Ed Austin Park is home to Fore Palms DGC, on the grounds of an old ball golf course. The amenities are good, with signs and bag holders on each hole, as well as many benches and a few trash cans throughout. The course layout is fairly easy to follow and all baskets are in good condition. There is only a couple of heavily wooded holes, but most blue tees are positioned so the drives vary in shape often. Most baskets are guarded by mature trees. There are two tees on every hole, and alternate pin placements on several holes. Elevation changes are very minimal, most holes are quite flat. Wind was a small factor on the day of my visit. Some water is present, but it is not much, and not very intimidating.

Overall, Fore Palms is a fun, solid course. The tee pads are good enough, but not the same throughout the course. Some are concrete, some block pavers, and they could be a little longer. The park is also used by other people, so occasionally pedestrians may come into play. There are some spots that are OB crossing into maintenance facilities or peoples back yards.

Fore Palms DGC in Jacksonville is a very good course with a few extra holes, in case 18 just isn't enough for you. It is located in a nice, multi-use city park that is clean and well kept. Not a terribly difficult course, but has length, and enough trees to keep it interesting. I enjoyed playing there, and would love to visit again sometime.

*Maps for each hole!
*Good beginner course
*Signs
*Bag Holders
*Benches
*Variety of hole types
*No tall grass
*Hard to lose disc on 16/18 holes!

*Two serious water hazards
*First hole can be hard to find
*Path intersecting hole #17

I very much enjoyed this course. I went with my uncle and it was his first time and he also enjoyed it. It was confusing for about a minute when we got there but then it was fine (once someone helped us). Towards the end the hole's start becoming longer and more open it seemed like which was nice. I would deffinitly recomend this course to any disc golfers in the Jacksonville area.

-2 Concrete tapered Tee pads for each hole with a painted strip on each (red and Blue) to identify the tees. This was a nice touch. Even signs at both tee pads!
-Bag holders at the tees. This was first for me and a very nice amenity!
-The signage at the beginning was extensive and thoughtful. There was a place for scorecards(although empty the day I was there)
-Good use of the land that has a ball golf open feel to many of the holes but with added tight wooded holes to break up the monotony of the open holes
-Two water holes add a risk/reward to the course
-Most baskets are surrounded by a sandlot which keeps your disc from rolling away when you approach
-The added bonus of palm trees on the course gave it a vacation feel(out of towner here)
The course is set in a very nice park with some open ball fields if you want to "go to the driving range" with your discs before you play.
-The open holes add a forgiveness factor on your long bomb shots with that new driver you just bought.

-With a number of open holes, there was a bit of redundancy.
- Hole #1 can be a bit hard to find (although, I always use my GPS Longitude and latitude) so it took me right to the parking lot of hole #1.
-Navigation on the front nine go slightly confusing but nothing drastic. With a little wandering, I found my way.
- The added "extra holes" a,b,c on the front and d,e,f on the back come into play in the middle of each respective 9 hole set. Due to time, I skipped these if you use the scorecard on this site, it adds them into the # of holes you played. (While I realize this if not a fault of the course, it messes up scoring on this site.
- the course tends to often play left to right so I found myself playing more sidearm than backhand. Again, not a huge problem but for those who only play backhand, you'll either be throwing a lot of anhyzer shots or playing the long way around.

Fore Palms has a "different" feel to it compared to most county park courses I have played. This is a welcomed addition to the sport. The converted ball golf course feel allows for a lot of open play with minimal trees to deal with. There are trees to deal with. The added wooded holes add a nice change of pace to the open play and forces you to really hit your line or hit a tree. You'd be hard pressed to lose a disc here other than on the two water holes. The water adds a nice touch. Hole #9 allows you to grow into throwing over water as you can go around to the left to the basket or gradually take the risk with some water and hyzer off safely or go for it straight to the basket.
The day I played it was wet and slightly rainy. Most of the ground throughout the course in sandy with grass and the small little gnats that live in the sand are everywhere so bring bug spray.
I think most who play this course will remember it for its different feel than other courses even without any signature holes. (I'm actually looking forward to playing it again.) The front nine were definitely the better nine if you had to choose.
The course is well laid out and the locals are friendly. Definitely a place to add to your wish list.

