I don't know what it is about expectations of new courses. I guess we talk about them around here so much that I walk into them expecting greatness, but true greatness for a course takes time. Maybe I'll learn that one day. Just not today. To the review:

Equipment: These baskets. Blue banded DiscCatchers. They're just perfect. Every other disc golf basket aspires to be these. The course would be a five if you only rated it on baskets.

Navigation: Um. UDisc exists. And some of the baskets have tape on them.

Design: As often happens when I walk around a new course, I tried to put myself in the shoes of the designer. There was so much potential on this property, and I can't say that I could have done a better job with it. There's a decent variety across the property. Low ceiling shots. Wide open ones. Guarded teepads and guarded pins. Mandos and (hopefully) OB. There's a variety to the hole lengths too. And a bunch of the holes offer various lines, while others force you to turn right or left. The best compliment I can give though, is that they took a relatively boring property with a bunch of potential for boring wide open shots, and made it more challenging. The distance is one challenge, but there's more line shaping required here than one often finds in a flat, open space.

Equipment: The teepads are awful. It's either turf that perfectly matches the grass, or green carpet that slides around in the mud. Dirt pads would be worse, but nothing else would be. Hopefully there are plans for concrete pads down the road, because throwing off of uneven ground on a 500' hole isn't fun for anyone.

Navigation: There's no map, some of the baskets are missing tape, and others have tape pointing you in the wrong direction. Navigation here is the worst. The only "signs" you'll find are concrete number plates by the teepads, and those plates are flush with the ground. You can't see them unless you're standing on the teepad, and like I mentioned earlier the teepad is the same color as the grass. So if you aren't using UDisc you're going to be wandering for a while. Use UDisc.

Design: Well... I do appreciate that they used a lot of unused portions of the property. The property feels like it's kind of a trashy park, so hopefully some increased foot traffic will fix that. But there are some design flaws. The worst of which have you crossing other fairways, like stepping out from the 16 basket blindly into incoming shots from the 10 fairway, or teeing off on 17 just feet in front of the 9 basket. The other complaint is really just because I have a noodle arm. Don't fool me with a 196' hole at the beginning and then only have one other sub-300' hole the rest of the way (and not until 16). I don't mind distance and being challenged, but some more variety in both distance and technicality would be nice. Oh, and the walkout from 7 to 8 is stupid. There's a locked gate right there, but if you aren't fit enough to climb the fence (most of us are, but not everyone), you have to walk well out of your way to walk through the Little League dugout. And guess what happens if you hyzer out on 8 and go over the fence? Back you go through the dugout and all the way around, then all the way back. When there's a gate just a few feet from the teepad.

I can't really fault the designer for the rest. I found myself getting bored at times, and it seemed like every hole in the back was thrown around the edges of an unused field, but they really did do a great job with the property provided. It's clearly targeted to a more serious disc golfer though. There isn't anything here to bring in people who are new to the game. They'd get hopelessly lost first, and they'd probably quit after yet another 500' par 3. But it's a new challenging course in Skagit, and that's not a bad thing at all.

-Tees are great, high quality turf on most holes, they blend in nicely with the park, however, this does mean they are hard to find as the tee number markers are also flush with the ground.
-Baskets are awesome out here, they look good, function good, and fit into the park well without much disturbance.
-Fairways are generally good, usually on open fields, however, the wholes that are more wooded are not beat in yet. See cons section
-This course is flat, in a mainly flat area, so you can't really hold the lack of elevation against the designer, what you can do though is notice how every single mound or divit is factored in somehow. Elevation is also created artificially on a raised basket position, which I like to see.
-This is a solid course it was very challenging and has potential to be an incredible course as it ages and more people play it. This course is brand new and is still becoming well established, but you can tell that it will become a favorite in the near future.
-There are lots of different shot types out here. There are big open Fairways, but they all have obvious lines you have to take which means many of your discs will get thrown.
-A pretty clean course, especially for what seems to be a well used public park. There is very little garbage on the ground.

-Tee signs are non existent, on most holes there is a number painted on a tile or paver, this (as mentioned above) makes the tees difficult to find, and some holes difficult to navigate.
-Certain Fairways, the ones that aren't on the large open fields, are super tough, you have to park the basket, no easy feat on most holes, to avoid the nastiness of blackberry bushes and other dense brush. I spent 20 minutes searching for a drive that ended up within 65 feet of the basket.
-Navigation is hard, the holes wind back and forth over an immense park and under a bridge. Part of the course, holes 2-6 play through what seems like an old parking lot and what I'm told used to be a large homeless area. This wouldn't be much of an issue if nobody parked there, however, they do. This section has many long holes and a couple par 4's so there is inevitably a car parked right in the fairway you're throwing down.
-This is a pretty long course, and it has to be because it is wide open. That means that playing this course, especially in summer heat is quite taxing. I would love to see some benches specifically near the disc golf course for people to rest on (hint hint: prospective Eagle Scouts should read that last sentence again and think about making some benches...maybe)

This is a fun course, it is interesting to play a brand new course because it is so different from the "classic" courses that have been around for a while, and are well played and everything. If you're driving through mount Vernon, come hit this course!

Land is mainly flat and runs parallel to the river. Mostly open course but there are a few tight shots. There are views of the river and Historic downtown Mount Vernon throughout the course. This is a multi-use park so be aware of events that may make some holes unplayable at times. The North side is free for all parking so on nice days or fishing season some of those holes will probably have cars parked on fairways. Adjust your play accordingly. As you work your way to the south side the course becomes more secluded.

This is phase 1 of the course. At this time the "foot is in the door" and it will take some time to bring it all together. Including maybe getting an additional 9 holes west of where holes 13/14 are. Most of the holes are clear of any underbrush.

Holes 13/14 are still pretty raw with underbrush. Holes 10 and 15 are open but the greens are still raw. Hole 9 parallels a "protected area" so the underbrush in there will always be thick. Hole 16 plays through a protected area as well so be aware of the underbrush.

Holes 8-9 and 17-18 are pretty simple but they bridge the course between the North and South ends relative to where parking is located.

Hole 6 and 7 are open/clear but if you go too far left its thick.

The tee pads are turf and the club is experimenting with different types/ sizes of turf so they do lack consistency.
Tees are marked with in ground pavers but in general overall signage is lacking so bring a map or use your smart phone for best navigation.

The course is just minutes from the I-5 and there are multiple places for food in Downtown Mount Vernon. Late April can be much crowed due to Tulip festival.
I will update this review as the course slowly matures over time and hopefully getting closer to that 5 disc rating. Feel free to PM me or contact Skagit Valley Disc Golf Club Facebook if you have questions or curious about conditions/ events.