There is no real "low point" of this course. It could be hole 11, but even that is a semi-tough tee shot. You've got thick woods, you've got elevation change, you've got right-to-left, left-to-right, ace runs, very legit two-shot holes... just amazing.

Navigation is excellent! The ones that are harder to find have "next tee" signs behind the basket. and where the paths to 6 and 9 cross the signs note which one is which way.

2-8 and 17-18 are amazing with their elevation (17 and 18 are absolutely iconic holes you'll never forget playing).

9-10 and 12-16 are incredible wooded holes. Not a ton of chance at losing a disc but still tend toward the tough side.

Most holes have multiple tees, opening up this course to more players.

The distance variance isn't very much... except for the three 600'+ holes. It is good to have those holes, and the green on 10 is superb. However, when everything else is under 400' these monster two-shot holes feel out of place. I know you could play the short pads on these holes but... come on, really?

Hole 1 is a water bomber that you have to nail or finish left on, otherwise your disc is with the fish. I was lucky to finish left but if your disc flips up and you don't have the power to hit 275' yet, say goodbye. But apart from 1 the water is inoffensive.

Hole 18 does have a walking path behind the basket, and it's close enough that you could wipe someone out with a gliding mid-range shot.

Lakewood Hills had my number on my visit, but on a good day par isn't out of the question. There are several birdie opportunities, and some tough pars (8, 10, 16). The wooded holes present some holes with choices and some where you've got to nail your line. Combine this with some iconic open holes and you have one of the best free-to-play courses in the twin cities!

One of the best free courses I have played. A good variety of holes, elevation and a bit of water, combined with long, short and medium holes.

Some challenging holes and a few ace opportunities.

The course is not super compact and doesn't flow quite as well as great courses do, with a couple holes requiring a fair walk to go from basket to the next pad.

FUN!! Challenging with great variety of different approaches, distances, obstacles, and elevations. Excellent course design!!

crowded (what else can you expect from an awesome course that's FREE), quite a few golfers on this course could learn some golfing etiquette (taking 3 mulligans at the tee when you have two groups standing right behind you waiting)

I would sure love to try this course again - hopefully it won't be as crowded.

1. The course area is quite large with a wide variety of holes, from open field holes, to holes in the woods along with different levels of elevation.
2. Long concrete tee pads. Long and short available on most holes.
3. Baskets are in good shape.
4. Relatively easy to find your way from hole to hole.
5. Course is maintained well.
6. Lots of parking.
7. Tee signs that show you the lay out of the hole are pretty accurate.
8. Trash cans and benches at most holes.
9. Close to the Twin Cities.

1. Course is usually busy on nice days.
2. During the summer they have lots of baseball games there, so parking on those days might be difficult.
3. During the summer and fall there is a lot of foliage off the fair way, so it may be hard to find your disks if you have a bad throw.

Overall this is a great course for Intermediary players. The mixture of open fairways, the woods and changes in elevation makes you have to think about the throws you make. If you are in the twin cities and are looking for a course to play, this wouldn't be a bad one to hit. Hole #18 has you throwing from atop a large hill to a basket down below, which is a great way to end such a great course.

-This review was based on 2 winter rounds so the first pro i will list is shoveled tees! I play a lot in the winter and have huge respect for those who shovel tees at their local courses!
-Very easy to find with just a quick read of the directions on this site.
-Great course map, both on site and online.
-Long and short tees on every hole.
-Nice tee pads, great baskets.
-Beautiful course design! One of the best "balanced" courses i have ever played. *It does not favor Lefty's or Righty's. I found myself using forehand and backhand equally. .*Great pin placements meant even most approaches seem to have both options. *About half the holes were more open and half more technical through the woods.*A good mix of longer and shorter holes, and excellent use of elevation.
-Even under a layer of snow it was easy to see the level of landscaping that had gone into this course. Very impressive for a non pay-to-play.

