Heilmann DGC is coming up on it's 20th anniversary and it's holding up pretty well. It may be a little tame compared to some of today's monsters but it's rugged terrain covered with Live Oaks trees is a perfect setting for a disc golf course.

At the start, you'll see the kiosk with "some" information, not a lot. The pads are solid concrete ones. The tee signs are an attractive mix of green, grey and black and shows the route for the hole. The baskets are an unpleasant shade of orange which doesn't exactly pop! Some of them have a white tee arrow. There are benches and brooms at most holes. Each tee sign has a message below and many offer some good common sense, such as Don't play in groups bigger than five or Allow faster players or groups to go ahead. I liked their messages. Some holes have up to five baskets positions and I'm glad to announce that there is a spinner on each tee sign that is set to the current basket position. Thank you for that.

With this wonderful hilly terrain, there are so many ops for juicy downhills, cool basket placements and awesome natural fairways owing to the contour of the land. Among the many holes that I enjoyed were;

4 in the B position. I think my notes say it was 491' slightly down through a very pretty natural fairway.
# 6 was another pretty hole playing at 267' across a canyon.
11 D featured a nice basket placement up near the street with this great gnarly branch guarding it.
# 12 A was just a sweet little 216' Ace run.
# 13 B position is 280' with a cool basket placement over and then up a small ridge.
And finally, I liked # 18 in the A position which just a short little hole but there are group of wispy little trees in the way.

I don't have much in the way of Cons. I guess some would complain that this plays like a course designed 20 years ago, way more recreational than advanced challenge by today's standards.

Some shifty looking dudes hanging around.

This is just a very solid, relaxing and enjoyable course to play. This is a course that so many of us would love to proclaim our local course. It's not overly strenuous. They aren't many places to get into serious trouble. Very little searching for discs.

I could just hug this course.

Some low cielings, make first shot count. Lots of hard pan, come in hot and you are skipping, especially with the drought. No green to be seen. Nice and enjoyable otherwise.

Signage at teepads not accurate. Printing out the map here on DGCR for a few of the not so obvious tee pads.

Nice concrete tee pads, all with benches. Baskets in fair condition. A little paint wouldn't hurt, but all the chains are there and they are all set up well. Multiple pin positions. Water fountains were all over the course, which is very necessary in the afternoon heat in early August. The layout made for a lot of fun, challenging holes. Uphill, downhill, and usually with multiple lines at the pin. They vary between left and right turning but there was almost always an option.

When I played, I saw almost no trash. The trash I did see, was a long way from any trash cans. I carried a bit, but it was a pain. As well put together as this park is, it needs more cans. Also. A lot of baskets were really close to the next tee and had a high likelihood of posing a hazard. The navigation towards the end got awful confusing. Twice I threw at the wrong basket even after scouting. The tee signs are woefully lacking. Even worse, they are misleading. When the basket is off and far to the left is across the canyon, out of sight, behind a hedge of oak trees... And there is a basket, in the canyon, to the left, at the right distance..... Might need better signs! This can be improved and I would love to rate the place higher. The last 4 holes were the worst to follow.

All in all, I really loved this course. The oak trees are always framing a shot and always pose a challenge. If you are bold enough to try to sneak through the gaps, it can be beautiful, or really painful. I ran into a local who played the first 12 holes with me and helped immensely finding my way. After he left, it got a lot harder. Be prepared to walk up and down a lot of hills. Not steep, but expect it. This place get's HOT in the summer. I was glad to have cold(at the start) bottle of water, and a big hat. Don't let that stop you from coming to play this place. It is a lot of fun. Just watch out for rattle snakes, ticks, mountain lions, and folks from the correctional facility across the creek. (not positive that was what it was but that's what it looked like. just don't throw over that fence and it's no problem.

Nice large cement tees on every hole. Basic signs next to every tee. Multiple pin positions on every hole, some with up to 5 or 6, and the pins are moved weekly. Some of the pin positions are set up for ace races, most of them are pretty difficult, and some are extremely difficult (tournament holes). Very technical shots required on nearly every hole. Good elevation change throughout the course and it is used well. As stated in other reviews, this course greatly rewards good shots, and severely punishes bad shots. Quite challenging throughout the course with few real birdie holes (at least with the pins where they were when I played), but birdies definitely are obtainable with great drives. Great variety of holes forcing you to shape your shot and hit different lines. All holes are pretty unique with no repetitive feeling when you're playing; each hole requires a special unique approach. Many trees and limbs on every hole that are not easy to squeeze through and almost always drop your disc dead when hit. Well placed and protected baskets on most holes. Several mandos throughout the course marked well with signs on trees with arrows. Benches at every tee, some with multiple. Garbage cans at hole 1, and you also pass this area after 9 and 18 ends here as well. Nice chill area with a pavilion and picnic tables here as well. Restrooms on site. Beautiful moderate to heavily wooded course throughout all 18 holes. Challenging course. Everyone on the course was really friendly and helpful. Very well maintained, clean course.

