(3.264 Rating) A medium length technical course that's dialed in for Recreational players thru Advanced level.
- RAW BEAUTY - More of a half oaks and half pines course, but I guess that course name didn't sound right. The charming live oaks take center stage on the front nine. The lines on (3) and (8) were my personal favorite, but I'm sure others will have their own favorites. The second half being mostly pines was a touch lower in aesthetic qualities, but I'd still say all 18 holes looked better than average. Of the three courses at Blue Angel Park, I scored this one the lowest, but I'd still put it in my top 25 for Florida out of 107 courses played as of this review.
- CHARACTER - This is the kind of place that people will visit and then go back to their home course and try to emulate. There are shelters with picnic tables, porta-potties, water jugs, maps, community info and two practice baskets. The Pines and the whole complex has a great vibe to it. There is seating on every hole and some bag hangers. There are eleven holes with multiple tees and the baskets are adequate MachIIIs. The tees are concrete measuring 4 feet by 12 feet. As with the other two courses, I wish a few holes had multiple pin placements.
- SHOT SHAPING - Players that enjoy heavily wooded courses with moving lines will love this one.
- CHALLENGING - The back tees on some of the holes look wicked tough. I played a mix of both Front and Back tees and threw four down as an Intermediate level player. However, I skipped all the most difficult Back tee plays in favor of realistic birdie potential from the fronts. A few of the holes from the back tees felt a bit flawed and I further touch on that in my Cons.
- TIME PLAY - My two-some completed the second leg in 80 minutes. We did the all 3 courses in four hours.
- NAVIGATION - Adequate. The Pine layout has a map at both the front nine and back nine. As with the Palmetto layout, lots of navigational cues between holes. The tee signs could use an update though. They are solid green in color with white paint.

A solid course with mostly just preferential issues.
- UNREASONABLE HOLES - I question the unrealistic demands on a few holes. Hole (18) from the back tee looks impossible to deuce, without a long thrown in. It's a flawed tee location IMO as a par 3, and should be called a par 4. Hole (4) requires a bit of luck with the line becoming poke hope 300 feet out on a 400 foot pro line. Hole (13) is a long blind left hooking shot that also becomes hokey pokey for the last 80 feet or so.
- BUGS - Looks like the kind of place that has an unbearable mosquito conditions from time to time. I'd load up on deet if heading here between April and September. I don't subtract any score for this.
- PAY TO PLAY - Mr Butlertron and I made a $10 dollar deposit to play the trio. I want to say is was more like 3 or 4 bucks but we didn't have any singles or fives. Probably worth it for just this course by itself.
- BEGINNER FRIENDLY - Although longer than Palmetto from the short tees, this is probably the most beginner friendly of the trio at Blue Angel. I'd still recommend Hitzman however, as the best area beginner's course.

The second of 5 courses I hit with Mr. Butlertron. This course has a more typical North Florida feel to it, minus the subtle elevation and water elements though. Most similar to Florida courses, Gator links, Magnolia, Greenway and Sawmill. I thought it was way more reasonable with its fairway width usage compared to Palmetto. A solid course overall, but not mind blowing. I'd give the course a 3.25 if we were allowed to score by 1/4 disc fractions. Definitely worth a spin for players in the area with several hours to burn and personally my second favorite of the three courses at Blue Angel Park.
- UNIQUENESS - The holes variety is average. Just about all of them are flat and heavily wooded. The distances are mixed up a bit and the twists vary from hole to hole as well. The only hole that clearly stood out was (14) with its huge elevated green. No water or elevation are the biggest omissions, that obviously a course designer had no control over.

Multiple tees on every hole.
3 courses in one location.
I saw a deer just hanging out in the fairway on one hole.
Baskets are good.

Too many trees. (Please don't take this as me whining about the amount of trees. There legitimately needed to be trees taken out to make this a better course.)
Very little variation.

I played the oaks and the pines. I am reviewing them as one course, because they seemed basically the same to me. I honestly can only remember 2 to 3 holes that stood out from each course. Some of those were because they were unique. At least 1 of them was because it was truly one of the worse designed holes I've played.

I feel like I am being super harsh on these courses. I think that is because I had super high expectations. I wanted to play these courses years ago but couldn't and have been waiting to finally play them. The reviews are pretty overwhelming positive and there are 3 courses on site. (I think that gives them a boost in rating from most people. It's definitely a bonus but doesn't mean the courses are that good.)