-Not much in the con department from what i saw.
-I had come map in hand due to previous reviews mentioning this course could be hard to follow. I can say that those reviews must be a little old or i was just lucky to come play after they had installed a great network of "Next Tee" signs. Navigation was easy.
-Hole 17 could be a challenge in the winter, it being a nicely polished toboggan hill. Besides potential tobogganing traffic...just hope your drive or approach shots don't flip upside down and slowly slide ALL the way down the hill. (like mine did )

This course was very challenging yet still very inviting. It will challenge even the best of players, and with the short tee option, shouldn't intimidate newer or intermediate ones. It was such a beautiful course that i would happily spend entire days here if i lived in the area. Maybe the best non p-t-p course i have played but will reserve that judgement until i come back in the summer.
**For now i would say the locals here are lucky, and this is a great place to get your fix or keep up your skills during the winter!

I started playing this course when it was a 12 hole course. More holes were put in to make this a full 18 hole course and improvements are still continuing to be made on this course- very nice to see.

The course itself has a good mix of long, challenging holes, some shorter technical holes, and a couple ace runs- still tough to get- #12 and #14 (other holes can be aced, but these two are the easiest to). The course is mixed with about half of the holes tighter and in the woods, and the other half more open. There are 3 legit par 4s (#7, #8, #10)- even pros can't get in putting range from the 1st shot. Water comes into play on holes #1 and #12 and (pending the amount of recent precipitation) #10.

The course does not favor a forehand thrower or backhand thrower- if you have both shots, you will use them equally. A few holes have varying relief- mainly #18 and #17.

There are a couple bomber holes on this course- 400+ ft holes that are fairly open, but placement is still important for your approach shot. The course is unique, and there are still holes I haven't figured out after playing the course 20+ times.

Signature Hole- #18 -big downhill shot from atop a mound- 325 ft- perfect finishing hole

Tee pads- nice big tee pads, with padding off the tee pad for your follow through- I haven't seen this on any other course. It's nice.

Great maintenance and work put into the course- I wish all courses were similar in this regard. And this isn't even a pay-to-play course.

Landscaping- Rock landscaping around some of the pins and tee pads- woodchips on most greens with a 10 m circle cut around the pins on the holes- also a huge plus.

Views aren't the best- looking onto baseball diamonds and parking lots- what do you expect from a city course though?

Crowds- The course can get crowded- its biggest Con.

This is one of my new favorite courses. Many of the tee pads are brand new and they are starting to put in erosion control and wood chips around the greens, which is nice to see. The front 9 offers a variety of relatively open holes, while the back 9 consists of mainly open holes in the woods. The back 9 is definitely more technical and requires some accurate drives. There is also water on several holes and constant elevation changes throughout the whole course, which add even more technicality to the course. There are plenty of birdie opportunities on this course as well.

The course is quite busy and some of the holes are a little tight together, especially on the first several holes, which can lead to a log jam as people have to wait for others to throw on separate holes.

I couldn't believe when I went back and played this course this summer. Considering that it is not pay to play, the course is in awesome condition and appears to be continually improving. I can't imagine how awesome this course would be if it was pay to play, it would also hopefully keep some of the crowd off of the course. Lakewood Hills is an awesome course with some cool features and a lot of variety when it comes to hole selection and layout. Overall, this makes for a very interesting, fun round and it's really not all that difficult, so you can definitely have some low scores while playing here.

-Very nice mix of open and wooded with a natural progression from open to wooded as the round goes on
-Nice, long concrete tee pads
-Garbage cans & benches at nearly every hole
-Dual tees on most holes
-Good signage that includes the shot shaping required, par, distance, and direction to next hole
-Fairly good erosion control throughout with wood chipping (some holes in the woods could probably use more though)

-No convenient bathrooms on the course
-Because it's good (and free) the course can be quite busy
-There are ponds on two holes, but it requires a pretty lousy shot for them to come into play, this is a little bit of a missed opportunity
-It's not too hard to find your way, but there is a little bit of a walk in between several of the holes

First off, I was quite impressed with this course as a whole. It is a very well taken care of course. These are some of the best tee pads I've ever played on, Blue Ribbon Pines included. There is a decent amount of wood chipping for erosion control throughout. The course was surprisingly clean, as busy free courses tend to have a lot of riff-raff at them and consequently more litter... that was not the case here. There are garbage cans & benches at nearly every hole which I would assume help greatly with littering.

