Challenging Course
2 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: Challenging, long throws
Great elevated shots
Excellent dog legs
Excellent signage
Great disc golfer respect for the course and each other. Keep this up!
Cons: During late fall, winter and early spring you'll be traversing swampy, wet conditions. During the summer, there is a lot of tall grass which will require you to have spotters and or run to your disc in order not to lose it.
Each time I've played this course, I've found at least 3 discs. Be warned.
Other Thoughts: This course should be played by intermediate+ level players. And you need to follow course etiquette especially on this course as searching for your discs will hold up lines quickly. If you're in a group.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
Love it!
1 Helpful / 2 Not
Pros: Great use of the land and old structures on it. Course is well designed with a mix of long and short holes with plenty of "danger" giving you lots of excitement with the ravines and hills. Very beautiful course
Cons: Lots of tall grass and brush/blackberries. Throw straight and true and you should have no problems........unlike myself.
Other Thoughts: This has been one of my favorite courses to date. I can't wait to see how it plays come winter.
1 of 3 people found this review helpful.
What a Gem, this Should be a 4-Rated Course
7 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: *** Review Disclaimer - We played this course in August when it was recently mowed. The fairways were in awesome condition and overall the course condition was amazing. If this course were not maintained - watch out! Would likely be unplayable ***
Online course map was not accurate overall (The Frolf Map one), but the start was accurate and there are arrows at each basket that point you along. We never had any problem finding the next basket, was enjoyable to play a big new course like this without pulling out a map after every hole.
Great signage, newer condition baskets, plus some old heritage baskets still kicking around. Good tee pads, must have been upgraded since previous reviews.
Lots of 500'+ holes.
Lots of places to rip big drives as well as longer technical drives.
A few places where the baskets are close to walking paths (mostly at the beginning and end of the course) but for the most part it's a dedicated disc golf course. Although the park was fairly busy when we were there (it was the eclipse), we only saw people near the parking lot, didn't have to worry about people deep in the course.
Lots of neat scenery and old, dilapidated farm buildings around the course that give it tons of character.
Couple of memorable holes (really enjoyed #2, #18, #15), did a good job of mixing in elevation where possible, even though there's not a huge amount of elevation to work with on the course.
Okay course for a cart, no crazy hill scrambles or anything.
Cons: Lots of places to lose discs, especially if you've got a big but uncontrolled arm.
Lots of nasty thorny stingy stuff to make your life miserable when you do go to look for discs.
Some blind shots that could really use a spotter, #2/#18 in particular can go towards people on paths.
Other Thoughts: If you're looking for epic courses worth driving to, this should be on your list in Northern WA. If you only care about the technical challenge of the course and you're super picky about hole layouts because you're an Open/Advanced player and you like to quibble about how a hole should be 20 feet longer or whatever, I dunno how amazing this course is or not, but for a couple of decent intermediate players with some length to our drives and decent control this is one of the top courses we've played out West.
Make no mistake about it, this a 4 disc course, don't let the older negative reviews fool you.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.
NSRA Aug 2015
7 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: Great use of topography and deteriorating buildings. Pin placement excellent. Concrete tee pads and all chain baskets are a tremendous upgrade. Holes are pretty long but have excellent landing zone.
Cons: Long 18 so bring all the supplies you'll need (doesn't loop back to car). Map we found "NSRA Frolf Coure" was not accurate. Stay on the fairway to avoid rough, drop offs, and blackberries.
Other Thoughts: The Northern State Recreation Area or "NSRA Frolf Course" ,as they state on the map we found online, is a great course. With a grassroots beginning there are several of the 'art baskets' still in place to go with upgrades to all chains baskets and concrete tee pads. With those changes it appears the layout has changed as the map we found was not accurate. With some elevation variations and treed alleys they take advantage of all the natural obstacles (and some unnatural with the deteriorating barns). Beware of the more open holes as the pin placement is often precariously close to drop offs or other hazards (oh, and blackberry bushes abound so stay on the mown fairways). The distances are on the long side but the landing areas are great for the most part. Knowing the layout and placements is a tremendous advantage as the 'rough' can be rough.
Some notes on the holes:
#1 : Pin placement in the trees, great set up.
#2: Tee pad hard to find but it is up to the left and you drive over trees and blackberries so be sure to get it over or be sure to where it landed.
#3: You get the first glimpse of the deteriorating barns.
#4: Slight up hill and wraps left following the barns, pin tucked in deep in the corner. Great hole. As you reach the plateau and look through the left hand alley of the barn roofs as it would be a stellar alternate hole.
#5: Shorter hole but be ware of going deep as it drops off dramatically past the pin.
