family friendly

Jay’s Course Reviews

Orchard Park, Hillsboro, Oregon

Orchards as we call it is was my local course for years. A local neighborhood park that was just 5 minutes from my place and at just 9 holes it was great for a quick round of disc after work.

Hillsboro has a trail system throughout the city that connects different parks and provides a great place for folks to get out for a walk, run or ride. Orchard Park is on this trail system and I think of it as a wide spot on the trail.

Parking is not too bad though the week but weekends can be tight especially if it is the first decent weather in a while. Unless it has been dry for a while, the grassy areas of the course can be viewed as a swamp and you may need waders to keep your feet dry while you play. At a minimum, a change of socks in the car and a dry rag to keep your disc dry is a must here.

The course itself starts by having you throw across the walking trail to the first hole onto a grassy field. I’ve never shot a hole in one but on this tee shot, I’ve come close a couple of times. The second and third holes just go around the perimeter of the grass, then you cross the trail and you are off to the next few holes.

Most of the holes are straightforward forward but watch your disc if it goes out of bounds. Not a lot of undergrowth but bushes that can hide a disc pretty well. In comparison to other courses I’ve played, this is a low-risk course for losing your discs.

The back half, starting at hole seven goes through some woods on one of my favorite holes to hate. It is a very tight shot that some tree is almost always going to grab your disc. But it is possible to curve your disc to the right of the fairway and slip it in, but that is rare at least for me. Hole 8 is back to the grassy fields and heads you back toward the parking lot.

There is a bit of a hike after 8 to get back to the ninth tee. The last hole is on the big grassy field that you went around on holes 1 to 3. It’s a wide-open shot and it seems that it is always muddy around the hole. It’s a short walk back to your car, but this course goes pretty fast so most folks go back for a second round.

The other fun thing about Orchards is that it is a very family-friendly course. I often see families with their smaller kids learning how to throw and play the game. A fair number of pooches are retrieving discs on the fairway. For the most part, they tend to know which disc belongs to their human, but I can say I have at least one disc that got its bite marks from this course.

Overall, I would rate this course as fairly easy, great for beginners, not too much of a risk of losing your disc, and a fun course to close in town.

Jay Fernandez is just a disc golf fan for many years now, starting over 35 years ago as a way to do something with his family. These days he is retired but still enjoys getting out and throwing the disc whenever he can. Jay started writing his own reviews of the courses he has played to give you an unprofessional review of a course.