(For my overall thoughts about Paradise Pointe as a whole, and the strengths and weaknesses of all three courses, see my Woodhenge review).

Blackthorn is the most heavily wooded course on the property, with a good practice basket, signage, and chances for a long round if your accuracy isn't on point on both the open and wooded holes.

Other than holes 13 and 14, I quite like the open holes. They do a good job balancing distance, proximity to the water, and shot shapes, to produce some decent holes when scattered trees weren't available as much. I even like hole 1 as a starting hole - a nice, long, downhill shot where you can really open up before diving into the woods on the following holes.

I have to give a shoutout to hole 15, an epic dogleg left par 4 with a few options for how to shape your tee shot, trying to put you in good position to pipe a tunnel. Despite all the other tunnel shots and dogleg on this property, this might be the best single hole. Also, hole 9 is surprisingly good. It might seem like a boring, straight par 3, but there are trees around the tee that might get into your head, there's room on the fairway for a variety of shot shapes, and there's also potential for high numbers due to the woods makes this a really solid hole.

I think the water was used here better than the other two courses. Hole 10 combines a low ceiling with a downhill water shot, something I don't think I've ever seen anywhere else. Holes 16 and 17 are close to the water, and provide a little more riskiness, depending on how much you want to open up, especially with 16 being so long. The water is also nearby on holes 3-5 and can get in your head if it's higher than normal, or if you kick to the right. All of these holes have safe options, though it may be awkward to toss a 100' drive on 10 before throwing over the lake just in case you don't want to lose your driver.

Some of the wooded holes can easily run together, and some don't offer the same challenge they used to. Hole 11 has a left route that's inaccessible now due to the trees, and even the right route doesn't make a whole lot of sense anymore. Holes 4-6 all favor a RHBH that softly turns to the right, and sometimes isn't that great for LHBH. Then, holes 7 and 8 have a couple of lines available but don't seem like there's actually a whole lot of challenge involved to get a good score.

Even some of the other holes don't feel like there was much intention in the design. Holes 2 and 3 stick out here, and while they're not exactly like any of the other holes on the course, it seems like there was no specific line (or lines) in mind, but also not a whole lot of challenge. In other words, I think their gaps are a little too small. Hole 3 might have a high right line, though it would bring the lake into play a little more.

Holes 12-14 were a little sad for me. Hole 12 just plays along a handful of trees beside a road, and while the OB element creates some score separation, it isn't a fun hole. Then, holes 13 and 14 are just bombers in a sea of grass. It also means four out of five consecutive holes on the course are par 4, which I don't think is a good way to arrange the pars. In addition, I don't think hole 18 is a good way to finish the course, with some limbs that force a left-turning shot over a path and a narrow fairway for no good reason. The tee pad there should be shifted to the right.

There's not really much elevation change, and that's a big reason why a lot of this course is rather bland at times. It is there on some holes, especially the baskets that are closer to the water's edge, but it's not enough to be a major factor in this course overall.

If you like short, technical shots, then holes 2-8 will be perfect for you. Otherwise, you may find yourself getting bored here. But with the mix of more open holes, this course has the opportunity to be interesting for everyone.

There's a part of me that wants to give this course a higher rating, but there's not much that sticks out as being fantastic. But there's also very little that's a real knock on this course, so I think 3.0 is about right. That said, an alteration to the design of the front nine, and some way to make the open holes a little spicier, would help out this course tremendously. Overall, it's a decent addition to the Paradise Pointe trifecta.

Nice practice basket area in the middle of the parking circle.

The course sign is once again informative. All pars and distances are listed along with a pretty good map. Tee signs are also in top condition, along with the Chainstar baskets.

Some excellent par 4s strung right in a row. 14 a wide open 650, 15 has some tough branches off the tee, then a 300 foot long, 15-20 foot wide hallway to the basket (best hole on this course), and then 16 is a true 2 shot hole with a really beautiful green right by the lake.

I really like hole 12 with the five birches. The branches hang low enough that a forehand isn't likely to get far, but a backhand has the danger of going OB over the road if you turn it over... really good use of those trees!