#6 : pretty wide open as I recall but another challenging pin placement if you go past
#7: Great hole as it uses the dirt road. Slight up hill to start then hole is on steeper up hill in mature trees to the right.
#8: Stellar gap over the a small valley
#9: Can recall but wide open start
#10: Another awesome tried alley way, the tightest windows of the course
#11: Big wide open bomb
#12: Big bomb to a decent protected pin placement
#13: As I recall a sort of blind shot to a tight landing pad before approaching a protected pin placement that has a drop behind it.
#14: Starts with a big gap drive beware of the rough and the ridge that drops away on the right (I think on this hole)
#15: A good drive puts over a lower elevation area and on deck for a birdie.
#16: Long hole as I recall, mostly wide open
#17: One of our favorites with an old telephone pole creating a tight window. Slight downhill feel to it.
#18: Show piece hole if you dare to do some risky climbing to the upper window of the barn. I don't recommend frankly as it's the way down that is more tricky, but if you do, it's a fun long shot through a big barn door on the second floor.
In summary, a great course that takes advantage of the contours. It's long and doesn't return back to the car until 18 so bring all that you'll need.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.
EPIC-NESS OBTAINED
1 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: B-I-G course
Good signage
Good teeboxes
Great use of elevation and terrain
Beautiful park and scenery
Support of an Excellent Club (Skagit Valley DGC)
Cons: No trash service on the course - pack it OUT!
No water on the course - nothing super close.
Holds rain water and can get muddy
Not beginner or family friendly
Tall grass and blackberry make finding discs difficult
Other Thoughts: Updating my review after 5 years of improvements to the course. Changing from 4 stars to 4.5 with new signage, teepads and baskets. Lots of great work has gone into the course and it shows. All holes now have nice full cement teepads and as of last week new signs were installed for every hole clearly showing distance, pin location and any OB. Hopefully they can keep the mow-lines maintained throughout the year, I know that's been a challenge in the past. The course is LONG and lets you know it from the start. Hole 1 has been moved and now starts next to the new covered picnic area and is a 642' par 4 with OB Left and Right up to the pin tucked waaay back in the trees down the path. Hole 6 is a memorable elevated shot down into a tree farm, which is NOTHING like the pictures show from 8 years ago today. I don't know what the long term plan is for this hole, but it's going to be outgrown by the trees and un-playable as currently is in several years. Another iconic hole that is threatened by tree growth is 18. No, you don't tee from the barn, there's a huge teepad in front of it, with several trees starting to block most of the good available lines to the basket out in the field of long grass 460' away.
Notes to players new to the course: Rubber boots or neoprene socks are the locals footwear of choice in the fall and winter. Standing water and mud is common and to be expected. Keep a VERY close eye on discs going into tall grass on holes 1, 2 and 18. Very easy to lose discs here if you don't watch closely. Most all of the baskets are placed on tricky greens, be sure you're aware of what's behind the basket before you run it, many have steep run-offs right behind them. Many of the long holes have unmarked tees for beginners, so there are probably plans in place for shorter/beginner tees - Great work by the Skagit Valley Disc Golf Club - this is a great property and the the effort that has gone into it is turning it into one of the best courses in the state. Thank you SVDGC!
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
Fun Course
2 Helpful / 5 Not
Pros: *Edit* New teepads
As stated by many of the other reviews, course has a lot of really long shots that are in open areas, the area is really cool (some of the old buildings)
Other Thoughts:
Course is fun and in a neat surrounding area art holes are cool. needs some upkeep and a few improvements to make it a really great course
2 of 7 people found this review helpful.
Interesting, but dangerous
3 Helpful / 1 Not
Pros: Love the course layout. Lots of different distances, obstacles and elevation changes. All of the "art" targets also have actual baskets near them now, so it's up to your group which ones you want to shoot at.
Cons: Blackberries everywhere. After two rounds here I came out with extremely bloody shins. I definitely recommend jeans and gloves unless you're a lot more accurate than I am. #6 has a six foot wide fairway. Even a skilled player would have a hard time hitting that with the thirty foot elevation drop thrown in. At least that hole doesn't have the blackberries. It has other thorny plants, but those are easier to avoid.
Other Thoughts: Hole #13 would be much better if they mowed the top off the second hill. For shorter throwers, that would give you a target to try to land one on top of the hill so you would be throwing back down towards the basket. As it is, you have to try blind land your disc somewhere in the winding fairway or throw 100 feet at a time to follow it directly.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.
pretty unique
2 Helpful / 5 Not
Pros: setting, cool abandoned buildings, art baskets, decent variety of hole types
Cons: can be squishy after a good rain, art baskets seem to being phased out :-(, some epic blackberry thickets, oh those horrid tee pads...