I really just walked away disappointed because I played 36 holes of pretty forgettable golf.

I'll probably play them again if im in the area. Hopefully I'll change my mind.

- painted tee signs list the distance and optimal fairway route
- concrete tees
- benches marked with distances to the pin
- challenging layout
- a mix of short and noticeably longer tees
- longs provide plenty of risk vs reward
- more variety than Palmetto
- numbered baskets
- each basket has a painted rung to direct players to the next set of tees, arrows
- the rough isn't too thick, which makes it easier to find discs off the fairway
- plenty of shade
- cart friendly
- water coolers on site
- complex features many other recreation activities
- bathrooms with showers on complex grounds
- camping on location
- small pro shop is nearby at the marina
- some ace runs
- practice baskets at parking lot
- navigation fairway intuitive
- thought I saw multiple pin sleeves on some holes, couldn't tell
- course loops back to the parking lot half way through.

- some fairways didn't have realistic lines to the basket, need a little clearing
- more fairway variety than Palmetto, not different enough from Oaks
- tees were not uniform, some too short or narrow
- blind fairways, I had walk up many of them from longs
- basket blends in with the woods too much, hard to see
- mostly flat course
- a few holes don't have multiple tees

The Pines and Oaks courses are much harder to differentiate from each other than either are from the Palmettos course. The 1-9 section of the Pines is across the street from the main parking lot and shares land with the Oaks course. Pines 10-18 starts across the parking lot from the Palmetto course. Pines are longer, provide more varied distance and shot selection, and give players a fairway with a little more breathing room than Palmetto.

If I had to guess, the Pines from longs were a tad shorter, less difficult than the Oaks longs. One thing that I specifically enjoyed about the Pines is that it felt like 2 slightly different 9 holes courses. Holes 1-9 of the Pines are mellow and more open than the slightly more technical 10-18. Holes 10-18 from longs required many more walk-ups to locate pin locations. Often the best decision on longs for me was to pick a good place to layup close enough for an approach shot. Trying to blindly throw some of the longer holes with tight fairways is a recipe for disaster. At least course was clear of random branches from the rough that can sometimes protrude into the fairways.

I was happy to loop back to the parking lot for a break before my next set of 9 holes. Pines also did a nice job easing me into a more technical 10-18 with a couple leisure holes. Kudos to whomever made that design decision. My favorite hole on the course was the above ground island on hole 14. What a landscaping marvel!


All 3 courses at Blue Angels are similar to each other in style, which makes having multiple courses at the same facility less of a bonus to me. I'd would have liked to see more holes with multiple routes to the basket. Still, 3 $ is a hell of a low price to pay for an all day disc golf pass. Additionally, the complex has many other activities if you should decide that disc golf is not your forte. A short drive passed the course will take you to a marina with food, drinks, and discs available for purchase. You can even take a post round dip at a beachside pavilion. I myself brought an extra change of cloths and took a shower in one of the beach side bathrooms.

I thought the Pines was tough, yet fair. It's fairways weren't as strangled by the woods as Palmetto and played very similar to the Oaks. It will test a player's versatility, control, and patience. Playing all 3 courses in one day will drain you, come prepared. I brought a cart and extra snacks the second time around and enjoyed myself much more than the first time.

This course overs a good shot varieties with short, moderate, and longer holes all being accounted for.
Both dog leg L and R holes and a few holes have protected pins.
Lower ceilings shots are present and many of the holes have lines that need to be hit in order to score well.
Multiple pads, on some holes, offer a bit of a different look on each hole. Signage is adequate. Trash cans and directional arrows to keep you headed in the right path.
The holes on the front 9 will offer you several birdie looks, there are a few on the back 9 as well, and the back 9 are a bit more technical. Good balance and variety
Hole 14's basket was elevated on a man made green and was a very cool looking hole.
The locals here are friendly and will let you play through.
This course was a little busy on a Sunday morning so thats a sign of a good course.

The baskets are older DGA baskets so they catch like older DGA baskets. Some spits outs may occur but all basket spit out from time to time.
The transition from 2's basket to 3's tee was a tad long but not as long as 9's basket to 10's tee. This would be the biggest con to me on this course. You have to walk quite a ways to get to the back 9 of this course. The tee that you see after 9's basket is hole 1 of the Oaks course so don't go that way like it did. Walk back to the parking lot and a tad south and you will see signage guiding you to holes 10-18. This really slows the flow of the round down but the back 9 is a fun play and makes up for this annoyance a bit.

