- Good signage, easy to navigate.
- Pretty good baskets.
- Very good paving-stone tee pads.
- Great practice course.
- Rarely crowded.
- Restroom (portable, better than nothing).
- Kiosk with map, score cards.
- Nice meadow setting.
- Friendly locals, atmosphere.

- Completely flat.
- Can get very wet, swampy.
- Grass sometimes waist high.
- No benches.

The setting for Juel Park is a large open meadow surrounded by trees and bushes with a small cluster of tall firs near the middle. It was once someone's homestead/farm that was donated to the city of Redmond. If you're wondering why the neighboring forest at the south end isn't incorporated into the course the answer is: it was at one time, three holes were in there, but there's also a salmon spawning stream in there, so it was redesigned for the salmon.

I play this course a lot (it's near my work), almost every week for the last 2 years under all conditions (just logged my 101st round). Interesting to see all the bad press it gets here in the other reviews, especially regarding its sogginess, you'd think it's a marine park or something. In truth, it's very flat and doesn't drain well so it has varying degrees of standing water on it about half the time, mostly in the winter. The greens on holes 4 and 9 become ponds at times. When this happens: wear waterproof footwear and you'll be fine. I've had plenty of fun games, and the course to myself, splashing along in hiking boots. Even played it in the snow a few times last February. That was the worst I've seen it, with ice covered tees, especially at the shaded south end where the snow just lingers. When it's not wet the other concern is the tall grass in the meadow, where it's easy to waste a lot of time searching for discs even when you saw right where it went. Starting in the Spring the fairways and greens get mowed weekly but the meadow only gets cut once a year in mid-July. So the best conditions are found from mid-July to about mid-October, although any heavy rain will still leave major puddles for a few days.

Nonetheless, it's still a really fun course. It's very open, so it's a great place to practice your drives. For me, that means airing it out on almost every hole. For younger, better players there are 3 holes over 400' you can bomb on. Despite the general openness trees do come into play on most holes, so you still have to think about what you're doing. Hole 4/13 is the only one with no OB or obstacles to consider, just heave it 300' and see how close you can get.

It's a good course for all skill levels, I've seen everyone from beginners to seasoned pros play here (once played a round with a guy who was clearly very good, found out later he's a local pro, one of the best in the state, currently rated 1016). That's another thing I like about Juel: fun crowd, friendly people. Doubles on Wednesdays.

-The main pro of this course is that it is accesible.
-There are some good holes too.
-There is tons of room to get creative with your shots.
-Good for beginners.
-Some opportunity to rip a drive

In the summertime, there is just one con, and that con is location. Almost all the holes are just in an open field with moderate distance. But in the fall/winter/spring... oh no. When it rains (which it does often) this course is a total mess. I went to this course after a rain storm on part of my weekend mini-road trip expecting it to be wet but playable. It was not. The tee pad of hole 1 had no water near it so I went ahead and teed off. Once it was in the air I said "parked" but when it landed it made a huge splash. When I wandered up to the basket, I was stopped about 50 feet short by a massive puddle. Luckily I had my brand new disc gator from x-mas. I extended it and came up waaayy short. So I waded in. I moved on to hole 2 thinking hole 1 was unique, it was not. The tee box was filled with water, and I went past to hole 3, similar issue. I walked around a little to see if I could play without rain boots but I had not such luck.

Good for summer but not for rain or after rain. If you are in the area on a dry day, hit this course!

One of few courses on eastside
Has tee pads, but some are sinking, and moving

Wet/Swampy in spring/winter
Grass too high in summer
Few obstacles, open course

Fun course to go out and throw new discs, work on your throw. The major problem with this course is that the grass is so high in the summer its hard to find discs and in the spring/winter the course is a swamp. If this course added some trees, had mowed grass it would be much better.

