Very beautiful and fun
1 Helpful / 2 Not
Pros: Beautiful, open greens and great scenery! Some holes that are largely long and open still manage to be interesting with some quirks and elevation changes. Multiple pads make for solid gameplay in any group.
Cons: Nitpicking, but when the clubhouse was open, the people there weren't very helpful and seemed a bit snobby. Hole 15 could use a major redesign.
Other Thoughts: Pars are overly forgiving. There's a greens fee so bring cash. Tight course so watch for flying discs.
1 of 3 people found this review helpful.
3 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: I don't know where to begin with this John hauck designed course. I really wish they did quarter ratings because it's more of a 3.75 then 3.5. It's got an amazing sign when you pull in just like a regular golf course. It's got a very friendly pro shop with selection of disc " mainly west side " available. It's got red and blue tees for am/pro players. The course itself is very well maintained and virtually impossible to lose a disc, unless you throw one in the pond on the backside I think hole 15 or 16. It's got a good range of holes and distances from couple Ace runs to a par 5 and plenty of par 4s if playing from blues. Nice tee signs and baskets are in great shape. Tee pads are plenty long enough for the run ups you'll need. It's truly a good course, on a good property for disc golf. Great use of the trees they do have.
Cons: I only have a few knocks with tall firs, I feel the fairways could be a little more defined with steaks or something marking the ob lines, and separating the fairways. It's obvious on most holes but some markings wouldn't hurt on a couple others. Navigation can get a tiny tricky. I played with local and we still accidentally skipped from hole 9 to 13 kinda easy to miss some holes if you haven't been there. Some private property lines make you walk a few extra 100 feet instead of easier path to the next hole but I understand those. I really wish they had little steaks up showing the ob but I'm being picky.
Other Thoughts: 5 dollars to play but the upkeep is for sure worth the price.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
Little dis apointed.
1 Helpful / 16 Not
Pros: Good baskets, nice tee pads, 2 different tee pads.
Cons: The par on reds is a bit weird. With some 300 foot par 3's. I played doubles and my team shot -17 and I thought it was a good score. Nope -22 won it!?!?
1 of 17 people found this review helpful.
Date: 3/9/2018
Designer Response by: johnrhouck
Josh, let me try to clarify how Tall Firs is designed. I agree with you that -17, much less -22, seems kind of silly. That's because the Red tees are really designed for beginners, and the par listed is beginner par. I noticed from the PDGA website that you started playing Advanced late last year. So I would say that for an experienced player like you, it's not just that the pars are weird -- the HOLES are weird. All the par fours will be 'tweeners (shot-and-a-half holes) for guys like you.
I would think you'd find the Blue tees to be a more appropriate challenge. I have talked to Paul, the owner, about someday putting in White tees (in between Red and Blue), which might even be better for you. As for 300' par threes, I'm not sure what you mean. From the Reds the par threes are all give or take 200', and the par fours are all give or take 400' (except for the uphill holes).
I'd love to hear what you think of the Blue tees, and maybe you'll reconsider your low rating. Thanks.
Very Professional feeling
3 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: Each individual hole is though out very very well and it is very fun to play. This course punishes bad throws, but not to the point where it is impossible to save par. Some courses I feel like I'm just practicing, but this course I had to PLAY. I played the red tees and I had a good time and a god challenge. If you are anything less than an experienced intermediate player, you should play the first time from red tees and then from the blue, because from what I saw, the blue is considerably more difficult. This course appears to be on an old ball golf course which is an interesting change of scenery for me.
Cons: This course is pretty easy to navigate, the front 9 is separated from the back 9 but that doesn't make anything super difficult. The holes are right next to one another with minimal separation, so if you throw askew you may have interrupted someone else's game. While this is the case with pretty much every course, it is especially true here because of how crammed it is.
Other Thoughts: I am a teenager, I don't need a parent signature to play on this course. But when I went to play with my younger cousin (and not his mom) we had to drive his mom out and back. Bit of a pain but understandable. Please be respectful of the neighborhood around this course so players can continue to play this great course!
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
Fun course
1 Helpful / 2 Not
Pros: Very well maintained
Pro shop with some discs and drinks for purchase
Many holes present ace run options
Cons: Very tight course, some greens are right on top of each other
Some of the longer holes should probably be par 3 given the lack of challenges/Obstacles
Other Thoughts: This course is about a 45 minute drive from my house... if it were free(The green fee is very reasonable, I just have courses that are closer and free), closer, or a little more spread out I could see myself playing it often... it has a lot of potential, and they did an awesome job with the space they had available.
1 of 3 people found this review helpful.
Good Shot Variety, Intuitively Laid Out, Very Professional
13 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: This is not an overly technical course in the sense of it being densely wooded, lots of elevation, or lots of hazards etc. If you are expecting an "epic" course, this is not it. That said, it is a very solid, professional-feeling disc golf course that gives you the chance to work on a variety of shots.
- Excellent signage.
- Excellent tee pads, with the reds being a beginner/amateur level pad and the blues being for more experienced players. You don't need to be advanced/open to play the blues like some courses, rec or intermediate players can handle the blues no problem.
