates
5. speaking of the Alternates. This course has a bunch of them. They are all different types of shots and sandwiched in 2 sections of the course so you can add them or not. I always add A,B,C...sometime D,E and F if I have the time.

It's hard to fault a course I love so much and yet I only get to play it every 4-5 months, but here goes.
1. Busy course. Jacksonville is the largest city in the country in terms of it city limits..really. Google it. It's absolutely massive and it takes a long time to get around yet there are really only four courses to play: Fore Palms, New World, Springfield and sometimes Trinity and yet it's population is roughly that of the StL metro area where we have 30-40 courses.
2. Busy Park. it's a theme. Ed Austin Park is well used by the community all the time. There are walkers, cyclists, kids running around, you name it. a walking path weaves through the park and is in play on most of the course.
3. Course design. Not sure what I would change here as you can only work with what you have. some of the holes are just bland. 18 is a boring finishing hole. 4 of the 6 alternate holes are just throws across fields. some tress could be planted and that would help and it would chop up the wind a bit.

I love coming down to play this course. It is just so different from playing at home. You really have to account for the ground play, rollers work really well and yet you also need more control in the woods as they aren't as dense as the Midwest so if you go into them you're guaranteed to be well off of the fairway most times.

Nice layout, very clean and well kept. Challenging course for beginners. Tee pads are in good condition and concrete. Most holes have brooms.

It was difficult to find the course and parking and to navigate the courses themselves.

There are 2 courses here. A numbered course and a lettered course that intertwine making it a little confusing to navigate.

I was in Jacksonville on business and after reading a few reviews on courses near my hotel, I decided to check out Fore Palms and I'm glad I did!

The course is settled in a large and well maintained park and all the locals I ran into seemed very friendly. Even though there was a decent amount of foot traffic, pedestrians seemed aware of the game and the sidewalks are relatively easy to avoid throwing towards (worst case you can wait 30 seconds and they're out of the way completely).

I found that the course had a very balanced challenge for a variety of players. It isn't a technical and punishing course by any means but it also isn't a wide open field either. I found myself using a decent variety of shots as most holes have a couple of routes you can shoot for.

Aside from the lake in the middle of the course, errant shots that go into the rough are pretty easy to find and won't annihilate your score on the hole. There's also the A-C and D-F bonus holes which I thought were a pretty cool addition.

Most of the cons I can think of are either nitpicky or of no fault by the course designers.

While I had great weather during my visit, I can see it being pretty brutal in the summer with a lack of shade. It was nice to have benches and bag hangers at almost every hole but some more trash cans would be nice (even though I saw little to no litter on the ground).

The A-C bonus holes were fun (B and C are open bombers) and flowed with the rest of the course but D-F felt like an afterthought and didn't jive very well with the layout as a whole.

Some of the blue tees were only a few feet further back and situated right next to an obstacle which forced you into an odd throw. To me it felt like the course was designed around the red tee pads with the blue being there "just because".

Navigation can be a little wonky and I was lost my first 9 holes until I started playing behind someone to see the direction of the next tees. After one full round, I had no issues navigating but without a little help it can be confusing.

During my visit to Jacksonville, this was the only course I felt like visiting. Sure it may not float everyone's boat do to lack of elevation and lots of ground play but its an overall great course in a nice area which is more than I can say about a lot of places I've played. I was in between a 3.5 and a 4 rating but I feel like its fair to round up a bit for the pros instead of down for the easily overlooked cons.

I will certainly be back the next time I'm in town.

Great variety of open to wooded shots. good mix of par 3, 4, and a 5. Nice public park with sidewalks and a pond two of the holes throw over. Love the mix of distance and tec. used just about every shot in my bag.

1. Baskets are starting to show there age chipping and some rusted chains. 2. Pads love the length but bumpy and lumpy accident waiting to happen. 3. traffic lots of people use the sidewalks and were walking around both of the rounds i played.

The public has a great understanding of disc golf here and waited for our shots at times only had a couple of ppl not understand the dont pick up the disc while i am shouting dont touch it. This was during a C tier that i played the 2 rounds and only got to play the 18 but did check out the extra holes.

This course is a nice mix-up being a Florida course in that it has some geographical character...mainly some nice elevation change on quite a few holes. The course has a good size pond in the middle of it which is used as a hazard for a couple of holes which adds some suspense to the round. The course layout is well done and really uses every bit of the property it can (even fitting in some bonus holes) There is a nice variety of holes from wide open bombers to some shorter technical to even a few in very dense wooded areas. It is nice that the course is more than just 18 holes (There are several bonus holes which I already mentioned)

The park seems to be a popular spot to come and walk/run, we were there on a Sunday late morning/early afternoon and the place was fairly busy with people everywhere so there were several holes spent waiting to get a clearing to throw. I would have liked to see a restroom here or there throughout the course instead of just one wretched facility near the park's entrance. I am not one to like too many trees but I feel this park could benefit from a few more obstacles on many holes. The lake is a nice obstacle but other than that the course is fairly each to navigate.

This is one of my favorite courses that I've played in Florida mainly because of the variety of hole layout and elevation change, it definately has features that will suit every skill level and I recommend it to anyone looking for a fun round in the Jacksonville area. We drove up from Daytona Beach to play.

Nice course in a clean, well-maintained city park. Fairly busy. Long course requires a long walk. Tees and baskets are good. Decent variety of long open holes and short holes in woods. Plays through very tall pine trees and a couple of open water-carry shots required. Decent variety but nothing extraordinary. Mostly open to semi-open holes with a few scattered trees to avoid. Some good pin placements to make good use of natural elements.

Bathrooms very limited and way too far away from course. Signage is very lacking. I lost the "bonus holes completely. I could tell the general area where they were but was not interested in wandering the wide open area to figure out where to start and how to play. Dual tees primarily just added a little distance with no real change in the hole layout or shot required.

Very big with 24 baskets including the A-C and D-F bonus holes. Decent variety of long open holes and short holes in light woods. Plays through very tall pine trees that drop pine needles for the perfect skip shots on several holes. This was a ball golf course once upon a time and that means the land is not board flat but rather has some playful undulations. Park is always free to enter. Long holes with big fairways to let it rip. New bag holders, tee signs & some new longer pin positions. Long and short cement tees are in good shape. Benches on a number of holes and other chill spots along the way help to keep you refreshed through 24 holes.

Restrooms are not close enough to disc golf area. There is a walking path that is close to a number of holes so there may be an occasional wait for safety reasons.

Ample parking and practice basket by first tee. Popular and busy course. Always someone to play with or guide you. Holes 9 and 10 bring a small pond into play but it doesn't add much interest (not pretty) or difficulty (not that long).

Nice course in a clean, well-maintained city park with skate park, basketball court, ball fields, walking trail and lots of paved parking.
• Variety: Decent, but not great. Mostly open to semi-open holes with a few scattered trees to avoid. Many light to moderately wooded holes plus, two short, densely wooded, technical holes. Reasonable balance of L/R/straight - most holes allow for multiple lines off the tee but present a couple of obstacles you need to work around, but only a few restrict you to pretty much one or two routes that you have to hit if you want a low score. Has a few pretty good tee and pin placements to make good use of natural elements.
• Dual Tees occasionally change the look and line, but some just add length. Both red and blue span a decent spread of distances, but can be mixed and matched to accommodate a range of skill levels, and provide a richer selection distances. Dual pins on half the holes help keep things fresh for locals.
• Features two respectable water carries from the longs while offering "bail-out"routes from the shorts, allowing distance challenged players the thrill of throwing over as much of the pond as they feel comfortable with while forcing them to take the longer way'round.
• Aesthetics: It's nice a pleasant enough walk around the park, but nothing I'd describe as scenic.
• Equipment: Concrete tees were OK, baskets were in good condition, and tee signs provide the hole's vitals and help you find your way around.
• Reasonably fun and relatively challenging - not a bad place for novices or advanced players looking for a casual round.

• Elevation: Kudos to designers for capitalizing on the very subtle changes in topography, but if elevation really wets your whistle, you'll be disappointed. Create a mound, elevate a pin and create a rollaway green.
• Extra Holes: I think hole "B" is a nice addition to the course, but the other 5 seem run of the mill - not necessarily bad, but other than providing some fun birdie opportunities, they don't really make it a better course. For example, the pin for hole "A" could have been nestled into the woods a bit to put more emphasis on placing your tee shot. As it is, 5 of them serve to screw up the flow without adding much in terms of disc play.
• Navigation and Next Tee signs - as with many fairly open courses, where to go after you hole out isn't always obvious, and finding the next tee was a bit iffy in several spots. Seems like the original 18 holes actually flow pretty well, but the extra holes (A-C and D-F) were obviously added on and don't flow well with the rest of the course. I won't say the map is an absolute must, but it'll definitely save visitors quite a bit of time. A few Next Tee signs would help.
• Could use more holes that that are less forgiving of tee shots that are off target. Players who max out at 250 -300ft can often miss their line, and still place a upshot for a makeable putt to card a 3, while actually hitting the line may not really give them a really good look at 2. That said, for players who can get 300-350 off the tee, being off target on those same holes will cost them birdie opportunities.

Fore Palms gets much more right than it does wrong, and fits quite comfortably among other very good courses I've played. Definitely worth a visit if you're in the area, but destination disc golf... not so much. That said, there don't appear to be better alternatives anywhere in the area. Likely the best course in an area that's simply not a hot bed for DG.

Things to consider: not much in the way of shade - plan accordingly to maximize comfort and enjoyment.

Coexists pretty well with semi-shared use of the park, although there are a few spots where you may need to wait a while for people travelling along the path to clear out of the range of bad shots.

Relatively open layout means wind is likely a factor pretty often (definitely the case during my round). Frustrating to some, challenging to others.

Suggestion for improved routing (don't read this unless you look at the course map):
The flow from 3 to A, then to B & C, and then over to 4 is non-intuitive and crosses the walking path three times. Reversing the tee and pin positions on hole "A" would greatly improve flow. That would have you going from 3 to B, to C, then crossing the path to A, (which if reversed), would point directly toward 4... then renumber accordingly. The resultant routing would have you walking to the closest tee (i.e. more intuitive) and only crosses the walk path once.

Often, it can be tough to peg a course to a specific half point on a five-point scale. It can be limiting, with many courses falling somewhere between a 3 and a 2.5 for example. I'd like to give hypothetical course a 2.8. I think most of us do the best we can with such limitations and it's probably for the best.

I bring this up because Ed Austin to me, is the shining example of a 3.5. If someone asked me to describe a course that deserves a 3.5, I'd just send them a link to Ed Austin. It's a challenging, interesting course, that has just enough flaws that it is clearly not four stars. At the same time, it's definitely better than your local 3 star course.

It boasts a pond in the center of course. Two holes offer carries, but both allow the safe but long way around the pond. This is the course to be fearless, though. A club representative rakes the pond with a big contraption so if you lose one, you're likely to get a call.

While it is apparently a former ball golf course, it doesn't feel like one at all. Other courses of that type can feel like they stuck baskets and tees on the former ball holes. This one doesn't.

In all, it's got a decent amount a variety for a mostly open course, a few wooded hoels, and a few open holes with trees that force your shot. It's got length and some, but not an excessive amount of challenge.

It's not extremely technical, and the sun will wear you out much faster than the course will. There is not much shade here, and eighteen holes can leave you exhausted .

I'd like to see a bit more obstacle between the tee and hole for it to be a truly top-notch course. There is just a bit much of the bomb-it-and-avoid-two-trees holes for my taste. There are a few wooded holes, but read that as FEW. It's almost a tease when so few holes demand strict control of your drives.

Next tee arrows please. The most simple problem to correct but so many courses forget this. Often at Ed Austin the next hole is obvious, but with the extra, lettered holes, confusion can be created. The worst example is after 3, when the tee for C is visible, and no reason to turn towards 4 is given. If you are going to add extra holes, (and I do like this feature in general) you really need to make it clear how to play 18, and how to play 24. Walking a loooong ways to play a hole you did not intend is a mistake that could be easily averted with a few signs.

It's the premier course in northeast Florida by a mile. You'd have to drive 2 hours in any direction to find something better and I'd play this 3.5 again in a heartbeat.

Awesome variety of holes, some wide open, some woods, tunnel shot on #5. Course is always clean and maintained. Great feeling of safety with the police presence.

Not enough ace runs. #16 is not a fair par 3, almost 500' having to throw your drive low through a bank of trees. 8 also should be a par 4 when the basket is placed into the woods. This course is definitely for bigger arms.

Well worth travelling to play this course. I would like to see the pars on some holes reconsidered, as they are not fair to the average player.

Great Course, because it has everything for each shot, woods, water, left to right,right to left, short or long. Cement Tees.Trash Bins, Clean.In Great Condition

Getting busy. Weekend afternoons very busy park.

-Concrete tee pads rule!

-The lettered holes (A-C and D-F) have tee pads made of concrete tiles, but they've been installed with such skill that they are as level and smooth as tee pads on holes 1-18. Great job!

-This is a sprawling course with subtle elevation changes

-With two water holes built around a small pond, you can throw a floating disc with near 100% chance of getting it back.

-With 24 holes, you can opt to skip the two water holes and still play 22 holes!

-This park gets a lot of use on weekends. With all that foot traffic, you sometimes have to wait to throw your disc.

-With only natural irrigation, the course is pretty sandy. I have lots of sand in my shoes at the end of the day.

In terms of design and location, this is a prime example of what a Florida disc golf course should look like. The next time you drive through Jacksonville, I suggest you make time to play a round there.

I played this course again recently, and I continue to be impressed by the design and layout. I can't wait to go back.

Fun challenging course with a mix of long and medium length holes in a beautiful park setting. Not an easy beginner course, but it does offer alternate tees around the water if your ego can handle the pressure. Fairly intuitive to figure out the course without a map, but tricky to follow when you get near the woods (after hole 5) and the back side (after hole 15) where some of the add-on holes are inserted. More terrain in play than most Florida courses, a few technical holes, and a couple of fun water shots.

A bit crowded two of the three times I played rounds there. The wind can really play with your shots on most of the course. The course favors length over accuracy most of the time. I saw several people searching for lost plastic in the lake.

This was my favorite of the four courses I played in the Jacksonville area. It was fun to see such a big park with lots of family activities and all age groups using it. There wasn't much in the way of scenery, wildlife, or uniqueness, but a fun clean course with a variety of shots required.

Most of this course has a tight groom that feels like a ball golf course. The park is huge and nice and there were a bunch of nice looking ladies jogging when I played, so that's always a bonus.

There's plenty of opportunity to air out some long drives, including some rollers. The course is a little on the long side, but not crazy long.

Two holes are played over the water, so that's another bonus.

There's a stretch of tight, woodsy holes to balance out most of the longer, more open shots.

A few times we had to wait to throw until joggers passed on the path, which hugs a lot of the holes.

The first time we played, we missed the bonus "letter" holes. They were pointed out to us by a friendly local during our second round.

I'd say it's a very nice course and worth a visit by anyone visiting Florida.

Lots of good Parking. Mostly a wide open course with a very few tight holes. Two water holes as well. Lots of fun to play. Most holes allow for multiple lines off the tee. Good course for beginners and above.
More than 18 holes to play so you can have plenty of course variety. The course flows fairly nicely..

Can be crowded at times. Your flight path crosses the walkway several times so you have to be careful for the runners/walkers. Two holes (#6 & 7) are in the woods and are tight. The rest are much more open. A few Next Tee signs would help.

