Fun course but a quirky layout
15 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: Beautiful little course with friendly locals that were willing to help us navigate the course after our confusing first run. If I lived in Seattle I would hit this course often, primarily because it's the only course in Seattle proper.
There were many narrow tree laden fairways leading to numerous basket locations. The good signage still left one scratching your head saying WTH? Though, like any first run it takes a few games until it all comes together and this course is no exception. The baskets were bright with ample chains, the tee pads were all concrete, the place was super tidy although I could see some slippery moments on the pathways in rainy conditions.
Cons: Due to the tightness of the course and pin locations there is potential to get smacked by a wayward disc, so be aware and if you hear "FOUR" it's for real.
Hole 7 tee box takes you all they way back up close to hole 6 tee box so its a bit confusing at first and lacks course fluidity. There is some other fluidity issues not worthy of commenting on.
Other Thoughts: Course local....Duncan D.
Brother man, thanks so much for taking the time to walk my son and I through the back 9 and show us the way. Fun stuff with good folk...Gotta love it!
15 of 15 people found this review helpful.
10 Helpful / 2 Not
Pros: Mineral springs where do I start...
Has like 4 practice baskets in very odd places...
Has two teepads per hole to make it a full 18 hole course, some of the pads do change up the shot
The discraft chainstars are extremely nice, and look brand spanking new
There's tee signs at each hole which is extremely important here
There is some fun shots and elevation change as well
Would be a great practice place if not very much traffic here, or fun quick round of 9 or 18
Cons: This place is kind of a train wreck.....there's tee pads, and baskets, and metal poles that's supports the nets to protect people everywhere,
Even with the nets saftey is huge concern here as your constantly throwing over and through everything. Might be the worst layout I've seen 🤷🏼‍♀️
This park is way to small to try to make it an 18 even with the dual pads...should have just been a really good 9
There's literally 4 tee pads all lined up by each other lol without signs no way to navigate it
The power line on hole 2 blocks a lot of shots and apparently can catch discs as well....there's random metal poles everywhere in your lines that make no sense...
Couple of the baskets are put in pretty awful placements...same with a mando......
The tee pad "area" for 3 kinda sucks
Other Thoughts: Honestly I'm thankful for all courses, and mineral is a really good 9 hole, with some fun shots playing as the 18 is kinda rough, and it does get player traffic. It's still a good place to fine tune your skills and accuracy. A couple of the alt or back 9 literally is just an extended 30 feet distance on the same line. I do think this would have been better as just a 9 but that's my opinion. Still worth checking out if In the area
10 of 12 people found this review helpful.
Extremely disappointing
8 Helpful / 3 Not
Pros:
-Right In Seattle
-crammed into a small space, kinda effectively
-Yep that's it
Cons: This course made me re-evaluate other courses I thought were bad.
-Not an 18 hole layout, a 9 hole with alt tees.
-Very tight 9, even tighter 18, good luck not hitting anyone
-The biggest con: the course is a homeless camp, the ground is hopelessly covered in garbage, there are tents everywhere, you see the occasional inside out latex glove with needle caps surrounding it, oh, and some human feces, that's great.
-All the potentially positive aspects of this course are overshadowed by the desperate urge to run away from here as quick as possible. I didn't really care that hole 5 or whatever it was, had a tricky downhill, I was just trying to miss the tents!
-Honestly, this place is not really even a disc golf course, yes it has baskets and tees, but, it has been taken over.
Other Thoughts: Don't play this course, please I beg you, even if you are like 1 course away from hitting 1000 or something, just don't play it. I'm never coming back here, unless my life takes a horrible turn.
8 of 11 people found this review helpful.
Small with natural challenges
5 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: • Variety/elevation changes: The course plays up the side of a ridge, then down, then up and down again and again. The constant variety is a nice challenge.
• Nice tees and baskets: The tee pads and baskets are in good repair.
• Not crowded: I played on a summer Saturday morning (which albeit is typically less than busy at any course). It also was not busy here -- no more than me, plus two couplets, between 8-10 a.m.
Cons: • Super-difficult to follow the course: The course map was graffitied over, and, as well, rarely does one basket flow logically to the next tee pad. Plus many holes share a basket. Altogether, these made it EXTREMELY hard to follow the course. I gave up atfter hole 8.
• Vegetation: Dense vegetation meant I, as a first-timer here, was searching for my driver on nearly every hole. At one point my Valk was stuck 20 feet up in a tree; I had to break off a trunk and repeadly throw it skyward for 10 minutes before I finally dislodged the disc enough to leap and snag it.
Other Thoughts: • Very challenging for a first-timer due to an inadequately marked course, but should be a more enjoyable challenge for regulars who know the layout.
• Previous reviews reference unwanted bystanders. By the time I played here, however, the city of Seattle had cracked down on unlawful camping/vagrancy in the area, so I saw none of this. Save for one tattered sleeping bag, a moldering henley and standard frolf-course litter (bottle caps, joint tubes), the area was pretty much free of signs of signs of unwanted activity.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.
Unique...in a very bummy sort of way.
