18 hole course located around a church in Lakewood, WA, a few miles south of the greater Seattle area.

DGA baskets, all in good shape. One pin per hole. Mounted well enough and easy to find. Hole 9/18 share a basket.

Astroturf-ish tee pads performed better than I would have expected. They weren't perfect, but they were good enough for this course. One tee per hole, and a few tees were shared by multiple holes.

This is mostly a very short course, but the shorter holes tend to be quite tight and technical. Some mandos and obstacles help a bit on the "longer" holes. The obstacles on the property are used just about as well as they can possibly be used.

It's a short course, for the most part. There is maybe two holes where you'll feel like you can get even a halfway decent rip out.

While there are laminated paper signs, they're showing their age. We were able to find them all, and navigation wasn't TOO bad.

If there's any playing traffic, you're going to run into some issues with the shared tees. I doubt there's ever that many people playing here, though. Also, you're probably not going to be able to play during church service times.

Careful where you park...hole 9/18's island basket sits right in the middle of the parking lot.

The bottom part of the course is pretty low-lying, and was holding a decent amount of water when we were there.

There is a chance to put a disc into a neighboring yard on an errant throw on holes 2 and 3.

Ambient is a fun enough little spin. Short, technical and accessible to most skill levels. The open field holes in the back of the church would make for a fine place to practice shots.

Not the kind of place I'd go out of my way to play again, but decent enough if you're in the area.

Signs, signs and more signs! I wish every course had Ambients sign people. Lots of Mando's and out of bounds... good news they have great signs telling you were your drop zone/spot is. Great place to play a little birdie golf...with an ace in your mind. Hole number 14 has a bell! When you walk away from the basket you ring the bell to tell everyone the hole is clear. I think that could work at a lot of places also. Played Steilacoom first then came here...made for a fun morning.

Probably could use trash cans here and there. Some people put there trash on private property which will affect their attitude towards disc golf and the church. For a nice small course there really wasn't a bunch of cons. Bathrooms unknown, some churches allow you to use the churches.

Some of the course when it's the rainy season maybe a little soggy. Fun course!

Peter Bower, the Youth Minister at "The Church In Lakewood," has designed and created a nice little beginner, recreational, practice, family, church youth group course on the church's property here. The recently added back nine is tight to very tight in places, well designed with some really creative, fun challenging holes while the orignal front nine hole configuration plays around a mostly open field using scattered trees, church buildings, baskets, parking lots and unfortunately, the neighbor's houses and fence-lines for obstacles. The tee signs are bright, full-color pictures of the holes with all the useful info. Holes are mostly short (100'-345') with an equal combo of hyser and anhyser shots needed. Mandos around trees, fences, a basketball hoop and across the parking lot add to the challenge. Im my opinion, hole # 9 is at this time, when the parking lot is empty, the signature play of this course. It's just a short (less than 200' throw across the parking lot to an island green which is about 30' by 30' with the parking lot being OB. Hole # 18 utilizes the same island basket and green, it just has you throwing from a different pad.

Besides the fact that this is primarily a beginner/rec course, the close proximity with the neighbors really concerns me. On # 2 you're susposed to throw a mando hyser around a tree and the neighbors fence, when in reality, the shorter more attractive shot looks to be an anhyser shot right over their yard. Discs will land in their yard. Tee pads are currently natural and are already starting to get worn and muddy. They probably need to be addressed especially when and if the course eventually receives enough play. Parts of the back are very wet and will need to addressed. # 13 and 15 both have you teeing off from a dock like structure to keep your feet dry.

The mando around the basketball hoop doesn't thrill me just because it can so subjective in nature as to whether your disc actually cleared the mando or not.

The fact that you sometime might be teeing off into other players is clearly a concern.

And everyone's favorite hole # 9 is obviously a problem waiting to happen when there are cars parked in the lot.

As much as any course I've ever played, Ambient DGC is going to need to the players to respect and cooperate with all involved.

This would include the neighbors and their properties (the church actually owns these adjoining properties-so they must must be renters), the safety of the other players, the cars in the parking lot and to be respectful of the church when they ask us to not litter, smoke, no alcohol, nor take the Lords name in vain, etc. on their course. (Note to self: WATCH YOUR #%^*$*= LANGUAGE WHEN YOU MISS THAT PUTT !

And finally, I seldom disagree with my two distinguished previous reviewers from the north but I think the winds they encountered were uncommon and won't be a problem here. UPDATE HERE! I played Ambient again and the wind was blowing gale force. It added about 7-8 strokes onto to my already average score. So maybe the wind might be a problem at times. More like a added challenge for you more skillful players. And I think even with the obvious safety and neighborly issues heres, this courses has it's niche. That is for those families and beginners and so deserves a more friendly rating of a "2". And I'll try to watch my mouth so Peter doesn't have to banish me!

**Update May 2013** Small improvements continue to be made on the course. New stairs have been built on holes #'s 10, 13 and 17, # 12 basket has been moved to a drier position. Gravel has been added in a couple of places to help with drainage issues. I'm adding another 1/2 point to my previous rating.