El Paso, TX

Lionel Forti Park

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3.145(based on 7 reviews)
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5 0
ccatiller12
Experience: 12.9 years 21 played 3 reviews
3.00 star(s)

It's a good course drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:May 1, 2022 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

The course is much improved with updated baskets and a some signage guiding you through the course (still recommend using the UDisc app).

Solid mix of short holes giving you a good chance to score aces and long holes that are more challenging.

Lots of elevation changes that add to the course's variety.

Some unique places to tee off like the spillway (as long as the course is dry).

Good course for experienced golfers and not too daunting for beginners.

Cons:

There are a few holes with fenced areas where discs can be lost and very difficult to retrieve.

The times I've played the course a lot of kids were on playgrounds and there for after school events like baseball and cross country making it difficult to play the entire course. Just be careful and mindful there a lot of non golfers who use the park.

Other Thoughts:

It's a good course. If you're in the El Paso area, give it a look. Not a bad way to spend a couple hours playing golf and getting some exercise in.
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1 1
ReisDot
Experience: 14.7 years 8 played 7 reviews
3.00 star(s)

A decent desert course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 14, 2020 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Spread out nicely, long and short shots, trees used to good effect, some tricky OB areas.

Cons:

Many shots are near roadways or over. Being that this is in a very dry climate this park shows it, and it's not watered enough.

Other Thoughts:

Not a bad course - just not great. If your up at the Travis White course and you have time for another round give this one a try.
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9 1
blake833
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 14 years 160 played 140 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Pleasantly Surprised! 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jan 26, 2018 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

After reading some of the reviews of this course, I was not looking forward to anything more than an open 18, and checking it off my played list. But I ended up waking early on my last day in El Paso to play it again.

This course was just fun. In 18 holes, you never get the sense of same-hole-twice. There is diversity in elevation, left-right fairways, trees around the tee or the basket that influences your decisions.

Using elevation and slopes can be tricky, but this course does it well. You're never throwing up or down anything severely steep, and even the baskets are on the slope instead of the top of a hill, which is a an easy to do trap many courses fall into. The sloped putting area really makes you think about your approach, and adds to the pressure of making the putt if you're going downhill. Coming from Louisiana, where the only course around me that has hills is also too wooded to use them, I especially loved the way this course elegantly plays to its terrain.

On that note, hole 14 tee puts you on the edge of a hill about 10 feet above a wide open fairway, and you just get to rip it. Every time I played that hole I threw every driver I had just because I could.

It is also worth mentioning, every person I met at the park, golfers and non-golfers, was incredibly friendly and helpful. I want to highlight this because in many park courses, there is some resentment between the golfers and the walkers, both of whom believe the other is in their way. But this was one community and they shared the space very well. I loved some of my interactions with the locals who were there to play, and not play.

Cons:

There are however, some glaringly obvious safety concerns on this course: Some fairways cross each other, and walking from one basket to the next tee puts you walking through a fairway. This course was never crowded enough while I was there for it to be a big issue, but on a crowded day it would be a problem.

The other safety concern is hole 6 plays very close to the playground. At one point I bounced off a tree into the swing area near by. Thankfully there were no kids there at that time, but it could have caused a major injury.

Many of the holes also play very close to, or towards a busy street. It can be a little intimidating, and may even cause some more throws to go errant. Hole 2 also has a barbed wire section fenced off which you have to throw around, but it's uphill and any backhand that gets lifted too high is going to cross over, and going under the fence is incredibly difficult. (said from experience)

The walk from 13 basket to 14 tee is a steep downhill concrete slope. It needs stairs.

There are no real signs on any tees, and only some have posts with distance on them. If you use the map, and get a local to show you the one or two holes where the map is off after a recent redesign, you shouldn't have any real problems. I managed to get around only using the map a few times, and I'm a navigational idiot.

The tees are also a mix of concrete, sidewalk, and natural. I think someone comes around and spray paints the natural tees every once in a while, but the sidewalk ones are faded and need to be repainted too.

