Fun course on undulating terrain.

Not many!

Fun casual/beginner or day drinking course.
Love the way this course goes up and down.
You *might* lose a disc here, but with how many people play it, you'll probably have it back by the time you return to your vehicle.
even when this course is busy, which is very often, to me it never feels crowded.
Nice, low stakes course for when you just feel like throwing for fun.

-The Highland Course, the shortest of the three tracks at Horning's Hideout, is 100% pure fun. Holes range from 150 to 250 feet. Every hole is unique in its own way and every hole is an opportunity to run an ace.

-The course starts in the meadow by the entrance road and works its way west, past the pond, up into the woods, and back around. The layout makes excellent use of the rolling hills; 8 holes play downhill while the uphill ones are reasonable in grade.

-Concrete tee pads are well-made, perfectly flat and textured. The John Houck Design signs are excellent as well, showing the elevation change from tee to basket. Several holes have 30 ft or more of elevation!

-Well-kept bathrooms near the parking area.

-Best holes
#5, one of the longer holes on the course, plays 240 feet over a small pond to a basket tucked in the middle of three large firs
#10 is a fun chip hyzer woods shot with a hill behind the basket, one of several excellent opportunities to run an ace
#18 is an excellent 230 foot downhill finisher. A dozen or so peacocks can be found meandering about near the shed to the right of the basket.

-There's not a bad hole on the course. Every hole requires a different, creative shot.

-My only real knock on the course is the baskets. They are certainly easy to see, and have plenty of chains, but the poles act very stiff and are eager to bounce back a dead-center putt.

-I believe that there are supposed to be lights on top of the baskets for night golf. However, most of them were missing.

-This is a fantastic course for all skill levels. Advanced players can have fun running up as many birdies as possible. Intermediate players will be challenged to hit every line, but should still finish a few strokes under par. And it's perfect for beginners, being rarely crowded, and full of opportunities to get that first birdie.

-Highland is a perfect, 45-60 minute warm up to either of the two longer courses on the property. Or, if you're feeling ambitious, you can make a day trip out of it and play all 54 holes at once. Whatever your plan, Horning's Hideout is certain to please.

Hornings hideout is A very amazing scenic place with 3 courses on site. This course highland is the begginers course. It's mainly designed for new players or families. It has great tee signs showing distance and elevation. Everything is basically an ace run with hole 5 throwing over a little lake to a tucked out pin around 250 feet one of the longest holes on course. Navigation is super simple and a great place to have an ace race tournament at. They also have glow lights on top of the baskets not sure if they work but would be fun for glow. Good use of elevation shots for such a short course as well

It's very short with probably only 3 holes over 200 feet.
The baskets are homemade however catch decent and for this course not really an issue.
Short tee pads but again for this course they're big enough for what you need.

Come to hornings as you have 3 amazing courses and different difficulty to choose from. It's a great day of golf. You will have to drive around a half mile down gravel road that can be sketchy depending on weather but always a fun time here and great views and lots of peacocks

*Surprisingly fun hole designs.
*Good use of elevation.
*Easy course navigation.
*Quick (I did 18 in under an hour)
*Every hole is an ace possibility.


Update**** 3/15/10.... They have new signs, just like the other two courses made by Houck (sp?) Design. They're really sharp looking, and very accurate.

*Some tee's are very close to other pins, this is fine if the players behind are courteous and cautious, if not, keep an eye to the sky....

What a great, fun way to warm up for the big courses. The neat thing, even though it is kinda just a warm up course, the design is good enough that the round is fun in-and-of-itself.

The Highland course plays up and down on the upper portion of the Hideout. All of the holes are very short with the majority of them being under 200 feet but this course is supposed to be this way because of the other two (one for now but two soon) courses that are built for advanced and pro players so the Hideout has a course for everyone! This course has elevation shots both up and down including a tunnel shot straight down hill about 125 feet and off to the right. There is a water hazard on hole five as you have to throw across the side of a small pond and if you can throw more than 80-100 feet then you are in the clear. In the upper wooded section the course changes from the mostly open earlier part of the course to a more rugged and technial part. Hole eighteen is a short but very fun straight down hill throw that is very easy to bogey if you go long. For a short beginner friendly course I was impressed with the couple of risk vs. reward shots the course has to offer.

The course is a pitch and putt and the biggest disc you will grab for will be a midrange and most of the time you will use your putter but this course is supposed to be this way and the course is really fun despite the length or lack there of.

The Highland was an absolute blast and I would for sure play it again. There are sun powered LED lights built into the top of the baskets here for some fun ace race style night golfing. The work that is done to keep this place so beautiful on a daily basis is amazing to me, I love Horning's Hideout, did I mention onsite camping and fishing?

*****UPDATE*****

I played night golf on the Highland course last night and had a blast! The tee pads and baskets have solar charged L.E.D.'s on the top of them so finding your way around in the dark is easy, though not all of them get charged properly because they don't get enough sun, if you take your flashlight and shine it over the op of them they charge long enough to finish out the hole. I think it's more fun playing this course at night to be honest and it's a blast during the day!