It's a good course for a relative newbie trying to work on driving accuracy. Open field with mown fairways and native grasses (mostly 'wetland grasses') between fairways. You won't lose your disc in anything worse than long grass and boggy ground - even on the most errant throw into the worst water areas it is easily retrievable by wading through ankle deep water that has grass growing through it the whole way. The first time through is shorter and the back 9 is longer drives. Good for driving accuracy practice.

See UPDATE below -
Its wet.... I mean really wet. I don't mean "if you are really accurate you can avoid the wet" - its just not like that. Even if you ace 4/13, you can't retrieve your disk without wading. On 9/18 (you know,... just before you get into your car) you can't get a disk out of the basket without walking through 3" deep mud (oddly, the only 'mud' you will see is the 6' diameter circle surrounding the 9/18 basket - the rest is clean, grassy water). After that, you find the rest of the wetness valuable because you can walk through some of the clean grassy wetness to clean off your shoes (BOOTS!) before going back to your car.
UPDATE (I left original text as 'wet weather' reference)
- Having been back a few times as the weather has stayed dry, I am finding I like this course more and more. It has dried out (still some areas of water, but easily avoidable). It's not 'exciting', and never will be, because it's really an open field with only a few trees and no elevation change whatsoever, but it uses the edges of the area and the trees that are there well, and everyone I've seen there is friendly and welcoming - really great people.
Changed rating from 1 to 2.5

...No,... a snorkel is not a fancy new disk you've never heard of.... Its a 'J' shaped tube used for breathing while your head is under water.
I expect the story is very different in August/September, but this is May and you need good waterproof boots that will stand up to walking through water above your ankle to get through without very wet socks.If it were a slightly warmer day, I'd consider playing it barefooted.
***Note - the pictures of the Tees are not accurate - Now, all of the tees are tiles like shown in the picture of Tee #1 taken by MilwaukeeMike in 2009.
UPDATE - Much better when drier (still not going to be a 'top tier' course, but its a good 'community course'). The people are great and when alone (I frequently play alone) I can go through both sets of Tees twice (36 holes) in about 2 hours and work on lots of shots from lots of angles along the way. Still, all flat, but its a great place to experiment with different throws and different approaches that you might not want to test out in the woods.

Juel Community Park was the only course on the Eastside for years, which gives it a special place in the hearts of many old school players that I have had the pleasure of knowing. I understand that and I respect it, but being relatively new to the game I have to review it as someone would who thought that every course was set up during the same week...

Juel is a great place to work on shot placement and drive distance without having to worry about your score being hurt if you miss your line. That's because most of the holes are wide open with zero obstacles anywhere near the fairway. One thing that Juel does right with this setup is that they only mow the fairways, so any errant shots will sail off into the tall grass (see: rough) and be a pain to find. This doesn't mean that a bad shot will result in a bogey because you still have an open look from wherever you land, but it does mean that you still want to place your shots perfectly to keep from wading through tall grass under a blazing (or pouring) sky.

The land available for the course is used well, and all of the trees in or bordering the field are brought into play in some way during your round. You'll find right and left doglegs and a good variation in hole distance as well, from the ace run that is 9 to the 500' hole 15. All of the baskets are in impeccable shape and catch well. The teepads aren't solid concrete, but they do provide solid footing. This is definitely necessary on some of the longer holes.

The best word to describe Juel is "boring". What you essentially have are 9 holes where you throw across an open field, followed by 9 more holes that throw to the same baskets from teepads that are just a few feet away from the front 9 teepads. This means that you see different angles and distances, but when there aren't any obstacles to deal with you can hardly view this as "variation".

I'm not sure how much land is included in the park, but there is a wooded area behind the basket for 3/12 that looks very inviting. There isn't a ton of underbrush back there and it doesn't seem to be getting used by anyone else. I'm sure there's a reason that it isn't used, but since I don't know what that reason is I can't really comment on it except to say that if that IS part of the park they aren't using the property to its full potential.

The long grass does add a nice challenge, but it's a con all the same if you have to spend half an hour looking for a disc. There are definitely times of the year when it's more overgrown than others, and other times it's just a bog. You'll also find yourself exposed to the elements for your entire round. You can rest in the shelter of a tree here and there as you find it, but if it's a hot day or pouring rain this isn't quite as pleasant as Lake Stevens or Howling Coyote would be.

