It's not that bad, really!
4 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: - Good signage, easy to navigate.
- Pretty good baskets.
- Very good paving-stone tee pads.
- Great practice course.
- Rarely crowded.
- Restroom (portable, better than nothing).
- Kiosk with map, score cards.
- Nice meadow setting.
- Friendly locals, atmosphere.
Cons: - Completely flat.
- Can get very wet, swampy.
- Grass sometimes waist high.
- No benches.
Other Thoughts: The setting for Juel Park is a large open meadow surrounded by trees and bushes with a small cluster of tall firs near the middle. It was once someone's homestead/farm that was donated to the city of Redmond. If you're wondering why the neighboring forest at the south end isn't incorporated into the course the answer is: it was at one time, three holes were in there, but there's also a salmon spawning stream in there, so it was redesigned for the salmon.
I play this course a lot (it's near my work), almost every week for the last 2 years under all conditions (just logged my 101st round). Interesting to see all the bad press it gets here in the other reviews, especially regarding its sogginess, you'd think it's a marine park or something. In truth, it's very flat and doesn't drain well so it has varying degrees of standing water on it about half the time, mostly in the winter. The greens on holes 4 and 9 become ponds at times. When this happens: wear waterproof footwear and you'll be fine. I've had plenty of fun games, and the course to myself, splashing along in hiking boots. Even played it in the snow a few times last February. That was the worst I've seen it, with ice covered tees, especially at the shaded south end where the snow just lingers. When it's not wet the other concern is the tall grass in the meadow, where it's easy to waste a lot of time searching for discs even when you saw right where it went. Starting in the Spring the fairways and greens get mowed weekly but the meadow only gets cut once a year in mid-July. So the best conditions are found from mid-July to about mid-October, although any heavy rain will still leave major puddles for a few days.
Nonetheless, it's still a really fun course. It's very open, so it's a great place to practice your drives. For me, that means airing it out on almost every hole. For younger, better players there are 3 holes over 400' you can bomb on. Despite the general openness trees do come into play on most holes, so you still have to think about what you're doing. Hole 4/13 is the only one with no OB or obstacles to consider, just heave it 300' and see how close you can get.
It's a good course for all skill levels, I've seen everyone from beginners to seasoned pros play here (once played a round with a guy who was clearly very good, found out later he's a local pro, one of the best in the state, currently rated 1016). That's another thing I like about Juel: fun crowd, friendly people. Doubles on Wednesdays.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
Puddle jumping: 5/5, but disc golf...
3 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: -The main pro of this course is that it is accesible.
-There are some good holes too.
-There is tons of room to get creative with your shots.
-Good for beginners.
-Some opportunity to rip a drive
Cons: In the summertime, there is just one con, and that con is location. Almost all the holes are just in an open field with moderate distance. But in the fall/winter/spring... oh no. When it rains (which it does often) this course is a total mess. I went to this course after a rain storm on part of my weekend mini-road trip expecting it to be wet but playable. It was not. The tee pad of hole 1 had no water near it so I went ahead and teed off. Once it was in the air I said "parked" but when it landed it made a huge splash. When I wandered up to the basket, I was stopped about 50 feet short by a massive puddle. Luckily I had my brand new disc gator from x-mas. I extended it and came up waaayy short. So I waded in. I moved on to hole 2 thinking hole 1 was unique, it was not. The tee box was filled with water, and I went past to hole 3, similar issue. I walked around a little to see if I could play without rain boots but I had not such luck.
Other Thoughts: Good for summer but not for rain or after rain. If you are in the area on a dry day, hit this course!
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
The puddles let me wash off the mud
3 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: The biggest pro is that it's disc golf. I'm grateful to have a course near my in laws.
I really like throwing at 2/11, 3/12, and 5/14, where there's bits of tree action and some thought to the drives.
2 concrete tee pads per hole in good shape. Score cards at the park sign and the course is marked well.
Couple spots to really air out on the drive (esp #6)
Cons: Small, mostly open, and very wet. Not really technical at all, and lots of wide open throws. Kinda just hacking away at distance to get to the basket.
I played once last summer when dry, and it was tall grasses and puffs of dirt. This winter tho? Holy moly! Boots are required. This place is swampy.
Other Thoughts: Recently found Loutsis park in Carnation and when I'm in the area will go there instead. I'm glad for Juel bc I'm glad for courses to play, but I'd say this is mostly a practice course. As of 3/17/16, at least it was drying out as compared to February, when it wasn't.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
A bog full of baskets
6 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: - A few decent holes: #2, #3, #5, and #9 are actually fun and well designed.
