McDade Park is a challenging 18 hole course in Conroe in a great community park. It is a large park, but there is parking right by the beginning of the course near the amazing practice basket. It's a shorter-mounted basket in a graveled area, next to a course map and memorial. Very well done, very visible. And practice baskets are just a great touch.

Hole one starts off with a long par 4, river to the right to swallow discs that turn over too much, or get grip-locked. So really take advantage of that warm up basket.

Some of the holes are pretty long for par 3's, but some are also really short, so really I think it balances out. If a course offers as many birdie chances as it does holes where a par is a struggle, I'm ok. I like having a shot at winning a stroke back with my medium-at-best range.

The signage at this course was ok, i felt the distances were pretty accurate, and the hole markers were big stones. The tee's were good size concrete, and the baskets weren't always very visible (grey, no colored band), but they caught just fine. No maps on the tees, which could be useful on a couple holes.

In addition to the long and short variety on this course, there's a good variety of left and right too. But mainly there is a lot of just straight. At least, those are some of the holes I remember most. I don't remember what hole number they were, but the ones I remember most were just the ones where I had a great drive off the tee. But any hole has that potential, so the whole design is equally pretty great.

As should be obvious for a course in Houston- very flat. No real change in elevation to speak of. Even on the walking paths.

Some of the holes are pretty darn tight. Especially 18. I played it as hole 2 by accident, and it is kind of awful. The pro that came out of this was that hole 16 got to be my last one, and it's a great hole, and I got the deuce to finish my round.

That area is also pretty poor navigation. If you don't know to skip the nearest hole after hole 1 to walk down the road to keep playing, you'll accidentally play 1-18-17 and look for hole 4 not realizing you haven't even played 2. The rest of the course- easy navigation. Simple and straightforward. But it starts you and ends you (with the 16 to 17 walk) on a weird note.

Watch out for water behind hole 8. You can't see it, and it's almost right behind the basket. This is one of my biggest pet-peeves, and how I lose a lot of discs.

McDade is not a bad course to play. I really enjoyed it and hope I get to play again on a trip back to Houston. I definitely don't think it's worthy of a 3.9, or anything close to a 4 without any elevation and without a signature hole. It's a lot of just "Very Good" design, and may be about the best that could be done at this location.

This course clearly get the most play in the immediate Conroe area, and attracts the crowds because it's well scaled for recreational to intermediate skill levels, and has variety galore from the big field opener to short ace-deuce runs (10 & 12, especially), to increasingly challenging, technical finishing holes (on 17 & 18). It is a park course that gets good maintenance and has very little underbrush in which to lose a disc. In fact, the only place I could see as a disc lost would be an overzealous shot on hole 8 going into the drink.

Fantastic, level, concrete tees and good signage clearly leads you to good DGA baskets, and forces you to control your throws into wooded gaps, along reasonable fairways, and under some low-ceiling branches. There's a lot to like about McDade. I liked the fact that there's a port-o-let by the 11th tee, that there are trash receptacles throughout the course, and that the course seems to be well-maintained. There are even gully crossing bridges for flash flood season.

The most challenging holes appeared to me to be hole 15, with a tight window to hit if you want to get very far down the way toward the basket (360' from the tee), and hole 18, which requires two really good control shots to get into it's guarded green for a three. Might be a true par four hole.

The lack of elevation in the region means they didn't have any to work with here, but it seems a little regrettable that they weren't able to incorporate the nearby river just a little more to make up for it (like Stonebridge Church nearby uses the pond for three gut-check shots). Only hole 8 here has the river a mere 40' past the basket to give you pause. The lack of next tee signage definitely would make this course a navigational challenge for the newcomer who forgets to bring a copy of the course map (see note below). They are definitely needed after 1,3,6,14, and several for the long walk after 16. It's nice to have a practice basket right by the parking area, but odd to use gravel there.

The beautiful memorial at hole one is very attractively done!

Navigational hints: I personally played 1, 18, 17, then 2-16 for simplicity's sake. You do have to turn right after hole 6 and not head to the 11th tee. After 16, you need to cross the far end of the soccer field and look for the small path into the woods to get to 17.

Reviewer Background as of this writing: played 295 courses and written 280 reviews, with skills hovering around a 900 rating, with folks ranging from age 7 to 87, so I try to write reviews helpful to all.

Very fun course, though it was a little easy. Not sure if I just had a lucky day, but I think I shot somewhere around 7-8 down my first time playing it. Good teeboxes and fun shots, beautiful park.

A little too easy.

-This course surprised me in a number of good ways. For one the course is nestled in a very gorgeous park that is very fun to walk around.
-The concrete tee pads are HUGE and perfect. The course signs are all great and has exactly what you would need in a course sign. The baskets are also in great shape.
-There are a good number of longer open shots to short technical shots. The course does not favor right or left, I found it a great mix of both type of holes.
-This course is challenging enough for an intermediate player to have his struggles but it is a good course to bring a new person as there is very little water hazards and very little chance to lose a disc.
-For the bigger arms, most of the holes at McDade are birdieable. It is not necessarily easy to get 18 birdies but it is possible with a good drive.

The biggest con I have more McDade is park is that there are no "signature holes". I have played this course now a few times and there is not one hole that strikes me as THE hole of McDade as you would expect at other highly rater 18 hole courses. Probably the ones that stick at to me are the first hole with the San Jacinto River to the right and holes 17 and 18 that are a tight straight shot through some woods.
-Most holes are repetitive and a few seem like they were just thrown into the middle to try and get to 18 holes.
-There is literally no elevation even by Houston standards. This is not something that can be dealt with just a little nitpick.