13 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: What they call an 18 hole course, crammed into the smallest plot of land ever, in Seattle. But let's be real...this is a 9 hole course with two sets of tees and a little variation.
Concrete tee pads, which were mostly good enough. There are a few sketchy pads that hinder runups, and several that may require standstill type drives.
Old school Mach 2 baskets, but they all caught well enough and were in surprisingly good shape, considering the course.
The course is kind of set against the side of a small hill, so you get a bit of elevation change on many of the holes, which is nice.
The course is mostly covered with mature trees, and many of the holes require specific lines to get to the basket. The design of each hole as a standalone entity is pretty good.
There were signs for most of the holes. They are the old school basic signs, but once you find them, do enough to let you know what's going on with the hole.
Cons: Oh, where to begin.
Mineral Springs sits easily in my top 3 "holy @#$! this course is packed in a small space" courses. This place is like a game of Tetris...every damn square inch of space is used for frolf. In many cases, the same square inches are used for several holes, which of course leads to major safety concerns. Being the only course in the immediate area, you get all types here...soooo many chuckers (which is great...they need to frolf, too), dirty bums (more on this in a second), "old school" frolfers, and a few more serious players. i would wager that somebody gets hit with a disc (or 22) on a daily basis, as it's nearly impossible to know if there's somebody in your path. Easily the most dangerous course I've ever played...and it's not really that close.
Navigation is kind of a nightmare. As stated before, there is not a lot of rhyme or reason to the layout. Sure, some of it flows naturally, but there are a ton of holes that you'd simply be guessing at if you don't have a printed map or local to guide you.
Do you like dirty bums?? Well if so, this is the place for you! As a Midwesterner, I'm not used to rampant homelessness, so maybe I'm a bit jaded on this one...but having a tent city just off one of the fairways is disconcerting. Not to mention the faux-WalMart greeter that hangs out by Hole 1 and begs for spare change after regaling you with stories of his disc golf prowess, of course.
Soooo close to the roads. When you have to put up 30' high nets so discs don't go into the busy roads adjacent to the course, you're probably too close to the road. The worst part is, they couldn't even get this right...hole 5 has a damn gap in the net right at the point where newb hyzers are going to newb hyzer into the road. Deep in the chasms of my imagination, I imagine a shoeless dirty bum chasing his 1994 DX Roc into the road, dreadlocks flapping in the breeze and Seattle rain, and becoming a dirty bum pancake. I can't decide if this is funny or sad...I'll leave that up to the reader.
Other Thoughts: So what we end up with at Mineral Springs is a bunch of relatively fun shots in the worst configuration and location you could possibly imagine for an urban setting. This would be a fun spot to play if it was always empty...but from what I was told, it's almost always packed. No options is a terrible thing in the pursuit of love, and the pursuit of frolfs.
Am I glad I played it? Yes, but only because I'm a sadist and love craptastic courses. Would I go back if I'm in the area? ONLY if I were homeless and ended up living in the tent city off hole 7.
Enter at your own risk.
13 of 13 people found this review helpful.
Holly bushes, blackberries and trash!
0 Helpful / 4 Not
Pros: Not much for pros other than it's a course in Seattle.
Cons: Garbage everywhere and poorly labeled baskets and tees, even a homeless shelter in the middle of the course
Other Thoughts: We played holes 2-6 then left because we couldn't find the tee for 7. Holly bushes, blackberries and trash, I think we'll stick the the nice courses in the area!
0 of 4 people found this review helpful.
interesting park
0 Helpful / 2 Not
Pros: the park is interesting, it is designed for disc golf park only. i do not see any bystanders bothering the park itself.
they had signs, and concerte teepads everywhere.
this some baskets are used by almost same teepads, like hole 1 and hole 10, hole 3 and hole 13 is almost same but a bit different techinical throws.
this course have variety of throws, blind throws, downhill throws, throw to left/right baskets, narrow, dodging the trees, etc. i liked it there.
Cons: yes, i am aware of 18 baskets, but i don't like how we have to use same baskets for different teepad throws, which is a bit silly.
remember, i said i don't see bystanders around... i lied, there is oddballs hanging nearby the park, but doesn't interfare us playing. also there is a homemade homeless shelter in middle of it. i actually faced a police officer to find that person whose was hanging around the shelter.
sometimes you would smell horrid smell from those oddballs, which is not cool thing to smell.
parking was easy before, but now, the city decided to add new plants, etc, and we had to park on street instead of parking lot.
Other Thoughts: i always loved to played there, would love to play there again, good designed disc golf park.
0 of 2 people found this review helpful.
Creepy
5 Helpful / 3 Not
Pros: Close to Seattle. Technical throws. Baskets in decent condition.
Cons: Not family or female friendly. Wife was harassed by creeps telling her that she "should be afraid" of them. Local players just stared at us. I'm not particularly sensitive and I've played all around the West Coast. Legitimately creepy dudes here. Either come without women or come with thick skin. As for the course itself, each of the 9 baskets has two sets of holes, often sinultaneously played on. Would have added to charm if it weren't for creepy locals.
