- Worth a trip up the mountain if you've never been up, a sort of unique destination course.
- A couple of incredible view holes you won't forget.
- Good tee pads.
- Some great places to unload massive drives.
- Decent mix of hole lengths including some very long Par 4s.
- Full 18 holes
- Good baskets

- Great signage, but wrong for a lot of holes, they've changed some of the hole layouts since the signage first went up.
- Not the most interesting hole layouts, not much shot shaping.
- Depending on time of year, can be busy with people hiking.
- uDisc maps were off too, we had some poorly judged throws because we were way off on distances.
- No benches/seating.
- We saw a surprising amount of garbage on the course.
- Some spots where it's easy to lose discs.

- Definitely can use a spotter on a few holes.
- $40 to gondola up and down, free to hike up, only $15 to Gondola down-only, also free to hike down. (Pretty tough hike, it's a 3,000 foot elevation gain or so)
- I wouldn't try to bring a cart up the gondola really, they pack you in like sardines, if you're super claustrophobic the gondola may not be for you.
- There are disc rentals and a limited supply of branded discs (basic Innova stuff) for sale at the zip line building.

- Extreme elevation change on many holes results in many exciting and challenging shots
- Many gorgeous views of mountains and downtown Vancouver throughout the round
- Multiple tees and two, 9-hole loops help accommodate different skill levels
- Good baskets and very nice, informative tee-signs

- Thick brush both off and in the fairways can make finding even good drives difficult
- Most holes are either wide open or straight in front of you, rather limited line shaping required
- Benches (and trash cans) are missed on a course that easily takes 3 hours to play
- Gravel tee pads were usually fine, but some larger aggregate can result in dangerous footing

Grouse Mountain is a great experience I would recommend to anyone visiting Vancouver. As others have mentioned, the cost of entry is not insignificant (around 45 CAD for basic adult admission) but you definitely get your money's worth if you plan on spending at least half a day on the mountain. My wife and I arrived around 9:15, and stayed until about 3:30, without spending any additional money on attractions not included with our $48 Peak experience ticket. The round took us about 3 hours, and the Birds in Motion show at the end of our day was a personal favorite.

Moving on to the course itself, this really is a unique experience compared to most disc golf courses, especially if you live in an area devoid of significant elevation. The views were great, and we frequently paused our round to admire the scenery and take pictures. This is a fairly rough course, however, and the low but thick brush present in many of the fairways can make finding even good drives a challenge, especially on the longer or blind holes. I definitely recommend using a spotter, we almost lost two discs even using a spotter, only finding them by dumb luck after giving up, and spent a lot of time looking throughout the round. Routing at least is fairly straight forward, and signs to the next tee are present near most baskets. Picking up a course map makes things even easier. We had the course almost entirely to ourselves, briefly encountering only three groups of hikers.

The equipment here is a bit of a mixed bag. The Discatcher baskets are good and the tee signs are among the best I've seen with a large number and name of the hole, clear depiction of the fairway, distance information for both "Pro" and "Family" tees, par, and a color coded difficulty rating which I found to be mostly accurate. The gravel tee pads are adequate, usually nice and level, but can still result in occasionally problematic footing. Benches and maybe an occasional trash can would be appreciated, this is a long course with a lot of hill climbing, and even for those in shape it will be tiring at some point mid round.

Elevation is naturally the star of the course design here. Almost all holes play either up or down hill, with many placed on precarious, sloped greens. Those with big arms will definitely be at an advantage on much of this course, especially on the back nine, but distance control and up-shot accuracy are equally important to avoid additional strokes. This course does lack a bit in the technical design department as far as line shaping is concerned. There are definitely places where you need to throw both left and right, but sharp doglegs and other more technical lines are not really present. I found I either had to throw a big hyzer, or a perfectly straight shot on most fairways. The front nine is less challenging though still a lot of fun, and the back nine will really test your skills and endurance. As a ~900 rated player I shot a 59, and my wife ~700 rated shot a 77 from the "Pro" tees.

A final note: as first time visitor, it took my wife and me almost half an hour to find the first tee pad. The start of course is not identified on the main park map with the list of attractions, which is not a top down view, and therefore hard to compare to the low resolution course map available online. While a woman at guest services in the Chalet gave us some general direction, it did not prove helpful enough, and the two additional park rangers we asked for direction did not even know there was a disc golf course. Of course we overlooked that you should check in and pick up a course map at "The Outpost" building, which I'm sure the rangers would know the location of well enough.

Grouse Mountain is a great course, if a bit rough around the edges, and the cost up to the Peak is well worth it if you plan on enjoying the other activities included with admission.

Very challenging for an intermediate player. There are long and short holes, and you can see almost every set of chains from the tee. Very good signage and distance markers. Lots of elevation change. Good maintenance of vegetation on the fairways.

