Hahamongna Watershed Park is located on the north edge of the Los Angeles metro area. It is the home of Oak Grove, the world's first permanent disc golf course (originally installed in 1975). Today's version of the course has 23 holes.

The course mostly plays around the edges of the park. The main obstacles are trunks of the oak trees the course is named after. Nothing is super tight here, but the designers did a good job of placing tees and baskets to require some degree of shot shaping around the tree trunks. It is a nice setting for a round of disc golf. The distances are recreational level, with most holes under 300' and all par 3. However, in general you will have to throw about 250' and shape your shot correctly to have a chance at birdie.

There are some thick rough areas, but in most places the grass is cut down and losing a disc would be nearly impossible unless it gets stuck in one of the trees.

The baskets, ironically, are not DGA's but rather standard yellow banded DISCatchers. They have definitely seen a lot of discs, but were still in fine shape as of my visit. One basket installed per hole.

Some of the tee pads are quite nice - large, hexagonal-shaped pieces of concrete. Trash cans and benches are also present near most (if not all) tees. The benches are a big plus here since the park is so busy and you'll likely have to spend quite a bit of time waiting for DGers, non-DGers, or both during your round.

There are various porta potties and restrooms scattered around the park. The first tee area has a practice basket, and a makeshift kiosk consisting of various notices and other pieces of paper taped to a power line pole (no course map though).

It will be easiest if I lump my two biggest Cons together and share my experience in story form. This course is frankly a nightmare to navigate, and has egregious multi-use safety issues.

I do not use UDisc during my rounds, but here I came prepared with the UDisc map pulled up on mobile web to reference. Even that wasn't nearly enough. The first couple of holes weren't bad. Someone put the little clips in the bottom of the baskets, which along with the UDisc map was enough. Things started to go sharply downhill after hole 4, where you'll see hole 7's tee a short walk away but instead you are supposed to pick your way up a steep ridge to reach hole 5. Hole 5 is a short, uninspiring fairway next to a parking lot (basically through a picnic area). Then, hole 6 asks you to throw across a busy paved bicycling/walking trail. After that, you have to retrace your steps (and safely get back down the steep hill) to reach hole 7. After doing this I found myself wondering why holes 5 and 6 even exist at all. It's not as if the designers were trying to get to 18 holes.

Hole 7, by the way, plays right up to another picnic area that was in use when I visited. I think hole 8 was being affected by construction, but it was hard to tell. There was a group looking for a disc in thick lose-your-disc brush on the left side. Hole 9 plays right up to the parking lot.

I never found the 10th tee. And again, I was looking at the UDisc map and normally my navigational sense is very good. I wandered around the area and found the 18th and 23rd baskets, and the 19th tee. A few minutes later I gave up and walked up to what appeared to be the 11th tee, but there was clear signage (for once) indicating to use an alternate tee pad a few feet away. There was also a group playing the hole which I hadn't seen during the round yet, but I figured I was probably just catching up to them. I stood on the alternate pad and waited for them to clear. Just as they did, another group of 3 that I had not seen yet walked up to the normal 11th pad and proceeded to tee off immediately without even glancing towards me. This group definitely was NOT behind me the whole time, and I am certain I did not walk around them on #10. So I think they skipped holes and played out of turn, but it was hard to really blame them since I was confused too.

I was also running out of time to play. I incorrectly thought I would be able to get through a short course like this solo in two hours on a Sunday late morning, even if I had to wait for a couple of groups. So I decided to break normal etiquette myself and walk around a little bit to find an open hole to throw (making sure that no groups were playing the hole or about to play it). But curiously, when I started skipping around I noticed more other groups that seemed to be doing the same thing. People were throwing at baskets from directions that did not seem to line up with any sort of fairway or tee pad on the map.

Finally I saw the 21st tee and no one seemed to be on that part of the course, so I was able to play the last three holes. #21 and #22 went fine. #23 basically shares the same fairway as #19, and they play in opposite directions so I had to wait for a group on #19 to play through before I could finish up.

The TL/DR version of the above is:
- Lots of safety hazards related to throwing in heavy multi-use areas.
- Lots of issues navigating between holes.
- Cramped together holes in the back half of the course.

It seemed like all of these could be resolved by:
- Redoing the layout to have only 18 holes, while avoiding fairways that overlap with each other/other park amenities (basically eliminate the current #5 and #6 plus three of the back area holes that are close to other ones, then adjust the remaining holes a bit).
- Installing better signage.

The tee signs were not good either. They were just yard-style variety with the hole number, and occasionally a fun fact about the course. A note somewhere said that more permanent signage was in the works, which would really help.

Some tee pads were not the hexagonal-shaped concrete slabs but rather just rubber mats. Many of the hexagon slabs also had incorrect hole numbers engraved into them, which didn't help the general confusion (I recommend just ignoring the engraved numbers).

The elevation changes here are only gentle. There is nothing particularly memorable about the golf itself (at least the holes I experienced), and also nothing to challenge advanced players.

