The first thing I noticed as I drove up to Albert Oakland Lower course was the brand new pickle ball courts. I love playing pick about as much as I love throwing plastic.

The concrete pads are great. I really appreciated the metal tee signs especially the washer system indicating which the basket was in. The baskets are older DGA models with a yellow number plate on top. As a visitor, I appreciate that big yellow number. I played Albert Oakland about fours ago and left more than a little bit frustrated. I think then I played about 25/36 holes and half the time wasn't sure which course I was on. I know I drifted back and forth between the two. I do know that I got lost at the same point this time as before-after playing # 4, I still couldn't find 5 & 6, where in the hell do you hide them?

Albert Olson Park is a wonderful piece of land for a disc golf course or two. It has some fun
yummy elevation, lots of lovely green grass, water and enough trees to keep things interesting.

Both the shot over the pond (# 11) and the hole that plays along the pond (# 16) make me a little nervous. For me, both are possible drowning sites for one of my discs. There was no life guard on duty this morning!

Tricky for me to navigate. Probably a lead cinch for every other disc golfer in the world. A few more next tee signs would help me, at least.

Older DGA baskets are a getting up there in disc golf basket years.

Have to walk pickle-ball courts on both # 1 and # 18. Forces me to make a difficult moral decision.

I hope that Dana, the guy whose disc I found on # 17, finds it at the agreed hiding place. This course would be so pretty and inviting on a sunny day when the grass has recently been mowed. And when you're playing with someone who knows their way around. It has good bones and plus, it's a good amount of difficult, not overwhelmingly, ridiculously so, but pretty good to the degree that even recreational players can enjoy their rounds here.

This is a old-school city park course that is showing it's age a little but still offering solid disc golf. After playing three rounds at Harmony Bends over the past few days this course is like an easy walk in the park.

Decent selection of hole lengths and types, from 200' shorties out to nearly 500'. You'll drive with putters, midranges, and drivers as you play.

There is also a decent mix of open, semi-open and wooded holes. As expected the wooded holes are shorter with the longer holes being more open.

A decent hillside near the tennis courts gives some uphill/downhill flavor to a few holes. And the creek winding though the wooded bottom of the course adds challenge there as well.

Gigantic parking lot with restrooms that are closed during the cold season (Oct 15 - Apr 15). Decent concrete teepads and DGA baskets that catch fine. There are abundant pin positions at most holes which I'm sure offers frequent players some welcome variety, but creates some confusion among us travelers (see cons).

This is a pretty basic park course with 18 par 3ish holes playing over mowed grass and between mature, spaced trees. While it helps to be able to shape drives it isn't critically important on many holes.

The tee signs are rough old fiberglass things that are pretty basic and don't do a particularly good job of showing you what the holes actually look like. They indicate several pin positions but do not tell you where the pin currently is. Plan to do some looking around.

This is a compact, crowded layout that often has more than one basket in site from the tee. Given the aforementioned lack of detail on the tee signs you might be guessing where to throw.

Navigation is not intuitive and you may find yourself wandering (and wondering) a bit.

I stayed in the Columbia area for a few days and played both Harmony Bends and Albert-Oakland courses. You might think with Harmony Bends currently being the #1 course in the country it would attract all of the DG traffic, but that is not the case.

The Albert-Oakland courses are just such comfortable, old-school DG courses that are easier, and more casually enjoyable. And there is nothing wrong with that!

-Two 18 hole courses in the same park
-Nice large concrete tees
-Maps at the start of the front course and the back course
-Some very fun shots that will challenge most peoples games
-A small pond comes into play on holes 16 and 17. It might be slightly too far for beginners to clear, but there is a safer way along the side.
-Creeks flow through the property providing not only more challenge, but also adding beauty to this course
-Some ace run holes mixed in
-Good mixture of wide open park like holes and tighter more wooded holes
-Next tee signs on the holes (though some of them point in the wrong direction)
-Some low celling's on the more wooded holes force you to place your shot well
-Well maintained park area that seems to get mowed regularly
-Risk / Reward holes where you need to think about your shot
-Baskets are a little old, but still are solid and catch well
-Multiple pin positions on every hole
-Park has lots of other amenities, picnic areas, playgrounds, walking paths, workout equipment, and even a little water park for the kids

-The flow of this course is terrible, with lots of long walks, backtracking, and potential to end up on the front course by accident
-A guide isn't necessary for first timers, but it does help out a huge amount
-Signs are about useless on holes where they are still there, some are missing all together. Distances are way off, there is nothing marking if you are on the back course or the front course, and the signs could also use to have something to mark which pin position the basket is in (though I did talk with a guy out there who was taking down distances to replace the signs so this could change soon)
-There are a few times you needed to cross the creek and there are very few bridges. Be prepared to have wet feet, you will probably need to walk through the creek at one point or another.
-Other people using the park including a bunch of kids on a field trip, people walking their dogs on the walking paths, and people using the workout equipment around the back part of the course
-After hole 9, the tee pad that seems the most like you should go to it is actually hole 12, to find hole 10 go past it and to the right of the walking path.
-At some point (I think hole 13) there were multiple tee boxes, with no tee sign. This could get confusing if you are traveling from out of the area and don't have a guide.
-At one point we almost ended up on the front course by accident, as the most natural tee to walk to was for the front course and only a hole or 2 off hole # wise. Coupling this with the fact that there is nothing to tell you if you are on the back course or the front one, this could cause confusion.
-Poison Ivy around in a few spots

The back course at Albert Oakland Park starts out as a pretty wide open park style course with a few holes that you could open up and let loose a big throw. Once you get to hole 7 the course starts to become tighter and more technical. There are a couple of creeks that flow through the course, and they have been incorporated well, creating excellent risk / reward shots. The one problem with the creeks is that they don't have bridges over them in all the areas that they need them, and as such you will probably have to ford a creek at some point getting your feet wet, just be prepared for that. There is also a pond on holes 16 and 17. It provides a nice little challenge, though experienced players will be able to clear it with ease. If your disc ends up in this pond it will probably be pretty hard to get back as the water is brown with lots of pond weeds growing up through it.