The first half of this course is a bit more open than the second half of the course. The shots are fun and challenging and will make you work on all facets of your game.
This is a very fun course that has 2 more sister courses on site. Its is pay to play, $3 but it is worth it in every way. Come out and play all 3 courses and make a day of it. If you are in the area or are close and want to get in some solid discing then hit up this course and also Pines and Oak. You will have a good time and it is money well spent.

My review comments come primarily from playing the pro tees.

Pines is the newest and most outwardly diverse of the three Blue Angel Rec Park courses. The diversity is owing to its split location: the front 9 play in the woods adjacent to the Oaks, while the back 9 play in a pine forest (from which its name derives) across the street from the Palmetto course. These different locations have distinct feels; it's almost easier to consider Pines as two 9s rather than as one 18.

The back 9 are what sold me on this course. With some nice length, at least from the pro tees (the tee sign pictures I posted seem to be the accurate lengths), these holes generally demand a lot in the way of line shaping. From the pros, there are four or five distinct S curve holes that really test your control, both for the particular angles they take and the tight alleys they fly through. I was pleasantly impressed with the shot shaping these holes demanded. Other holes on the back 9 help to provide some nice variation, be it the huge anny or potential roller from 14's pro tee or the big hyzers on 12 and pro 15. All in all the back 9 are a nice group of holes that really elevated my overall perception of the course. I love the wooded environment and emphasis on both shot shaping and risk versus reward. I also like how the woodedness varies from hole to hole, be it the bottleneck on 10, the skinny pines peppered throughout 14, or the dauntingly tight and thick-roughed 13. The types of lines here are equally varied.

In all, the level of challenge sits nicely for a mid 800s player like myself: upgrading to the pro tees can challenge my game without offering fruitless frustration, and downgrading to the ams helps me to have a more casual round without threat of losing interest.

The tees are awesome. Perfectly level with the ground, the concrete tees allow you to start a run up from behind should you need the extra room. But you probably won't, because they're plenty big to begin with. They played great.

Navigation is pretty easy, with arrows to the next tee always present to guide the way. There are one or two points where these take a few moments to find on the back 9, and the transition from the front 9 to the back 9 may be awkwardly long for some, but it's well apparent and easy to get to, so I have no complaints.

The water coolers spread throughout the course are a great touch, and the upkeep is excellent. Numerous portapotties are accessible. It's hard to beat the location, too, with two other quality courses on site. Together, the three courses at Blue Angel Park make for quite an enjoyable destination. Having three 18s also helps relieve congestion: even on a busy Sunday I found myself pleasantly alone for much of my rounds. The woodedness helps enhance this.

The front 9 at Pines offer a reprise of the golf found on the Palmettos course: tight and in the woods, with a canopy of tree branches often providing a ceiling. These holes somehow seemed less interesting to me than the Palmettos. They play a bit longer and more open than the Palmetto course, but have the same basic feel: each hole generally involves hitting a single distinct line or window. While there's a decent challenge level here owing to the omnipresent woods, these 9 collectively play fairly straightforward - there isn't a lot to think about on these holes in terms of shot selection and risk versus reward. As such, Pines' front 9 is probably my least favorite stretch of 9 on Blue Angel's three courses. A few holes on the back 9 mirror this straightforwardness, and compared to the technical shot shaping found elsewhere on the course, come across as drop offs in quality. This is a relative statement, though. None of the holes here are out and out duds, mainly due to the woods, which are ever-present in some capacity. It could even be argued that these more straightforward holes offer a nice variety to the greater challenges found on the back 9.

No elevation. I don't always ding courses for this in the uber-flat coastal south, but with the pleasantly-surprising legit elevation on the Oaks, it can be freshly missed when you move to Pines.

No alternate pin positions. Any variety lost is at least partially alleviated by the presence of Palmetto and Oaks, but with so much attention to detail and course development otherwise, I'm surprised there aren't at least a few alternate pin positions.

Also, yes, you have to pay. It's a negligible cost - $3 per person to enter the park, and another $2/person (paid on the honor system) to play the round. That's less than $2 a course if you play all three, and the fantastic level of upkeep certainly justifies such a marginal cost. Still, it's not capital "F" free, which could be a con for some.

