Bird Bay is an 18 hole municipal golf course in Venice. For the low, low price of $12 I received one round and a single cart rental (for more on my cart rental thoughts, see cart rental in other thoughts). You tee off from the golfer's tees, either the longer blacks or the shorter yellows. The Lightning DB-5 baskets are set somewhere around the greens. There are no signs for us disc golfers but I was given a scorecard which so cleverly was clipped to the steering wheel of my cart.

The front nine is mostly open, sometimes boringly so. The back nine was much more interesting. If you're into slinging your disc over open expanses of grass, then the front nine is for you. # 1 is a 580' par 4 with little in your way. There are seven par 4's and one par 5 on this layout. I did like the fact that there were some shorter holes, around 200', mixed in.

The back nine starts out with a sweeping 662' dogleg right with water on your right. Then # 11 felt like a real disc golf hole (a difficult one at that). It's 505' with a fairly narrow fairway bordered by water on the right and thick brush on the left. Then 12 was a little short water carry around 200'. # 14 and # 17 both were longish at 500' and 400' and bothered featured water on one side.

Like almost every ball course, Bird Bay is really wide open compared to the typical disc golf course. I find these wide open plains to be boring.

The grass tee pads were fine on a dry day but would be a little slippery when wet.

$4 to play.

$8 for a cart which is a good deal.

The old, retired Florida seniors playing this morning were playing at a snail's pace but they were OK to let me play through.

I splurged and paid the $8 to rent a cart. Driving across the street to the first hole , I thought, this thing is so gutless. It wasn't much fun driving and it was slowing me down. Plus, I was the only player on the course driving a cart. All these decrepit old folks were walking. Sorry fellow disc golfers, I think I made us all look like wimps. Then on # 14, my gutless cart got so tired, she couldn't even carry me over this tiny little upgrade to get past the 14th green. So I took out my pistol and shot her, just like the cowboys always did in the movies. Grabbed my saddle (disc golf bag) and walked the last four holes. There the kindly manager refunded my $8 after explaining the problem. The temperature was so cold the cart's battery was having trouble holding a charge.

This course plays alongside a small golf course and by alongside I mean you pretty much play each hole. The basket is almost uniformly behind the green. The majority of the tees are adjacent to the ball tee although a few are moved to somewhere else. It's a fun experience and the course is maintained for ball golf so it is always an easy play. The fairways are wide open and mostly pretty straight but there is some real distance so the course isn't devoid of challenge. You will be able to air out some drives and try to place tee shots accurately at the edge of driving range. There are a few holes in which water comes into play including one which allows a long layup to the edge of the water or a very long carry from the tee to the basket.

Often multiple baskets can be seen from the tee so you need to pay attention to the map. You will also need the map to find each tee but the map is solid so this isn't too bad.
The course is pretty much completely flat and most of the holes are pretty straight and intended for golf so there isn't a lot of challenge and the fun comes in large part from novelty.

Not a destination course but I think most will have fun and it is playable by any skill level so it is worth a stop for those on I75. If you haven't disced on a golf course before, you should definitely check this one out.

room to air out drivers on multiple tee locations.

DB5 baskets in good shape

Water on a few holes.

Course well manicured due to golfers

Very friendly staff

Ribbons on basket to guide you to next tee

2 loops of 9 holes with bathroom and air conditioned club house in between.

Amazing variety of tropical birds all over the course, one of the few things I will remember about this course.

Course is vanilla. I used the same 2 discs on every hole. Driver-putter-putter.
The flow was a bit off on the front 9 and tee signs were missing, lacking information, and generally unhelpful. Baskets not labeled to ensure you are throwing at correct basket.

The tees were not in the ground and were being moved constantly. The disc golf tees were in totally different spots between the first and second round as if golfers purposely move them. It was best to play from golf tees.
$4 to play with no current option to buy membership. Golf cart would be a total waste of money.

Hole 11 had water, but a very small landing area. It was an odd hole.

This is a golf course with baskets added. I appreciate that it adds a place to air out long drives, which the area needed, but that is all it offered. This is a must play one time, after that North Charlotte is worth the travel time.