Other Thoughts: Love this course but I'm really bummed to see the art baskets go. I loved them as it added an extra challenge and changed some the norms you've come to expect. Change is good right?
2 of 7 people found this review helpful.
unique to this area
2 Helpful / 1 Not
Pros: unusually open course for this region. many long holes where you can really let 'er rip, as opposed to the super-tight woodsy, short nature of most courses in this region.
they recently placed real baskets on every hole. some "art targets" are still in place, but there are real targets next to them.
great use of the gentle elevation the terrain provides- in general the course is flat, but the designers used the rolling terrain to maximum effect.
cool old buildings on the property.
limited interference from other park users, with the exception of hole 1.
Cons: the teepads suck, like super bad. i assume there are plans to improve them now that they have real targets on every hole. it would be a great place for real-deal tourneys then.
UPDATE: concrete tee pads! 1/2 disc up-rating from me!
the briars are insane, so don't throw your disc into them!!
Other Thoughts: this place is such a nice change of pace from the other courses in the area since it has such big distance. come here to stretch your arm out and watch 'em fly! with new teepads, this would be a very worthy spot for big tournaments. UPDATE: concrete pads and real baskets on every hole were a fantastic improvement to this course.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.
High potential
10 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: The NSRA Disc Golf Course is a diamond in the rough. That should only be taken half literally, as I didn't find any diamonds, but plenty of rough. Hole 1 immediately punches you in the gut with a long bomb across a field and into a stand of trees, but then the course settles down for a while with some doable holes for the average golfer (me). There's a lot of variation in distance, right and left turning shots, and creative use of the land it is on. It isn't very "technical" in a forested sense (Lake Stevens, NAD, Pier, etc), but there's plenty of elevation, briars, and wind to make you want to stay on the fairway. I didn't much care for the "art" baskets (what's left of them), but they at least add character to the course. The run down "historical buildings" add even more character. Taking a shot from the loft of the barn on 18 is a must to round out the experience, but you didn't hear that from me. You aren't supposed to enter the buildings, but if you choose to do so that isn't my concern. This has to be the most scenic course I have played thus far, and somehow the sun came out while we were there, which added even more to the beauty.
Cons: This could be an incredible, highly rated course, but it is not maintained. At all. I played there in the middle of the winter, so I can't speak to the mowing (or lack thereof), but the teepads were atrocious (my favorite word to describe teepads), and the "art" baskets were in terrible condition. Holes 5 and 12 still look like the ones pictured on this site, but the other four homemade ones were absolutely awful. I'd rather throw at a pole that used to have a basket on it (i.e. Twin Rivers) than throw at some of these piles of junk. I'm not being facetious. They're literally piles of junk. The teepads consist of gravel dumped in front of an old fence post or something, and most of them were full of mud and water. Not only that, but they were incredibly uneven, which is just terrible if you expect me to play a 500+ foot hole anywhere close to par. Again, I can't speak to the overgrowth, but if grounds maintenance is neglected like the rest of the course is then I really can't see playing some of these holes even with a spotter (like 13). Finally? The wind was whipping in our faces as we played through the back end of the course. This is kind of a pro for me because I don't get much practice on windy courses, but it's kind of a con for the same reason. The longest hole on the course was right into a fierce headwind with a nasty teepad to boot...
*UPDATE*
Upon hearing that they had held a sanctioned tournament here, I returned to the course. I assumed that they would have the course in tip top shape for such an event. Apparently the PDGA doesn't care if a course has nice teepads and baskets that catch. While I give kudos for a full 18 with real baskets, I saw more chainouts here than any other course I've played. Chainouts usually equate to cheap equipment. And the teepads are still disastrous, dangerous, and downright stupid.
Other Thoughts: All in all the experience at NSRA was a good one. It's a fun course that will challenge any level of player (not recommended for beginners), and the views are breathtaking. You're going to find yourself using every shot that you usually use, and I threw at least one that I hadn't thrown in a very long time. The makeshift baskets are going to be a con to a lot of people like the ones at Lake Stevens, and they've obviously fallen upon hard times. I appreciate the character that they add to the course, but (just like Lake Stevens) I hate watching my score go up just because a great upshot lands a foot behind the basket. Lack of course maintenance cripples the rating that I can give this place. Bottom line is that this is a good experience, but I can't give it "destination" status if they aren't going to take care of it. If you're passing through, stop in. Bring extra discs you might not mind losing and a spotter (depending on the time of year), but stop in and enjoy a challenging round of disc golf on a course that could become pro caliber with some hard work and a lot of determination...
10 of 10 people found this review helpful.
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2-4 
11/10/2013 
11/12/2013
Review By: Phlick 
This review was updated on 2/12/2018
Hole #2 (Taken 5/2010) 
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