The signs are pretty weak, only showing hole number, a very basic hole layout (although some were illegible), and the distance to one pin position (although most baskets were in other pin positions when I played), so estimating distances in necessary on many holes. A couple fairways cross each other, and while good shots pose little threat of hitting anyone because they shoot over a ravine, bad shots or discs bouncing off trees can be dangerous, so be on guard (you'll recognize these spots when you encounter them). Difficult to navigate without a map or guide.

This is a very fun course to play and is quite challenging. I would not recommend it to beginners as the course is very unforgiving and bad shots can be very hard to recover from. On the other hand, hit your line perfectly and there's a chance for birdie on most holes. Great course to tone your shot-shaping skills and requires you to use many different discs and throwing styles. None of the holes are extremely long but all are quite technical, which evens the playing field for players who can't throw really long distances with those who can; it's all about accuracy here. Quite a few holes shoot over ravines and if you don't clear it it's a nightmare getting out. The trees really seemed to drop everything that touched them. Popular course with many regulars. I played pretty early on a cold mid-December morning and there were already a lot of people playing. I was lucky enough to arrive at the same time as a group of friendly locals and they invited me play with them, which was great as they explained the course thoroughly to me and gave me a lot of great tips (Thanks guys!). They also told me about a potential new 27 hole course that could be coming to the area in the not so distant future I really hope this happens as two courses of this caliber in the area would make it a must-visit disc golf destination in central California. For more information and to show support visit: www.cencalrenegades.com. One of my favorite courses in California due to the level of difficulty and precision required, as well as the terrain, setting, and very friendly and helpful locals. With new detailed signs and a couple more tweaks here and there this course would definitely be a 3.5 in my book. Can't wait to play again!

-Good Tee Pads
-Good DiscCatcher Cages
-Multiple shot types tested
-Practice basket near first tee
-Pets Welcome on leash
-Legal to drink alcohol at this park
-Easily Navigated Course
-Elevation changes
-Vegetation/Trees
-Benches
-Loops back to central area of the park after each 9

-Trees on some holes could be unmanagable for a beginner.
-Larger trash cans would be useful but course was clean.
-LARGE groups (6-10) tend to play here and severely slow play is the result.
-Tall grass can hinder disc finding even in middle of fairway.
-Signage could be BIGGER with more accurate distance and trajectory picture. (not horrible)
-People tend to have UNLEASHED dogs than leashed if you're scared of dogs.

The course is fun and challenging. If in the Paso Robles/Atascadero area I highly suggest stopping by for a quick round!

-Good amenities: ample parking, bathrooms, drinking fountains, concrete pads, benches with cool carvings on almost every hole, some garbage cans at tee pads.
-Good use of elevation, lots of down and up ravines, it actually gets a bit repetitive (see cons)
-Some very technical holes make up for lack of distance...BUT (see cons)
-A lot of cool scenery in the trees: canyon live oaks with lots of spanish moss hanging
-easy to follow, I only screwed up in one spot on my first round (see cons)
-Really friendly locals that told me about all the different pin locations

-Tee signs are not accurate: the problem with having so many placements is that the tee signs that are used are seldom accurate neither in distance nor in suggested route.
-Park is very multiuse-walkers, dogs, tennis players=all potential dangers on errant shots
-The chainlink fence along hole 5 is treacherous, I had a shot land on the other side and had to climb it. I ended up with a massive gash on my hand because the top is super sharp.
-A lot of the cool lines that were intended for the holes didn't have to be followed because the better shot was using the over the top line.
Although the course utilizes the ravines, it overutilizes it in my opinion to the point of being repetitive. Holes 6, 7, 8, 10, 14, 16, 17, 18 all played over the ravine in the placements I played. I'm not sure if it changes with pin placement. But they were all essentially the same with minor tweaks.
-I played holes 16 and 18 backward as 18 was more of a logical flow from 15, but that is one minor flaw in flow, the other is that 10 was a bit hard to find, you had to walk past 16 18's baskets to get to 10 from 9.

Overall, this course was fun. I had never played in CA before and was used to green grass and thick undergrowth. The course was really dry, with lots of dirt and dry dead longer grasses, it looked nothing like the green pictures on the course page. Also I saw my first wild tarantula on the course, which was a plus! I'd play it again if I had the time. I suggest you do too, it's a nice, quick, fun play!