-Located in downtown Knoxville
-Beautiful sloping course with lots of mature trees and a nice mix of slightly open to slightly wooded holes.
-Two baskets on almost every hole
-Quality tee pads

-It is almost unplayable if it is wet because several fairways and greens are on a steep slope with no grass.
-Two trashcans in the park.
-Not many benches

-This course is a hike with lots of elevation changes.
-Lots of death putts and roll out opportunities on almost every whole.

Overall a very fun design to play. Concrete tees and discatcher baskets. Great use of parks elevation throughout the entire course. Good mix of open/wooded and short/long holes.

Tee signs have seen better days and definitely need updating. Not in the best part of town. Rollaway city.

Morningside Park DGC in Knoxville is a very fun course. It gets a bad rep locally at times because it's not in the best part in town, and because of the amount of baskets on hills which can cause lots of rollaways. But this is a course that I really enjoy. There are multiple pin locations which is also a plus in my opinion. Concrete tee pads and discatcher baskets which is pretty common in this area. If you play this course, yes... you are going to have more than your fair share of rollaways on drives and putts, but thats part of the sport. The course has some short ace run holes and some long open holes that you can really open up on as well. Great use of the elevation in the park and just an overall fun course design. I have played this course more than a handfull of times and I definitely plan on going back many more times! If you want to see thsi course on video, check out my crew playing this course in the video below...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye6EVK8sgXs

Morningside Park is a beautiful eighteen hole course very close to downtown Knoxville. Baskets are mostly in great condition. The concrete tee pads are level, large, and seem relatively new. A sign at the head of the course makes it easy to find where the course starts. Tee signs on every hole have a map of the hole, distance, and par information. When I played, the grass was recently mowed, foliage was well kept and there were few places where one was susceptible to losing a disc. Some tees have benches. Elevation is used very effectively with lots of holes playing up and down rolling hills and elevated basket placement. Great variety of hole distances ranging from 170 to 555 feet as well as straight, right, left, uphill, downhill, and flat shots. Hole 9 is the longest and a real standout hole. Many holes have two pin positions. The park has many mature trees that provide challenge through low ceilings and tight windows especially in the summer time. Wasn't crowded when I played and it didn't seem that disc golfers had much interference with other people using the park. Plenty of parking is provided.

No map at the front of the course. Some signage was in rough condition. One or two baskets weren't quite put in level. Navigation could be tricky for a first timer; I had a local to show me through the course. A few holes sit close to the road and one or two are close to the highway. There's no danger of throwing on the highway, but the noise could be distracting or undesirable for some players. Not much to complain about frankly

This course is well designed, well kept, and a lot of fun. Aside from a few minor setbacks, this is a really solid course. It has plenty of challenge for experienced players to work on their chops without being too frustrating for beginners. Easily accessible from downtown for a round after work. Knovillites are spoiled to have Morningside Park as their home course.

*Excellent course design with lots of opportunities for power drives and challenging elevation shots

*A tournament favorite, so the course itself gets lots of love from the city and from KDGA.

* Convenient to most parts of inner-city Knoxville, so its possible to hop over for a couple of quick holes on a lunch break at work.

*One of the most challenging courses in the area

*Peaceful and relatively quiet during off season/off hours

*Most shots are situated facing to the West, so there is significant glare playing in the afternoons.

*High traffic on weekends and afternoons with good weather, so lots of waiting to play through.

*Not in the best part of town, so playing there alone or in small groups requires some situational awareness - particularly towards dusk (never had any problems personally, however).


* The divided layout requires lots of walking and adds time waiting for other groups to play through, and since its a multi-use park, you have to be cognizant of pedestrians walking through.

Love this course! Its convenient and fun to play - quite challenging. Its definitely in a more urban environment, and you'll see some grit, but nothing that isn't prevalent in other inner-city disc golf parks around the country. For both traffic and lighting reasons, I prefer to play here in the mornings when there aren't many other people out. Though the park itself can be somewhat trashy, KDGA does an excellent job maintaining the course. Its a tournament-favorite, so you will notice a marked up-tick in traffic as tournament dates approach as folks practice. Bring shades if you play in the afternoon, as the sun can blind you on several shots. It can also be quite crowded on nice days, but I still think its less trafficked than Victor Ashe.

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.

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.