1. The acreage dedicated to this course on a smallish Christian campus is not at all insignificant. It's still wide open to the public. If religion looked more like this when I was still paying attention, I might have stuck around longer than I did...to golf anyway.

2. Those who have played courses I have reviewed will know that I am very capable of fondness for courses that are works in progress, shine despite rough edges, or that have problem holes. This course is not that. It's finished and polished, in its own version of a perfect state.

3. Dual concrete tees per hole with signage on each; more than one basket on most holes (some, I suspect, had been removed for winter on my mid-November visit.

4. Excellent use of trees and elevation.

5. Seems to have a dedicated parking lot for the disc golfers, although it's possible that the students just have plenty of enough space to park elsewhere.

A public bottle filling source and restroom would always be a welcome addition to any course.

In my now 40 round rookie season, this is the second course situated on the campus of an Evangelical college (the other being Crown College in St. Bonifacius). Both are good, but this is the better of the two IMO, and far more accessible to the Twin Cities, being just 5 miles north of Saint Paul.

It is a completely wooded course, by which I mean there is not an open field throw on any of the 18 holes. The nearest thing to a possible exception is #16 which is still relatively narrow, lined by trees on both sides, and cleared a bit in the approach area for some power poles/lines (but blind on approach up a very large hill). Most of the time you are throwing through moderate to narrow gaps or angling around a seemingly endless supply of mature guardians. If you don't know what a poke-and-hope shot is, you will by the end of your round. I am certain that I got off very easy by playing this when most of the leaves were down. It was still very, very challenging. Bethel has some of the tightest gaps you'll find in the Twin Cities.

Plan a little extra time. You will certainly not cruise through the course without spending some time searching the woods, thickets or thick rough grass for an errant disc. It is simply impossible to hit all of these fairways. In fact, my only regret in my 36 hole visit is that I lost a perfectly good Fission Wave that obviously found a nice hiding spot in some tall grass (call me when you find it!).

What else? I love that random stumps near the tees were labeled as disc charging stations. We pushed each other's discs out of the way hoping to get our fair share of good vibes prior to teeing off.

Campus rules prohibit booze and smoking. For what they are providing to the public (including outright heathens such as me), I think it is not to much to ask that we respect that.

Variety of distances, flight paths, and plenty of elevation changes, which is unique to Minnesota (especially Metro) disc golf.

If you haven't played the new layout, you have to. The holes they added (3?, 4, 5; 10, 11, 12, 13, 14) are fantastic.

Many holes are true par 4's (3, 5, 15) and some of the 3's are difficult to par (14).

Water comes in play on holes 7, 10, and 12. Maybe on 5 if you throw a goofy shot. Wind can/will play a factor, plays along 694 and under power lines on a few holes.

For the most part, tee pads are plenty long, and in some cases, ridiculously long.

Multiple pin placements are cool, a few holes have multiple baskets (3 and 15 today).

Very clean property. College Campus with strict rules, so no alcohol or tobacco or other stuff.

Pack it in, Pack it out.

No tee signs. Use UDisc for pretty accurate distances.

No signs for next tee; could get lost on a few holes; best played with someone who has played or walked it once.

No garbage cans.

Slippery today; it did rain quite a bit yesterday though. A few spots on hills could use staircases.

If there were signs, and even 3 garbage cans, this would easily be a 4.5 rated course. Lack of those is fine in this setting, on a College Campus with a code of conduct for their students.

I am wary of the day when this course has too much traffic, I could see the baskets getting pulled or layout adjusted during school year if knuckleheads take over.

If you play, and you absolutely should, keep it down, be polite, hold off on your drinky drink and smokey smoke, and please pack it out!

They did a great job expanding this course to 18 holes. There is a lot of variety requiring different shot shaping and length. Tight lines, a couple bombers, some ace runs, and a couple holes with water. Mostly wooded holes with 2 holes playing on the shores of a small lake. Extremely fun course.

-Still some rough spots on the new holes which is to be expected. Should improve with increased play.
-Signage needs to be added as there is none currently. I'm guessing it will be added at some point.
-A couple tee boxes are in rough shape and the new ones didn't get textured and can be pretty slick in certain conditions.

Great addition to the already quality Twin Cities course list.
-This course is located on a private college campus. Also this is a dry campus so keep that in mind. Do not ruin this course by throwing cans or garbage all over the course or it will get shut down rather quickly. Respect the college's rules so this course will be here for a long time.

This course is now an 18 hole course and has been lengthened. There are a lot of variety of holes and no two holes feel the same. The new 8 holes are a great addition to the course.

No signage. There are also a lot of students who sun bathe in the fairway when the weather is nice. There are not many trash cans if any so pack what you bring. No alcohol allowed on campus.Some holes feel like you are in a secluded area while some actually play through walking paths along the campus.

If you want to try something different on your way to BRP, stop by and try this course. You will be rewarded with great disc golf. This is a very fun course that rates up there with any of the great course in the twin cities if disc golf is all there is to a course. With a few amenities like signage and trash cans, it would make for an excellent disc golf experience.