You can easy taco your disc on the first hole. That is when you launch the disc and sadly drive it into the tree a few feet in front of you, bending it into a taco shape. Pike's Pine is on the left and sadly, Puma's Pine is on the right! You need a strong arm and/or a floating disc (such as a Dragon) for the two water holes.
This course is fun to play. All abilities can enjoy it.
Easy to get to the course and plenty of parking.
Occasionally the basket locations change.
Dual tee boxes on every hole also add to the variety. This is a great park to walk around (and do geocaching if you wish).
Baskets are in good condition, and nice tee signs provide the needed information and help you navigate your way around. Longer throwers can make some birdies on this course, IF they hit the right line.

Nicely maintained course with some nice distance and a few narrow holes to test you as well. Great course amenities, specifically easy access to benches and trash cans.

No real negatives as you can not expect elevation in Florida, but I personally enjoy a more hilly terrain.
Be careful of the water...

1) Nice large trapezoidal concrete tees. I love this as the standard for disc golf! There is a painted strip on the tees to indicate red or blue tee so there is no confusion. Shared tees have both colors indicated.

2) Benches and bag racks available from time to time throughout the course.

3) Nice signage with Hole #, distance, par and hole maps. Always a welcome sight for the travelling disc golfer.

4) Awesome group of league players here. I showed up to meet an old friend from Wisconsin and I was welcomed into the group like I was from the area. I even took two of the 4 CTP's and $18 back . . . granted I paid $13 to play in the league $1 to play, $1 non member, $1 per CTP, $1 for the ace, and $6 for the skins game. I have never paid more than $7 for league and this one cost me $13. I ended up donating the $5 that I actually profited from back to their club because it was such a good time.

5) Great variety on this course for what was originally a short 9 hole executive golf course. The design uses the best of the wooded areas to make for a really great course.

6) There was a unique thing on this course I have never seen anywhere else. There were short little carpet strips short of the teepads. I am not sure if the design was to give you a place to kick the sand off your shoes but they seemed to do a good job of keeping the teepads fairly clean. There were even a few areas where I noticed the same material on the fallaway at the end of the teepad so if you overstep through your drive you can land on that instead of dropping down to the sand/turf.

7) 24 holes out here which is always nice for the travelling disc golfer to get in as much disc golf as possible. The course could be played any number of ways . . . front 9, front 12, back 9, back 12 or play all 24. This probably helps when events and league are going on to allow the casual players to skip ahead of the organized players.

8) There is an excellent variety of holes out here which was not really expected. Sure there are a lot of holes with wider fairways, but they use key trees to their advantage. Then there are some holes that run through the peripheral wooded areas between the old fairways. Then there are a couple of holes that are as tight as I have ever seen.

9) Very beginner friendly course because it is mostly open. The distance my get to some beginners, but what better way than to learn the game than by throwing a lot!

10) There were a lot of shots needed out here. You can throw many holes with a straight or slight hyzer, but there are also a couple of tight anhyzer lines on a couple of holes. There also are quite a few places where a roller might be a beneficial shot to have in the bag. I only threw a couple rollers because I wanted to play safe because it was league and my rollers can have a tendency to get a little wild.

11) Multiple pin placements on many of the holes makes this an even more attractive course allowing for a different layout all the time. Having dual tees is also a benefit because it allows different skill levels to enjoy this course.

12) Water is another feature on this course that comes into play really on 2 holes. It is the same type and length of shot both times, but there is a definite pucker factor. I just played safe and short and left both times and took my pars., but the true risk/reward is there for those that can throw 300'.

13) Surprisingly undulating fairways in a few places out here. Nothing outstanding but most likely the undulations were made when the golf course was constructed.

14) Practice basket available near the first tee and plenty of room to work on some approaches and longer putts too.

15) There is a nice kiosk with a hole map and distances listed on one section. There also is a lot of postings because it seems like there is a really active group of locals. Like I said the league was awesome but I also know there is a glow league out here on Wednesdays. This would be a fun course to play glow disc golf for sure.