I was hoping to see some kind of high-quality commemorative plaque explaining how Steady Ed helped get the world's first course installed here in 1975, and added baskets in 1976. In retrospect, I should have known better. The rusty "Frisbee Golf Course" sign on the park drive and the "World's First Disc Golf Course - 1975" note taped to the power line pole are way more in line with how our sport got started.

I did not expect the world's first course to be world-class disc golf by today's standards. But I still left pretty disappointed. It's not that the holes are too easy or the baskets are falling apart, or anything like that. Someone cares about this course and is trying to chip away at the issues, but larger scale changes are needed. With a redesign along the lines of what I described above, this could be a solid 3.5 type course - but right now I feel like I'm being generous giving a 2.5.

I had about two hours to devote to disc golf on my recent mini trip to California. I chose to spend that time here more due to the historical significance than anything else. Through that lens, I don't regret coming here. Now I can say I threw at the first disc golf course in the world! But if you don't care about that, I'm pretty sure there are better options around - even within the LA metro area.

Very hard to find holes, lack of signage, online course maps out of date. We had to skip holes because we just couldn't find the baskets. We played to wrong baskets a few times. NOT great for anyone who has not played here before. I would not go back unless I went with someone very familiar with the course. Beautiful area though and weather was great!

Happy Birthday Jeff D.

After a day in the sun, it was nice to play a round in the shade. The course is on the west side of a valley with a lot of trees. Apparently this was the first permanent disc golf course. I was surprised at the technical design. I would have guessed that the first course would be kind of boring, but not so.

There are plenty of holes that force a certain kind of shot. The holes are short, but birdies are not gimmes. It looked like there were multiple pin positions on most holes.

The hexagonal tee pads are great. Plenty of room to throw any kind of shot you want. If you want to try out that 360-degree approach, go for it (you might overthrow the hole, though).

The course is named Hahamongna. I love the sound of that, especially if I imagine Fred Armisen saying it as part of The Californians.

Navigation was not simple, even with a map. There are plenty of holes not visible from the tee, even with the short distances. I never did find the basket for one of the holes (14 or 15, I think). Several of the holes require walking back up part of the fairway to get to the next hole.

There was only one tee sign (very old), which makes me think there used to be more.

I could see this being a course that is enjoyable to return to once you know the layout. There aren't many holes here that have anything you haven't seen before, but for a piece of history in the shade, it's worth a visit.

The main positives about the course are the past history and the nice views of the mountains to the north. There are some nice local players we ran into (but these were the exception...see below).

The holes play under a lot of Oak trees, and accuracy is at a premium. You'll find that a big arm does you little good here. Some of the holes are old enough that trees planted around baskets have grown around them, which adds to the challenge.

Oak Grove was the first permanent disc golf course. It is also the first disc golf course I played that felt like an exclusive country club, with alpha male complex locals who are intolerant of visitors, have foul tempers, throw discs at you in anger, etc.. I'm sure the people who established this course would be disappointed if they were to see some of the behavior I witnessed.

If you go there to visit, don't expect that you'll be able to play a round. And there is no way for you to find out in advance whether or not you will be able to play a round. Just luck, I guess.

I made a special effort to plan a work trip to LA around playing at OG. I dutifully checked any websites, googled, etc., to find out if there was anything happening that would be a hassle during that time frame, and it seemed free and clear according the the official OG website, etc.. When I got there, we found some younger local players who showed us around the course, told us stories some of the old veterans passed down to them, etc.. We were having a fun round, and I had a positive vibe going.

But then some very agitated and rude players began cutting in, telling us to "get the f*** of our course," and things like that. We were surprised and confused. Some of them were throwing discs at us. The locals who were guiding us were also confused, and they had been playing there for 4 years.

Only after playing almost the entire course did a guy come over and say there was an amateur tournament going on, and that we might have more luck at Sylmar (a good suggestion, Sylmar was great). Still, nobody else stepped up to denounce this foul behavior, which is really disappointing.

It was the second time I checked every website I knew about prior to playing a course to be sure it wasn't going to be crowded for an event, or closed for maintenance, and I arrived to find something going on that made playing nearly impossible. The last time was when I found a bluegrass festival going on at the Golden Gate park course after checking the local website the weeks and days before I visited (this site seemed up to date with info, but said nothing about thhe blue grass festival). Maybe dgcoursereview.com could become a central clearinghouse for posting this kind of information in the future. It still depends on the willingness of local club members and such to post information on such things to the web, as a courtesy to visitors so that they know better and can plan their trips. There is nothing more disappointing than traveling thousands of miles to play a course and find it closed even after you've done your homework.

Holes 1-8 start out easy to follow with short walks but the next few holes get a bit harder to find. There is some elevation change throughout the course although it's not very significant. There are several very well protected basket locations that make the hole play longer and harder than the tee sign would indicate. Tee pads were quite ample allowing for different lines off the tee, on site bathrooms, water fountain, and lots of parking. the first disc golf course.

Lots of people, difficult navigation for first timers, crossing fairways, & very easy to loose a disc in some locations of the course.

New notes on 4/12