Cons: - It is basically a shallow bog for most of the year (read: boots required unless you want to clean your shoes after the round)
- Too many open shots
- Very few trees on course: about 10 trees total, 5 of which surround a single basket (hole 5, arguably the best hole)
- Holes #4, #6 are both completely straight with no feature (unless you count the bog you have to dredge your perfectly in bounds shot out of)
Besides hole #2 and the tease of going into the woods, a total of maybe 10 trees are actually part of the course.
Other Thoughts: This course is essentially a flooded pasture that consists of bog 2/3 of the year and an overgrown pasture the other third. Playing in the months of Oct.- May means fully soaked muddy shoes and dirty discs on almost any throw or missed putt. There no avoiding total submersion of the feet, even if you play a perfect round. Many courses in the area are muddy, but Juel really takes it to another level as you are literally playing in a shallow swamp.
I have only played once in the non-wet season and the grass was really high, the kind that will make a disc invisible unless you are standing right on top of it.
City of Redmond: Please add 2-4 holes in the wooded area between Juel and Farrel McWhirter park, there is some great terrain back there that would also be much more playable for the wet part of the year. As is, I would much rather drive a bit further to play a round at Northwest University, Blyth or Loutsis, which all offer more interesting terrain that holds up much better 9 months of the year.
Kudos for having maps/scorecards, if only the course was worth playing...
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.
Open course
3 Helpful / 3 Not
Pros: One of few courses on eastside
Has tee pads, but some are sinking, and moving
Cons: Wet/Swampy in spring/winter
Grass too high in summer
Few obstacles, open course
Other Thoughts: Fun course to go out and throw new discs, work on your throw. The major problem with this course is that the grass is so high in the summer its hard to find discs and in the spring/winter the course is a swamp. If this course added some trees, had mowed grass it would be much better.
3 of 6 people found this review helpful.
Bring a Snorkle...
7 Helpful / 1 Not
Pros: It's a good course for a relative newbie trying to work on driving accuracy. Open field with mown fairways and native grasses (mostly 'wetland grasses') between fairways. You won't lose your disc in anything worse than long grass and boggy ground - even on the most errant throw into the worst water areas it is easily retrievable by wading through ankle deep water that has grass growing through it the whole way. The first time through is shorter and the back 9 is longer drives. Good for driving accuracy practice.
Cons: See UPDATE below -
Its wet.... I mean really wet. I don't mean "if you are really accurate you can avoid the wet" - its just not like that. Even if you ace 4/13, you can't retrieve your disk without wading. On 9/18 (you know,... just before you get into your car) you can't get a disk out of the basket without walking through 3" deep mud (oddly, the only 'mud' you will see is the 6' diameter circle surrounding the 9/18 basket - the rest is clean, grassy water). After that, you find the rest of the wetness valuable because you can walk through some of the clean grassy wetness to clean off your shoes (BOOTS!) before going back to your car.
UPDATE (I left original text as 'wet weather' reference)
- Having been back a few times as the weather has stayed dry, I am finding I like this course more and more. It has dried out (still some areas of water, but easily avoidable). It's not 'exciting', and never will be, because it's really an open field with only a few trees and no elevation change whatsoever, but it uses the edges of the area and the trees that are there well, and everyone I've seen there is friendly and welcoming - really great people.
Changed rating from 1 to 2.5
Other Thoughts: ...No,... a snorkel is not a fancy new disk you've never heard of.... Its a 'J' shaped tube used for breathing while your head is under water.
I expect the story is very different in August/September, but this is May and you need good waterproof boots that will stand up to walking through water above your ankle to get through without very wet socks.If it were a slightly warmer day, I'd consider playing it barefooted.
***Note - the pictures of the Tees are not accurate - Now, all of the tees are tiles like shown in the picture of Tee #1 taken by MilwaukeeMike in 2009.
UPDATE - Much better when drier (still not going to be a 'top tier' course, but its a good 'community course'). The people are great and when alone (I frequently play alone) I can go through both sets of Tees twice (36 holes) in about 2 hours and work on lots of shots from lots of angles along the way. Still, all flat, but its a great place to experiment with different throws and different approaches that you might not want to test out in the woods.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.
In a word, "boring"
5 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: - Nice, long tiled teepads
- Alternate teepads for longer distances and a "back 9"
- Nearly impossible to lose a disc
- Big, open spaces to air out your discs.
