--Concrete tees
--Good use of guardian trees, with many more trees planted
--Excellent course for beginners and wild throwers. It's pretty much impossible to lose a disc except in the water.
--Significant tree planting in progress, obviously a multi-year effort with positioning definitely focused on DG as opposed to just park beautification

--Course begins and ends along side tennis/pickleball courts and pool. Potential for noise.
--Not obvious from available tools where one should enter this park (West Side, at intersection of Adams St and 11th Ave)
--Minimal signage on tees, some "next tee" signs, but you need GPS navigation your first few times through

As it currently stands, in the fall of 2023, this is a good beginner/intermediate course laid out over a large parcel of relatively flat open land, dotted by some middle aged conifers, oaks and some faster growing deciduous trees. Most shots are open, with the baskets clearly visible from the tee, and little opportunity to lose a disc.

Elevation is not a factor at all, with the singular exception of a downhill shot off the tee of 13, atop a conical mound which appears to be a grassed over pile of excavated soil from the nearby pool and tennis structures. I should have used my Apple Watch to measure its height but did not--I would place it in the 40-60 ft range, with a 230 ft shot down into a copse of guardian trees surrounding the basket. An ace would be possible, but very difficult. I (dx) Buzzzed by it hotly on my second round and was still stuck with a par.

You throw over a cat-tailed pond on #7. I am a late middle-aged beginner with less than 20 rounds under my belt, throwing max 250 at this point. I turned over a Dragon on my first 18, but there's a beast who floats, so I got it back with a 16 ft retriever and a pair of wet calves. On my second 18, I cleared easily, and sent it long off the basket. The short tees avoid this cross, but still keep the pond in play on the left side. #8 runs along the long axis of this same pond, and may grab an occasional errant shot. #17 uses a smaller pond similarly,--a par 3 off a low-ceilinged tee with the pond not crossing, but close to the green on the right side.

Roughly 1/3 of the course abuts the main public attractions of the park--an aquatic center, playground, tennis and pickleball courts. I played on a weekday, relatively early in the morning, when school was in session. Under these conditions, the park was nearly empty. 2PM on a hot summer day would likely yield a different experience.

The other 2/3rd of the course drapes itself over open land interspersed with some trees, predominantly oaks and some conifers. An asphalt walking path traverses the course, populated mostly by dog walkers and other casual exercisers, who mostly ignore disc golf play, but some stop to watch occasionally. Their presence is minimal, but the opportunity exists for a rare shot to land on asphalt. Besides that walking path, no other park feature exists on this land. This is important: the city looked at their resources and decided to dedicate a sizable parcel to disc golf AND NOTHING ELSE. I would love to see the whole course design tweaked to place all 18 holes on this southern area of the park, getting away from the higher traffic areas. I think the available land would easily accommodate that re-design without loss of length.

The mature trees on the course are smartly used as guardians. Several holes encircle the basket with trees, sparse enough to make the target accessible, but calling for creative shot shaping.

This is where it gets good: the city of Shakopee is planting new trees all over the course--I estimated 5-10 per hole--almost exclusively oaks. Some are obviously recent--three to five feet high, but others are already above 10 and starting to fluff out. It takes oaks a while to develop their root system in the harsh Minnesota climate, but once they do, their growth can shift from barely noticeable to 3-5 feet per year. I think this course will play differently year over year into 2024, and by 2030 will be an entirely different fanged beast of a challenge.

Is it going to be the destination course of the area? Well, no, but it will be quite excellent for what it is, a free public park course in a third-ring suburb of Minneapolis on mostly flat ground. It's already excellent for beginners and intermediate players. I think eventually it will provide a draw for those of a higher level.

Good holes with reasonable amount of obstacles, Bombers and semi-technical holes, water is shallow enough to retrieve OB discs in most spots, difficult to lose a disc, multiple tees on most holes, plenty of parking, water park on-site to send the family too while you throw, permanent restrooms, close to the highway (1 min.)