- Great little pro shop with friendly staff and decent Dynamic Disc gear and disc selection (No Discraft or Innova as of April 2017) and good beer selection.
- Apparently a great place for small, local course events etc. though we were just passing through and played ourselves.
- $5 to play is very reasonable.
- It's a former ball golf course, so it's got great drainage and it's generally pretty open, you're not going to worry about losing discs and you'll be dry unless it's monsoon season or something. We played end of March after a few days of rain in running shoes no problem.
- As someone who throws thumbers, tomahawks, forehand flicks and RHBH drives, I loved the fact that I got to pull pretty much every shot out of the bag on this course. Good mix of easy ace runs, wooded corridor shots, wide open drives, dog legs, with a few minor hazards thrown in to challenge players.
- Hazards/adjacent housing are obvious when they're potentially in play and you're not forced to throw anything towards a backyard/water hazard that wasn't clear. You can easily play it safe if you want to, there aren't any situations where you feel like you need to play it overly safe because the hole was laid out too dangerously.
Cons: - When they designed the course they put in a lot of saplings that won't have their true impact felt for another decade or so. Still a great course, but it's in its infancy.
- I'm not sure 18 holes is the best size for the course. For business reasons I understand the necessity of having 18 holes, but if this were my personal course I would have done 12-14 holes with the space. A few of the holes feel like they're filler holes, but it's not enough of a negative to detract from the overall experience and let's be honest, who doesn't like a few super easy 200-250' ace runs?
Other Thoughts: As a former ball golfer, I love this course for being a truly converted disc golf course. Tall Firs is a former ball golf course that is legitimately converted to disc golf, and they did as good of a job as they could with the space and vegetation available to them. Would play this over a ball golf course with baskets on it any day of the week.
Definitely worth checking out, I'd love to see more courses like this pop up!
I think this course is about a 3.75, I gave it a 4 as I felt a few of the ratings were a little too low and the average could be brought up.
13 of 13 people found this review helpful.
It's tall fir one, and one fir tall
8 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: Look, I know John Houck gets more than his share of love. He's the only designer that I or many other players could even name. But he got that reputation for a reason, and it shows here. This is a former ball golf course that easily could have been turned into a crappy, unimaginative course.
Hole 13 is the best example of this. I would not have thought to take this massive portion of the course and make it one hole, but it's a great multi-throw hole. Your drive needs a hyzer between some of the signature tall firs to the landing area, and all-out distance will not necessarily be rewarded. Then there is a left-to right angling fairway to the pin on a ridge and behind a guardian tree. On, and the fairway slopes downhill toward a pond. There aren't a lot of 900-foot holes that I would applaud, but this is one of them.
Other fun holes include 3 (a long drive down an alley of the firs) and 10 (a forehand with two routes to a basket on a hill). As always with his designs, holes tend to have landing zones, so you need to think where you want to put the disc, not just how far you can bomb it.
There are two concrete tees on most holes. I played both. The blues do more than just add distance, usually forcing a drive between several trees or making a turn more difficult.
The course generally avoids the most boring hole in disc golf: the 350' semi-open hole. The majority of players will never birdie that hole and rarely bogey it, making it a real yawn. I don't remember any of them here.
The signage is the type you see on most Houck courses, showing all the ways to get to the hole.
Cons: A lot of the course is fairly open. They have planted coniferous trees in the fairways. They are generally tall enough so that you can't throw right over them, but not enough to dramatically change the hole.
The limited size and the openness also limit the impact of great design in some spots. While I like the mix of long multi-throw holes (550+) and short holes (under 300), there seemed to be more than a few really short holes shoe horned in.
One hole I have mixed feelings on: 15. It's a very short (175' or so) downhill shot, but the basket is just past a little ridge that leads down to a lake. Losing a disc here seems pretty likely if you play enough. That said, I really had to think whether I could trust a forehand hyzer or backhand hyzer to lay down, and you could do a wimpy lay up for 3 if you were really worried about it.
Other Thoughts: The pro shop sells good beer that you can carry with you (no bringing your own) and has complimentary water and coffee.
I struggled with whether to give this 3.0 or 3.5. When the trees grow in 5-10 years from now, it will be a different course. For now, they made the most of what they have, and it's well worth a visit.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.
A fine addition to a play list
4 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: Finely manicured fairways with carefully contrived basket locations help generate interest for what is a relatively flat piece of land with little obstruction. The sparse "Tall Firs" are utilized to high potential and effect a good half dozen nifty holes. The placement of the short and long tees provide excellent leveling of distance skills if not changing the course a great deal for a second round.
Cons: I have few negative thoughts. I am glad it is not the closest course to my house as I'm sceptical it would hold up to many repeated rounds, and while it is clear the green fee is being put to use on the course that would be a detriment as well. As an occasional day trip or to fill out your playlist it is definitely a go.