Cons: Although the big, open spaces are nice, it left very little variety to each hole. Only two holes actually incorporated trees, but they were short and really easy. The rest of the course is pretty forgettable as almost every basket is out in the open and offers no challenge or technical shots.
Other Thoughts: I will not be returning to Juel Park as it is too far away from where I live (Everett) and not that interesting. Even if one was to make up a Safari back 9, there are nearly no obstacles or opportunities for technical shooting. It would be an ok course if I lived closer.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.
View it as a training course
8 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: Juel Community Park was the only course on the Eastside for years, which gives it a special place in the hearts of many old school players that I have had the pleasure of knowing. I understand that and I respect it, but being relatively new to the game I have to review it as someone would who thought that every course was set up during the same week...
Juel is a great place to work on shot placement and drive distance without having to worry about your score being hurt if you miss your line. That's because most of the holes are wide open with zero obstacles anywhere near the fairway. One thing that Juel does right with this setup is that they only mow the fairways, so any errant shots will sail off into the tall grass (see: rough) and be a pain to find. This doesn't mean that a bad shot will result in a bogey because you still have an open look from wherever you land, but it does mean that you still want to place your shots perfectly to keep from wading through tall grass under a blazing (or pouring) sky.
The land available for the course is used well, and all of the trees in or bordering the field are brought into play in some way during your round. You'll find right and left doglegs and a good variation in hole distance as well, from the ace run that is 9 to the 500' hole 15. All of the baskets are in impeccable shape and catch well. The teepads aren't solid concrete, but they do provide solid footing. This is definitely necessary on some of the longer holes.
Cons: The best word to describe Juel is "boring". What you essentially have are 9 holes where you throw across an open field, followed by 9 more holes that throw to the same baskets from teepads that are just a few feet away from the front 9 teepads. This means that you see different angles and distances, but when there aren't any obstacles to deal with you can hardly view this as "variation".
I'm not sure how much land is included in the park, but there is a wooded area behind the basket for 3/12 that looks very inviting. There isn't a ton of underbrush back there and it doesn't seem to be getting used by anyone else. I'm sure there's a reason that it isn't used, but since I don't know what that reason is I can't really comment on it except to say that if that IS part of the park they aren't using the property to its full potential.
The long grass does add a nice challenge, but it's a con all the same if you have to spend half an hour looking for a disc. There are definitely times of the year when it's more overgrown than others, and other times it's just a bog. You'll also find yourself exposed to the elements for your entire round. You can rest in the shelter of a tree here and there as you find it, but if it's a hot day or pouring rain this isn't quite as pleasant as Lake Stevens or Howling Coyote would be.
Other Thoughts: As I already stated, this is a great course to work on shot placement with low consequences if your shot is errant. That does warrant a return if you live in the area. It's a bit of a haul from Seattle and a ways from any other courses though, so I don't recommend it to anyone as a "destination". If you're in the area and want a quick 9 or 18, or want to work on improving most of the aspects of your game (drives, mids, putts, placement) without being concerned about watching your disc bounce off a tree? Juel is one of the best courses I've played with that in mind.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.
not bad
3 Helpful / 1 Not
Pros: It's a great course to teach your friends on
Some long shots, some good short shots
Can't lose your disc
Friendly People
Doubles on Wednesdays
just outside of redmond proper
Cons: VERY wet at times. If the sun as been out a few days, it will just be a little muddy at holes 4 and 9. If it rained in the morning, holes 1, 4,6, and 9 will be just awful to play.
Other Thoughts: Still my most played course. Plenty of places to step out and smoke a cig. Not incredibly easy, there are two holes of the 9 that have some tree hazards. It has second tees if you want to do a full 18, but it's usually just adding like 15-25 feet, or a little more arc to the pin.
I like it.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.
Flooded Practice Course
1 Helpful / 5 Not
Pros: Lots of room to unleash and work on your power: with concrete tee pads, signs with correct distance lengths.
Cons: It floods for the majority of the year and boots are a must. Very few technical shots and nearly all the holes are reachable on a drive. Too easy
Other Thoughts: Just a fun little course to practice on, but I wouldn't make the trip out there if it wasn't my closest course.
1 of 6 people found this review helpful.
Join Disc Golf Course Review for free to add your review. Have an account already?
Sign In to add a review.
1 
5/24/2014 
5/10/2014
Review By: 53Clubs 
This review was updated on 5/27/2014
Report this Review