It is an interesting course that will have you thinking and using different shots. I always enjoy a good risk vs reward balance and this course does that well by mixing in fast greens and challenging fairways.

It is a busy inner city park and has all the hang ups that come with that.

If very crowded could be hard to play.

Come earlier in the morning to avoid crowds.

It is great that the city has a nice course right in down town. I drove an hour to play it and enjoyed it.

-perfect tee pads, good baskets
-good signage
-really interesting mix of holes and shot types, particularly considering the course is on a city park
-excellent use of elevation and trees
-several very fast, challenging greens
-great warm up holes to start
-good mix of short and long

-condition of park in general. lots of trash, some of it pointing to illegal activity in the park. seems that this park doesn't get a lot of attention from the city.
-course throws over many other activity areas of the park

I really don't have much bad to say about the course itself. I found it to be really interesting and makes brilliant use of the available land. Great tees and baskets. Lots of fun/unique shots playing with the elevation in the park. Signage got us around the course even though there was no one else there and we had never played it before.

My "cons" are about the upkeep of the park itself. As others have said, it is in a rougher area right outside of downtown, and it seems maybe the park doesn't get the attention it deserves. Lots of trash, some of it sketchy. Ironically, the disc golf course is one of the nicest, most well kept things in the park (usually the other way around).

Some of the fairways go right over walking paths, but it was deserted when we played so this was not an issue for us.

I would highly reccomend playing this course. While the park leaves something to be desired, we never felt unsafe or unwelcome, and really enjoyed it.

Newly redesigned with long concrete pads and a mix of shots. Plenty of distance with a mix of shorter holes as well. I love this course for variety, because I use quite a few shots on it.

Can get a little slick on the back 9 when it rains due to mud and standing water. Try not to play at dusk due to the neighborhood. When it starts getting dark, I'd hit the road to be safe.

May want to consider following a group the first time you play it.

Lots of well designed holes. Very creative course design using excellent terrain features of the park. Some hole designs here that I have never seen at any other course. Challenging. Easy to get to from anywhere in Knoxville without a long drive.

Rougher area of town. No restrooms. No water hazards. Better next tee signage would help players new to the course.

Overall one of the best courses I have played. Park is a little rough, but course is well thought out, creative and challenging. Would play the hell out of this course if I lived in the area. A real treat.

-Excellent Variation, some very cool holes
-Varying Landscape
-Visitors to the Park know Disc Golf
-Always other golfers playing
-One of the oldest disc golf courses around.

-Always other golfers playing
-Some of the latter holes (16-18) are not very fun, kind of seems like they ran out of room.
-Hilly
-VERY easy to lose discs
-Not excellent a pretty course, somewhat dilapidated

Solid course that is just minutes from beautiful downtown Knoxville. Great participation on the course with weekly doubles tournaments.

Tee pads are 300% better than before the redesign.

A few really fun holes.

Entire course is on an angle, every shot except for your drive is going to be thrown off balance on loose gravelgrass.

Very poor layout, hole 5 makes you drive over the sidewalk into the park and right next to pavilions that are usually infested with a birthday party and such. Multiple instances of backtracking in the line of fire from teepads.

The course is in the ghetto. Right next to questionable apartments, half mile down the road from knoxvilles ghetto. Super sketchy people roam the course, stand right in the fairways and throw trash everywhere.

Littered in beer bottles, cans, diapers and I don't recall how many condoms I have seen lying around.

I have not played the original, but the people I play with have a lot, they hate the new design other than the teepads. Don't try to play this game at dusk for your own safety. Just dont play this course, a few nice holes are overshadowed by terrible layout, jungle gyms in the fairways and the worst quality of grass I have ever seen. I don't know what course the rest of the reviewers played, but it was not morningside in Knoxville, TN. Stick to Admiral and Victor Ashe.

The new tee pads are awesome. Thought that hole 8-10 wer great holes. I also really liked the tee shots on holes 2 and 3.

