In addition to this being my first bilingual review, Sloter Park was my first international play. I chose it because when we travel to the Netherlands, we use public transportation almost exclusively, and this was going to be the easiest target from our rental.
On that topic, I would suggest getting yourself to Amsterdam Sloterdijk station by train—one of the easiest destinations on the map. From there, you have several options. First and easiest is the 369 bus, which stops either just before or after the park, leaving about 10 minutes on foot to the 1st hole, which you will NEVER find without UDisc and the knowledge that the course is located on the SE side of the road/park. The app directions did not load for me. I tried to get there with my phone turned off and had to concede defeat after eventually stumbling onto the 10th hole with no other real way to make my way to #1. Second, there is a small parking lot available. You could try to drive here and hope for a spot. Best of luck to you—this is not the high percentage throw. You could combine the 369 bus with the #7 tram, which shortens your walk. Finally, you can walk from the train station, but it's going to be about a half hour. You will pass by some fine smelling Middle East and African themed restaurants on the way, but you can also avail yourself of these options by bus and/or tram.
For the sake of argument, let's suppose you made it even easier than I did. What will you find?
First of all, Sloter Park is rather large, and split by a busy road. There are a seemingly endless number of things to do there, but the SE section is mainly occupied by walkers, joggers and a few bikes. Time for a HUGE caveat. I played the course on April 27, which is King Day, a national holiday during which people get together with family, friends, neighbors, or just pour into the nearest large city to party. I'm certain that I found the course with 10% or less of its normal traffic, which leads me to my most serious quibble with the course:
Under normal expected conditions, Sloter Park is difficult, even unsafe (although not necessarily for you) to play. This is clear from the very first tee, which is not apparent to the people walking on the path a couple dozen meters ahead of you, cutting directly across your line of flight at a 90 degree angle. Given the relative lack of traffic on Koningsdag, I was able to time this, but just barely. Consider this a spotter-required hole on almost any other day. By hole 2, even this tactic won't help, as the narrow fairways is now sandwiched between two paved pathways, that even on a holiday were fairly populated. Yeah, they are OB, but that's not really going to help the person you just brained with a frisbee. If you play Sloter Park, you will need to play those shots least likely to harm other people enjoying the park, leaving almost nowhere to throw on the hypothetical warm/sunny day which might find Nederlanders sprawled all over the grassy center of the course, catching some usually elusive rays, having a picnic etc. I can go on, but you get the point. Onto memorable holes:
I liked 3, the first of two water clearances, and one of the only holes where you won't necessarily have to watch out for other park goers. Unfortunately I stumbled onto the tee, following my phone only to find it occupied by a young couple getting busy, not knowing what disc golf was. They were actually really nice and watched me play before moving on. When I again encountered them later on the 9th tee, it made me feel like a bit of a stalker, and I ended up teeing off in the wrong direction from the wrong spot to avoid them. Anyway, #3 is very reachable, but vegetation is growing from the left side over the edge of the pond (The Netherlands is basically a cold rain forest—overgrowth abounds) forcing a more pronounced RHBH hyzer approach. I landed it but couldn't take birdie. #7 is a U-shaped par three, presumably on the basis that you could try to get across the intervening vegetation. Perhaps this was the case when the course was laid out, but in 2024, this would be a very risky if not impossible approach. It does, however, give you your first real glimpse of the man-made hill and giant sculpture that stands in the middle of the course. On #8, you skirt the right side of this mound uneventfully, most likely, but #9, arguably the signature hole, sends you up to the top to attempt a 700 foot par 4. 10 is a bit of an outlier on this mostly open course. It's a short par three with a difficult gap which makes sticking the tiny green unlikely. Choose your best miss. The trees overhead were nearly bent over with very large, brooding gray herons. Love. 17 gives you one more try at a short water clearance, but overgrowth has made it impossible to see the basket from the tee.
I've said before that I'm not sure a perfect 5 exists, but given my love for The Netherlands, I was prepared to give one out if Sloter Park stuck all the landings. They did not. Nevertheless, I had a good time, and would happily play a re-designed course on this beautiful property.
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Sloter Park was de eerste discgolfbaan dat ik buiten de VS gespeld heb. Wat een prachtige park!! Ik heb er op Koningsdag gespeeld, dus het park was bijna leeg. Dat is niet normaal, denk ik.
Ik hield niet van het ontwerp. Het is geen goed idee over voetgangers heen te gooien. Ja, de voetpaden OB zijn, maar hoe helpt dat diegene die je net met een frisbee geslagen heb?
Mijn favorieten holes waren de twee over het water en nummer 10. Op tien heb ik veel grote vogels in de bomen gezien en gehoord. Heel leuk! De grote sculpture op 7 TEM 9 was een goed verrassing. De Sloter Park poleholes waren zoals kunst. Het leek om ze ouder dan de anderen poleholes waren, maar ik hield er heel beter van.
Als iemand van jullie komen ooit naar Minnesota aan, ik zal blij om je de lokale discgolfbanen te tonen. Totdat dan, Fijne Bevrijdingsdag!