Park course with non-discing patrons regularly holding you up, a few holes throw over a parking lot or right next to the road, not very technical, some holes are so close together that you might have to wait to throw, no convenience stores nearby,

This was my home course for 5 years, so I became accustom to liking it. This is a course you can go to and enjoy your time and not have to worry about losing a disc or ending up with those double bogies. As an easy course to get to with multiple parking lots, you have to try it out. I know people that love it and people that dislike it; none that hate it. Bring shorts in case of landing in the water. Nothing spectacular, but one memorable hole from a hill top.

Well maintained...fairly easy to navigate.
Cement tee pads and most have two boxes.

Somewhat of a short course.

Great course for beginner and average players. Advanced players will find this a good warm up course.

Multiple concrete tee-pads on most of the holes.
Good mix of open area, trees, water, and other OBs.
Free!
Clean and well maintained.
Some fun holes, throwing over and around water also down a nice sized man-made hill.
Park and pool right by course (pretty much play around).

Can get crowded.
Layout occasionally crosses fairways, inevitably causing back-ups.
Nearby traffic can get pretty busy.
Windy!

I traveled from Wisconsin to play a tournament at Lions Park, made a weekend of it. The course was nice, I enjoyed it all except the wind. It was 25-35 mph winds that weekend, but all the locals said it was normally quite a windy course. I thought the design was fun and challenging, but if it's crowded there are going to be back-ups. All in all, a good course and I'll play it again someday.

1) Nice dual concrete teepads (not all have two tees however).

2) Rules sign near #1 basket which also indicated an arrow towards the first tee.

3) Mach baskets in great shape with the number plate facing the tees.

4) Hole, Par, and Distance indicated on the tee signs, but that is all. Not really an issue not having a map because the courses is all out there in front of you. You can see all the baskets and you can easily decipher where you want to throw.

5) There is minor elevation change on a handful of the holes and the coupe de gras . . . #13 bomb off a big sledding hill? That has to be the only reason they have that large hill in the middle of the park, and perhaps they didn't want to haul the soil away when they put in the pool so they just made a big pile and planted grass on it.

6) There are a couple picnic tables located near a few tees that can be used, but nothing consistent at each tee.

7) This course is very clean (no garbage) and nicely maintained turf. There is very little turf damage on this course so it is also visually appealing in that regards.

8) It is refreshing to have a course with some intentional water holes designed into the layout. There is one throw across water, and another throw mostly along water (but you can take a more direct line at the basket if you want to go at the second basket. I cleared the pond by only a few feet from the short, so the long tee forces a more conservative shot unless you can bomb it!

9) Because of this courses southern exposure . . . it is most likely always the first course to dry up in spring. I played right after the thaw and the only bad areas on the course were around 6 and 7 where the construction has occurred.

10) Plenty of pavillion space and bathrooms near the beginning and middle of the course. The pool looks fun and there are tennis courts too.

1) The flow is confusing and somewhat disjointed in a couple places. Hole #1 was not evident where it was immediately because I parked over by #12 instead. I walked around and decided to play #13 through 18 (which I figured was the hole along the fence by the pool which was actually #1) in hopes I would find #1 Hole #17 is not obvious other than you have played through the entire corner of the park. Hole #18 is also not obvious because you have a long walk between some trees and the pool fence. There are also some strange walks depending on the tee you are playing.

2) This course is mostly open and I much prefer wooded courses. It isn't a bad design or a bad course by any means, but I just prefer more trees to force you to throw different shots and be more consistent.

3) The course plays across the sidewalk a few times during the round. You can see the walkers and they can see you, but it is something to be aware of. Do not throw if you aren't clear!

4) I don't think I saw a garbage can on the entire course. You would have to go by the pavilion or parking lot to dispose of anything.

5) No mulch was used around the baskets and tees where the traffic is taking a toll on the turf. It would help make the place look so much nicer, and also play better in poor weather conditions.

6) There didn't seem to be enough variety of shot here. There was a high amount of hyzer shots and you have whatever option you want on many holes. I prefer it when some holes force a certain shot and others force the opposite shot rather than giving you an option everytime.

7) #6 was moved because of the construction of the Fire Station and unless the basket gets moved again, the tee does not line up at the basket at all so the throw is awkward.