I guess the thing I liked least was that there are too many roll away possibilities. Also the footing was treacherous in many of the steep areas. It seems as though it was not the best use of the property.

played ok though and had a good time but definitely not my favorite.

The course is a huge improvement over the old course. Great baskets and great long concrete tee pads throughout the course. Nice mix of shots with several tough approaches. There are some nice par 4's where you can birdie if you can make to nice shots. Nice use of elevation and hillside baskets.

Pretty sketchy area. I wouldn't advise playing alone or toward dark. I've heard stories about stolen discs and weird/scary encounters but haven't personally had anything happen.
The course doubles back on itself on the back 9 and you end up walking back down a fairway of a blind tee shot hole, not the best planning there.

Probably the best course in Knoxville and anywhere inside of 40 minutes. Great course. Tough and fun. I had trouble giving it a 4.0 solely because the surrounding area and questionable people strolling around. As far as the disc golf goes it's a 4.0 for sure.

* A lot more technical then before,
* more distance.
* very shady for those summer days/evenings.
* Elevation, both up and down!
* Great use of an existing city park,
* all new CEMENT tee pads ... (the old tee pads were rubber and rotting)

* Neighborhood
* No real bathrooms, just some portajohns on hole #4
* Bums live on hole #2

Wow! All in all, they did a great job utilizing some unused parts of the park, and have made this a very challenging course. I learned on the Old Morningside, but the added distance and elevation on the redesign just REALLY requires you to take your game (and will help you take your game) to that next level!.

Morningside Park is truly a special disc golf course - 18 holes of fun, frustration and challenge. Put it all together, and I wish I could have more of it.
- Amazing hole layouts. With the exception of one or two holes, it seems every basket is placed to give the optimal challenge. #1 is a good warm-up hole (or what will be #1 once the work is done, and the basket is installed), after that things get tough real fast. #2 is a 460-foot par 4 uphill hole (plays closer to 550), which starts out over a narrow opening over shrubs/rough. From there, the elevation really kicks in on your second shot. Two great shots will give you a potential birdie putt. #3 is essentially just as long (445 ft), but plays slightly downhill, so it plays much shorter, and in turn is a long par 3. Scattered trees do come into play, potentially knocking down tee shots or second shots. This is one of those par 3.5 type holes, where you're pleased with a 3, disappointed with a 4. From there, the challenge continues.
- Great, rolling hills throughout the course. Including #2, there are five holes that are challenging uphill shots (2, 8, 10, 12 & 18). That doesn't include a number of holes that start out flat, or downhill, and could leave you with uphill second shots - #7 & 10. One of the devious aspects of this course is that anytime there's an elevation factor on back-to-back holes, you're always going uphill first. So, once you get to a downhill hole, you've just been beaten down.
- A great blend of fun & challenging and risk/reward. If you can enjoy getting your lunch handed to you, it speaks well of the course. There's an amazing four-hole stretch (10 - 13) of four completely different looks, all challenging, where anything, and any score could happen. #10 is another of those long uphill holes - 440 feet, plays much longer - where you're pleased with par. #11 has the making of being the face/most well-known hole on the course. Your tee shot is over & through an opening in the trees back to an uphill basket on the edge of slope/between two trees. If you're aggressive and straight, you might see a birdie, or easy three. An errant shot will be deep in the rough, or leave you a long, challenging uphill second shot. #12 is a long, uphill, dogleg hole. And that leads to #13...
- There are some evil/good frustrating holes on the course #13 is a downhill, dogleg right, 280 foot hole. There's a road to the right, so the natural thought is to through a left-to-right fade shot. The challenge here is that there's a low hanging tree, right in your path, forcing you to throw below the branch level (and risk leaving your shot short), throw straight (and risk it fading back to the left), or throw a crazy hook shot (and hope it comes back near the basket. On #16, there's a bench, and several trees, that are just on the edge of the preferred flight path, just enough to throw your shot off. On these two holes, you feel you should be doing better than you probably will shot. Or maybe that was just my problem.
- Expanding on the above comment, there are some great risk/reward holes. #7 is a great downhill hole to a basket on a mound, which makes the hole a lot more level basket to tee. You can be aggressive with approach shots & putts and risk sailing/rolling down the hill/past the basket, or you can play the safe shot and just land on the hill. #14 is a pretty tight fairway, which has a major slope on the right side. Throw in a lot of trees, and you can start left, and still end in trouble on the right.
- One of the most unique parts of the course, and the park, is how it's laid out. The course is essentially a giant figure 8, that crosses over road twice (or once under, if you walk through the giant pipe from #6 to 7) and runs next to a third road. The way it winds through the park (it feels more like a greenway), you can park along the road and start your round on almost any hole. You can park in the middle road (Hazen Rd makes a loop, look at the map), and start on #7, or you could park in the back (Isabella Cir) and start on #13. Now I don't know how safe these roads are, so do it at your own risk.
- The course is essentially broken into two parts - hole #1 - 6 & #16 - 18 are in the front of the park (near the parking lot, playground, etc.) and #7 - 15 are in the back. So, you can play a quick nine, it just won't be the conventional method. For the most part, the loop of #7 - 15 is much more difficult, #2 & 3 notwithstanding.