Other Thoughts: It was immediately clear upon arival that I could leave my hiking boots and long pants in the car. Some days that could fit the pro or con category. Having spent so much time lately in trees with heavy underbrush today it was a pleasant respite. The course map makes it look jammed tightly together and it is, but I spent the whole front 9 as part of the third of four groups and despite some errant launches all around there were few that caused dangers or delays. I believe the course is deliberately layed out to keep that to a minimum.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
Still Disappointed
6 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: This course, about 1/2 hr east of Everett, is on one of the oldest ball golf courses in Washington, recently bought and converted to disc golf. It is fairly well laid out on the space available, which is less than I expected having played other converted courses.
There are some cool holes, like 2 which is a tight tunnel shot to the pin on a hillside. Despite this being one of the shortest holes and my good tee shot I still had a double bogey(hit the basket and rolled downhill twice). I appreciate holes like that. Hole 15 is a short downhill shot with an OB pond behind it that gets into your head.
The Pro Shop was very nice, the guy working it was very polite and knowledgeable with loaner discs to try, there are a couple Westside discs I will get because of him.
Cons: While I enjoyed playing there, I must say I expected more. A Houck designed course with a ball golf course worth of area to work with, must be epic!
I admit, I played the shorter tees so didn't see all the course had to offer but having played a number of high end courses this one seemed to offer little but long mostly open holes with little risk. The few OBs mean you probably lost a disc, while most shots can go pretty errant w/o going OB.
That being said, there are a number of holes that are dangerously tight, 2 and 3 are separated only by a net,(2018 update: net gone, this area is dangerous) my drive on 6 crossed the tee for 8 w/o being OB, and 8 and 9 are close enough that a bad shot is well into the other fairway.
One good place for a tight OB on a hole is 5, supposedly the path just past the hole is OB, but I was told they extend the green in a 30' circle which crosses the path.
Some of the holes are a little hard to figure where to go, either path to pin or where next tee is, even with map. 10 and 11 were the worst.
What bothered me the most was the par. 63 may be reasonable for the long course(still seems about 3 high) but it is the same for the red tees and that is way too high for a 5.6k ft course. I shot a 60, reasonable score, but it bugged me that it was a 3 under. By my 6th birdie on 18 it wasn't a joyous occasion as it should be but depressing as it felt unearned. My daughter, who has played many courses with me over the years, felt the same.
2018 update: tee signs missing on many holes and pro shop closed despite calls to owner and waiting for 45 min to an hour. makes it hard to feel it is worth the $5. Charging sets expectations higher.
Other Thoughts: This is an interesting course that I mostly enjoyed and will play again but I had high hopes that it didn't meet. This course is worth hitting while in the Seattle area but there 5 others I'ld hit first if time was limited.
One thing in it's favor, they planted a ton of trees that will make this a much more interesting course in 10 or so years. I'll revisit this review as necessary
2018 update: I've been told by many people "play the blue tees, that's where the course shines!" I did that today and my opinion of this course hasn't changed. I didn't throw particularly well and was only +5, too low for a 7000ft 'pro' course. Too many easy par threes, and I had a shot @ par on the 900ft par5 even with 2 bad throws. This is a course with a feel good par, not what I'm looking for for $5. Still an ok course but I have fundamental philosophical differences on design. In the future I'll play a closer course that doesn't charge unless I'm with someone that REALLY wants to play here.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.
Date: 8/24/2016
Designer Response by: johnrhouck
Hi, Edgar. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the course. As far as the par and the openness from the Red tees, here's a quick explanation: since we expected a lot of new players to take up the game at Tall Firs, we decided to add the Red tees primarily for beginners. So the par for those holes is really beginner par, and the distances are really beginner distances. That does create some "tweener" holes for experienced players, especially on the par fours. As you noted, those holes are also more open, as I wasn't looking to make it too tight for new players. So currently we recommend the Blue tees for all experienced players.For people who find the Red tees too easy and the Blue tees too challenging, we have been discussing adding a set of White tees in the middle that would be more appropriate for that skill level. Hoping we may be able to pull that off before the end of the year. Thanks, John
Open
3 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: This course is what you want if you're looking for a wide open space to throw long drives. You can really open up your arm on most of the holes. Paul is a really nice guy and provides quality coffee as well as loaner discs for people who are interested. Has an onsite pro shop. The course is always well groomed.
Cons: Again, this course is for the long arm players that just want to rip it, which is ok, but I personally enjoy more wooded courses with obstacles that you have to work around rather than a furthest drive competition. The $5/day admission isn't bad, but I feel like there should be an annual pass for those who would like to frequent the course. There are safety hazards on this course when you have a fair amount of players on the field, multiple people have been hit from drives and many near misses that could have caused serious injury. Must buy beer at the pro shop, which is for legal reasons, but the beer is a bit spendy if you're looking to spend the day out there.
Other Thoughts: Overall this is an alright course. If you're doing some field work, it's great, but for a golfer like me who likes a little more variety and enjoys obstacles, this is not a must see destination course. Hopefully once the new trees grow in it will have some more character, but I will say that Paul and John Houck did what they could given the piece of land they are using.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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5 / 699ft. 
1 
3/9/2018 
3/9/2018
Review By: Josh Heideman 
This review was updated on 3/10/2018
Hole #13 (Taken 8/2014) 
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