The course flows from mostly open field holes with a few obstacles to some rather tight wooded holes starting around hole 9. The course also ends with two more open holes. There is a nice variety of shot shaping required as well as a lot of elevation changes throughout. There are no extreme elevation changes here, but plenty of variety. There is also a decent mix of distance throughout the course as the shortest is somewhere around 165' and the longest is darn close to 600'.

The City of White Bear Lake has put a good amount of effort into this course and it shows. It is easily one of the best, if not the best, free course I have been to in the Metro area. I don't have a lot of courses left to visit in the area, so I'm comfortable in saying that this is one of my favorites in the area. This course is worth a visit and is a good destination course during a day of disc golfing. I didn't need a map the first time, but it may be beneficial to print one off if you don't have the chance to follow a group playing in front of you as I did. I will definitely come back to this course even though it is 30 miles away for me.

I havent played in about 15 years and I found this course quite challenging and really fun. I only played at acorn which totally changed for the bad but thats a different review. This placed was packed today people lining up at the first tee but then that was also the problem. Really good selection of holes and different shot selections. i was really impressed on how nice the people i ran into where.

I mentioned the long wait at the first tee. I am a avid ball golfer and one nice thing about the more expensive courses are the players and their care towards the course. I ran into a lot of teens just hanging out being more in the way than anything else They were also just combing the lakes for free disc. I had a really hard time finding hole 10 and finding myself out near the apt building. Hole 17 is a weird and difficult shot but leads you up to a great view with 18. MAPS MAPS MAPS I wish there were maps. I realize that cost money but donations could be awesome or a concession stand. Watch your step when your in the woods. I stumbled on about 20 sawed off stumps. Could be some nasty falls.

If nothing maybe put a kiosk out there so we can donate money to the upkeep and improvement on these courses. Or even donate material to the sign making or we can keep spray painting hole numbers. Overall...I would definitely come back. The tees are really beautiful with gravel and raised concrete. Great job white bear lake

Lakewood is a fantastic and well kept park. I don't think the previous reviews reflect the quality of this course. With a redesign and major landscaping work this place is pretty cool. It has water, elevation, open, and heavy woods.

The tee pads are pretty awesome. They are plenty big. I have never seen a course with the diamond pattern around them. There is a diamond screen laid on the ground and filled with small gravel. It looks great and eliminates errosion.

The fairways in the open were mowed nicely and the wooded holes were very clean.

Awesome catching baskets. Chainstars are great.

They were not complete but on many holes they had the 10 meter circle marked and were going to fill in the circle with wood chips.

3 pretty nice par 4's that are tough to get your 3. Those are holes #7, 8, & 10.

The course starts and finishes strong. Hole #1 plays across the water onto a sloped green.
#18 is a very fun finishing hole. You play from the top of the hill with the road backstopping it. Great hole!

Some very interesting wooded holes with elevation coming into play.

Navigation was pretty difficult in a few areas. Some signs would make this much more enjoyable to play.

I could tell they were still working on the course in a few areas. Once complete this place is going to be sweet!

Lakewood was our final course before heading home. We had played 10 courses in the 3 days prior. I was heavily fatigued after playing Minneapolis/St. Paul best course. This course got me pumped up to finish out. It was fun! Make a trip and stay a week in the area. It has some of the best courses i've played. Great grouping of courses.

This course has it all open, wooded, long, short mostly right but some left. The use of the elevation change here is perfect on hole sixteen you shoot over a valley and through some woods and into the open. Every time I come here these days it seems they are making this course better they added landscaping rocks around almost all the tee boxes and a few boulders around some of the greens.

Confusing to newcomers ask somebody most of the people that play here will gladly point you in the right direction. A little foolery and groups of morons not playing the course in correct order. One occasion of a poacher picking up my disc even after I told him it was down there and let him play through because his group was 1 person smaller than mine I ran him down and got it back.