Great use of an old "ball" golf course. The sign at the start of the course is great, full of information. There are flush restrooms close to hole #1. Important to my wife, playing with me that day.
I thought the course was adapted nicely from the old ball format to disc and basket. Nice use of the old tees and greens to give a little elevation to an otherwise very flat piece of property. There are both open and wooded holes available and for those of you with the big arms hole 18 is 660 feet of disc bombing pleasure. There are multiple tees and baskets for every hole, plenty of variety. I especially liked the bag rack at each hole along with many benches to rest if needed. The fact that both the red and the blue tees had signs was a nice touch also. A lot of thought and effort has gone into designing and maintaining this course.
It takes a pretty hefty throw to clear the water at 9 and 10 if you go at the basket. There is however plenty of space to play safe. This is not a driver and putter kind of course. You will need a variety of shots, both power and accuracy are required to score well here. Great test of your skill.

Without directions it is hard to find hole 1. For the most part the course is fairly easy to navigate. However, there are a few tees that can be hard to find for first timers. A few next tee signs would help greatly. Unfortunately I have to add the restrooms to the con list also as the doors would not lock. This required me standing guard outside the door.

All in all this was a really fun course. Plenty of variety required and power needed also. I especially like the baskets tucked behind trees and up on the old ball tee boxes to add some
difficulty and interest. All the locals I ran into were friendly and helpful. Next time I am back in Jax I will be looking for another round.

- Two Great Water Shots. Holes 9 and 10 are both 300'ish water crossings over a small shallow pond. Definitely adds a little pressure off the tee.
- Dual Tees. Every Hole had two tees: red and blue... although they were often not that different from each other (see Cons). This does however allow people the opportunity to chose the level of difficulty that fits their game.
- Multiple Pin Placements. Every Hole seemed to have multiple pin placements as well (at least 2 spots per hole). This, coupled with the dual tee-pads, allows for course variety over time... it also helps the pin placements on the grass from developing a ring of mud around them.
- Proper Kiosk. Great kiosk with a large map of the course, information about local events, their points series, a scorecard mailbox (although empty), etc...

- Neighbors. A few of the holes on the Back-9 play along the fenceline of what I would consider the local projects. It is definitely a run-down looking apartment complex. The neighbors were a little unsavory too... making monkey noises during my drive and putts and talking smack from their second story balcony.
- Difference Between Dual Tees is Too Small. I don't understand why they went through the trouble of making dual tees and didn't take the time to make them different enough to be meaningful. Most of the "long tees" are only 30' longer than, and in-line with, the short tees.
- Labeled Pars. Two or three of the Holes should have been labeled as Par 4's. 660' Par 3? Par is an important concept to the mentality of the game, get with it people!

- Overall. The open holes feel a little too redundant. The trees on the open holes provide some form of shot shaping qualities, but in reality good players will have no problem playing around them. The few wooded Holes are a welcome addition... and, water shots are always a plus. The little available elevation was excellently used as well. Overall, it was a good time... I wish I could have played it right handed.
- Six Extra Holes. There are three extra holes on the Front 9 (A, B, C) and three extra Holes on the Back 9 (D, E, F). I did not play any of the extra holes... but, from what I could see of them, the ones on the front side looked more interesting... the ones on the backside looked like more of the same.

Challenging enough for better players, but not frustrating for those learning the game. I thought this course would be harder for noobs considering it was a 24 holer, but the locals said this course was far better than the other local options.

small water hazard added to the risk on several holes.

2 pin positions and 2 concrete tee pads at each hole. Nice signs showed the holes well, but nothing designated which pin position the baskets were in.

nice use of the woods for 2 tightly wooded holes.

No amazing signature holes to write home about. Course had some redundency.

Flow is decent, but a few holes took some time to find, especially when the letter holes were near.

Walkers can occasionally get in the way, but the course is designed to minimize this issue.

This was a good course, but it was hard to think of any thing great about it, or any major flaws. When you enter the park you will see a basket, if you park in the first lot, you will be all the way over by hole 16, which is a long way from hole one. You have to drive about 1/3 of a mile further to get to the correct parking lot.
I lost 3 discs in that little pond. A nice champ valk skipped across the water almost making it to the bank but is sink over 20 feet right of the basket. a DX Shark on the opposite side as the basket 4 feet from shore, I have a large branch pointing to where it landed. a DX leopard is near the middle of the pond on the opposite side of the pond as the basket.
If you find these they are yours.

