This course is very great for beginners as well as having tougher layouts for more advanced players. The highly wooded area is a great landscape making for a challenging round. New holes have been recently added and are a reason for a former player to return!

As all the other reviews for this course have stated it does have a very complex designe. Also families have been known to slow down course play, but friendly courtesy usually prevails and you will play through eventually.

The tdga (tacoma dga) website has printable map layouts for the southeast and northwest courses. There is a few hole changes to the NW course but the SE course is rated and ready to be played.I am willing to guide any new players at this course. I may not be very expeirienced in the game, but i do spend alot of time a week at this course and will play a round with people trying to learn this great coarse. Call or text me to set up a playing time.... 253-431-5909 or contact me on here and i will try to help.

This course has almost everything thing there is to offer at a golf course. There's long and short holes, technical with OB, technical with woods, some elevation, and two totally seperate 18 hole courses that can be played.

All of the teepads are concrete. The only thing missing from this course is water hazards.

I can see how this course can be hard to navigate, anytime I am out on the course and see someone struggling to find their way I'll stop my round and show them around.

Some of the signs are missing.

Got knocked down half star for less than decent signage, and another half star for the crossing layouts.

OK there are 5 main courses that get played fairly regularly and 2 more that don't get played as much.

Here are the courses:

SW- Fairly long and open and is marked decently with most marking either on signs or in yellow paint on the concrete.

NW- This one plays mostly through the woods and is technical with some long holes coming into play

Pro- This course is well marked as well playing across the entire park

Am- Follows pretty close to Pro and is probably the easiest to follow and starts up at the parking lot.

Alt- This is my favorite course but is hard to navigate towards the middle and end but offers the most in my opinion.

There are also an AM27, Pro27, and Alt27 courses but are really hard to navigate.

Give this course a chance and you won't regret it!

There is plenty of variety between long holes and short technical holes with wonderful elevation changes. Most of the tee signs, tee pads and baskets are in excellent condition. There are many alternate tees and baskets that will keep the course fresh. There are lots of benches to sit down at when you need them.

The course is impossible to navigate, even when you find a tee sign it has four different options to play and almost none of the baskets have numbers on them so you think you are throwing to the right basket but there are three others around that could be the right basket as well. I don't think I even played a designed hole the entire day, I just threw my drive and went for the nearest basket I could find and made it up as I went along. I asked a group of locals and they said they play it thier own way and that there isn't really a number "1" or a "18" hole because it can be played many different ways so even the locals don't know how it's played! I was frustrated by all of this and it drained a lot of the fun out of it for me. Also my buddy left a disc in a bush accidentally and he went back for it about fifteen minutes later and it was gone and no one called him to give it back. Due to the many versions of the course people were playing, the course became a cluster with people playing different holes but playing the same baskets or fairways.

The course eventually goes to another part of the park in the back nine (I think) that is totally different from the rolling hills and long open drives and is a more technical, shorter area that is much easier to navigate. If this course was just that, one course with signs and got rid of the confusion it would be a four star course for sure. If you don't mind making up your own way to play then you won't mind too much and if you like to play a standard 18 holes then you should avoid this.


2014 UPDATE:

This course along with the SE are both much easier to navigate and enjoy than they were when I first played this course ten years ago. Rating bump -

Great hole variety, numerous short technical holes with a nice bunch of 500'+ holes for some really big arm shots.
Many of the holes are well thought out to use the terrain well, lots of elevation change, dog legs and creatively placed baskets.
Benches all around.
Despite the odd and sporadic signage, the holes that do have signs have really nice pictures with directions and distances.
Well maintained.
Solid tee pads for the most part.
14 unique layouts.

Definitely confusing for the first few times there.
Although parts of the course are very well marked some parts lack any signage at all.
Long walkouts in areas, some places where the course could consolidated for more fluency.
Some of the baskets are very old and not regulation.
A small number of the holes have very odd tees, some are very short, or not level.

There are honestly two ways to review this course and both are valid in some ways. If you only play this course once, don't live in the area and have no reason to come back, it might leave a sour taste in your mouth. It's no secret that this course has some layout issues, and some signage issues that make it very confusing. But that doesn't mean it's a bad course; it's just a locals course in many ways. If you think they complain about the 14 unique and interesting layouts they can play, you're crazy. So you can review it as a one off experience, or as a person who takes the time to learn it's ways. If you get the chance, I'll echo earlier statements to GET A GUIDE or find someone out there and tag along. If you can't, stick to one the main courses, NW, SE or the Pro 18, if you accept that you might have to walk to a few different tee pads and back track when you find it's not the right hole, then it's definitely possible to find your way around on your first time here. Most of the holes list the courses they're part of, and some of the pads that shoot to multiple baskets have separate pictures detailing this. All in all, I'd heartily recommend this course to anyone living even remotely near in WA, if you like order and a simple style in your courses and you're driving through, skip Steilly and venture over to SeaTac or White River.