The course is really well kept up. The fairway mowing is excellent, the rough is rough as it's supposed to be while not being impossible to find a disc in, and for 3 to 9 being right next to a lake there's not very much mud to deal with. It also keeps out of the way of the walking path.

There are some very, VERY bland holes on this course. 11 is a simple hyzer play, 13 is a wide open downhill (good one to ace run), and 17 and 18 are a very average way to finish off the course.

Holes 3 through 8 are pretty much the same thing. You'll either park it, or you'll hit a tree and have to settle for par. I don't even remember which ones I birdied and didn't (and I'm really good with hole numbers). And the water shouldn't even be a factor on any of your shots except one (it's on 5, 6, or 7). Hole 3 does have a drop off about 25 feet behind the basket.

Hole 10 is how not to do a water hole.

Navigation has some weird spots where tees are tucked into the trees and are hard to find. 6 to 7 and 8 to 9 were my only complaints. Also leaving hole 1 the only tee you can see is 15's. You go past that off to the left side of the path and around the 1830s cemetery to get to hole 2.

I am not as impressed by this course as most. There's not a lot to say. It's 3-4 very good holes, 8 so-so holes, and then 6 of the same hole over and over again. The amenities are really good, but overall this is the weakest of the three courses on site in my book.

Teeing off by a cemetery was a new experience!

The first tee and the 18th basket are pretty far apart. If you park by the practice green they're about equidistant, but for me, Blackthorn was my second course of the day so I parked in the spots right near the first tee... let's just say I had a nice long break in my car before starting the third course.

Blackthorn is one of 3 courses on site, and takes a strong game to stay around par. It features moderate elevation changes on many of the holes, and varies from mostly open to tightly wooded and points in between. Four par 4's add the element of distance, holes that are not unfair, but require accuracy to avoid bogeys.

The tees are concrete, there are nice blue rimmed baskets in good condition, and signs posted at each hole with a course map to help navigate. The layout is pretty easy, and not difficult to traverse.

I like that some of the holes offer good chances for birdie while having some room for error, and others require near perfect shots to get close. There can be dense brush and trees if you throw off line on several of them. I preferred the wooded holes over the open ones. Mostly on the front nine, 2-8 and 15 give you less airspace to work with because of tree trunks and branches that force some lower drives and create nice gaps, turns, and tunnels.

The open holes dominate on the back nine,l tacking on distance, and are exposed to the wind. All of the par fours are on the second half of the course. Water is in play but not a major risk in most cases. The pond on hole 10 is the only shot over water, aside from the creek on 15 if I remember it right. 16 and 17 are next to the lake shore, but unless you really shank one or lose it in the wind you should stay dry.

Park entry is $8, and I had a tough time cramming the envelope full of nickels and dimes into the pay station.
Bring cash.

Tee signs don't give detailed illustration for each hole, but the basket location is in sight on nearly every hole. 15 and 16 are the only blind drives I can think of.

I only played this one out of the 3 courses, and it was cold outside that day. But the wind was not too strong, and I had a good time none the less.

Finished with a 64, six over par. 3 birdies on holes 4, 7, and a great side arm drive on 8. Thought I had another one on 13, my putt was dead center of the chains, but a little weak and into just enough of a head wind to push it outside the bucket.

The par 4s got the better of me. Took a bogey on 12, made par on 14, and double bogeys on 15 and 16. Hole 15 is a tough one I would like another crack at. The drive has to get through a few tall skinny trees, then turn left without over shooting into heavy rough. Then the approach is pretty long and tunneled on either side by considerable trees and brush.

Overall this course is nicely outfitted and has a good design. With water, elevation, some woods great mix of fun and challenge. With a bit of skill and a bit of luck you can do pretty well.

I will return to check out the other courses here. Got a good look at the white course, seemed to be fairly easy with less distance and less trees on grassy hills. Curious what the gold is all about. I think I could do better on the blue, and once conditions improve, we will find out. Worth checking out in my opinion if you have the chance. Bring a lunch and enjoy a good day of disc golf on the lake.