Fore Palms is solid course. All of the amenities are there; Every hole has two sets of cement teepads, a tee-specific teesign, and a bench or two. Most holes also have multiple pin placements and carpeted areas in front of and behind the teepad to help out your ankles if you have a long run-up or step off of the pad on your follow through. There is also an informational board next to hole one with a large and detailed course map that includes special course notes (things like O.B. and other course-specific information) and the rules of the game.

The multiple pads means that the course itself caters very well to all skill levels. The shorter red pads are great for newer players and can be great tune-up course for the short game of more advanced players. The longer blue pads add considerable distance to most of the holes. There is also a gold 'layout' that converts the 24 hole standard layout into an 18 hole safari layout, which introduces some longer, true par 4s and 5s. Between the three sets of pads this is a course that is very beginner friendly, and yet continues to provide a challenge to players of higher degrees of skill.

As a Florida course, Fore Palms is mostly flat and has a plenty of palmettos and a few palm trees. The design makes great use of what little elevation there is though, and the standout example of this is hole 8.

What really sets this course apart is the local club. This is essentially the only course in Jacksonville, and so the club is fairly active and unified about the course. The locals really care about maintaining a quality disc golf environment, and this is reflected in the pristine upkeep of the course.

The first tee is hidden in the back of the park and can be hard to locate if you haven't played there before.

I would definitely recommend hitting up the weekly action if you can. It's a really fun atmosphere and the locals are fantastic.

Fore Palms DGC is what I would term a fantastic urban course. I tend to divide the courses I play into natural settings or urban settings, and Fore Palms is definitely the latter. In terms of an urban course you generally have to rank it based on how well the course designer used the land available to him.

At Fore Palms the land was used very well. The flow for the original 18 is fantastic, and even with the two extra sets of 3 holes for a full 24 the flow is very good. The course also manages to take advantage, to at least some extent, of every piece of terrain available - with holes playing through loose groves of trees, thick woods, wide open fields, and over the one water hazard available.

In terms of the shot selection: the long tees can be a challenge, but are very righty forehand or lefty friendly. The short tees on the other hand require a nice variety of shots. Straight, hyzer, forehand, and forced anhyzer are all available. The putting greens also take advantage of what is available with many of them placed amongst the sparse trees available on many of the open holes - forcing at least some putts to be more than just an easy up and down into the chains.

The course also takes great advantage of the bike/walking paths around to create some out of bounds that will alter your shot selection. In many cases it really does give a nice advantage to a player with more shots in his bag, allowing someone with a better forehand to take advantage of playing it over the OB and fading in bounds on some holes, and the person with the better backhand able to do the same on others.

The course also has fantastic teepads, great and accurate signage, and the baskets are all nice. They aren't the most modern models, but they're well taken care of with no visibly damaged targets. Overall the basic course conditions have been nothing but great - I haven't yet seen a downed branch/tree in a fairway, a screwed up tee sign, or a poor teepad. Additionally there is a convenient putting basket set up near the first tee, but out of the way enough to not interfere with any play on the course. On lighter days one can throw back and forth between one's target and the practice green for a solid mid-game tune-up.

There are also some definite downsides to playing Fore Palms. As I said - the long tees are righty forehand or lefty friendly. If you have a strong forehand for a righty or play left handed, you have a very strong advantage over the competition if you can put those shots out into the 350-375 range. For those lacking that range - the long tees could be a drag because it turns into a simple round of safe drive-upshot-drop in.

Additionally - as has been said before here: Although the course designer was given leave to use virtually every inch of space available, hole one was buried in the back corner of the park. If I had not examined the park carefully on the club website's map I probably would have wound up lost my first time out. And I drove into the wrong parking lot at least my first two times out, trying to find my way all the way back there. It isn't a true knock on the course, but working with the parks to get some directional signs is a must.

Finally - the same paved walking/biking paths that create such well placed out-of-bounds hazards, can also be viewed as a negative. The course designer did a great job using what was available, but there are numerous pedestrians on the trails every single day. The course really does bump that public area repeatedly, and it is an absolute necessity to keep an eye on the locations of pedestrians on this course or you will find yourself praying your errant shot (or even some more well placed ones) doesn't hit a pedestrian.

The only negative I can see in the use of the terrain otherwise might be that there are two back-to-back holes playing through the thick woods bordering the course, and then nothing else. Interspersing a few of those alongside (for example) 11 and 12 could help break the course up nicely just as holes 6 and 7 do early in the round.