Great course with lots of excellent shots and all types of elevation. Great scenery of Rainer on many holes. You can throw lots of different lines on many of the holes as well. Lots of different layouts which change the feel of the course and I will also put in pros and cons. Very challenging because you have a mix of tight and open holes. Once you figure out the layouts, its so much fun!

Too many layouts for someone who has never played there before. Not any maps when I played there so it was very hard to navigate. Signs can be an issue.

Meet up with some locals if you can and they can show you around.

This is a wonderful course and has some beautiful views of Mt. Rainier. I must admit I was lost the first couple of times playing, but there are so many options, I just had fun. Now, after having a few guided outings, the course has lost the tiny bit of lost and frustrated factor.

Signage, lack of easily available map/s

The rating on this course is far lower than it should be, it is a beautiful course, that has a few flaws. Play it a few times, find your way, and you'll never be able to get enough.

Great, near perfect disc golf type landscape. Lots of different types of holes. Some hills. Well maintained. Long and challenging.

Horrible layout and marking. Something like 7 different courses using 40 tees and baskets. Nothing is marked well. It's impossible to play a full course here, due to the confusion. It gets frustrating and makes it hard to enjoy.

The rating is due to it being impossible to just go here and play an actual round. How can it get a good rating if it cannot be played? Someone please fix this place as it's utter nonsense. DO NOT attempt to play a 'round' here if you go without a local or a map. Just make your own round up.

A great course with many holes and course designs to choose from. The map book I have claims 40 baskets and 70 tee pads. If you go when it isn't two crowded you wont have any problems. For me it is a joy to go when it is not crowded and pick whatever route I want. Keeps things fresh and prevents "course burnout".

There are several reviews that list the multiple layouts as a drawback. I am starting to have more sympathy to this problem. The last time I played I ran into a group that was having problems with the layout and I tried to help them. They really should make the map book more readily available AND try and sign the course better for first time players.

I highly recommend getting the map book from the local pro. This will help you understand the course options. Although there are trees throughout the course there are only a few holes that I would consider very dense. More times than not you will find a clean line. The course really has three sections NW, middle and SE. The main course layout covers all three sections but other layouts may concentrate in one area or the other. There are a few holes that throw off a steep side to the baskets below and a few that throw back up. Other than that the course has very little elevation change. A few par 4's and there are even a few par 2's as alternate holes.

My ratings are probably a bit biased, as this is my home course and one I play at least several times a week, but I think that this is my favorite place I have ever played, and I have played Morley, DelaVeaga, and a couple dozen other courses throughout the country. It has a wide variety of hole types, uphill, downhill, short, long, blind, tight, and wide open. The signage is constantly improving, and if you haven't ever been here before, the chances are good you can latch onto a group so that you can find your way around. The maintenance level here is also outstanding. From when I started playing the course 15 years ago or so, it has been cleaned up and professionalized immensely.

I wish there were some holes that involved water, for one. Of course, other than building a man made lake, this is just impossible. Also, I miss the maps that used to be displayed here on the bulletin board near the parking lot. Although I can play the pro, alt, NW, SE, 27, amateur, and a few others that we have invented from memory, I realize that many people can't. Even if the maps were available online, or at least one map of each course was posted, it would be an improvement.

Located next to a corrections facility on a 40 acre lot, Ft. Steilacoom NW is the most technical and challenging course of the three. It includes several varieties of trees and other native growthfoliage. It was designed to take advantage of the terrain, presenting multiple approaches to the pin off the tee, use of elevation shots, and even the occasional OB to make things more interesting. This course provides a great deal of challenges and requires every shot in the bag. There are several tight fairway shots, rewarding precision and placement over the big open drives like on the SW course. Tee pads are all cement and in pretty good shape, along with nice baskets and NEW tee signs. Tournaments are a blast to play here as well since a lot of the locals are out there and helping to navigate throughout the course. The local course pro is very helpful and informative, and sells discs if needed

Like the other two courses, this course can to be difficult to navigate for first timers. There are several areas that have cement tee pads due to the old layouts but if you just be on the lookout for the new tee signs which provide pin locations and distance from the tee to each basket. Hopefully over time they will continue to remove some of the older tee pads now that they have three "official" layouts here at Ft. Steilacoom.

