Old Trace Park has many of the same strengths and a few of the weaknesses as The Rez, about 15 minutes away, though the land it inhabits is quite different.

Playing in a more public, and smaller recreation area, the slopes, trees, and open spaces make for a very nice 18 hole course. Navigation flows very smoothly, with maybe a little hiccup around 16-18, but you don't need to be Magellan to find your way around.

Baskets are uncoated Mach X's, which was kind of surprising, and made them look more humble. But they were still great, even if you forget you're playing on them after a while.

The tee's were nice concrete. A couple times I threw from the natural next to it, just because it was a little slippery.

I'm holding back here because honestly, the holes were rather amazing. They were almost the perfect lengths of gettable epic shots mixed with some closer birdie-able holes. I really loved the back 9, as it was just some wonderful holes, downhill, valley, maybe an uphill here and there.

The front 9, while the hole design is fine, plays closer to some park amenities. There's some walking paths, a lakefront, pic nic areas, just a lot of things you kind of need to watch out for.

And I was afraid we were just doing more of the Rez when hole one starts with a blind basket, but after that every basket is pretty much visible, or where you expect it to be.

No maps on the tees, but you don't really need them so it's not that bad.

If I could blend my favorite holes from this course with a few of my favorite from the Rez, we'd have a 4.5 on our hands. These two courses are wonderful complements to each other, and I cannot compliment them enough. They were a wonderful introduction to Jackson disc golf, and I can't wait to play them again

Nice concrete tee pads. Tee signs for every hole. nice double chained baskets. beautiful views of the water. mix of open and wooded holes. water in play on a couple of holes. restrooms on site. nice picnic areas if you need a break or are there with family. there are a few interesting looking holes.

multi use park and several holes could be hazardous to bystanders. Only one set of tee pads so choices are limited. throwing directly at walking paths and some shelters within reach as well. I had to wait for people to clear a couple of times. Navigation was a bit of an issue but not too bad if you have the map. no signs pointing you to the next tee. The tee signs only have distance so I had to walk out to find the basket a few times. on hole number 1 the direct path to the basket goes over a fence. highly possible to drive there and if you are not a long thrower your second shot will need to go over the fence of you will have to just give up a stroke and go around. I personally would change that hole.

not a bad place to play. a lot of the course has shade for those hot summer days and the water views are nice. Personally I would have liked some alternative shorter tees. I don't throw very long and there was really only 1 hole I could realistically reach. there are 8 par threes over 320 feet and some close to 400. definitely keep an eye out for other park users if you play there.

The course at Old Trace Park is set on the side of a hill that is surrounded by Ross Barnett Reservoir. This is a mix of open and wooded holes with the wooded holes making up about 2/3 of the 18 holes. There is enough variety in distances and out of bounds to prevent this course from being noticeably repetitive.

Walking paths, roadways, parking lots, fences and the lake itself present OB hazards on most holes. Some of the wooded holes present somewhat narrow gaps that require you to hit your lines, but overall present little punishment for failure to do so.

Water comes into play enough to require serious consideration on only two holes. Only a carom off a tree or a stability error will get you in the water on two other holes. Overall, there's little worry of losing a disc to the water for advanced level players and only moderate worry for intermediate players. The water is easy to avoid if you aren't worried about trying to birdie. So don't skip this course just because you are traveling and don't want to leave this course short of a disc.

This is sort of a typical, multi-use park style course with enough interesting holes to make it worth a stop. All of the holes have concrete tee boxes and all the baskets are Mach X, a quality basket that I count as a positive even though I don't personally like them. Tee signs only have the hold number and distance marked. Navigation is mostly straightforward and, even though I had to look around for two or three tee pads, it did not slow me down. The online map is accurate.

When I played on a Saturday morning, a race was going on and the HQ was set up right in the middle of the #2 fairway. Hole 3 had a family with young children set up to fish within about 50 of the basket. The race was small and there were very few others in the park but I could see lots of frustration on days when more people are there.

The design is limited by the course and there are a few less than memorable holes. There is more elevation in the park than is used in the design, but it is difficult to fault the design when good use was put to most of the limited space apparently available.

There are a few safety concerns in the layout. For example, the hole 18 basket is a noob hyzer away from the largest pavilion in the park. You will likely have to wait for a few runners/walkers where tee boxes are "aimed" right down a street or walking path. The tee signs also have no layout info on them other than distance. It would be nice to have better signs when the DGA basket can be hard to pick out in the shade.

Overall, this was a fun course to play. It's not very difficult and the open holes have little challenge except for hole 3 where water is directly behind the basket. The wooded holes present difficulty off the tee but the manicured areas under the trees assure an easy par even if you hit a tree as long as you stay in bounds.

This is worth a play if you are traveling on I55, but the Rez is a better course if you only have time to play one while in Jackson.