-reasonably challenging layout, featuring several long open holes
-fairways well maintained
-nice use of elevation and mandos
-good signs at concrete tee pads with distance and par
-fine baskets with metal arrows under the cages showing way to next tee pad (similar to the NW course)
-locals were friendly
-2 other courses within a 5 minute walk

-Can be hard to find your disc in some of the taller grassy roughs, luckily little/no blackberries and the broom was not too bad
-difficult to find hole 3's tee pad- if you end up finding yourself looking at red baskets with numbers on top, you've gone the wrong way
-beginners will likely not score very well
-Hole 1 and Hole 3 throw over a road

We thoroughly enjoyed playing the three Steilacoom courses! Hard to say which is the best, but we certainly enjoyed the SE course. It features a variety of fairways and elevation change. Much like the 9-hole course, it's not wooded, but there are just enough Oaks and Madrones out there to keep it interesting.

There are still several old concrete tee pads around the course which goes to show the changes that have been made to the layout.. and they would now make it easy for some sort of Safari layout. Since there were no signs at those slabs it was clear they are not the current pads.

For the first time in my armature career I landed a disc in the middle of an ant hill (only ten feet from the basket on hole 12). I thought that was kind of funny.

Final thought- there was a sign on the road by hole 1 pointing towards a building stating 'Child Study And Treatment Center'. I was halfway expecting to see some 3 eyed kids walking around the area, but luckily everyone appeared normal.

We'll be back to play again!

-Tees are large and concrete, really nothing special, but that's ok because they are very nice.
-Tee signs are helpful, they give accurate distance and hole layout, this is especially helpful on the first 4ish Holes because those are tricky to navigate
-I am a huge fan of the whole gnarled trees above a grassy fairway look that this course has for a majority of the holes. The Fairways are well maintained, especially the open ones, so that it isn't difficult to find an errant drive and it is easy to walk through
-Elevation is used well, there is pretty much just one hill that parallels the road you drive in on, but about half the holes have this hill incorporated in some way or another, which shows it was taken into account during the design process
-I wouldn't call this a wooded course, I would probably call it a "lightly wooded" course, but that doesn't mean that trees cannot be used very well, because the trees that are in play really enhance the fun of each shot (and the difficulty)
-A couple benches throughout, which is nice
-easy walking paths along the course
-Very Helpful map
-A nice variety of shots, a couple bombs, a couple turnovers, and forehands, some midrange throws, etc... some of the best diversity I've seen in a course.
-Not a whole lot of garbage laying around

-Older DISCatchers are not the greatest. They are pretty visible, but not very good at catching everything
-Navigation is a pretty big issue here, for the first 6 holes I was totally lost, they just don't make much sense, 1 and 3 throw across a road, which doesn't look like it is used that much, but still, it's a ROAD. Hole 2 is a filler hole and just seems like lazy design, and hole 4 is a great hole, but hard to tell which basket to throw to.
-I think it would be worthwhile if the stickers were taken off the baskets and replaced with numbers, I swear I threw to hole 13's basket three times, some holes (1,3,4 in particular) could use some sort of tall flag sticking up to show where the pin is, as a person who hadn't played this course before, it was hard to find my way around

A little history first. Fort Steilacoom DGC is the oldest disc golf course in the state. It was constructed during the 80's and was a premiere course. Then baskets and tee pads kept getting added on until at one time there was something like 40 baskets and 36 concrete pads. At this stage in time there were some eight different overlapping courses and frankly, I thought the course was kind of a embarrassment, and the reviews from anyone who wasn't a local supported this. Then maybe 7-10 years ago, the current club stepped in, settled on the three separate course design we have today and today you have a destination course and a complex which holds an NIT event. Thank you club members for everything you've done to bring Stilly back to good graces.

The SE course is on your left as you enter the park. # 1 starts right along the street just before the street that turns left. The equipment on the SE course is older but holding up pretty well. The signs are similar to the old school fiberglass models only these are prettier and have sturdier poles. This open area has long been a target of vandals and I was pleased to see only one sign missing (# 18). The baskets are older Discatchers which are plastered with club stickers which I felt are tacky looking. Navigation was fairly easy as the next tee arrow is marked on each tee sign.