This course, in my opinion, rates as the hardest course to play in terms of difficulty and course navigation (Ray's 9 being the easiest and the Southeast 18 being in the middle). All memorable and well worth anybody's time as an all day event or a single round. They are all unique and unlike the other and continue to get better with age. Since the time of its installation in 1986, the local club has gone above and beyond to keep these courses not only stay in the ground but also flourish. As of 2014, Ft. Steilacoom has been added as an NT on the PDGA tour which says a lot! My hats off to all those who were able to make this happen as all your hard work has not gone unnoticed.

-Amazing amout of "potential"
-Lots of fun tee shots.
-Fun with a guide.
-Great terrain.

-No guide, no way!
-Multiple types of baskets, most in crappy condition
-Teepads are questionable at times
-Marooned teepads everywhere.

I don't know how many ways I can say that it's a bad idea to have what seems to be 40 teepads strewn out over a course with 27 (i think) baskets. It's a total mess, and I even had a guide when I played it.

This chunk of land has SO MUCH potential,it's unfortunate that the locals can't figure anything out and make some concrete decisions on what to do. Hopefully someone will step up and take that task on.

This is one of the two 18 courses on sight (SE being the other). The local club has finally finished the design and the NW course, while still a little confusing is way better than previous layouts. The new NW courses incorporates just a couple holes from the original which were, for the most part, well thought out and challenging. Besides sitting in the prettiest section of the park, the NW course has nice large concrete pads, well defined walking paths between holes and most of the baskets have a nice little red arrow pointing to the next tee pad. The new signs are basic with the info you need. I happened to walk the course today during a national NIT event so all baskets were in the long and most difficult positions. These holes are both challenging in their technical aspect and daunting in their length. There are some fun downhill throws to be had on this 18.

There are multiple practice baskets up near the parking lot. The large parking lot as ample parking and there is a large open fields for practicing your drives.

SIGNATURE HOLE: Easily the signature hole on the entire complex is # 11 here on the NW course. It's 300' playing across and through a deep gorge. Avoiding all the trees is the key on this hole.

Speaking strictly for the NW course, navigation looks to be about an 8/10 which is not bad for such a wooded course.
The course is certainly not set up for beginners or family. It's a Intermediate and above course. There are plenty of long, tight holes requiring both a big arm and pin point accuracy off the tee.
Vandalism has been a problem at Stilly for 30 years but today I saw no evidence of any.

This course is now a must visit among Washington courses. # 1 is still a bit difficult to find. It's a very short walk 150' down the street towards the entrance. The tee pad is stuck back in the bushes
I can't say enough what a wonderful job the local club has done getting this courses up and running. as pleasently surprised.
The rating that I previously gave this course ( 4 stars) has been bothering me for quite some time now. After some thought, I've decided that because this course is so incredibly confusing for a first time player/visitor that it just can't be rated that high and that I was probably letting my home boy bias factor in to my rating.

RATINGS UPDATE: I've been perhaps one of the harshest critics over the years of Ft. Steilacoom's over abundance of pads and baskets. The NW course is such a upgrade over the old confusing layouts that have been in place. My rating on this course has gone from 4 to 3 and now back to a solid 4 and close to a 4.5. I can only tip my hat to the local disc golf club!

The map book shows 14 different layouts! The local players must like lots of variety.

There's a Chinese story about an over zealous artist who made a very good drawing of a snake but he kept adding to his picture and ruined it by adding legs. It means that some good things can be ruined by continuing to add too much, and this is the case at Fort Steilacoom. The course map shows 14 different layouts that combine tees and baskets in a multitude of configurations! I've never seen a course with so many different layouts. Although the locals must like the variety it's horrendous for a newcomer to try to navigate! When you add to it that the tee signs aren't very good, and many have been vandalized the course is incredibly frustrating to navigate. In addition there are serious safety issues from crossing fairways as people are playing alternate layouts. Discs could be flying all over the place. One reviewer suggested wearing a football helmet to stay safe. The course pro should keep in mind that "Frustration foils fun" and this course is extremely frustrating to navigate. There's some nice terrain there and some nice holes, so I think it would be a lot better to reduce the number of layouts and focus on making 27 good holes with tees and baskets that are easy to find and well maintained.

Course Level- I'm guessing White level, but the course was so confusing that I have little confidence in knowing what layouts the holes I played were really part of, thus I'm not sure of their lengths, so I can't determine the level.