Be careful on hole eighteen if you shoot RHBH you can turn a disc over right at a playground full of kids if you hyzer too much to the left there is a nasty swamp that is sure to prolong your round quite a bit if you toss one in there.

- Gorgeous course with mowed "fairways", long grass "rough", and wood chip "greens"
- Great use of elevation, especially hole 18 - pictures and videos don't do it justice
- Except for hole 10, every hole was very par-able, but also challenging.

- The wooded holes weren't as nice, and the mosquitoes were bad
- Standing water on a few holes
- I can see why they call it "Leftwood", several dog leg right holes

For the first 8 holes and the last 2 holes, I felt like I was on a real golf course, or at least one designed for disc golf. Minnesotans may be crazy for enduring an 8 month winter, but they know how to do a disc golf course the right way.

- Nice technical course
- Mix of different throws and distances
- Great baskets and wood chips
- Has some great elevation shots
- Partly wooded and partly open
- Nice fairways
- Not too many bugs for a wooded course

- Could lose a disc in the thick woods
- Needs better signs
- Susceptible to standing water after rain

Got turned around in the course and didn't know where to go first time I played.

Lakewood hills is a sprawling course set on some rolling hills in White Bear Lake, MN. It weaves in and out of the woods and up and down the hills. The course features quite a few doglegs to the right. RHBH throwers will need to throw a lot of anhyzers and straight shots. It's nicknamed "Leftwood".

The course has nice ample concrete tee pads. Most holes have both long and short tees.

A wide variety of terrain is used, presenting a diverse array of challenges. You will have to throw a few as far as you can, navigate wooded fairways, throw up and down hill, to the left, and to the right. A few holes are ace-able with a putter, a few are nigh unreachable for even the biggest arms. The long holes make for a challenging 3 and there aren't many <200' gimme 2's.

It's near a YMCA, 4 softball fields, and a picnic area. There is a working water fountain, bathrooms, picnic area, and a play ground next to the course.

On Sunday afternoons in the summer there is a league for just a few dollars. More info on the website.

There are reasonably nice wooden benches on the majority of the holes.

Nice baskets.

The course sees a low to medium level of traffic. Not much hassle involved with playing here. *Since the expansion a week ago, the traffic level during peak times has picked up a lot. Word of mouth seems to be bringing in a lot of first timers*

The course is not easy to navigate. There is little to no signage and the way it's laid out doesn't flow very naturally. Get a map or ask someone to show you the way. * I don't consider this to be a big detractor but, this problem is now even worse with the new holes. They flow pretty well, but the course is even harder to navigate now. Expect hoppers who play the course in the wrong order*.

There used to be bag holders on a bunch of holes but people have broken them all and vandalized the benches.

Lakewood was recently expanded to 18 holes by combining old 10 (651) and 11 to form a long, wooded, challenging par 4, and adding in 5 new holes. The new holes are tightly wooded and add another dimension to Lakewood. Bumping my old score of 3.5 up to 4.0 to account for the new layout. Great course for Eastsiders.

COURSE UPDATE - Six new holes have been added in the woods as of 6/10. They do not have baskets, just chopped down trees fitted with wooden discs on top that have hanging pink sticks. Hit the sticks, it's in. They work for now, but most are now missing some, or most, of the sticks. They are also optional to play, so expect most groups behind you to skip them and hop in front on you as your group hacks through the woods. The first three, holes A, B, and C, are to the right in the woods after hole 1. The tee pads are dirt and hole A's tee pad is on a slope. Follow the cardboard signs and pink ribbons tied to trees and plants to find your way to hole B, which is to the left of the A target down the path and on the left. These first two are heavily wooded, and tough pars, despite hole B being 200-225' (maybe less, but it's slightly uphill). Hole C is the reason you play A and B. Downhill, 250' with trees lining a 30' wide fairway. Beautiful. Ace time. Exit the woods and continue to hole 2. After you reenter the woods on hole 9, take a path to the left of the target to play D, E, and F. Again heavily wooded with a little elevation to shoot over/across on D and F. Targets on E and F are half-destroyed.
Now to review the rest! The open shots use elevation well and a couple dog legs will test your sanity. Hole 7 is a massive right dog leg with woods at the joint, and hole 8 is longer and straight from the pad to target, but it plays like a slight left or right depending on your drive due to the trees and bushes in the fairway. The wooded holes with baskets are great, and hole 14 off the hill is an esteem-lifting birdie opportunity.