Only two minor issues with the course, others are with the park.
- The holes around the front of the park (near the parking lot, playground) seem like they might be hard to play if/when the park is crowded. The potential unplayables are mainly #5, 16 - 18. #1, 4 & 6 might have lesser potential risks.
- As great as the course is, it ends on a relatively low point with the last three holes. They're three of the five shortest holes on the course, and three of the least challenging - all are easy pars. #16 is a potential ace run, #17 is a decent risk/reward, and #18 is straight uphill, and potential roller risk. A lot of this is due to the lack of space and potential risks of crowds, but it's still a slight letdown. Even if #2 & 3 were turned into #17 & 18, that would be a much better, tougher stretch to end with. Something to think about.
- This course has almost no amenities. There's some work being done at the front of the course, so maybe things will get better. Still, there are no water fountains, only a couple port-a-jons, and that's about it. The positive side is that on the back of the course (#7 - 15), there are only walking trails, so you shouldn't have to deal with crowds too often back here.
- The parking lot is small and far away from the back of the course. As with many parks & disc golf courses, err on the side of caution and don't leave anything valuable in the car.
- There are a couple long walks, mainly the walks across the road from #6 to 7 & #15 to 16.
- Currently no baskets for #1 & 5 as of May '12. This is a temporary thing, so it's not even a real issue that should impact your playing experience.

Morningside is far and away the best course in the Knoxville area. This is the type of course that should be showcased, bringing people in to town to play. Just as Renaissance and Hornets Nest are the big-name/must play courses for anyone visiting Charlotte, Morningside should do the same for Knoxville. It's that good. Having a crown jewel like this also helps raise the profile of the other good courses in the area - Victor Ashe, Roane County, etc.
- I didn't know what to expect when I got here. Before it's redesign, it had a sub 3 rating. I was cautiously optimistic when I heard Stan McDaniel was doing the redesign. This course stunned me and my buddy by just how great it was. Think Hornets Nest with an elevation factor.
- Out of the courses I've played in Tennessee and western NC, the is one of the better ones. Anyone in the region - Nashville, Asheville, etc. - needs to make the two hour drive to play. Now I have an excuse to make a return trip to Knoxville. And I can't wait to head back.

This is the completely new and redesigned Morningside course

Baskets 1 and 5 are still not there due to sidewalk construction, so this review is based on what is playable and considered the "course" currently.