-Variety, for as crowded as the rest of campus is, this course is fairly spread out and contains all kinds of shots. Uphill, downhill, open, wooded, left, right. You are also unlikely to hit any students except maybe seminary ones.
-Not too crowded as only students are supposed to play it.
-Nice big concrete tees
-Nice baskets with numbers on top facing the tees
-Trees and grass are nice, it isn't played enough for them to get too damaged.
-Multiple tees on every hole. May not be the easiest to find if you don't know the course.
-It was the perfect level of a challenge, not too much that you are frustrated to no end but not that it was boring either.

-No signage but it isn't that hard to follow, especially after you play with a student a few times. There are a few weird walks in there though. Could use a map or some on-course signs. Even one right at the start would be nice.
-typical MN summer issues of poison ivy and bugs can arise
-Could lose a disc on a few holes. Especially that one that runs along the lake. 4, maybe?

A friend of mine attends school here so I get to play when I visit him! Make this a day trip and head north to Blue Ribbon Pines! This course is different from the typical publicly owned or pay to play courses. I highly recommend it.

DURING THE SUMMER YOU CAN JUST GO ONTO CAMPUS!! THEY MIGHT BE MORE STRICT DURING THE SCHOOL YEAR.

This is one sweet nine hole course for the students here. The baskets are DGA with the red numbers facing the right way. It has great trapazoid teepads although a couple were a slightly smaller version. There are no signs although I was able to follow it easily with the help of the on-line map and by asking a future man of the cloth. Holes 1,2 & 3 play in a lovely section of the campus with green, rolling hills and old growth trees. 4 & 5 then play along wet marshy areas and then 6,7 & 8 play up the power lines. 9 and 10 were either brillant or confusing to me. I'll get back to them. The first three were absolutely charmingly, great disc golf holes. I loved them. # 4 was a fairly long straight hole (maybe 300 ft.) with wetland tight on the left side and not much of a fairway. The risk/reward here was scary. I liked # 5 a lot but not today after recent heavy rains. It's a tricky little downhill anhyser flip shot through some trees, probably only 160 ft, but today the water was up to within 10 feet from the basket. There was almost no room for error today. # 6 plays uphill then # 7 is a powerline bomb from an elevated, landscaped teebox. I got confused when I reached # 9. If you play it, you have to turn around and backtrack all the way back to play # 10. Or you can skip # 9 and end with # 10 which is a very cool finishing hole indeed. It's the signature hole here, IMO, about a 285 downhill throw through the trees to a basket in the lawn far below. I think maybe the idea here is; Where your dorm is might determine which hole you finish with? If you live this way in this dorm, finish with # 9. If you live in these dorms, finish with the signature hole # 10.

Besides the fact that it's private and we're all sneaking on and playing it. I observed a beer bottle on # 2. Either harr0140 left it or a seminary student wasn't following the rules. There were a couple of longer walkouts.

I saw some coeds of the female variety and they were smoking hot so I've decided if I were younger, this would be the school for me. A great little course to play and lovely coeds. I'd enroll, play golf by day and chase the christian cuties by night until they caught onto my scam. Then they would send my heathen behind out the back gate. Maybe tarred and feathered. Who knows? It might be worth it!

UPDATE: April 2017. The course is now 18 holes so I've added another 1/2 point to my rating!

1) One of the best 9 hole courses I have played to date.

2) Nice DGA Mach baskets with the number plate always facing the tee . . . nice to see it done right!

3) Some alternate pins appeared visible to me, unless it was just an old sleeve I saw???

4) Nice design to incorporate some really diverse pieces of this property.

5) Nice trapezoidal concrete tees although some seemed to be narrower than others.

6) Nice variety of shot required, there are holes that go either direction, straight, uphill, downhill.

7) There are some nice moderately wooded holes, some more open park like holes, and a couple tighter wooded shots. I love to see variety as much as anything in course design, that way you don't feel like you are just stepping up to the same hole . . . hole after hole.

8) Water in play on 2 holes although one is a creek that didn't have a lot of water and was barely in play unless you hit an early tree. The other hole was a really risky shot because of the skips going towards the water or perhaps a big anny over the water. A long hole made great because of the risk/reward.

9) Another design element I have seen a lot of lately (on my trip to NC and also TX) . . . and that is the Power Wire Right of Way. Some great holes seem to be able to be designed underneath the massive overhead power wires that run across our country! It makes me want to approach the power companies and ask about the availability of that land.

10) Nice landscaping done around a few of the tees and also out on the course in a couple places.

11) Nicely mowed course and it is obvious that they take your tuition (which I can only imagine how much this University costs) and they spend a fair amount on the landscape and maintenance.

12) Dual tees on this course plus a couple of shorter red tees.

1) Layout is a little goofy with a long walk from #3 to #4, a disjointed hole from #7 to #8 and then a long backtrack to #9, although it is quite possible that #8 was only temporarily moved during the construction, but it is hard to tell.

