Irvine, CA

UC Irvine

Permanent course
2.295(based on 7 reviews)
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3 0
Nate32
Gold level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 10.6 years 74 played 60 reviews
1.50 star(s)

Beautiful course but no baskets or teepads. 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 24, 2019 Played the course:once

Pros:

The UC Irvine Campus is a fun little course with no baskets but poles. This course is nothing but just a bad course. There are some great views and its well shaded but there is literally nothing to say but this should not even be a course.

Biking paths with great accessibility through out campus makes it a great place to practice your shots. Although this course has not baskets or tees it is not a great course in general. The object hear is for the campus students to get outside and throw the Frisbee around. This course has a nice terrain but can get busy when college is in session.

UC Irvine has 3 or 4 layouts no tee pads. I am not sure why this course is even a course. This course plays around the inner circle of UC Irvine. Each so called pole is marked with a different colored tape. This piece of property would be great if only they had baskets and tee pads. I used a lot of my time to do some field practice. I know the object of disc golf is to have fun but I did not no where to start. This course is well maintained.

In the one picture they had. If you can see the pole straight ahead that is the basket. Or at least what they call it a pole. Great terrain with a course that has a lot of potential I could see that. The layouts on this course are not great and don't make much sense. There is like 4 or 5 different pieces of tape on a lot of the poles which indicates that there are multiple layouts. The campus is beautiful and I would like to see them spend some more money to get those baskets. This piece of property is great for a course but better to ride your bike on.

Cons:

I would like to say this course is a nice piece of property and I think it is meant to be for the college students to just throw a frisbee around on the quad. With the college student busily around this course is not very fun. I would like to see this course have tee pads at least.
The course map is super helpful in every way possible and I mean it. If you throw and with no tee pad how are you going to know where to throw.

Some of this campus is very nice and very big. I would like to see them put up at least baskets. Because you could just spray paint a tee pad on the side walk and not spend the time and money to pour concrete tee pads This course has some potential but not at the moment.

The admission is 5 dollars I think but I can not remember.

Other Thoughts:

With a course in this area there needs to be baskets. The circle that it is in is fine but its not really an actual disc golf course. Now I kind of get why there are only a couple pictures. I'm sure some people got lost playing this course. Thank goodness someone made a map. Without the map I would be lost.
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3 0
marhattan
Experience: 6.6 years 4 played 2 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Meh... 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jan 14, 2018 Played the course:once

Pros:

Beautiful to look at.
Lots of shade.
Some decent elevation changes.
No one else playing.

Cons:

Map they provide has none of the buildings or landmarks labeled so if you're not familiar with the campus it's tough to navigate.
Hard to make out the tees and posts, few are marked well.
Would be impossible to avoid people on a regular school day.
Parking was $10 for 2.5 hours (24hrs, 7 days/week).

Other Thoughts:

If there were baskets or better markings I would give this course a 4 on a quiet campus day, probably a 1 on a school day. I just can't imagine playing with ordinary campus traffic. But it is a really beautiful setting.
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5 1
The Katana Kid
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 8.3 years 183 played 56 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Wow, was I surprised! 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 22, 2017 Played the course:once

Pros:

Aldrich Park is beautiful, spacious, and about perfect for disc golf, as long as you go there when students aren't around, which I did on a late Saturday afternoon. Here's the apt description Google gives the park: "Circular, 19-acre botanical garden in the center of UC Irvine, site of many ceremonies & events."

Object disc golf! I've always avoided disc golf courses that do not have baskets. But I've had a paradigm shift after playing to concrete street posts all around Aldrich Park with different varieties of colored tape on them. One benefit to object golf is that all you need to do is hit the object. I've missed many birdies and a few aces in the past when my disc hit the chains and did not stay in the basket. That problem goes away throwing at an object. I heard some object courses have an audible gong when you hit the object, but none of that here.

The park is not flat. It is kinda like a 19 acre bowl with ups and downs throughout. Therefore there are elevation shots galore.

There are a lot of mature trees that add to the challenge.

I haven't been on a Sunday morning yet but it sounds like that's when the locals come out in force. I can't verify that.

There are FOUR different courses here. The information says to study the course maps beforehand, which cannot be emphasized enough. I just played safari since I had not studied the maps and that was fine for me on my first trip.

