- Elevation: Highland park features an exceptional amount of elevation for a Louisiana course. Many of the holes throw "across" the elevation and don't have a net gain or loss, but this still makes the layout far more scenic/interesting than a flat course. If I lived in Shreveport, I believe I would play here often for a taste of the hills.
- Multiple Tee Pads: Disclaimer, I'm treating this course as a 9 hole course with multiple tee pads instead of an 18 hole course with 9 baskets. If anything, this bumps my rating up. If playing as an 18, 9 nearly identical fairways can get repetitive and the flow with other players can become problematic. However, I did play the 18 layout to get the full experience. Anyways, the multiple tee pads are a great addition to keep things interesting for future rounds or to mix and match as you go along.
- Design/Shot Shaping: I didn't find a single hole boring, which is rare. This is easier when there are only "nine" holes but still a great accomplishment. Various trees, hills, and a "creek" force various lines throughout the course.
- Signage: There is great metal signage at all 18 of the tee pads. All necessary information (par, distance, OB, and next tee) is included. A large, nice course map is also featured near the parking lot. This makes navigation a breeze.

- Natural Pads: Unfortunately, nothing but natural dirt tee pads in Highland Park. Concrete pads would provide a huge upgrade and likely a bump in the ratings. Fortunately, I played under very dry conditions and the pads weren't reduced to mud, but I could see this quickly becoming an issue.
- Pedestrians: This course winds through a small park with a walking path. Nearly all holes can be potentially affected by this. The only real issue with this is disrupting a round's flow.
- Grooming: This course is kind of the tale of two terrains. Much of the course has an erosion issue due to the elevation and grass will not grow. Part of the course (near the creek) has more than enough grass and appears to suffer from rarely getting mowed.

Not pros or cons:
- Baskets: Highland Park features Mach II baskets. They are old and dated but in decent shape. I did appreciate the orange visibility strip on the tops that you rarely see in the Mach series.
- Surrounding Area: I wasn't too worried about this aspect until the next day when I found out 21 shots were fired (3 injured) across the road from the samll park during the same time I played the day before. Something to be alert of I suppose. Not trying to detract from this course by any means since I enjoyed it; just the unfortunate truth.
- Amenities: I would normally list the lack of amenities as a con. However, there are benches and trash cans scattered throughout the park. Unfortunately, these are not necessarily near the tee boxes.
- True Turn: If you are playing this course as a full 18, the course makes a turn near the parking lot after hole #9. This is always nice if you need to grab something from the car.

A good little rec-level challenge in a remarkably interesting city park.

-Multi-Tees: Important to realize from the outset that this is not truly an 18-hole course. It's really a nine-hole course with alternate teepads for each hole. (However, since the course signs number them as eighteen on two loops (1-9 then 10-18), I haven't changed the course info for it.) These dual pads are a good touch, as they provide added or different challenge for each of the 9 baskets.

-Signage: Good tee signs have #, distance, and map. These signs are also prominent enough that navigation from basket to next tee is no issue. Worth noting here for first-timers that the signs are often pointed 5-10° away from the basket, but it's not a big problem.

-Elevation: Not something I expected to be a strong suit in an urban 9-holer. However, essentially every hole plays with hills, which adds substantial fun factor, angle control challenge, and/or general interest.

-Shot Shaping/Gameplay: Utilizing the hills and some sparse trees, Highland Park provides a really nice recreational-level gameplay experience. Other than (7) long (i.e. (16)), everything is a birdieable par-3, but none of them really feel like total gimmes due to the slopes. This would be a great place to practice putter and midrange driving. There's also enough foliage to require careful consideration on a few shots, like (4), (5), and (9).

-"Friendly": The combination of easy-to-play, navigable without a map, and hard-to-lose-discs.

-Tees: Mostly natural, with a couple fabric mats wearing out. They have been well-enough used that it's just dirt/mud.

-Challenge: It's a rec-level course, no doubt. While it's a great example of an easier course, it's not really suitable for advanced players.

-Stinky Trench: The drainage ditch/creek on (4)-(6) definitely has a stench. I think a previous reviewer suggested that it has human waste? No fun, and I actually declined to throw my approach on (5) in order to avoid it.

-Litter: Lots of broken glass on the top half of the course.

Highland Park, though not exactly charming, was one of my favorite "breather" courses I've ever played--short, mildly challenging, easy to navigate, and not strenuous. In the greater scheme of things, it's pretty Typical, well worth a short drive but no Shreveport destination.

-Neighborhood: I don't really treat this as a con for this park, but the neighborhood is not deluxe. Broken glass, poor roads, and a few folks smoking something that smelled illegal would turn some away, but I had no uneasiness while playing during the day.

-Baskets: Again, not a con for me, but some will dislike the Mach II's. They are remarkably shiny and nice for that model, and I had no problems with them.

I played this park on a road trip to Lake Claiborne State Park, then over to Texas. It was a great for a quick round when I got into Shreveport in the evening as I got into town from.

The strongest aspect of the park is its elevation, though you do throw over it more than with it (across rather than up or down).

The holes are pretty well laid out. There are trees in the park that are really engaged, and there is a real feel for intentionallity in the design. It's pretty easy to play a quick fun nine, or more.

But the "more" is really kind of a con here. There are multiple tees to every basket, but they are labeled as separate holes on the pads. The maps here are not very helpful, I think one of them has almost 30 holes. but there's multiple tees within spitting distance of every basket, so just pick one and play around. I had no problem starting at 9 by the parking lot and working my way around (1 started by the end of 9, but 8 finished in the middle of the park, so starting at 9 flowed better). But really there are so many tee's, more if you go by the map which looks like someone wrote down every safari hole they could think of in 30 seconds.

The park has basically no grass on the hills, and as mentioned some erosion problems. But in the low parts there's way too much grass and it needs to be mowed badly.

When I played there was no one in the park, just one guy walking through dropping cans on the ground. But if there had been people in the park, the course would not have been easy to play. There's a walking path through the park and comes into play on every hole. There's no real easy way around it, but it might add to some animosity between the golfers and the walkers. There's a couple holes around what i guessed was some playground equipment as well, but there was another playground by the tennis courts so maybe not.

According to the city, the creek has human waste in it. Sooo if you throw into it wash your hands. Hole 7's basket is about 3 feet from the water.

Don't go by the distances on this site. Some are off by as much as 200 feet.

Everything I loved about this course was because of the holes themselves, and everything I didn't enjoy was because of the park itself (aside from it looking like someone sneezed tee's all over the park). So if you're looking for a quick, fun round in Shreveport, here it is. If I lived close to this park, I would play it several times a week. But I don't, and I don't feel compelled to return to it. At least not until the feces is out of the water.

Good use or terrain and limited space. Most tee shots are either downhill or uphill. Alternate tees often offer different flight paths instead of just adding distance. Mostly shaded, which helps in the heat of the summer.

No facilities (water or bathroom) of any kind. Many tee shots go over a walking/jogging path that winds through the course.

It's a reasonably enjoyable course. The placement of the alternate tees makes 9 holes feels more like 18.