The Conroe/Woodlands area has some great courses and McDade Park is definitely no exception. The park is clean and has a pleasant feeling to it.
Combining this course with Terramont Park and the River Plantation Course and a good day of disc golf could be had.

This is a very great practice course. Has a few difficult shots blocked by trees, bushes etc.

It can get crowded sometimes. Also, there is a playground off of the edge of hole 16 where kids have the tendency to roam over to and snag a disc occasionally.

Great layout!

Park is very clean and well maintained. 18 holes with different variety of challenges. Tee pads are nice and course is clearly marked.

Not much room for power. Mostly short shots but still lots of fun.

-variety of shot types, good mix of open and wooded shots
-excellent new tee signs
-big concrete tee pads
-baskets in good condition
-nice, large park; looks well maintained
-practice basket with distance markers
-a few very good bridges over creek/wet areas (5-6, 15)
-lots of mature trees make for a well-shaded round in the summer
-begins and ends near parking lot (plenty of parking), course flows pretty well but a few tricky spots

-mostly shorter holes, only 2 over 400'
-very flat, a few very minor elevation changes
-located on a floodplain, rain can be an issue
-many holes seem like filler holes (2, 7-10, 12, 14)
-a few awkward spots in the flow and navigation, especially right at the beginning/end, presumably some of this is from the redesign (1-3, 16-17)

This is a fun 18 hole course in a nice looking park that is well maintained. The park is beautiful and well shaded but is not secluded, lots of houses and streets nearby.

The parking lot is large and right near the park entrance and the practice basket area is great, with brick distance markers. Very nice, well-sized concrete tee pads and the baskets are in great condition.

The first hole looks really great when you first walk up. I was impressed with the big tee and landscaping around the tee area. This hole is a fun open hyzer with the basket just out of sight and a river on the left. I had high hopes after this hole and while it didn't go downhill after that necessarily, the rest of the course didn't quite live up to my expectations. Don't get me wrong: the course is fun, well maintained, relatively easy to navigate and has a lot of cool shots but it didn't live up to my expectation of a "great" (4 disc) course.

The area around holes 2-3 and 15-18 is a little bit awkward. There is a walk from 1 to 2 and then hole 2 throws across a field with pedestrian walkways. From the tee for 2, you might be looking at basket 16; the basket for 2 is straight ahead, to the right of basket 16. Then walk across the road to 3 and eventually come back out at 15 in the same area. Hole 16 is a really cool open shot into a wooded area with the basket behind a couple rows of trees. Then there is a walk into another wooded area to get to 17 (in other words, there is no sign to the next tee and it's inside the woods so you can't see it from 16). A few "next tee" signs around here and also at the intersection of 6-7 and 10-11 would shape things up a bit for newcomers. If I remember correctly, there are next tee arrows on the new signs though.

There are lots of trees so many holes have well defined open fairways lined with trees and there are also holes that are fairly wooded, especially 17 & 18. The lines aren't too difficult but there are enough trees to ensure a wide score spread.

There are a handful of uninspiring holes that seem to just fill the space in the layout to get to 18 holes. 7-10 immediately come to mind; they are a short loop in a small area off to the side between holes 6 and 11. Seems like an afterthought added to the main front-to-back flow of the course.

Overall, a really fun course with a decent bit of variety. A better option than all the other 9 holers around the area and less of a homeboy course than Bear Branch. Course rating seems a little inflated to me but maybe it's a matter of relativity to the surrounding courses. I bet it gets an extra star from many reviewers just for the concrete tee pads.

Definitely worth playing if you live in the Houston area. If you're passing through and are looking for the top 1 or 2 places to play, go to Shawshank or Spring Valley.


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Nice location, pretty area, restrooms available. Everyone we ran into was really nice. Nice practice/warm-up area.

#10 is on the edge of the San Jacinto river. We just lost a disk there. Watch out for the little kids running around picking up discs. We had a little boy come up and try to take one of ours we were playing with.

This is a fun wooded course. The challenge out here is technical as opposed to distance related. With tall trees in this pretty city park there are plenty of tight lines and small holes. There are plenty of trashcans and facilities available so packing trash isn't something you have to worry about. Hole distance goes from as low as 150 feet to as long as 400, but the 400 footers definitely play long with all of the obstacles. Most of the holes are realistic and the lines that you should aim for are clearly defined, but there are a few exceptions. Lefties and righties should both be equally challenged as the course is well balanced. Bring your backhands, forehands, tomahawks, thumbers, pancakes, rollers, and a perfect putter and you will have no problem .

As mentioned earlier, there are some holes that are nearly non-existent where you just throw and pray. A couple holes have some water which can eat discs if you shank a shot, but it isn't much of a problem. Although the course is well marked, there are a few places that can be a little tricky to find the next hole on your first time out. I also wished there were a few more chances to reach back and throw your hardest. The only other negative I can think of is that one of the course's neighbors (near hole 2 and 8) is very anti disc golfer and has supposedly threatened to shoot at golfers on his property.

To balance the angry disc golf hater man, the city is very pro-DG. It is an active park with a lot of casual players. There are even signs on the roads pointing out which exit to take to get to the disc golf course!