This course uses elevation well and there is a good mix of open holes and wooded holes as well.
The grounds are well kept and the fairways were mowed well and so were the paths from the previous basket to the next tee box.
Tee pads were ample and the signage was adequate. There were trash cans on a few holes as well. The baskets on this course are blue so they are easy to see.
All length of holes are represented on this course from short, moderate, and long holes.
Also there are dog leg left/right holes represented as well.
Directional arrows on several holes to point you in the right direction. The last few holes which are next to the lake will add a little pucker factor into your shots as will the pond shot on hole #10.

The walk between baskets and the next tee box are a bit long at times. This was also the case when you finished your round as the walk from 18's basket back to the parking lot was long.
Wind will factor in on holes 1, 12-14, and 16-18.
Undergrowth on the wooded holes could be thick depending on the time of year.
Safety could be an issue on hole 12 with the road being close to the right hand side of the fairway, so pay attention.
12, 14, and 16 were very long holes, some players will love this while others won't like throwing their driver multiple times on a hole just to get a look at the basket.

This course starts off with a nice downhill shot that has some length then it plays technical for the next 8 holes. This was my favorite part of the course for sure.
If you like history there is a cemetery on your way to 2's tee box which has some interesting information about the first settlers to the region.
Having the map would be a wise idea for the first time visitor to this course. I liked the idea of hole 15 but it felt like it was too long. Maybe they could've made two holes out of this hole and shortened 16-18 and ended the course at the south end of the playground and took some of the distance out of the walk back to the parking lot.
Regardless of that the course still is a solid play. I loved the wooded holes and a few of the open holes as well. This is a solid course and I wished I could give it a 3.75 because its worthy of that rating but just shy of a 4.0 for me. This was my favorite course out of the 3 courses in this complex. Again if you want to make a day out of it and get in some good disc golf then load up the car and pay the $5 and come out and play the 3 courses in this complex. I think you will find something here to satisfy everyone.

Diverse mix of holes, lot of tough shots, mix of long and short, perfectly maintained fairways, extrememly clean, beautiful setting

Chest high rough and some of the most dense undergrowth in the wooded areas I've ever seen. We spent a ton of time looking for discs.

We'll play this again in the future but probably stick with early spring, late fall or winter. It would probably be better in the summer after they cut down the rough for hay.

Course is well maintained and in great shape. Baskets and tee pads were in great condition too. Each hole was labeled and easy to find. The course had a balance of long shots and short technical shots.

The grass fields that surround the course are pretty high. You could easily lose a disc if you threw out of bounds. No benches or bag holders on the course but that's not a big deal. Some holes are very open and are very challenging when windy. Also, paying $5 for parking will get old real fast if you want to play a lot there.

I would recommend this course. I thought it had some challenging holes, great tee pads, and beautiful scenery to offer.

+ signage is good + navigation
+ good baskets
+ nice property + views
+ holes 10,15,16 are fun
+ good upkeep

- open holes are long and straight = boring
- wooded holes are short and have no fairways
- teepads are roughly half the width as normal and slightly longer, not sure if con, but worth noting

a much better course could be carved out of this property.

-Nice tee pads.
-Very well marked holes.
-Nice combo of open and wooded holes.
-Scenic views of lake.

-Costs $5 to park if in season.
-Lots of water hazards.
-Lots of thorny foliage.

Good balanced course. Long open shots, and lots of wooded shots as well. There are a couple holes bordered by the lake, and one hole with a pond in the middle. Easy to avoid if played smart. They have very nice cement tee pads, and very well marked holes. Although the $5 to park sucks, the cost does keep the course far less busy then many other local courses. With the lake right by, its a perfect place for a round in the summer.

The course is maturing quickly and is rapidly becoming one of my favorite in KC. As mentioned in other reviews 2nd hole puts you in the woods and you use your technical game. The trees end at number 8 which has some of the most narrow openings on the course, and it's starts opening up into some wide open 600 ft holes to work out some of those frustrating tree hits you had in the woods. The fairways were in the best shape I've seen and were well mowed and clean. Trash cans and signs are at almost every tee now. Of the 3 courses in the park its the one I enjoy the most.