1) Distance variation is something I felt like could have been handled better. There is so much room out here that the holes could be varied a whole lot more than they are. This is the type of course that usually frustrates me because most of the holes are just outside my range and I end up with a lot of tap in 3's but for some reason this course didn't feel that way . . . perhaps because there were still a lot of things to make those upshots not feel simple layups everytime.

2) While the variety of the foliage was good, I would like the balance swung a little more towards balance and while this course is most heavily weighted towards the moderately open hole with key trees, I think they maybe could have used a little bit more of the tighter wooded areas to create better balance.

3) Walking path does come into play on a number of holes. I appreciate that the path was probably here before the disc golf as it was probably intended for the golf course . . .but everyone needs to be aware of everyone else. Please be careful and don't risk anyone getting hurt.

4) There was a slightly repetitive feeling on a lot of the holes because they were mostly open with key trees. It wasn't so much in the shot needed but in the look and feel of the holes.

5) A few of the areas off the fairway can get thick . . . the tight wooded holes are ultimately a 1-2 strke punishment if you are off the fairway easily. Then there are a few pockets of unkept palmetto shrubs that will gladly eat up your disc and probably also house some snakes.

6) If only the course could have been altered slightly so that the two water shots were not on back to back holes and the two tightest wooded holes were also not back to back. I'm happy for the diversity but it would be nice if you didn't have those 4 holes in a back to back type setup. Oh well, I'm just nitpicking now.

7) No way of knowing which position the basket is located . . .this is something I would highly appreciate being a travelling player.

8) DGA Mach baskets are hard to find in many places because of the surrounding foliage and dormant turf.

All in all a great experience. I played with the local weekly sunday league and an old friend of mine. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the course because I typically prefer the tight more technical holes but this course still forced you to pick a shot and execute. They used key trees throughout the course to give you lanes. It was incredibly clean and rewarded good shots. The biggest punishment of bad shots out here would have to be the OB areas and the two tightest holes in the woods. I will be back for sure unless Jacksonville puts in a couple more nice new courses by the time I return to the area.

Had a great time playing this course. Overall it is a pretty wide open course with a few wooded holes which test your abilities. Managed to lose 1 disc over the Hole # 9 water hole.

You need to watch out for joggers and walkers who are on the walking path that snakes throughout the course

Course only had 2 other players on it on a Monday morning which was nice.

1) Solid course. Good mix of technical wooded holes, Long Bomb holes, And some challenging water Hazards
2) Bag holders at every hole
3)Benches and Trash cans scattered throughout
4) Course loops back around to the parking lot after 12 holes (1-9 & A-C)
5)Fair to both righties and lefties

1) Hole 9 is a nasty water hole, throw around if you don't have a very strong arm. watched at least 3 discs go into the lake the day i was there.
2) Pedestrians walking through the park...it is a walking path....so i can't complain...but you do have to be aware of them when throwing on a few holes

Drove 3.5 hours to play this course, and wasn't disappointed. Good solid course....and worth the play if youre within an hour or two of here.

Well laid out course with even distribution of woods, open hole, or water hazards. Clean and well kept up, pets are permitted, and familys walk around the park and through the course on the Asphalt trail. The signs at the tee pads inform you of the OB's. There are a couple of blind holes where the basket is tucked away out of sight namely hole #2.. This park was an 18 hole golf course originally, so it has the look and feel of a golf course. There are an additional 9 holes after the18 on the other side of the parking lot labeled A through I.

some pads were concrete, some were stone, some even have carpet on the back side. When you enter the course when driving it is hard to find hole 1 unless someone gave you a hint. Hole #9 is a water hazard that I lost my sidewinder on, there wasnt even a way to lay up. #10 is a water hazard also but runs along the pond. After coming out of the woods on 7 looking for 8 it was kind of confusing.

Watch out for pedestrians on holes #2 #3 #8 and a couple others the Walking Path is pretty close to the baskets or run alongside the whole of the run to the basket. Easy to hit people if you arent careful and it is OB. Just a heads up!