Well designed course with fun blind tee shots, good concrete tee pads, great tee signs and direction signs near the baskets. Water comes in play on a few holes and forces you to throw over water twice from the long tees. Plenty of natural arched trees, gaps, and good variety requiring a lot of shots. Not too many high options, but there's a couple.

For first timers, it's tough to judge the distance on the blind dog legs. Even after walking up the fairway, you don't get a good idea of the line until after you throw. This is a very minor con since this is also what makes this course fun.

I would play this course regularly if I lived closer. Its a fun challenging course that also suits beginners. There are short tee positions marked to avoid forced water carries, but they didn't install tee pads (grass only, but distance is marked). This was a very pleasant surprise. I look forward to a return visit in the coming weeks

First and foremost, Goat Island has a terrific collection of disc golf holes. From the two water carry holes, to the longer multi throw fairways that force accuracy and precision, there's not one bad hole, not one shot that makes you scratch your head wondering what happened. If you like stepping up to the tee and looking at what's before you and thinking, "I think I can make that shot," and being fairly challenged to do so, you'll love the Goat. Multiple times while playing there, I looked around and thought to myself, "Wow, what a great hole, this is awesome"

The holes flow well from one to the next, and there's very little repetition, and the course flows well from one hole to the next. Nothing seems out of place. The holes test different skills, whether it's throwing hyzers, annys, straight shots, forehand and backhand, but all provide a similar level of challenge. None seem ridiculously tough or easy. On the whole, I think a masterful job has been done fitting the course into the space allowed without interfering with other park activities or any ridiculously long walks.

Hole 3 is the first of the water holes, throwing onto the island (with an optional short tee on the island that eliminates the water carry). It's around a 250' to 270' throw to get across and stay dry, and can fairly easily be done with either RHBH or RHFH, although the hole does finish slightly to the right. Hole 18 throws off the island to finish your round. From the long tee, the water's edge is around 250' on the basket side, or you can lay up near the short tee, and only have a little more than half that to get across and stay dry.

Navigation is pretty straightforward, with nice tee signs at all the long tees, and next tee signs throughout the course. There are a couple of places where a few holes are pretty close together, but only one potentially problematic spot. (More to come on that in the cons.) The tees for 15 & 17, along with the basket for 16 are pretty close together, but don't really interfere with each other at all.

The biggest cons with Goat Island have nothing to do with the course itself, or the design. The issue is that it's a low lying island in the middle of a river. You will probably never experience more mosquitos, gnats, or any type of flying, biting, stinging things than at the Goat. The rough is ROUGH. Lots of thick prickly underbrush is everywhere you don't want to throw your disc. I will say that the rough has gotten much better since the course and park first opened, thanks in large part to some seriously dedicated volunteers with a lot of love for the place. This has made many of the holes much more enjoyable to play.

The island is also a bit flood prone, or at least was this summer, which had some record setting rainfall totals. It's kind of weird to see water lines on trees two or three feet higher than the top of a nearby basket. I don't think that it will flood as often in the future as it has this year. There are also parts of the island that seem to stay perpetually damp. This probably contributes greatly to the insect issues.

Also because it's a flat island, with little to no elevation, there's very little elevation on the course. The first two holes offer the only up or down, and the only place in the park that has any up or down.

The one spot that I've seen some issues with one hole being too close to another is near hole 9's tee. The turn to the final stretch of 8's fairway is fairly close, and there is potential for someone to be in the way, as groups tend to stand at the edge of 8's fairway, while their card mates tee off on 9. A solution may be to clear out an area on the other side of 9's tee, or more directly behind the tee, instead of to the left of the tee, on the edge of 8's fairway.

Goat Island will probably be enjoyed best in the fall of the year, when there aren't as many bugs, isn't as much rain, and won't be as much stuff growing in the rough. If you like a course that asks you to execute quality golf shots over and over, shot after shot, you'll love Goat Island. If you have trouble hitting fairways, or are afraid to lose a disc throwing across water, or are afraid of getting swarmed by flying buzzing things in the middle of summer, beware of the Goat.

As time passes, and the course gets more play, the rough will not be as rough as it is now. It's already much better than it was a year ago, soon after the course first opened. If you haven't played it in a while, you owe it to yourself to give it another try, and to do it before the winter rains start. If you're travelling through, and aren't afraid of the bugs and the rough, you should give it a try.