It's getting more and more crowded as the Acorn crowd and refugees from pay courses are discovering it, but playing it in the morning, early afternoon or evening will likely make for a pleasant and smooth round.

Lakewood has some of the most variety of any course in the metro. From wide open bombs to finesse shots through tight woods to elevation fun, this course has a bright future.

Very cool looking long holes, lefty and righty holes, a little bit of everything out there. A couple of my favorite holes are at Lakewood.

Signage could be better, a couple of the woods holes are hang out spots for trouble makers

This course is so under rated. It is a true diamond in the rough and well worth playing

www.lakewoodhillsdg.ning.com

Has some of the best variety in the state. Wooded holes, open holes, short, long, shaped holes. good elevation for MN, baskets are in great shape. Tee pads on 12 of 14 holes.

Lakewood Hills DG League every Sunday starting early May, 2 00PM, Reg opens at 1 30.

Pros: $5+1 optional Ace Pot (Cash Payouts)
Ams (adv/int):$3 +1 optional Ace Pot (payouts through Fairway Flyerz DG Outfitters)

18 hole layout, CTP every week.

Limited signage (however we have some bag holders that have hole #s on them now). Only 14 holes, which we are in talks with the city to expand and have been working to eradicate the buckthorne in the woods to see what we have to work with. The punk kids that break things and trash the course (which we do our best to clean up)

Myself and a groups of Disc Golfers are diligently working to better this course. Our future plans include, wooden retaining walls on 1 and 11 to save the hills that the baskets are on. More signage, and of course, 4 more holes. Also, hole 11's basket has been replaced with another Chainstar.

The 18 holes are finally in and looking good with cement tees and landscaping inspired by Bryant Lake. Rating up to 4.

Original Post:

This course was originally designed as 18 with five additional holes to be cleared in the woods (holes 10 & 11 was being designed as a long par 5). Unfortunately, those have still not been approved after all these years but there's hope. That's a key reason why the routing isn't as clear as it should be. In addition, we were forced to flipflop holes 2 & 3 so the new gravel path was more visible for safety. Although thre's more than enough property for at least 18 holes, the Park Dept does not want to use any more space in the open for disc golf and in fact would really prefer it if holes 13 & 14 weren't there due to winter sledding. That's why they haven't put cement tees on those two holes yet.

I agree with several reviewers that this could be an awesome course with 4 more holes with cement tees and better signs. But sometimes things are out of the control of the designers and volunteers. At least you now have the background and apparently there's still hope for the future from what we're hearing.

Good balance of open and woody holes. Lots of elevation changes, and some nice turns. Had the longest hole in the Twin Cities for a while. You'll want to throw a bunch of times on the last hole off the top of the hill. Usually the park is not very busy.

Random vegetable garden in the middle of holes 2/3. Lots of wasted space. That bulldozed area in the center of the park has been that way for at least 5 years now. Plus there's about 5 billion acres of land unused other than a token picnic bench here and there. Never once in several dozen visits have I ever seen any of them used other than the one close to the last hole and the pavillion by the parking lot. Why can't we have 18 holes here? It's ALWAYS windy at this park. No matter what.

Underwent a remodel a few years ago that I thought made it worse. The layout was always super-confusing, and the new one doesn't make much more sense than the old one. Plus, they significantly shortened the long hole, turning it from a par 5 to a 4.

Lakewood Hills is a great 14 hole course with lots of variety. The elevation changes constantly and there's a ton of room to really stretch out your arm - especially on holes 7 and 8.

The layout it a bit confusing - especially the jump from hole 3 to 4. So, bring a map the first time you play here.

No water holes - hole 14 doesn't count.

There's talk of adding a couple more holes in the wooded section of the course, which would be a VERY nice addition.

Also, I really hope that they replace the new "basket" on Hole 11 with another Chainstar in the near future.