A decent 9er dropped into the middle of a busy park.

Newport is an odd little course and a mixed bag. On the bright side, it's got course basics - concrete tees, tee signs with mildly reliable information, baskets, and next tee indicators. It's also not hard to follow, and the holes flow nicely together.

Some of the holes out here are legitimately fun as well. The first hole is simple but difficult, a low-ceiling shot with a right finish. I also enjoyed the more creative holes - (4), (5), and (9)--which all required some shot and route selection to have best chance at birdie.

In terms of shapes, eight of the holes are entirely reasonable and make for solid throwing. A handful are unspectacular in addition to the ones just named, but it plays correctly. If the cons were all gone, this would be a solid 2.0 or possibly even 2.5.

Oof, a lot of mistakes made with this course.

First off, safety. Possibly the most unsafe place I've ever played. There are constantly walkers near or in fairways. For example, (4)-(5) both play straight along concrete walking paths, and (6) and (8) have paths long and parallel of the route. To add on, hole (4) is atrocious. There are benches, volleyball nets, and lampposts in the fairway, and a crowded playground within striking distance. There's a picnic shelter between tee and basket (7), and a maintenance shed along the side of fairway (2). Private property is easily in reach to the right of (9).

The design is only made worse by the busyness of the park. It was crawling with walkers when I visited, and I spent a lot of time waiting.

If you avoid damaging anything, you still have to figure out where to throw, which isn't helped by the tee signs. Though they have maps, the distances are very sketchy. Furthermore, they aren't pointed the right way sometimes, culminating in the mother of all misplaced tee signs on (8), which is directly in front of the tee.

A couple of annoyances to close out. First, holes (1)-(2) are hurt by overhanging low branches that really restrict the lines. A high-powered forehand driver becomes the only option on what could otherwise be flexible holes. Second, the course ends on the opposite end of the park from the start, which necessitates a long and annoying walk at the end of the round.

Newport is reasonably fun disc golf. Unfortunately, it's horribly thoughtless design. How does that average out? For me, it's just barely Passable in the sense that it's a quick and enjoyable round if you have the park to yourself. Keep your eyes peeled but enjoy some challenging lines.

The Newport City Park has added disc golf to its repertoire in an effort to expand their recreational offerings. Unfortunately, they've crammed nine holes (and currently, only eight baskets) into an area that isn't adequate or ideal for disc golf.

The teepads are clean and level. The tee signs are detailed, but that's where the praise ends.

Noteworthy elevation exists only on Hole #2; it's a climb to the top of the hill in order to air out your disc toward the flatland below.

The last three holes are probably the nicest on the course. The fairways for Holes #7 to #9 are grassy, partly shaded and involve navigating some trees while being farther away from other park activities.

The basket for Hole #3 is gone. And apparently, it's been that way for several months. Maybe too many people were throwing their discs past the basket into the pool? However, without this basket, the course flows slightly better because the teepad for Hole #4 is near the basket for Hole #2. Completing Hole #3 would involve retracing one's steps on the just-played fairway, which is a terrible design.

The course ends far from where it begins. The teepad for Hole #1 and the basket for Hole #9 are about as far apart as possible without leaving the park. And while the course isn't very long, plan for at least a five-minute walk if you parked at the starting point.

Hole #4 is one of the worst holes I've played due to the myriad of potential obstacles that exist between the teepad and the basket. When I played this hole, the following obstacles were present: a flatbed trailer, a wooden ramp structure, piles of gravel, a maintenance building, a small wooden structure covering a bench swing, a paved road, a volleyball court and a playground area. Bypassing this area would be a better option than having a terrible filler hole.

The other holes aren't immune from undesired obstacles, though. On the first hole, a tall chain-link fence with barbed-wire on top lurks on the right side while the swimming pool guards the left-side boundary. Hole #2 includes strewn wooden planks, piles of chain-link fencing and cinder blocks en route to the basket. The basket for Hole #5 is next to the restrooms. Hole #6 brings a parking lot into play. And several of the holes include a route over pedestrian walkways. This course will be best played when there are fewer people.

I've never seen tee signs so poorly placed. Instead of having a consistent formula for positioning, the signs are actually placed so you can spot them from the previous basket. The sign for Hole #8 is 10-15 feet IN FRONT OF the teepad. Check out the photos to see such ridiculousness.

The distance posted for Hole #6 is wrong. The sign says 314 feet, but it appears closer to 200 feet.

Unless you're a course bagger or live near Newport, there isn't much a reason to visit the park for its disc golf. A rating of 1.0 ("poor") seems about right for a course layout that is unimpressive and fairly uninteresting, especially since non-disc golf obstacles abound and there are flaws in the unidirectional design.