8) Bathrooms were locked on the weekend . . . probably because the park is normally not busy this time of year but it was beautiful out and I needed to pee. No trees to hide behind either.

There isn't much else to say about this course. It is decent but not flashy, no real exciting shots or signature holes to make you feel like you have to come back someday, but it is well maintained and nice and open for beginners so I would guess it sees a bit of play. It is not overly challenging, but there are some tougher shots and some longer holes depending on which tee you play. Will I come back no, but if I lived nearby or wanted to work on my drives I would play there. There just isn't enough interest in the holes out there for me to feel like I am missing something not coming back there.

Lions Parks I is a large expanse of mostly flat, mowed grass with scattered small to mid-sized trees. The course starts by this huge man made pool complete with beach and water slide. There are two concrete teepads for each hole. The longs add 200' to some holes greatly adding to challenge here. The baskets are nice Mach III with the red numbers. There are simple little tee signs. Navigation is fairly easy.
# 13 is easily the signature hole on this course. It sticks out as it's the only hole where elevation comes into play. You're teeing off from the top of this man-made little hill. I've seen these little man-made hills in other Minnesota parks? Do they serve a purpose? Why are they here? Anyway, they make great disc golf launching pads. The # 13 hole is just a short (220') touch shot down to a basket guarded by two large evergreen trees on the sides and a smaller deciduous tree of some kind (maple?) in front. Fun hole!
This course was made for rollers. If you don't role, learn, practice, master it and then get it down to a science. A good roller will save you some strokes here.
The holes by the pond also add to the challenge and liven things up a bit.
The park is extremely clean and there were quite a few players playing the day I played.

I was lucky the day I played. No wind. Some of the longer, open holes are fairly boring and would get pretty repetetive. You need to be careful on #'s 17 and 18 over by the street. This course is big enough and spread out enough, I think it could handle many groups of players without a feeling of being crowded.

I don't see this as a beginner's course just because of the length. It's a nice rec course because other than the over length, there isn't much in the way to challenge you. Errant shots are usually not penalized at all. I could see a howling wind playing havoc with anyone's score here. I don't think that would be much fun to out here in this vast open area fighting the wind for 18 holes.

This is an okay course it is very easy to find your way to every hole a lot of small trees have gotten quite large in the last few years adding an extra challenge, and I personally think that a water hazard on a few holes makes the course a little more interesting and fun. The baskets are easy to find on nearly every hole so there shouldn't be to many problems not knowing where you are aiming.

There are a few problems with this course though, one is it is usually terribly windy because the course is so wide open, a good many of the holes cross with the walking/biking path and three holes are right next to the road.

On a nice day with little wind this is a pretty nice course to play there is a good mix of long and short holes for begginers and people who are a little more experienced.

Nicely marked concrete tee boxes, arrows on baskets direct to next tees and marked footage at the red tee box, sometimes on the blues

some confusion starts at tee 8 - basket 16 appears to be on-line with the box, several baskets are situated near each other, some basket markers have been spun out of position

Nice girl watching on the holes near the pool/beach!

There are a lot of holes, and a water hazard is always fun.

The whole course is pretty wide open so you really just sit back and through until it comes time to putt.

Signs with par to go along with distance would be nice.

Its got a good mix of long holes and short holes. The water is a good hazard on two holes. Well kept and has pretty good flow.

Its very open and can be tough if windy out. It can get pretty buzy some times too. Shakopee could use another course.

I like this course and will continue to play it

-You can throw far on about half of the holes.
-Hole 13 is from top of man-made hill.
-Great beginner course.
-Very clean, well maintained course.
-Nice cement tee pads and nice baskets.
-Neatly mowed fairways
-Located near Man-made swimming lake with water slide. Also has picnic area.
-Easy to find.
-Uses water well to provide one of few challenges.
-Not too busy but you probably wont be the only ones there.

-Pond can eat your discs on 2 holes.
-Not a lot of shot variety. May get boring after front 9.
-Not many obstacles to work around. A few trees on some holes.
-Other than 13 is very flat.

Overall, its a decent course. Needs more variety in the way of trees or some other challenges.