One thing I could highly recommend to all courses with multiple pin positions, like this one, is to have something on the tee signs that indicates what position the basket is in. This doesn't have to be expensive, some washers, bolts, nuts, and a sharpie is all you need to make simple ones.

There is a sign with a map of the course near the first hole. I would highly recommend taking a picture of it, as you may end up needing it to find some of the holes. Finding a guide would also be a great idea if you are trying to play this course as an out of towner.

Over all the back course is defiantly the best course on the property, and I think it has potential to be the best course in town if it were to get some improvements.

The wooded holes play really well and are enjoyable. Also they are faily secluded lets you kind of get away.

Along with the very good holes the are some pretty bad ones link #2 wich basically has you throw blindly into a big patch of trees with no opening in them whatsoever. The course could also use some help in directing you on where next hole is. Could be very confusing for people new to course

This course is not great not bad it has some very good holes but also some awful one ie #2

Nice layout but they were moving hole when I was there and the last part of the course was not very well marked. The holes that I did play were challenging and had a good amount of difficulty much better than the frount 18

Need to finish the additions and it will be a good course to play it is my number two choice when I am in Columbia.

Changes in distance on every hole, no repeat shots, makes you use everything in your repertoire, one of my favorites have played it many times.

Short holes, lots of ace runs, makes it fun but can make it boring as well, I like long holes and unleashing my cannon but this makes for a good change of pace but can throw off a long arm players game.

Don't under shoot on 16 or 17 u will have to go for a swim.

The Albert-Oakland back course was originally a temporary course used for the Mid-America Open. It's a pretty good example of a 90's era tournament-quality course. It has some good length to some of the holes and has a good mixture of open and wooded shots. There are some low-ceiling shots and strategic trees that force you to manage the course, so you can't just bomb away. The course also uses a creek and lake to add water OB on several holes as well as using a paved walking path to create more OB areas. Unlike the front course, there are a few shots here where you can air it out. Discs have changed significantly since this course was installed, so it does not have Par 5 distances but at least one hole (#7) is probably a legit par 4 in the long placement. There may be some other long placements as well that I'm not aware of. Judged just on the quality of the shots, it is a very good course.

The temporary course this was based on did not take into account flow and ease of play. It was a tournament course, and the focus was on setting up the best shots. It was made for tournament players, and it was assumed they could follow the group ahead of them and find all the holes. The design really wasn't significantly altered, and that creates some problems for recreational players.

You have to walk back down the fairway of # 5 to get to # 6, and you have to walk down the fairway for # 6 to get to # 7. You then have to walk across the fairway for # 10 to get to the tee for # 8. There are very long walks between the basket for # 4 and the tee for # 5 and between the basket for # 14 and the tee for # 15. There are directional signs on the baskets pointing to the next tee, but the poor flow of the course leads to backups and confusion. You often encounter lost players looking for the next tee.

At some point, hole # 12 must have become a problem as it encouraged you to hyzer around a tree over a walking path (despite the path being OB.) Hole 12 now shoots from the old tee for # 13 that opens the anhyzer route and avoids the walking path. All good, except the tee sign for #12 is missing. So you just have two slabs of concrete to choose from and nothing telling you to avoid taking the shot that was causing enough of a problem that they moved a hole. Nice.

Hole # 13 was moved, except now you have to walk past the tee for # 14 to play it and walk back up the fairway one of them (take your pick) to get to the tee for # 14. The tee sign for # 13 still has the map of the old hole with the old distances.

Wear waterproof shoes. You have to cross the OB creek several times, and you do it by looking for the shallow spots.

Whoever wrote "Single use park; disc golf only!" on the course description evidently overlooked the aquatic park, tennis courts, sand volleyball pit, picnic pavilions and all the paved walking paths that are also in the park.

Based solely on the quality of the shots, this is a very good course. If the shots are what are important to you, I'd suggest this course without hesitation. However, if the overall flow and easy of finding your way around are important to you, this might not be your cup of tea. I felt I had to reduce the overall rating due to the poor flow, but there are some good golf shots on this course.

there are a few long holes that allow you to show off your arm 3, 4, 10, 18. In the woods i wouldn't say it is tight but like 7 you will have to make the chute before you are in the fairway. i play here a lot and i am always challenged

i would like a couple of longer holes
and not very much elavation, with the new course layont going from hole 4 to 5 will take a new player on a wild goose chase, the new 5 and 6 are great but disrupt course flow, from basket on 4 walk toward school and parking lot, tee for hole 5 is on northeast corner of parking lot and after hole 6 take pathway into woods and cross bridge to hole 7

the park has inspired me to map out a frankenstein course using the front and back courses