I find it hard to assign a rating to Blue Angel Park's Pines course for two reasons. First, it's hard to rate the course in isolation when part of the experience is its complementary 18s in Oaks and Palmetto. I always have this problem rating destinations with multiple courses. Second, the distinct locations of the front and back 9 send mixed messages: the front 9 is 2.5-3.0 level, whereas the back is solidly 4.0 in my book. In the end, I decided to split the difference with my 3.5. I wanted to give a higher rating for the high level golf on the back 9, but consistency is an important part of my overall assessment of a course, and the front 9 are definitely not 4.0-worthy.

In contrast to what some other reviewers have said, I came away from Blue Angel Park feeling as though its three constituent courses had very distinct feels: Palmetto is tight and quirky, mostly short but with some deceptively longer holes that can feature extreme angles, and Oaks is more overtly challenging in its higher level of woodedness, sporadic elevation, and tendency towards longer holes (from the pros, at least). Pines is in someways the wild card of the three courses, depending on how you weigh the letdown of the front 9 against the technical nature of the back 9. I had a tough time rating this course in particular and in relation to the others, but my overall experience at Blue Angel was a resoundingly positive one. This destination is well worth a visit for even the most well-traveled golfer in my eyes.

Same site as two other (similar) 18-hole courses.

Eleven of the holes have two tee locations. Long-n-wide concrete teepads. Benches and signs abound.

Flat , as one might expect for a course on the Florida panhandle.

(Minimal) cost to play.

For this review, I played the course from the short tees. Distance variations were small - a 100'-delta between the longest and shortest holes, and an average length of 246'.

The course has two "looks" to it. The fairways of the front nine have a (broad) walking path/utility right-of-way feel. Skinny, tall trees and thick brush line both sides of the generous throwing paths, and the sky is easily visible above. Obstacles (trees) tend to appear late - avoiding swinging too wide/fading too much, and staying in the midst of the turning fairways, is the challenge. Errant throws could find thick brush, and be difficult from which to recover.

The bulk of the back nine is similar to the Palmetto course, but longer, with the branches of mid-sized, scattered trees forming a thick, low canopy, and the trees themselves creating throwing lanes. The trees seemed taller, and the throwing lanes wider, than those of the Palmetto course. Minimal chance of disc loss, as the underbrush is minimal, and errant throws will likely offer a reasonable chance of recovery.

Shape-wise, two-thirds of the holes require a left-turn, some quite sharp, and typically occurred mid/late. A few fairways were straight in their entirety, and only a couple of subtle rights were needed. However, please note: in addition to adding ~100' per hole, the long tees often were offset somewhat sideways from the short tees, meaning many teeshots from the long tees would left-to-right S-shapes - certainly more challenging!

Navigation was fairly straightforward, but here are some tips:
• from basket-4, cross road to tee-5
• from basket-9,bit of a walk, towards/past Oaks course sign, to tee-10
• from basket-10, tee-11 is to the right, not ahead
• tee-1 of Oaks is near basket-18 of Pines

While I enjoyed all three courses, Pines was my slight favourite. Lots of left-turners from the shorts, and S-shapes from the longs. Come play all three courses for a great day of disc golf.

-Very well maintained
-Nice fairways
-Benches and water coolers throughout
-Large course
-Variety of shots needed
-Lots of shade
-Store for discs on property
-Another TWO eighteen basket courses within a few yards!
-Other park activities close by as well
-No water holes

-Couldn't find a map for the course
-No really long holes for distance drives
-Could take a minute to find next tee pad on some holes
-No water holes

I played this course after playing for about 1 1/2 yrs. now. I really like to play new dg courses and this one was fun. Didn't have a great day for my score, but had a lot of fun at this course.
Lots of pros, not many cons. There is so much to offer at this course. I must say this first. There are THREE 18 basket courses at Blue Angel park. We got there around 11 a.m. and played all three courses + the 1st 9 back at this course and finally left at 5 because it was getting too dark. So there you have it folks, six hours of disc golf without playing the same hole twice, except for the 1st 9 I mentioned. You could spend a weekend playing these courses and I think you would be satisfied.
You do have a fee of a whopping $2 (joke here) per person to enter the park, which goes towards upkeep of the park more than a playing fee. Right next to the 1st tee pad are three paint ball ranges as well. This park is very well maintained and you can see that people take pride in this park. There are trash cans at every hole, along with benches and water coolers at some holes. The water coolers are maintained daily, as I asked about them.
For play on this course you do need a variet of shots. I do not use a flick much, but after playing this course I definitely need to improve this shot as it comes in handy here. This course does have a couple of long range holes where you can launch a driver. Now when I say launch a driver, for me I use a driver if it looks to be over 225'. However for beginners, am's, and pro's looking to develope and work on technical shots, this course has it all. There are no water holes on this course. You do have OB's on the other side of a fire hose running by the road and there is a fence on one hole that separates an RV storage parking lot. From what I remember there are an equal amount of hyzer and anhyzer drives right off the tee pad which is really nice. Oh, and there are plenty of straight drives as well. The entire course is par 3's with nice size tee pads for am's, pro's and even 'little flyers.' This is the first course I ever saw where there were tee pads for kids. Awsome! Tee signs at every hole and baskets look like they have been there a while, but do a great job grabbing your disc. I believe they have mach IV baskets. If you loose a disc or need a bag have no fear because there is a small store with what you need to play the game right there on property. Really just a neat and fun course to play. The three courses are shaded by oaks and pines with palms, leaves, and sand that make up the terrain. The 'art' that decorates some of the holes is really unique as well. All three courses are very similar so my other reviews of the other two will be very close to the same.

Every hole has signage that is descriptive and a tee box long enough to be comfortable. Every hole also had an Am Tee and a Pro Tee. Lots of trash cans, water coolers, and benches.

Baskets were a little outdated. There was a little bit of trash, but nothing out of the ordinary. The front nine is narrow, the back nine opens up, I only wish it was mixed a little better, and not front and back.

I would play again, it was enjoyable.

1. Tee Pads- Exceptional cement tee pads with both Pro and Am/Rec tees. All long enough for confindence in your footing while performing almost any type of throwing style.
2. Tee Signage- Each hole has a very nice wooden sign that shows distance, desired flight path and pin location to include trees/hazards.
3. Course play- This course is mostly technical due to the amount of trees and requires a variety of shots to include straight, anhyzer & hyzer shots to score low but, is playable for all levels. Not beginner friendly but, beginner playable enough to still have fun.
4. Amenities- EXCEPTIONAL! Benches, trash cans, WATER COOLERS, port-o-potty and a snack/drink/disc "shop"!
5. Scenery- Everything you'd expect from a NICE coastal forest park with abundant sights and sounds that make for a great round. ZERO trash, lots of squirrels, possibility of snakes, minimal bugs when I went and lots of shade.

1. Cages- While all were in good to excellent condition they are sometimes hard to spot, but manageable.
2. Next Tee- While most of the time this isn't an issue because the course is very well marked. When switching to the back 9 there is a sign that directs you, but you feel lost...right when you think you ARE lost, you see the green bulletin board. Basically, the Pines #10 is right next to the Oaks #1.
3. Course- Little to no elevation changes or water if you're into that kind of thing.

EXCELLENT addition to the Blue Angel Park DG Complex. This IS a destination course, especially when you put into consideration that the Palmetto and Oaks courses are open to play even to the public. If you're looking for a challenge play this course of the Oaks, if you're with the fam and just want some fun go for Palmetto. Either course you play, you can't go wrong. I was kind of nit-picking to find those 3 cons and if they were somehow rememdied I would score this 4.5/5.0 as it's already a SOLID 4.0. Highly suggest this course complex over any location in or around Pensacola.

The front nine have very narrow fairways, which are a nice challenge.

The back nine open up nicely.

The front nine have very narrow fairways, with a lot of brush along the sides. If you throw out of bounds be ready to do some bushwhacking.

None of the holes are very long.

I played the Oaks before playing the back nine of the pines. Then I went back and played the front nine. Played all 32 in just over an hour, at a jog.

The maps are nice but not to scale and don't always explain the holes very well.

Great course, great layout, goes from wooded to moderately open on the back nine, tests all shots in my game, enjoyed it.

It is not closer to home,

I love how 3 great courses are put right here together. When I finished the pines hole one of the Oaks is right there. I was very tempted to keep playing, but I didn't have the time. It is a shame. Next time though.