Topeka, KS

Rice Park

25(based on 10 reviews)
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17 0
Pevio
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 12.5 years 194 played 122 reviews
1.50 star(s)

Brown and White Rice Baskets

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Sep 2, 2023 Played the course:once

Pros:

Rice Park is an open niner with some interesting elevation and a few forced lines. Concrete pads have the hole number on them, which is really all you need here. Somehow, that's pretty good considering other courses in the area.

Hole 3 is the best hole on the course, a slightly downhill open shot but with woods around the basket on three sides. Hole 7 is also a long downhill shot, a must on a course like this. Hole 4 also plays through the treeline, albeit at an angle, so it's really hard to get anything better than a long putt.

And that's about it. A simple enough course that will leave a lot of people bored, but that a decent round can be had on.

Cons:

There's just... not a lot going on here. There are a total of around four trees in all fairways combined, but some fairly thick brush off to the side. You're sweltering in the sun on every hole. There are even a few trees just off the fairways that were never used.

The baskets are white, which is fine, but have a lot of rusty brown on them. Like actual rice, so maybe it was intentional.

The elevation change really only matters on hole 3, where you have to watch both the speed and angle of the disc. Holes 1, 7 and 9 are open enough that you can ignore the elevation change, or just add or subtract a bit of speed depending on what you need. And since those holes are fairly boring otherwise... and they're playing to lousy baskets... yeah, the result isn't good.

There's quite a bit of walking between holes, which gets annoying since you're going from one open hole... to another. Or around a playground back to the parking lot.

Other Thoughts:

There's enough openness to be a beginner-friendly course, but a little too much distance for it. So the only skill set that would be good here is a beginner wanting an "open bomber" course.

More holes should be playing through, or even in the middle of, the treeline. There's a tiny creek in there, but it shouldn't be a big deal to cross. A 250 foot shot that's straight and open, but with a gap in the trees at the end, would be a great addition to this course. Another option is to clear out the area northwest of 7's tee. Really - if baskets were replaced and a few holes were moved around, this course would be pretty decent.
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9 0
Upshawt1979
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 21.4 years 562 played 429 reviews
1.50 star(s)

Rice is a Little Bland 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:May 21, 2018 Played the course:once

Pros:

Rice Park has a disc golf course. 9 holes, set up with concrete tees and old school baskets. The park has almost no elevation change. There are trees in play on a few holes, but there is more than enough room to get around most of them.

The layout is easy to follow, with all tees numbered in the lower left corner. A nice quick round if you're in the area.

Hole 1 is slightly downhill, sort of long and wide open. 2 has trees to the left, and my drive was knocked down by the first one. There are a couple of trees guarding the front of the pin on 3, and surrounding the green.

My favorite hole was 4. It plays under mature trees, and curves left to right. Maybe the shortest hole on the course. Good for a RHFH drive, with a low ceiling from the tree branches hanging down. 5 is a little longer, with a more open fairway that also bends to the right a bit. 6 is fairly straight forward, with a cluster of trees to the right of the basket.

7 is about the same length as the first hole, also with a very gentle downhill slope, but the basket is surrounded by the trees near the creek. 8 plays with the creek to the right, and the trees and bushes growing there make it easy to lose a disc. 9 is long, slightly uphill and mostly open. There are two old trees struggling to survive in front of the pin.

Cons:

The tee pads are a bit short for my run ups. Baskets are in rough shape. The single row of chains have been weathered and rusted. The basket on the first hole was leaning pretty hard.

Not much challenge for an experienced player, but it isn't quite a pitch and putt. Some distance, but every hole is reachable for a birdie if you can bust a drive in the 300' range.

There is some thick rough in places if you miss the line. I spent a few minutes in the trees along the creek on hole 8. I missed to the right, and that is very thick and brushy. I found my disc on the fringe, and another one at the bottom of the creek bed.

Patches to the right of hole 3 pin, behind hole 5 green, and to the right of hole 6 basket could also conceal a wandering disc.

Other Thoughts:

I only got one birdie, which kind of made me want to go for one more round. I decided not to since it was near dark, and I played 36 holes before ending the day at Rice Park.

The name is a good metaphor. You can satisfy disc golf hunger with Rice, but it is as basic as it gets.
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11 0
Donovan
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 37.6 years 302 played 188 reviews
1.50 star(s)

Take a Picture And It Still Won’t Last Longer 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Apr 27, 2010 Played the course:once

Pros:

This little 9-hole course sits in a small park that was not well kept on my day there. However, the mower guys were firing up their metal steeds as I left. The fairways have been mowed to help with navigation. There was one fun hole that did dog leg at the end of the hole across a small creek. #7 had its basket with the creek right behind it. The tee pads were of a hand poured cement setup with number plates in them they are not in the best of shape, but the footing is just fine.

Cons:

These are simple holes for the beginner player. There is nothing really wrong with this as we need these types of courses in the world. They use tall grass roughs which I do not think are a benefit to any course. Almost every drive was a dead straight shot and the holes felt like was about 300-feet. The baskets had the chains painted white, but the chains were rusted on the bottom half. There were no tee signs.

Other Thoughts:

The Fun Factor here was nil. I literally played through this place in 20 minutes and it was actually quite forgettable. The hardest thing I had going was finding the first tee. I don't recommend playing this course unless you are bored with the others in town.
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