Payne Park is a large inner-city park located in downtown Sarasota. A sweet shaded crushed brick walking trail circles the property. There is also a public pool.

+ The first 5 holes are pretty fun. Water comes into play behind the basket on #3, followed by a short water carry on #4. Unfortunately, the fountain wasn't turned on when I played so I didn't get the full signature experience of that hole. There is also some elevation that comes into play, a rarity for this part of the country!

+ Magnificant tee signs! You'll be hard pressed to find signs this good. Clean, easy to read, and very detailed. Two sets of concrete tees and nice numbered baskets on every hole.

- Holes 6-9 (nice) aren't so fun. I was really considering giving Payne a 3.0-3.5 until this stretch. Open, flat, and bland are three words to describe these holes.

- Knuckleheads vandalized several tee pads with spray paint. Unfortunately that's a typical trait of inner city disc golf courses.

- Without UDisc it can be tough to find the starting point of the course. Park as far down as you can by a wide concrete path to the left of the pool. If you follow that for a couple minutes you'll reach the first tee.

Payne Park is really a nice course that fell flat later on in the round. It's worth playing if you're in town, but I wouldn't recommend it during the middle part of the day because there isn't much shade.

Payne Park is a fairly large park in downtown Sarasota. Among other things it has is a great circus themed playground. The park has a little bit of elevation which is used well and some decent distance. There are two 4' x 10' concrete tee pads for each hole. The baskets are older DGA models with a small number. The signs are the old school fiberglass ones. You know, the same kind that are trashed at every other course in America and which are becoming scarce. For some unknown reason, they are the basket of choice in Florida and even more strange, they are somehow avoiding the wrath of the vandals.

For being this seemingly simple little nine hole course, Payne does have a couple of interesting holes. # 1 is 233' and plays across a bowl and then up a small hill. Then # 2 is maybe, 350' playing off the top of the hill. Then # 4 plays across a pond. I would guess from tee to basket is 280' but you can safely throw over the pond starting at about 180' if you cut the corner or play it in between depending on your arm/confidence.

Being a park this big made finding the first tee a problem. I drove around the park twice before parking and walking towards the middle where I finally located both the # 9 and # 1 tees. The problem of locating the start of the course is compounded by the fact that the signs only show the distance not the hole #. So when I stopped and checked a sign (eventually I figured out that it was # 7) all it said was Blue 380. So now way of knowing which hole it was. I did finally discover one tee sign with the hole # on the back of the sign.

The DGCR information sheet does no mention where this course begins. Whoever is in charge, please add that tidbit of information.

Signs are missing on holes 2, 5 and 8.

My experience here was certainly dampened by all the trouble I had just finding the start. This could so easily fixed by simply adding that information to the DGCR information sheet and by putting the numbers on the signs.

The Payne Park course is actually a fun little throw once you know where # 1 is. It gives you a little bit of a big air throw, a little trace of a technical throw and a decent amount of a pucker factor on # 4.

Wide open downtown park plays across green spaces and around a small pond complete with fountain. Two hole stand out: 4 carries the pond with opportunities to carry short and earn a long approach or attack the basket over a much longer stretch of whiter, while 2 lets you tee off of the highest point of the park and let the disc fly over an open field. Nice baskets and tees make for a fun and easy round for experienced players while beginners will be able to learn discs while challenging themselves with the distance on a few holes. The whole area is aesthetically pleasing and well landscaped. A really great place for the beginning player.

The location means that sections of the course are prime real estate for those looking for a place to sleep.
You will probably require the map to find some tees.
There isn't much of real interest here. An on-the-way course.