Cons:

People will likely be around at any point in time because this is such a nice park in the middle of a university. But if you compare that to the options in Southern California for disc golf (Huntington Beach, La Mirada, or El Dorado) then UCI looks really good if you can miss the busy times there.

Other Thoughts:

Since this is a university I'm surprised all the distances have not been calculated and entered for all 4 courses. Come on students! You're tempting me to go back with a GPS and do your job for you.

mashnut, one of the senior reviewers of this site, gives this place 1 disc. I agree with his pros and his cons, but compared to the other Southern California courses (mainly Orange County) I think it deserves a 3.5.
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3 1
travelsurflive
Experience: 6.8 years 40 played 20 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Play on weekend, no baskets only tape on poles 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jan 17, 2017 Played the course:once

Pros:

- Fun and different kind of shots
- some elevation changing shots
- good practice to hit a pole, get better at hitting basket

Cons:

- no baskets
- cant play when school is in session, to much traffic
- can lose a disc on top a building
- little confusing, tee boxes only marker on sidewalk in paint

Other Thoughts:

Bring a map! i would advise probably not drinking on campus...
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3 0
Larswar
Experience: 26.1 years 16 played 4 reviews
1.50 star(s)

Commando style 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Oct 31, 2015 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Great park in the middle of the UCI campus. Very beautiful and well matained park.
The best way to have fun, Ive found is going commando style. Where we make up are own course using all the different colored taped trees, some great shots on this course with lots of elevation.
Not always that crowded, you just have to pick the right times.

Cons:

Really hard to follow course, unless your a student or with a guide.
No baskets only different color tape around trees.

Other Thoughts:

If you could have baskets in here the course could be great.
We bring in are own portable basket and have a blast.
Everyone is nice. And great place to show the positive side of the disc golf lifestyle.
You can get some great elevation shots, if your creative and know where to look. I'm talking about 300+ feet up!
They have maps on line here that you can print out and try to follow.
I would say nicer then Local Deerfield, if you do it right.
Epic Sailing Away
LW
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4 3
ibgollie
Bronze level trusted reviewer
Experience: 18.7 years 62 played 31 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Object golf at its best 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 11, 2014 Played the course:2-4 times

Other Thoughts:

The previous review summarized it pretty well, the thing is that it is in the center if the "commons" so to speak of a university. Of course you can't play during the year when students are there.

The time to play it is early weekend mornings. There is a group of guys that plays every Sunday morning and have for 38 years. Some of the nicest, genuine dgrs I have ever met. The courses are unbelievably fun and harken back to the origins of the sport.

It's target golf, it's tiny dots marking tees, it's throwing at light poles, and it's incredibly fun.

I would prefer it wasn't on this site so that it's kept as a secret. If you play here you must respect the public, the university and the campus police. Do not be the guy that f-s this up for the ones that know and appreciate this place.
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6 0
mashnut
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 22.1 years 831 played 767 reviews
1.00 star(s)

Lots of options 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Nov 10, 2013 Played the course:once

Pros:

The course plays through a large park-like area on the UC Irvine campus. It's a really nice area with manicured grass and lots of great mature trees. With 3 18 hole layouts and 1 9 hole layout, there are a ton of different shots here. It's really a set of semi-established safari holes, leaving open the opportunity for making your own shots up as well.

There is a little bit of elevation, offering some tricky uphill shots and some fun downhills. Some of the spots offer some fun technical lines including some quasi-tunnel shots and some low ceilings. The marked layouts do a pretty good job of mixing up different shot shapes.

Cons:

During school hours, this area is full of students and the course is completely unplayable. There are some blind spots where someone could walk around a corner unexpectedly. Lots of benches and nice spots to sit are in play, definitely some safety issues when other people are using the area.

There are no baskets and no real tees, many of the marks on the sidewalks are worn away and the ones that are there aren't that easy to find. Some of the tape is missing off the light poles that serve as targets. There is a lot of crossing back and forth in the one small area even within each individual layout.

Other Thoughts:

This is really just a glorified practice area. It's really cool that people have taken the time to mark out some possible layouts and that there is so much potential to work on different shots. The safety issues mean that it's not really viable as a course for multiple groups to play at once, nor is it playable a lot of the time. That said, beginners and experienced players alike can get some fun practice in here.
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