The SE course probably has kept nine of the original 18 holes. A couple of these are hardly recognizable as trees that were 3' high have now grown to 25-30'. Holes 1 and 6 are both much more challenging now that the trees have grown so much.

The SE course plays fairly long with five holes playing over 500'. Roped off OBs, mandos, tall Scotch Broom plants and some large trees in the middle of the fairways all add to the challenge here. I think this course is a tad more challenging than the NW course.

The elements can be difficult here, wind, open spaces, tall Scotch Broom plants and mature trees can all play havoc with your round here.

I think the Scotch Broom is just a pain in your behind. We used to have work parties to cut it down.

I think the three straight open holes (8, 14 and 15) are a little bit on the boring side. They would be a little less boring if I could throw it 400' straight down a narrow fairway.

I'm not a fan of the baskets covered with club stickers.

Navigation is kind of tricky. I somehow missed # 12.

I believe this is a destination complex now. With two 3.5 rated courses and a great little 9 hole warm up course, Stilly compares favorably with Horning's Hideout as a destination course.

As for my rating, I feel the NW course is the more enjoyable choice here. It also features the only hole that I would really call a signature hole. Since i've very comfortable calling the NW course a 3.5, i'd really like to give the SE course a 3.25 just to accentuate the slight difference between the two courses. But since Tim won't allow the 3.25 rating, I'm going to use my one time Home Boy Bias special exemption coupon and award the SE course a 3.5. This was, after all, the first course that I could ever call my home course. But I stand on record proclaiming my preference for the NW course.

This course would be the more open brother of the NW course which gives ample opportunities to uncork some big drives (unlike the NW course). The property is a mix of grass, mature oak trees and lots of scotch broom, so you can expect to be punished if you don't hit the fairways. There is also lots of OB on the property edge where you find fences and roads, so consult the map beforehand. Moderate elevation gain/loss comes into play on about a third of the holes.

I thought this course favored the long arm much more that the NW course, however, the factors listed previously are what keep this course honest and challenging. If you get caught in the scotch broom, it can be very difficult to make a full shot from this position since it grows so high. I really liked the inclusion of OB stakes on holes 14 and 15 which means that if you go in the scotch broom you are OB! This course seems to play longer that the NW, with more par 4 & 5 type holes.

For the love of #$%^, please put numbers on the baskets! This was the most annoying part of the course, is that you could see multiple baskets from the tees, and often did not know which one to go for! Obviously, this frustration applies to newer guests, like myself, who do not get down to this course often. All it would take is a sharpie pen, man!

We considered the option of making all the scotch broom OB if you want to be sadistic and bring the challenge to another level (by drawing an imaginary line between the scotch brooms on the edge of each fairway).

Overall this course rates in the middle with a 3.5
The NW course rates a 4
Ray's 9 rates a 3
You should certainly make a day of it and play them all, starting with Ray's 9 as a wonderful warmup!

The Southeast course at Ft. Steilacoom is a wonderfully challenging and creative eighteen hole course located on the same property as Ray's 9 and the Northwest 18. Unlike the other two courses, the SE course is more exposed to the harsh elements the Pacific Northwest has to offer due to the openness of the course. Like the other courses on site at FS, this course pushes all skill levels by requiring line shaping and placement. Although the fairways are more open here, there are plenty of areas to get into trouble due to man-made OB's, foliage, and hillsides. Some of the more wide open holes tend to be the longest on the course and use the tall grass along the mowed fairways as OB in order to add to the difficulty and maximize space on the property. Par for the course is 54, with holes ranging anywhere from 182-590ft, but averaging closer to 300+ft due to five holes playing over 500ft! There is much more room to air it out here, allowing bigger arms to capitalize due to the sheer distance.

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 second hardest course to play in terms of difficulty and course navigation (Ray's 9 being the easiest and the Northwest 18 being the hardest). 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.