Other Thoughts: Perhaps we just got unlucky and ran into the few unpleasant locals. Just be wary.
5 of 8 people found this review helpful.
A fun round, but not too challenging
8 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: Being the only course in Seattle proper, this place instantly gets a bump in the estimation of many. Plus Lowell Shields designed it way back in the day and can still be found selling discs out of his van on any given evening. He did an amazing job of putting a full 18 hole course on to a tiny slice of land that nobody cared about. I drove by this place a thousand times and didn't even realize it was a disc golf course until I picked up the game myself.
The layout is well thought out and pretty challenging for being such a short course. Elevation comes into play on almost every hole, and you need to have some control to score low here. It's not heavily wooded, but the lines are still tight. There's plenty for any type of shot too. There's a nice mix of right and left turning shots here, and a mix of open to wooded shots as well. You have your open field holes like 1/10, tighter lines like 9/18, and maddening approaches like the current hole 14. You need most of the shots in your bag during any given round here.
Any course with quality baskets and concrete tees gets a bump from me as well. For being such an old course, this one is in remarkably good condition.
Cons: It's been said on here a million times before. The course is just too condensed. This is the first course that I heard the word "fore", and it's necessary. I've had a Wraith whizz by my head while standing on a teepad. Not on a fairway. A teepad. You have to call fore on just about every hole if your disc doesn't do exactly what you tell it to. If you're like me, your discs seldom do what you tell them to... While I appreciate how amazing it is that Lowell fit 18 holes here, it's just incredibly dangerous to have so many intersecting fairways and so few mandos. There are four holes that throw across the same clearing at the beginning. That in itself should scare you.
Then there's the navigation. While there's a map at the entrance, it isn't very helpful or clear. My first time there (years ago), I would have been lost if it hadn't been for some friendly locals. Even now when I return, I normally forget which basket I'm supposed to be throwing to. Only about half of the teepads are marked, and a lot of the baskets are blank as well. On my last round I did notice some new basket numbers though, and Lowell was reconfiguring parts of the course. So this could all change in the near future.
As always, my last "con" has to be mentioned since 98% of readers on this site seem to throw farther than me... The holes are all crazily short. The only "long" ones are downhill, so most players should be okay with a putter or mid.
Other Thoughts: As I've stated, a lot of the tees are missing signs. The four that throw across the same field are the most confusing. The one closest to the street is Hole 1, and I think that one is marked. From there it goes 17, 8, and 10. 10 goes to the same basket as 1, and the baskets for 17 and 8 are hidden from view in the brush to your right. Look at the map or ask somebody. Or just fling a disc in there and yell "fore". A lot of the course is a nine hole played twice. For example, 1 and 10 are thrown to the same basket. The same is true for 2/11, 3/12, and 6/15. Everything else is thrown from a different pad to a different basket, so make sure you know which basket you're going for.
All in all, North Park is an enjoyable round. You just have to know somebody or go early. It does get crowded, and the groups of locals can seem a bit cliquish to outsiders. But if you know someone, just don't care what people think of you, or go early enough in the morning that you get the course to yourself, you can have a fun round where you can work on your mid- to short-game on a rather challenging course.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.
It's fun, but...
4 Helpful / 1 Not
Pros: * Short, technical shots require you to thoroughly think about what to throw and how to throw it.
* Good mix of left and right hand shots.
* Netting prevents errant discs from flying to far off or knocking someone out.
* An interesting back 9 for more advanced players.
* Convenient location for most Seattleites
Cons: * Very close quarters require lots of "FORE!" and head swiveling. I heard someone yell out fore about every couple of minutes.
* The netting seems oddly placed. There are areas that need it, and other areas that don't make sense to have it. There needs to be more netting alongside hole 5 between the course and the busy 4 lane road.
* The back nine is very confusing and requires prior knowledge/a guide to navigate.
* When it is crowded it almost becomes impossible to play certain holes.
* Wednesday doubles crowd doesn't seem to care about other people trying to play through.
Other Thoughts: This course would be a lot more fun if no one else was on the course. I arrived on a wednesday evening and the first basket was being used as a practice basket by about a dozen people. They signaled me to throw, but this is a mind game; I am not going to throw the same if there are people walking back and forth in front of the basket the whole time. After skipping the first two holes because of too many people in the way, I quickly learned how goofy this course really is. The huge metal poles seemed to be well placed, but the netting could have had much better placement. Hole 5 needs more netting to protect errant throws from going into busy traffic, and the netting on hole 7 made for a interesting lane, but actually helped errant throws instead of punishing them. One can roll a disc along the netting and get a jump off the last pole for great positioning. It is just silly, really. Combine that with the constant threat of errant discs, and it doesn't make for a smooth game. I would love to try this course out early in the morning when less people will be there, but I will not be eagerly returning to play this course anytime soon. Mineral Springs is really close to being a cool course, but any more than a few groups on it make it difficult to fully enjoy.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.
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1 
10/14/2017 
10/15/2017
Review By: Schreuds2.0 
This review was updated on 4/19/2019
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