To really nit-pick, I'll say that play slows down around holes 4-6, but really they're pretty good holes and the rest of the course is fun enough to balance out a couple average holes.

Other Thoughts:

The main design faults mean this course can never host a tournament, or get too busy. Which is a bummer, because I got the feel that the local golfers really enjoy playing and put a lot of elbow-grease into building and maintaining this course, and the diversity of the holes would make for a great tournament.

If you are visiting El Paso, or you live there and are thinking about playing, I highly recommend this course. It quickly became one of my favorites.

(edited for grammar and spelling)
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9 1
Hector Chain
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 15.9 years 222 played 191 reviews
1.50 star(s)

This is Forti 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Apr 10, 2017 Played the course:once

Pros:

The course manages to squeeze 18 holes into the fairly open spaces of the park.

The best hole was 14, a long downhill drive from the top of the hill.

The baskets are yellow disc catchers.

Cons:

The tee pads are all natural or just parts of the sidewalk. No tee signs.

Several baskets are used twice. Three baskets were gone due to some construction to the middle of the park. Hole 14's tee pad also appears to be on the other side of a fence.

I definitely needed the map to figure out where I was going after each hole, as it wasn't always intuitive.

Holes 4-5 have a real risk of ending up in the street if wind is present or you hyzer out too much. A couple other holes have you throwing toward the restrooms / playground area in ways that may not be totally safe.

Other Thoughts:

There wasn't a lot to find interesting here. The throws are mostly pretty open, and other than baskets, there is no real disc golf infrastructure here.
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3 3
Miloki
Experience: 12.9 years 15 played 4 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Just fun to play 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Mar 28, 2016 Played the course:once

Pros:

- Long open holes mixed with sharp turns and tree dodging
- New baskets
- 2 blocks from I-10; easy to get to
- Spacious park, surprising amount of shade in a well-landscaped park
- Orange spray-paint marks every natural tee spot and a single spoke of the basket leading you to the next tee. Works well.

Cons:

- No signs at tees *
- Only 15 unique baskets creating some confusion due to no signage **
- No tee pads ***
- If you overthrow on a few holes, you will end up on decently busy roads because the basket is 15' or so from the pavement

Other Thoughts:

* There is a very nice, large sign at hole 1 that lays out every fairway, with distances. Snap a picture of that board if you are concerned about fairway confusion
** 6x 350' + holes is pretty good for a park course. Adding three more unique fairways would likely reduce some of the distance throws this course offers. This course is using literally all of the available park space.
*** This course is keepin' it real on the tees. I like natural pads far more than the all too common too-short tee-pads I find all over the country. All pads are clear, flat and orange spraypaint lines you up.
Hole 14 is awesome, a 400' + fairway from a concrete pad over a huge open field.
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2 5
psike6400
Experience: 1 played 1 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Great course redesign 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Feb 21, 2016 Played the course:once

Pros:

Technical shots and open holes.

Cons:

Doesn't have tee pads or signs yet.

Other Thoughts:

I was not a fan of the previous course layout. However, after the redesign, the course is very fun to play. It has a good mixture of technical and open shots.
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4 2
EzIrie
Experience: 2 played 2 reviews
3.50 star(s)

"New Lionel Forti 15-hole layout" 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jan 11, 2016 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

December 2015, Forti Disc Golf Park went from a 9-holes DGCourse to a "15-hole" DGCourse with all new Innova Baskets.

Nice mixture of "technical", "fairway driver" & "long driving" holes.
Rolling hills with slight elevation change on almost every hole.
All concrete & running paths are OB
Only 1 Mandatory = hole #11

Par-54
7-holes < 300ft
9-holes 300ft-400ft
2- holes > 400ft

3 Course layouts:
9-hole = "Old Blue" tee boxes
15-hole = New 15-holes
18-holes = New 15-holes + "additional 3 holes"

Can't beat the views of El Paso & the El Paso weather
Disc Golfing 365-days a year.

Cons:

No water fountains
Must bring your own water
One restroom. Go when you see it, not when you have to.
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