Overall I gave this course an "Excellent" rating because it really is excellent. I understand that the negatives are strong, and could bump it down a notch - but the overall experience of the course, and the enjoyment I have for playing this style of course, are both high. Fore Palms is a very well designed course, that does what it can to take advantage of the property offered, other than the need to use a little more of those thick woods.

I recommend playing it, and for Jacksonville residents stuck with it as their only 18 hole course - it definitely could be far worse. This is a course that is strong technically, and offers fantastic enjoyability.

Multiple teepads with sometimes multiple basket location can provide much needed variety. The course flows pretty well even with the added "temp" holes and is fairly easy to navigate the first time around. All the teeboxes are level with the ground and have carpet before and after the pad for extra those of us who like to run up off the pad. The last few holes are pretty tough and this is a great aspect to the course.

Not much to complain about besides it can be tough to locate the DGA baskets around the course if they are hidden. Course signs could benefit from marking whether the basket is in either position. Course can be tough to find the first time. Big arms only from the long pads as most of the shots are over 350 feet. This can be a little repetitive.

I played the long pads twice and struggled a couple times to locate the baskets the first time through. With the majority of the holes from the blues being over 350' I found myself just chucking the straight distance driver. No real variety of shots on the long open holes but still fun. Play for par and should shoot well. Would have liked to played the reds but time didn't allow for it.

Fore Palms is a nice course set inside a fairly big park. 2 Concrete per hole allows for enjoyment for those of differing skill levels. There are short tight tunnel holes, along with long "big D" holes. There is good mixture of risk verse reward since there is a running path that comes into play a lot and adds OB strokes for those that can't keep in on the correct side of the path. There is also a retention pond that comes into play on back to back hole. The first time throwing with the wind the second hole playing into the wind. Since this course is close to the ocean the wind is said to be constantly coming from one direction. There are also 6 extra holes that add to the fun of this course. There is a concession stand at the park along with restrooms.

My only gripe with this course is the lack of signage coming into the park. As you come in to the park you see baskets on both sides of the entrance road. On your left are 15 & 16 and on your right are the extra holes D, E, & F. Without a sign showing you where hole one is I found myself walking from the furthest point around the course aimlessly for the better part of 30 mins until I found a local that pointed out the direction of the first pad.

When you enter the park make sure you continue to the right and go right of the first buildings you see to find the first hole.

There is not enough that can be said about the River City Disc Golf Club, the local players, the creator of this course or the support behind the course. This course is loved beyond belief and if you get the privliage to play here, do so, and here is why...

There are two sets of concrete tee pads here, Rec and Pro. There is a vast difference between the two teepads on all holes that challenge all aspects of your game for anyone.

This course plays a little short from the Red pads but very long from the Blue pads.

There are open holes here, tight wooded holes, throwing into and out of gaps, lefty and righty friendley holes here. Two holes with water.

There are a ton of different ways to play this course, play the entire 24 holes, play the orginal 18, play the holes around the parking lot and so forth.

The one and only thing I can think this course needs is NexT signs out here. I will say that if I did not play with locals, then I would have been lost.

This is a great course outside of Jville and is a course that is loved and taken care of. I was there on Saturday and not only can you go play, but the guy who designed the course was there with his DG store on wheels selling discs! WHAT!!!??? Awesome. I e-mailed the club president and he contatced me back. Do yourself a favor and go play Fore Palms, you will not leave dissapointed.

-good variety of holes including two water holes
-well maintained
-great park with good facilities
-18 main holes plus extra holes (6 I think)

-confusing at first, hard to find hole 1

I've had a lot of fun playing here. some open holes, some wooded. beginner friendly.

fun driving course. great feel and veiws of nature. a lot of great people out there. really friendly place to go and meet and play with new people

#16 and #18 should definitely be par 4's. they are the only holes i have never birdied aftermany times out there.

could have maps and stuff, if u need a bathroom look to the tree's. just don't pee on my disc

Open, manageable, not too busy, 6 extra holes, extra tees for more advanced players, good mix of open/wooded holes, some challenging tee placements, forces you to mix up your shots from time to time, very well maintained, not easy to lose discs other than the two water holes around the one pond, they change pin placement around once every month

Possibly too easy (but you can always play extra tees), the map isn't extremely helpful, and the layout is a bit confusing until you've played it once or twice

Overall, a very good course, well taken care of in a large park with other activities, so good for a group. Check it out if you're in Jax!