As I already stated, this is a great course to work on shot placement with low consequences if your shot is errant. That does warrant a return if you live in the area. It's a bit of a haul from Seattle and a ways from any other courses though, so I don't recommend it to anyone as a "destination". If you're in the area and want a quick 9 or 18, or want to work on improving most of the aspects of your game (drives, mids, putts, placement) without being concerned about watching your disc bounce off a tree? Juel is one of the best courses I've played with that in mind.

Tee's & baskets in good condition
Great course for beginners or for the first time out in awhile.

Not much in the way of obstacles...we went in the middle of the summer, so there were no bogs.
Just a few trees.

Long straight holes
Pretty much tossing your disc around an open field.

Fairly long holes with good basket placements. Tees are also in good conditions and the maps are useful for first timers. Mud is not too bad, but maybe after tonight it could be a different story.

Decent winds that are constantly changing through the open field. The grass is also very unkept, so you will spend a good amount of time doin the searching thing

I go here often because of the fact that it is conveniently close to where I live.

-Good for families, beginners, practice.
-Great for throwing mid to long range drives.
-Some decent ace runs.
-Decent baskets.
-Nice park and nice people, good neighborhood of Seattle area.
-Signs are good and you can see baskets so its not hard to navigate.
-Not alot of walking between holes and loops right around to bring you back to parking lot.
-It is relatively scenic, like most of the area, with its large trees and creek.
-Has a porta potty if you need to use it.
-Not busy at all.
-2 tees for most holes.

-As said before it is very open and unimaginative.
-Floods in spring but is otherwise playable mostly year round due to climate of Pacific Northwest.
-Some tee boxes were bumpy. They weren't too bad when I went, it probably changes every time they get wet which is often.
-Multiple pin locations, especially more difficult ones, would be very beneficial.
-Concrete tees would be even better! Especially if there is any moisture in the ground!

Play it if you are a beginner, family, want practice, are getting as many courses as possible or happen to be in the area. Otherwise leave it alone. Lakewood is a good course a half hour away in south Seattle.

*clean course
*nice detailed hole signs/maps
*easily navigational (flows well)
*decent hole lengths
*great baskets
*many trash cans, tables, and one porta potty
* multiple tees (not labeled)

in my honest opinion the course was pretty bland. i didn't get excited over many of the holes. #1,#3,#8, and #9 were simi to full guarded baskets otherwise it was open field. it was swampy and wet, i can see it being a pain during winter months of play. a few of the basket heights were either high or low. the basket #s on top of the baskets were facing the wrong way from the view of the tees. and many off leash dogs. the tee boxes are gravel and chaotic w/ the exception of holes #1 & #2 being 1ft square cobble stones.

apparently many local residents are unaware of the course and only know it as a regular park. their were trails for hiking, horse trails, a base ball field, so it offers other activities for non players/ family members etc. this park could use some TLC and it would be a real nice course.

Extremely easy to follow course. The course plays around the perimeter of a large, open field. Most of your drives are wide open, just let em rip! The signs are easy to read and follow.

This course could really use some concrete tee pads. The tee pads were uneven and some were too muddy to throw from. Since this course now has concrete teepads, I'll update my review and add 1/2 point. Parts of the course are fairly marshy. I don't think I'd want to play here in the winter.

I would think players might grow bored with the basic 9 hole course fairly quickly. And I was wondering why the course designers didn't stick a technical wooded hole or two in the trees. They probably have an excellent reason for not doing so. I'm not criticizing, just wondering.

Several nice, long drives. Pleasant and easy to get in a quick 9. Excellent B and C tees and backwards course.

Lacks variety on A course. Gets pretty swampy and during rainy season easy to lose discs on hole 9.

Our best friends' home course. Gotta love it! Very convenient to Microsoft workers...