--Cobblestone tees (mostly, see below)
--Discatchers are pristine
--Alternating tees makes a real difference
--Good signage

--The land of 10,000 lakes didn't allocate one to Brockway

Rosemount was a small farming town of about 4000 people when first I lifted a frisbee, but location made it the sort of farming town that cities like Minneapolis/St Paul eat for breakfast. Since I moved back to Minnesota in 1997, it has been a case study in sprawl, but one, I am happy to report, that has preserved green spaces, including Brockway Park.

Brockway is just as multi-purpose as most city parks, but they did this one right--softball and basketball on one side of the parking lot, disc golf on the other. This is not a field course that was planted, but rather one that was carved out of a small patch of wooded hills, peeking out of the trees only on 6 and 7, where South Robert Trail had once run, prior to being pushed a bit west.

Continuous maintenance is evident from the outset. Post signage is clear and pleasing to the eye. Santa delivered a set of new Discatchers a few months early this year. Can I get a "hello Lola" for dual cobblestone tees? Well, almost--there are a few that are laid out in turf, but this just reflects a cycle of maintenance. Every Minnesota homeowner knows that if the paver patio they just built isn't perfect, they will have an opportunity to try to nail it again next year. Frost heaves heave.

You owe it to yourself to play both sets of tees. Whether you alternate short/long or divide it up by nines, you'll find out on the second lap that the shot you decided you should have done last time usually won't help you this time. Subtle shifts in angle matter seem to matter more than the yardage, which maxes out on Long #7 at 650 ft. I grudgingly concede that this is the signature hole, but #8/17 is such a tasty little ace run that I couldn't wait to re-make its acquaintance.

I genuinely have zero nits to pick about this course. It is the best 9/18 setup I have encountered to date, and I plan to get to know it much better.

This is my home course, and I play here a lot. It may be short, but some of the holes have some challenging situations. It has a good layout, and holes that range from 135'-645'. It has 9 holes, but there are short and long tees on each hole so it is 18 hole compatible. The next tee is not hard to find even if it is your first time playing the course.

The course itself is usually well kept up, and I help out with that too. In other reviews, there are complaints about the dirt tee-pads, but we will be putting in better tee pads in soon this year. We also recently got new signs, which improved the course as well. Also there is sometimes litter on the course, but thats because some people don't now how to use trash cans.

Overall, I think this course is great, and it is where i learned to play disc golf. There are nice elevation changes, and the woods are not too thick. You will want to come back soon when the new tee-pads are in, and better tee-signs are up. All-in-all an easy, yet challenging, great course.

-Shots of all types are required here, both short and long.
-Navigation was fairly uncomplicated between the holes here as the flow from hole-to-hole made sense (the worn path between the holes helps too)
-Dual tee pads for each hole makes this about as close to 18 holes as it can be considering you're playing the same piece of land. Normally I would not say that, but many of the long tee pads significantly change the hole from the short tee pads.
-Simple, no nonsense signs that would be hard to vandalize
-These were some of the better natural tee pads I've seen; usually I'm quite turned off by them but these were in pretty good shape. They weren't as nice as concrete ones would have been, but the natural pads did not detract at all from the course.

-It's just a disc golf course, there is nothing else here. This could also be a positive depending on your outlook however.
-Tee pads are natural, and it doesn't appear as though concrete pads are in the future.
-The signage could provide a brief outlay of the hole, as I did shape a shot incorrectly for one hole because I didn't know where the basket was. That being said, I had a printed map with me I could've just been marginally less lazy and actually used it. I know some people really appreciate the hole outlay however.
-There is some pretty thick underbrush in areas that could be easy to lose a disc in. I did notice some thorny brush as well, but it wasn't a problem avoiding it as long as you are paying attention to where you're walking.

All in all, this is a very nice course. I'm torn between a 3.5 and a 4.0 rating, but I'll go with a 4.0 for several reasons. First, I'll compare to other courses like it (ie: free, 9-hole rec/intermediate type courses). It compares very favorably to the vast majority of other freebie courses like it in that there is more variety and especially more distance (from the long tees). This course reminds me of Oakwood Park in Cottage Grove in many ways; although there is one thing about Brockway that makes me like it a lot more... there was not an issue with littering here at all. Second, the course provides a lot of different challenges, looks, and lengths for technically being a 9-hole course. Again, the long tees provide a very different experience from the short tees, but I suppose it technically still is a 9-hole course. Anyway, I was impressed with the amount of variety over the 9 holes. There are elevation changes throughout, none of them being too extreme, but they are present. This is a course that you could come to and get in a fairly quick 9 hole round, or you could play the course 2+ times and split between the long and short tees and be perfectly satisfied with it. After having thrown a round here, I'm a little disappointed that I didn't make the time to come here sooner. Brockway is a very pleasant course that you should definitely make the time to come visit. It'd be a great warm-up for a course like Kaposia, Blue Ribbon, or even The Valley or it can hold its own as a destination course for day of disc golf.

EDIT 6/11/13: Paver teepads are starting to be put in place on the course. I believe three different holes had paver tee pads and some landscaping added. The paver tee pads are very nice and long and will be an excellent addition to the course.

This is a wonderfully designed course set on a great piece of gently rolling terrain. I liked everything about it. You start out with a nice large green course sign and map. There is a porta-potti at the start. There are two natural pads for each hole. I was impressed by how flat and level they were but I can see the concern about them in rainy or snowy weather. The board at the front of the tee is some kind of composite material, kind of like the decking material. I loved these type of signs. I think they are the best. Just a simple 6" X 6" pole sticking out of the ground 18 inches with a thick fiberglass piece covering a simple little sign giving the hole # and distance. They're extremely unlikely to get vandalized and fairly easy to replace or repair if the teens are really motivated to do their thing.

I really thought # 3 was a beautiful golf hole, 220' from the shorts, sloping downhill fairway to a basket just peeking out. # 7 is a 745' bomb from the blues (longs) and 410' from the reds or shorts.

# 8 is a short is little throw through the trees. The blue tee is over on the right but there is a worn path going up the steep hill right behind the red tee. Move the blue/long tee up here and make this maybe the signature hole on this course. UPDATE: I have been informed that this little hill is outside the park's boundaries and that is the reason it wasn't selected as Blue # 8. Makes all the sense in the world to me. This course designer is way to good to miss such an opportunity. Continue to play up the up the hill # 8 as kind of an outlaw hole for as long as you can guys. Might be years before that piece of land is actually developed!

Personally, for myself, I'd give this course a 4.5 for design, enjoyment, terrain, ameneties, etc. Buy the hill for # 8 and I'd give it a 5 rating. But I know it's a just a fun intermediate course at it's best and I'll try not and get all excited and wet myself. So I'll give it a more pedistrian like score of a 4. I know there are those players who would want more of a course than me, a recreational senior type player. They'd want more distance, more challenge. What's that name for them? I'm searching for it. Oh yeah, we call them advanced players, or serious or gung-ho or 20 year olds or big armed or pros. This course might not be BIG enough for them. But it's a great little rec course with a great design. Well done, Mr. Kennedy!

-Nice variety and challenge in elevation changes
-Hard to lose a disc
-Not busy when we went

- Dirt tee boxes are super slippery when wet (Partner went down twice)
- Signs are inconsistent, some have distance some don't

I really love this course as a beginner. Fairways are really wide open which is nice and you really get a chance to air it out on some of the holes (600+ ft on one of them). The second tee boxes really do play like a different hole which is nice ass well. A nice quiet course while we were there. Maybe 3 other groups