-Brand new huge concrete tee pads at all holes
-Brand new yellow Innova discatchers
-Uses much more of the park than the old layout thus playing longer
-Four par 4s
-Lots of elevation change
-Great use of land
-The Charlotte course master/designer Stan McDaniel designed it!
-Lots of trees, meaning lots of shade
-Haven't experienced large crowds at all (possibly due to it being so new, but most Knoxville courses don't get nearly as crazy as Nashville courses)

-No permanent signage yet, and temporary signage is all just laying near the teepads under twigs and branches
-No signage means navigation is tough unless you have map or play with someone who knows
-Too many straight shots (even though these shots still have plenty of obstacles)
-1 and 5 still unplayable
-No practice basket

It's really hard for me to not compare this course to the old layout, which is why I like it so much.

Hole 2) Par 4 shooting gradually uphill, slight hyzer, over 350 foot of brush that can easily hide your disc. Then another 100ft+ shot to the pin

Hole 3) Gradual decline with a low ceiling becoming a problem 200ft after your drive. Pin on pretty steep slope so your putt can roll away easily

Hole 4) Shortish straight shot with low ceiling at 150ft after drive.

Hole 6) Plenty of airspace with this hyzer around a big tree 100ft in front of you. Easiest hole on course

Hole 7) Straight downhill shot with a menacing line of trees protecting the pin on top of a large sharp hill, so don't let your putt roll down.

Hole 8) Flat par 4 anhyzer with low ceiling. If your drive is even remotely close to good, it becomes too easy

Hole 9) Continual gradual decline of this straight par 4 playing the longest hole on the course. Power lines run down the left side of the fairway. If you miss the fairway it's better to miss left. Right of the fairway is a huge hill that eats discs

Hole 10) Par 4. Probably one of the cooler holes. 350-400ft flat straight shot to a wall of trees and the beginning of a hill. Then a shot straight up hill 100ft+ with plenty of trees to get in your way.

Hole 11) One of my favorites. Big elevation change teepad to pin. Anhyzer (RHFH for me on this shot) through small gap created by tree branches everywhere. Then pin on top of a hill with small drop off directly on one side.

Hole 12) One of the harder par 3s. Uphill most of the way. Have to hyzer at beginning of drive, then let it flatten out and go straight up the hill. Pin at top of hill.

Hole 13) Short hole shooting through a semi tunnel of trees and low ceiling. Anhyzer (RHFH for me on this shot) with the pin sitting in a corner of steep hills surrounding it. So even if you thought you parked a drive, it could roll quite a bit.

Hole 14) One of the two fully "wooded" holes here. Short, straight, and teepad and pin are roughly same elevation but you walk down to the "fairway" so you can easily end up with crazy difficult uphill up shots. Needless to say this hole is tough to get a drive to the pin. Ive played this course probably 20+ times now and I think I have had a respectable drive once or twice.

Hole 15) Awesome hole, but somewhat easy. Huge hyzer with massive high to low elevation change. Can't see pin. Way far left, and down the hill. Have to shoot low and hit the right gap to avoid trees.

Hole 16) Short straight shot but really low ceiling and easily can put it in the woods and have a hard second shot. Pin is on steep hill. I double bogged it when I had a 20 ft birdie putt because my putts kept getting longer and longer as they continually banged the basket and rolled away. Makes you really consider trying to lay up softly.

Hole 17) Straight, slight hyzer shot, but not the fairest of fairways with lots of trees 75-100 ft in front of the pin. Some good shots can feel a little lucky. Pin in hill so putts can roll.

Hole 18) Short and dramatically uphill, and the second fully "wooded" hole. Lots of trees but not nearly as unfair as 14 Anhyzer, straight, and hyzer lines all sort of exist, but I would say the anhyzer (RHFH for this shot for me) line is the best. Footing can be somewhat sketchy due to the steepness of the hill.

If it isn't already the best 18 hole course around Knoxville, when they get permanent signage and finally put in baskets for 1 and 5, it will be for sure. No other courses around here can offer the kind of variety and quality of holes and terrain.