The second of the HH courses, it sits mostly in a lovely forrest enviroment. The first three holes are mostly open, then you play through wooded pinicicking/camping areas with some wonderful elevation changes to contend with. The Highlands course has the same homemade baskets as the Canyon course. I rate them the best homemade baskets I've ever thrown at. And these even have solar LED lights in small cages on top of the baskets for night golf. Many of the teepad signs also have the solar lights for helping you find the tees at night. Although the average hole is perhaps 175 ft., they are very well planned out and IMO, will provide an enjoyable discing experience for all levels of player. Every hole is an ACE op waiting to happen. The tee signs not only give the distance but also the elevation loss or gain. There are a couple of really fun downhill, touch shots like # 18 which is 207 ft. slight anhyser shot with about a 25 ft. elevation drop. The deer and the peacocks add to the ambiance of HH.

It's a pitch and putt for sure. Natural teepads seem to work well here and fit into the enviromental scheme of the entire complex.

Combined with the more middle of the road Canyon course, this makes for a nice disc golf experience. When the third pro-style course is complete this fall, this will make for a truly awesome disc golf destination. With three courses at one destination with three distinct skill levels, what more can you ask for?

Fun addition to the original course, allows for a nice putting and approach warm-up to the other course.
Great use of available space to create a very interesting layout.
Great tee signs that direct you around the course.
Capability for great glow golf.
Lots of elevation forces you to try putter shots that might be new to you.
Great for all skill levels from beginner up.
Beautiful natural scenery all around.

Both Horning's courses have home-made baskets that spit out some good putts.
Very short, and not particularly challenging.
45 minutes from Portland.
Gravel tee pads.

I thought this course was a great addition to the Horning's property, having 36 holes makes it more of a destination for folks on the east side of Portland, this is a very fun, warm-up/ego boost course, birdies are easy, but it trains good up-shots on longer courses.

-Excellent usage of elevation
-Best home-made baskets I've ever putted on
-Great variety of shots including left and right dog-legs
-All holes are short, but the basket placement is very good with moderate sheltering.
-Very good course for skilled players who don't have a lot of distance
-Fantastic place to practice long somewhat technical upshots (here, they are teeshots )
-Wonderful chance to practice new throwing techniques; thumbers, grenades, side-arms, etc
-Port-a-Potty available about halfway through the course.
-Trash/Recycling bins available every 4 or 5 holes to empty bag contents
-Great course to bring new players to, or family members, or co-workers
-Great warm-up for the other course
-Well defined fairways, some about the size of hiking paths
-About 500 feet away from HH#1, which is a full size course.

-Gravel teepads (not a real big deal on a course with an everage hole length of 170')
-Both courses are at least 15-20 minutes away from the nearest store. If you're going to play both courses, it's a really good idea to get some snacks for between rounds, and a bottle of water.
-Um...I would say it's too short, but with the other course a disc's throw away, the shortness of the holes doesn't bother me at all.

When I heard how short this course was going to be I pretty much lost all expectation of enjoying it. Then it was put in and I kept hearing my friends rave about how much fun it was, some of them being very, very experienced golfers. My interest was piqued. And besides that, my girlfriend is a very experienced player who doesn't have much distance (tops at about 280') so I figured it be a good course for the two of us to play together.

What a blast! I was totally surprised at how much fun this course is. The first few holes start out in the open, but with a lot of elevation, and you slowly work your way into the woods. Every hole is an ace run for experienced golfers, but very few of the holes were boring, due to great basket placement and use of elevation/terrain. One hole is about 180' and pretty much straight off a cliff to the basket 60' of elevation below you.

Like I stated earlier, the average hole length is only 170', with the longest hole at about 240'. Normally this would be a red flag for me to avoid the course, but it's just designed so well, and after you play 18 holes on this course, there is the original course, which is a full size course, just a few feet away!

I shot 13 under par my first round, my girlfriend shot 3 under par, and we both had a blast with it!

I guess this course would fall into the "Don't knock it 'til you try it" vein.

- Great for beginners & families, but not ridiculously easy
- Nice use of elevation & trees
- Very open fairways and minimal underbrush (no poison oak and few blackberries), even in the woods
- Excellent homemade baskets (with solar LED lights for night golf)
- Good flow, impossible to get lost
- Another (longer) course on-site

- Most holes are a little too easy for experienced players

This is a tough one to review. If it were the only course at Horning's Hideout, I'd rate it a point lower; I probably wouldn't drive all the way out there to just play this course. But you have to keep in mind that with an average hole length of 170', it's a "pitch 'n' putt" course designed primarily with families and beginners in mind, and it's meant as a complement to the original, longer course at HH (and the future third course, which may be even longer).

And as far as pitch 'n' putts go, it's fantastic. A lot of holes go uphill or downhill enough to make you think about it (especially #12 and #18, which are severe downhills), and there are a number of slight doglegs to be negotiated. The bright yellow homemade baskets have plenty of chains and catch everything; they've even mounted solar-powered lights on both the tee signs and baskets for those who want to give after-dark glow golf a try. It'd be a perfect course for an "Ace Race" tournament.

The only problem is that most holes are a little bit TOO easy; on my second time around, I got thirteen deuces. You almost have to think of each hole as a Par 2; a three feels disappointing. Again, I realize that it's meant as a short course -- and I don't think anything should be changed -- but I just don't feel like I can give four stars to a course where I'm almost guaranteed a score of -9 or better!

(By the way, I disagree with a number of points that the previous reviewer made: the 40 feet of water on #5 is not much of an obstacle; it's not very easy to lose discs here; and the condition of the gravel teepads isn't much of an issue because there are only two holes where you need to do more than a one-step windup.)