Benches would be nice. Some holes had conveniently placed rocks, but not all of them. Not a lot of shade, bring sunscreen and water.

Blueberries, raspberries, mint, and bushes of other kinds. Don't know about the rest of you, but I manage to place a disc in a thorny bush on every course I play.

1) The views were amazing. 2) Every hole (except 3 where I assume it was just missing) had signage showing locations of trees relative to the chains and had par and distance information. 3) They gave a score card (and pencil) to us at the zip-line gear building. 4) They had well done paths between holes with signs to the next hole. 5) The views were amazing.

1) There were no benches and there were only a few rocks that were apt for sitting on. 2) I slipped on one of the gravel tees. As nice as everything else was, solid tees would help, especially on those long holes that need full launching. 3) The gondola lift was $41.95 (Canadian) per person.

There were like 50 million grasshoppers. Every step I took practically 3 or 4 would jump left or right away from me. It was very nice to have full bathrooms and restaurants at the end. I needed to wash my face and sit in the shade enjoying a lemonade after the hot afternoon.

Located high on top of Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver, this eighteen hole disc golf course plays alongside the ski hills with views of the entire greater Vancouver area all the way west toward Vancouver Island and including even down south into the US. With the exception of playing through the tighter wooded holes about a third of the time, these epic views are present during the entire round!

The front nine holes are overall shorter and easier, at times, then the back nine. Holes are geared more for the rec or intermediate player where as the back nine are better suited for the advanced and open level players due to distance and difficulty. Fortunately, once finished with the front nine there is the option to head back up to the top and go toward the lodge for lunch, like we did, and then have the option of coming back to finish the round or leave if pressed for time.

Course maintenance was better than any mountain course I have played yet! Tee pads were framed with large 2x4's and packed tightly with gravel rock. There were also tee signs located at every hole that were in color and gave info on par, hole difficulty (they used the same "difficulty" scale as they do in skiing: green circle - beginner, blue square - intermediate, black diamond - advanced, double black - expert), distance, and pin location. There were also signs throughout the course directing players toward the next tee, along with mulch and wood chip trails for players to follow which was extremely helpful for first timers. There were pins located along sides of hills or on plateaus with built in steps leading up to them or extra support built around to prevent erosion.

The designers of the course did a nice job
incorporating variety on the course by using distance (ace runs/birdie/par4's), elevation (uphill/level/downhill), and terrain (wooded/open grass). Although this was not the most difficult mountain course I have ever played, it was easily one of the most enjoyable due to its overall atmosphere on top of Grouse Mountain.

Although some might see paying $40 a major con, which I would too if I were a local, it is well worth it for an annual trip with my buddies from Western Washington. To start the trip you take a massive gondola up this extremely steep mountain side with a timber wolf preserve underneath you, no joke, and head up to this village up top Grouse Mountain with a festival type atmosphere. There are people zip lining right in front of me, along with helicopter tours taking off, logger competitions (axe throwing and pole climbing, raptor and grizzly bear shows, disc golfing and more! There are also two places to eat (cafeteria/fine dining) with stunning views of the water and mountains. The cafeteria had very reasonable priced meals and is most likely your best bet.

Favorite Hole(s): Hole #5 - 260+ downhill shot toward a pin surrounded by trees on the edge of a small peninsula. Sun still able to shine directly down at the pin making it glow amongst all the trees from the tee.

Considering this course officially opens today, the course is in great shape. One major thing that did however stand out to me was the fact that all the baskets were installed about 12 inches too high. The baskets were all about five feet tall which wasn't the end of the world, but just took some getting used to. I had a few missed to start but wasn't even thinking twice about them toward the end.

Foliage can also be an issue as well which should be no surprise considering your playing on a mountain course but beware. Using bright discs is important along with a spotter if possible. Terrain can be intense at times, with a lot of uphill/downhill transitions so good shoes and footing is a must. Having plenty of water, sunscreen, sunglasses, and bug spray is important too!

I knew there was meaning behind the name of the mountain but it wasn't until the final hole that I saw what looked like a quail the size of a chicken and it hit me, after I screamed of course...wow! That is what a Grouse looks like. There was a group of them running around in the tall brush making all sorts of funny noises. They must have been startled from a disc landing. It was quite a unique experience and of course my friend had a good laugh. As the slogan says, I came to soar, explore, and take it all in! Thanks to the BCDSS for all their hard work and getting this mountain high gem on the map.


NOTE: There are a few options regarding getting to the top of the mountain.

Option 1: Take the Alpine Gondola roundtrip for $40 (10% discount if you are AAA member)

Option 2: Hike up the Grouse Mountain trail (1hr - 1.5hr) to the top and ride the Alpine Gondola down for $10

Option 3: Go Rambo style to the top and back down for FREE!