2) Private course . . . not really a negative in my rating, its just a negative because it is such a good course and I will feel guilty if I ever go back there. I played quick because I didn't want to get caught . . . fortunately it was an empty campus because it was just asfter the school year ended. It also may make it better that the Seminary people must live there year round that way you aren't the only car in the area.

3) Some of the tees seemed to be narrow. I wish it was a standard that was consistent, but it seems sometimes people change the size and shape of the tee.

4) No tee signs and no directionals to direct you around the course.

There aren't a lot of negatives about this course other than flow and layout as well as no signs on the course and no directionals.

It is a great design, it has pretty good flow (outside of the two issues I mentioned) presents a constant challenge, and has awesome variety in shot selection, distance variation and overall fun factor. I just dig this course . . . too bad it is private and cannot be shared, but I totally understand why this non land grant University wants to keep it for itself . . . liability!

I think this is my first 4 disc 9 holer even though I consider it to be about a 3.75 course.

Id just like to say that I've played pretty much every course in the TC metro region apart from this one bcus of the whole private thing. I was in the neighborhood and decided to see if I could. I met some students at hole 9 and they said it was cool. First hole was ho-hum (not bad) but everything else was amazing. The variety of technicality of the holes impressed me to the point where I was trying to think of a better 9 holer. Those back to back stretchers (7&8 I think) were incredible- very challenging and very beautiful.
I just wanted to emphasize how nice this course is for a 9 holer.
Another pro is that its mostly litter-free.-Not even cig butts.

Its private

#9 tee is a little cramped (boo-hoo right)

Hitting one basket for a near ace and getting 5 birdies left me with an under score- for this course I was pleased. For me, it was a magical round.

The course is secluded, quiet, and low traffic; more than likely because it's a private course reserved for use by students, faculties, and guests of either. The scenery is pretty fantastic, and allows for a variety of different shots: open fields, water hazards, elevation changes, and moderately wooded holes. Concrete tee boxes are a plus on the yellow tees and two of the blues. Pin placements change once in a while for most of the holes, and with two avid disc golfers and a decent DG community, the course is continuing to grow and develop still.

The course plays pretty straightforward, and is fairly useful for just about any level of player, from the beginners to the pro's.

The blue tees, which offer a challenge, are poorly marked, hard to find, and not maintained much at all. They are just grass/dirt that has come through with erosion of the players who have found them.

Lack of garbage and the emptying of the few there are on the course can cause a bit of garbage to find itself laying around- but usually it's a very clean course.

Challenging course, friendly community, dedicated people working to make it better.

**If you play this course, please DO NOT destroy the trees or course. The disc golf community at Bethel has tried very hard at getting this course going, and it won't take too many events of people continuing to rip up trees or littering or causing a ruckus to have it removed. If you are visiting, try to be on your best behavior please and thanks.**

I agree with posborne a lot. I am also a student at Bethel and get a chance to play this course almost everyday, and often times twice a day. I find Bethel's course significantly more diverse and challenging than many of the other courses in the area (Hansen and Silverview for example).

Good mix of distance as well as the type of shots necessary.

It's not a very busy course.

Most of the blue tees still don't have cement tee pads.

At the wrong time of the year, it's easy to end up in a big patch of burrs.

If you are unlucky enough to throw into the water (or get a bad bounce off of a tree into the water), the weeds can make it hard to find even if you are willing to go wading and looking for it.

Only one trashcan on the course.

This is by far one of my favorite courses. It is a lot of fun, close to where I live, and generally not real busy. I do, however, have to pick up trash almost every time I play the course. If you do play this course please throw your trash away, and not on the ground.

I am a student at Bethel and have played the course nearly every day this past year (barring the winter months). I have played a number of other courses in the area but still continue to love and be challenged by this course every time I play it.

The course has 9 pins but one can play 18 holes straight through if they play the 'yellow' tees followed by the blue tees. These are not very well marked, so it might be beneficial to go with someone who has played the course before. Neither the yellow nor the blue is the 'long' tee. They should be of comparable difficulty with blue being easier some of the time and yellow being easier some of the time.

All yellow and some of the blue teepads are now concrete with possible plans to cement the remaining blue tees (or possibly add 9 more holes).

Course Highlights:
* Tricky shot between a group of dense evergreens on 1
* Lake on 4 forces a tricky, long heiser shot for RH/BH players. I've lost a few discs here.
* Close but tricky drop shot on 5 through trees (with yellow tee). This is the only hole I have aced.
* Tricky gap to hit on 6 with one of the tee positions being in a gap in the woods to the right.
* Long drive from high up on 7 lets you unload, while still forcing you to stay within the 125 ft fairway with dense woods on either side.

Signage is missing from the course, so it is essential to go with an experienced player (since it is a private course, probably a student).

During the late summer the woods and grasses get thick and it is easy to lose discs. Make sure to have a spotter if you are playing in a group. Just a little extra motivation to keep it on the fairway.

This is an excellent course and there is still student and faculty interest (including a credited Disc Golf course) in keeping it going/growing. If you play the course please do not leave trash on the course and be respectful of the course.

We would like to keep the course growing but this is impossible if the course is not adding positively to the campus ecosystem.