Not a lot of elevation. About the amendity missing is some benches. Also the geese came into play near the lake, they had "left their mark" all over the tee pad of 17 and didn't seem to be phased when the disc flew right over their heads.

I love #10.. you shoot in between 2 smaller trees that could slow your disc down just enough so you don't cross the pond at about 250 ft. #15 has gone from a nightmare to very nice signiture hole.

Paradise Pointe is a pretty nice recreational area with a lot of space to use. It has to be nice because there is that extra "e" at the end of "Pointe!"

Blackthorn starts and ends out in the open. In between (holes 2 through 9 and 15) play in a heavily wooded area, and hole 16 plays along the shoreline of the lake out to a peninsula. The wooded holes will be pretty nice when they get broken in. There are often multiple lines to the basket of varying risk/reward profiles.

The two signature holes are probably 15 and 16. Hole 15 is requires an accurate 250 foot shot through the woods across a small ravine before making a 60-degree dogleg left. The approach requires a straight shot down an alley with the namesake blackthorn trees lining the fairway. Hole 16 is a shot along the beach around a clump of trees to a basket on the peninsula. There is a risky left-to-right approach along the shoreline that would make for some good tournament decisions.

All the baskets are blue (I like the color coding of the courses, especially since they occasionally play near one another) and are surprisingly visible even in the woods.

There is one hole (#10, I believe) over a pond. There are some options for bailing out, but if you're going for the birdie, you have to wind up for a shot you know you can execute but that will have consequences if you screw it up.

They give you a map at the guard station, and navigation would have been very tough without one (even with it I had to look around a bit but didn't have too much trouble). There is a long-ish walk between #1 and #2. Walk straight past the basket for the first hole toward the small cemetery in the woods, and the second hole tees off next to it.

The wooded holes were not well mowed, and there are too many dead branches that will eventually get knocked down by drives. Hole 8 had no real lane to the basket that even a good player could consistently hit. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that tree! And plant another one somewhere else.

The open holes were boring. There was some elevation, but too many holes had nothing in the way to force any line or even any decision. Just throw over there.

As others have noted, the concrete tee pads stick out above the ground by a couple too many inches, and you could really screw up your ankle if you're not careful.

There is a $5 fee to enter. I don't mind that sort of fee, especially for an area with three courses, very nice baskets, concrete pads, etc. I think half of this course will eventually be pretty fun. The open holes are always going to be uninteresting unless they plant a bunch of trees. Nevertheless, this complex is worth a visit.

Blackthorn, one of the three courses situated in Paradise Point, is a great example of how to make a round of golf for those with big arms and those with little arms (such as myself).
Plenty of wooded shots to help out your technical game.
Plenty of open aired shots to really unleash your inner-"beast".
The scenary of the lake in the background is very pretty, especially when the sun is coming down over the water.
The teepads are long, so you have lots of room to place your feet just right for a great drive.
The markers on the bottom of the baskets point you to the next pad.
Practice pin at top of the parking lot w/clean bathrooms for you to use.
Plenty of trees for you to use as a bathroom once the round starts.

I am going to 'con' this course with a grain of salt, seeing as how it is not finished yet.
No trash cans.
May be a bit of a stretch to navigate your first time out (guard post supposedly has maps).
Non-discers walking on path that circles the lake and cuts through the course.
Water and wind, but that is nobody's real issue, 'cuz seriously, who's gonna tell mother nature and the lake itself to back off. Not me.
During the summer months, you have to pay $5. to play, but hey, there are three courses on Paradise Point, so go early, and throw a lotta disc.
As of Feb 2012, hole 15 is not finished 100%, but by the summer, it'll be ready for you.

Hole number one starts with a 400'+ down hill drive that is open w/a small OB road on the left. Then, into the woods. From there 'til about hole 9, you are in some thick foliage. Not that you can't see the pin, it's just a matter of how you're gonna get there.
Once you get into the open on hole 10, you are met w/an approximately 350' down hill stroke that you have to toss over a small pond. It's pretty much all open from there, with long, open shots that will challenge even the biggest arms.
Hole 15, puts you back in the woods, but you're back out for holes 16-18, all with the lake on your left hand side.
The course is made to be the medium course of the 3 situated out there. Go, take a lunch, plenty of libations, and have a stellar day of disc.