Lots of holes, 18 permanent and 6 additional. Great open areas in some and tight greens in others. Very nice park with lots of activity. Well kept.

The first tee box was a little difficult to find at first. It could be marked a bit better and have a couple of more kiosks.

Overall a good place to play. I will return to play there when I am in Jacksonville again.

-Good variety of holes. Most are fairly open and tyro-friendly, but there are a few tight shots that will teach the beginner the importance of disc control.
-Well-maintained. Really shows how disc golf is supposed to be, with beginner and pro concrete tees and clear markings on every hole. There's even a "putting green" near the first tee
-Friendly and active locals. I had someone come up to me as I was playing a solo round and introduce themselves and invite me out to play in the bi-weekly tournaments that the RCDGA puts on.
-24 holes. The extras are set up so that if you want to skip them and simply play the standard 18 it's easy to do so without any extra walking, but if you do then you're missing out. The extra holes are especially nice for beginners because with one exception they are very open and offer little chance to get into serious trouble.
-Well-planned layout. The front nine and the back nine both end at the parking lot, which makes it easy to get a short round in if that's what you want. Also, as I already mentioned, the extra holes are set up so that they really do play as extras -- they're there if you want to play them, but if you don't, then you don't have to do any extra walking to skip them.

-There is a pond which comes heavily into play on holes 9 and 10. After losing a couple of discs to the nethery deep, I started skipping these two and will continue to do so until I become more confident in my game.
-Every hole is a par 3. For most holes that's a fair rating, but I personally feel there are a couple of holes that might be more fairly rated as a par 4. #16 is a good example. Even from the beginner tees I've never had a legitimately makeable putt for a par.
-The bi-weekly tournaments are held on Wednesday afternoon and Sunday morning. As a churchgoer this makes it pretty much impossible for me to participate.
-Lack of publicity. If I didn't have a friend who plays, I would probably have lived out my five years in Jacksonville without ever knowing that Ed Austin Park had a disc golf course, and I drive past it twice every day on the way to and from work. A sign out by the main road (if allowed) would probably be a good idea.

This is the only course I've played as of yet, so perhaps this is not the most objective rating. However, I can say that this course is a blast to play, and has set the bar very high for other courses. It's a perfect course on which to introduce someone to the game -- fun, challenging, and yet not so difficult as to be unfair to someone who is just starting out.

Great mix of holes, great use of land, challenging set up, muliplte tee pads, grip and rip on many holes, some techical shots, hyzer, anhyzer, birdie holes. I was in town to go on a cruise and very happy that I got to play this course. The local club is very into the sport and puts on the Jacksonville Open each year (great payouts/attendance). This was the first time I had played in sandy conditions and it took some getting use to. Very cool course and would go back anytime.

Signage was a bit confusing with holes being numbered with letters. Plenty of locals around, so they made sure I stayed on the right path.

Course really does have it all. If you are in Jacksonville, this is a must play!

Very diverse, great atmosphere. lots of disc golfers around, people selling discs, pro's giving tips. Good Time.

All the holes are par 3, wish they had some more variation, very hard to drop strokes.

Well maintained by local disc golf club, friendly people, you can drink beer if your careful, nice mix of open holes and technical-more narrow and water holes, 24 holes

Gets crowded sometimes and you have to wait to play, decent amount of foot traffic on path through park so be careful not to hit kids, adults and pets.

This is my local course and I love playing it. Hopefully the city of Jax will open up another course in one of its 100's of parks.

What I personally like and how this course stacks up:
1) Holes with good risk/reward -- C-
2) Holes that have rewarding birdie opportunities -- B+
3) More wooded than open - lots of variety of shots required caused by hole shape and topography -- C
4) Natural beauty (Appalachian beauty preferred) and seclusion -- B+
5) Multi-shot holes with defined landing zones, good risk/reward and multiple options to play them -- NA

I ranked this course subjectively based on my own personal enjoyment factor...more accurately my "personal addiction factor". Since I have played a decent number of courses (115 18-hole, 50 9-hole as of early 2009), my hope is that players/explorers who have similar tastes will find my ratings list helpful as they chose courses to play and explore.

Over time, I expect to fill some of my reviews in with more descriptive verbiage...if what I say adds anything to what has already been written. For now, my list is more important to me than the verbiage of my reviews.

I fully expect others with different tastes/philosophies to disagree with me. See my profile for my rating philosophy.