Gaffney's Grove is the latest and greatest of Washington's disc golf courses. The course sits in Lake Wilderness State Park that features the lovely lake which the park is named after. It would be perfect for a refreshing dip after that hot, sweaty round. The course is found on the very first left turn as you are entering the park. The smallish parking lot has space for maybe 20 cars. Actually, now most locals are parking in the larger parking lot by the community center which has more room. This would be your first left turn after the roundabout. This has you starting on hole # 4 (or is it # 5?) which now has a kiosk marking the start.

There is also a kiosk here by hole # 1 which has a small course map and other disc golf info. The first hole is just about 50 feet to the left of the kiosk. There are now 18 concrete pads which are decently long and level. The signs are the old school fiberglass type with two panels. The second panel shows hole sponsors.

The terrain here is a fairly flat forest of Fir and Cedar trees. There is still quite a bit of brush just off the fairways. Some has been cut and stacked there. I'm sure it will be soon hauled away. Being a new course, the areas just off the fairways are currently very thick in places. Towards the middle of the course, things open up some.

Navigation is mostly intuitive. The baskets are DGA models with the always hard to read (at least for my tired old eyes) red numbers. The course is definitely technical but there is usually a fair line to the basket, although some of these lines are very miniscule. The distances are recreational length with only three holes measuring out at more than 250'. The back nine is shorter and I felt, more interesting. There are some really fun and creative ACE runs although each has some aspect to it that adds to the challenge. It might be a low ceiling, heavily guarded basket, narrow line or the one elevated basket.

The course is very clean and litter free with no vandalism. It was wonderful to see families out enjoying the course on a lovely spring Sunday morning.

One slight safety hazard where the # 8 pad (I believe) is vulnerable from the players throwing from the next tee. However, this has been addressed with a safety type net being installed.

Recreational lengths so no place to really let loose on your drives. Also basically recreational challenge.

Be aware that many tee signs are facing the wrong way. It's obvious on most of these holes which way the basket is but your first time through the course, one or two might confuse you. I'm not convinced that these fiberglass signs will hold up to any future vandalism as they just seem like such perfect targets for rock throwing teens. So far, there has been no such problems and I sincerely hope they are still in pristine condition five years from now.

I would like to see someone put together an on-line course map to help players through their first time.

I really liked this course. It appears as though the course designers are doing everything the right way. There is a definite sense of community pride from the locals. I wish that I lived closer. The ACE runs are really fun and challenging. The course was packed with people on Sunday morning.

It will be an above average course when completed. I would love to give it a 3 star rating now and update that to a 3.5 when the signs and concrete pads are completed but......it will still be a short recreational then so I will score it 2.5 and upgrade it to 3.0 when completed.

UPDATE: March 2018. I've upped my original score to 3.0 with recent improvements, signs, etc.

Many technical shots
A few very nice ace runs
Well thought out shots for the space available
Good variety of throws on most holes (see cons)

-The layout in areas gets a little congested, so if a few groups are playing there is some danger in throwing at folks on the other greens
-Some holes on the back 9 get a little repetitive and don't have much as far as distance or obstacles

-The elevated Basket on 16 and the shot across the small chasm/rough area on 17 make for -some awesome shots
-Once they add in the tee pads and some signs this will be a very polished course
-Decent parking lot in a beautiful park
-I will update my review after I have played through on permanent pads... I could see giving it a bump once it is a fully finished course
-Overall this course is pretty short... it doesn't quite have some of the distance or elevation shots that Lake Fenwick has, but it appear that it will remain playable year round as the drainage seems good... overall it is a very strong addition to this area as it gives a good option if you don't feel like tackling longer courses or want to have some ace runs