This course is very fun and diverse from short wooded shots to long open holes. All the holes have nice long cement pads. All the baskets are nice and new and have a great looking blue powder coat on them. There are some great holes on this course like number 10. You throw down hill between two trees and over a small pond. It is a beautiful hole.

Very poor signs. From hole one it can be very difficult to find hole 2 without a map. It is up behind the white fenced in area. Some of the concrete pads have issues. When they formed them they just pushed the excess concrete to a pile in front of the pad. On a couple of them it is above pad height and about 4-6 inches in front of the tee so it presents a good tripping hazard if you like to land off the pad. Also not so much of a con but the pads are really narrow. Another small problem is that a few of the holes have no grass so it can be very muddy if it rains. Hole 15 is in need of some heavy work. The teepad right now points straight into the woods with no basket in sight. I had to walk through the woods then down the path to find the basket and then still had no clue how I was going to get there( I ended up throwing through the woods and then down the path). Thorn bushes are common on this course so I would recommend wearing pants to prevent cuts and scrapes. There are no trash cans so the course had quite a few beer cans on it. I could only pick up so many before my bag was full.

This course will be very good if a few of the cons would get fixed/finished. This course has a good view of the lake. I will enjoy exhausting myself on all three courses in this park in the very near future.

Great Baskets, Good tees, Easy to follow course. Great oppurtunity to view wildlife. 2-9 pretty cool in the woods. Although the holes are shorter there is still challenge as the holes are tight fairways and can lead to tricky putts around trees. 10 is excellent down and over a pond basket on mogul. 11 another shorter wooded hole and then 12-14 open with some fun. 13 is great midlength downhill shot with OB just behind. Hole 15 use your brain i repeat use your brain. 16 great view of lake on approach and green. 17 and 18 simple if your brain is not worn out.

Not much too complain about. I do wish a couple of wooded fairways were a little less poke and hope(hole 8) but mother nature has already cleared a couple of trees and should clear some more.

Will play again in coming months hopefully i will be able to change my rating on this course, Have played again and did change my rating, I do enjoy this course very fun course starts out with a handful of 2 oppurtunities then you get to test you length. Fun sidebar when grass is up play tall grass OB

A nice mix of woods, water, long open, and elevation holes. The woods are a real challenge, many lines to choose from (pro/con???). Cement pads are in and they are nice and long. All baskets have a pointer to the next tee. Great views of the lake from several holes, we had two bald eagles give us a flyover while we were on the 1st tee.

Signage is minimal. Plenty of mud in the woods that will get better as the grass come in. Hole 15 is a temp pad till they get the fairway cleared (you'll be teeing from the other side of the inlet). The "open" holes may be a little too open but they were fun to bomb.

I really enjoyed today's round. The course is still a work in progress, fun to play right now and lots of potential.

Nice color coded baskets (all blue for blue course). Mixture of holes, lengths, water, elevation. Overall, it's a nice park with lake view, shelters, restrooms with running water. Since first review from 2011, added nice, long tee pads, signs, garbage cans.

ALL FIXEDI found a lot of things wrong with this course. No signage anywhere, not even at front gate. Some holes are marked with a PVC pipe, but it is not obvious to which basket you are to throw to. At least two holes the pipe was missing and had to ask other players where to tee from. Hole 15 just doesn't make sense at all. Ended up teeing from a gravel road in order to play the hole.)

Great to see this course finished out. Of the 3 on this complex, this is now my favorite one. Original review in 2011 was a 3, increased it to a 3.5. Continuing maturing may bring it to a 4 soon.

Excellent combination of techincal and open holes. View of Smithville lake (especially hole 16) is postcard perfect. The open holes are long enough (with sporadic large trees) to challenge even a "long arm" while not being over bearing for shorter arms like mine. The technical holes require precision and a little luck with some distance.

This course and Beaver Creek (right next to it) are two of my favorite courses in Kansas City area. The wind is a natural challenge added in.