Disc Golf In and Around Seattle

Disc Golf is the best sport there is. If you play another sport instead, you have been making a mistake. Disc golf wins for so very many reasons:

• It’s generally free to play and you can bring your dog
• You can play whether it’s hot or cold, wet or dry, winter or summer
• You can play at most any age or ability level, it doesn’t matter if you have a trick knee or whatever (give younger kids like 2 throws for every throw you take)
• It has all the good stuff in common with ball golf- soaring drives, tense putts, getting out and walking around for a few hours
• Unlike ball golf, it’s environmentally friendly- there’s no mowing down of forests, no expensive upkeep, no watering required

To get started, just get a set of 3 discs per person- a driver, mid range, and putter, for about $25 at any sporting goods store, or here from Amazon. That’s the end of your investment until you lose a disc. Course play is almost always free and doesn’t require reservations.

There are some great courses tucked around Puget Sound, including 4 in or near Seattle. From top to bottom on the map:

1. Terrace Creek: Right next to the Montake Recreation Center, here’s an 18 hole beauty for when your skills develop a bit. It’s a course with a lot of variety, but it’s easy to lose your disc in shrubbery if you screw up. Here’s the course map.
2. Northgate (Mineral Springs Park): The perfect starter course that’s very well designed, and an excellent antidote for trips to the mall. The map pretends there’s 18 holes, but there’s really only 9.
3. Lakewood King County Park: The best course in Seattle and a more open course than others, a great way to play through an 18 hole course without losing your disc, provided you skip the first hole (which requires clearing a lake). Here’s the course map.
4. SeaTac Disc Golf Course: Just at the end of the runway, see if you can hit a plane as it flies overhead. A bit bland as a course since it’s so flat, but good if you like planes and have played through the others. Here’s the course map.

The courses are free and often maintained by volunteers, making them sometimes confusing for beginners. To figure your way around a new course, you should bring a map.

Beyond that, check out this very well maintained Web site on courses. It’s like board game geek for disc golf nerds. Disc golf courses exist all over Puget sound, even some on the islands in old growth forest. When you get really good, try out hole 18 at Terrace Creek: