(3.645 Rating) A moderately wooded Portland area staple.
- NATURAL BEAUTY - To me, the grandeur of the Douglas Firs makes this course very eye-catching. Where I live, trees just don't get this big. Numerous trees are wider than 5 feet. On my Pacific Northwest trip that included 20 courses played, only Lake Stevens I thought had a more fascinating wooded environment. About on par with the wooded beauty of both Shelton Springs and Seatac, but with its own unique blend of elements. Overall, I scored this aspect a touch better than 90 percentile. The lack of water and subdued elevation change keeps it from going higher on my list.
- CHALLENGE - The difficulty here seemed to be set up perfect for my MA2 level skills. A majority of the holes play between 325 and 425 feet. A handful of holes have to be threaded through multiple tree gaps. Hole (15) is a monster hole requiring both a bomb and a threading. That one to me felt more like a par 4 considering it's near 500 feet long. MA2s like me will be treading around par all day, while MA1s will likely average 2 to 4 down in my estimation. MA3s and MA4s will rarely if ever finish sub-par, but the challenge is not oppressive. Most errant shots should be found with ease as there is very little overgrowth along the layout.
- HOLE VARIETY - I thought the variety was good, but not elite level. Holes twist both ways. There are a few heavily wooded holes, a couple lightly wooded ones, but a solid majority are moderately wooded with similar backdrops. Currently listed as a par 55, although as noted above, (15) felt like a par 4 for my skill level in addition to hole (18). Elevation change is mild to moderate. I don't recall any water elements.
- AMENITIES - This aspect has some room for improvement, but of what is present, it's done well. First off, brand new top-of-the-line DISCatcher baskets. Second, adequately sized concrete pads, all in great shape. Third, new and attractive tee signage, and I'll touch on more of that below. Fourth, benches at most tees. Fifth, multiple basket placements. The one major missing item is multiple tees.
- NAVIGATION AND SIGNAGE - The new tee signs look great. They have all the needed info including pin placement indicators and next tee direction. The baskets have arrows affixed to them and I saw a couple other navigational cues. The one missing item of note was a course map.
- OPEN HOURS - The main reason I was able to hit Pier Park, was because it was open super early. Like 5AM early in the summer. I was able to throw it and be back at my hotel room 40 minutes away before my wife even knew I was gone.

Basically no cons.
- WHY NOT A 4.0 TO ME - Many who have played here before and love this place, may be disapproving of why I dropped a high 3.5 on it. I personally thought it was a really good course. The golf was high quality and the atmosphere was pleasant. I guess I just didn't feel blown away by any aspect. The amenities are nice, but far from elite level. I was expecting the challenge and variety to be more robust than it was. Sure (15) was awesome, but a few too many holes felt similar in scope. Perhaps there's a social scene here that drives an enjoyability element, which just didn't translate to this solo course bagger. On my ledger it sits at 81st out of my 623 courses played to date. Which is 87 percentile. Roughly only my top 10 percent score above a 3.75 on my ledger.
- De-ja Vu - After hole (2), my memory of the course is somewhat a blur, until (15). It's wonderful woods and all, I just prefer more differential elements. Lots of moderately wooded lines comprised of giant Douglas Firs.
- FINISH FROM PARKING - Hole (18) was in a new par 4 placement for my appearance. I liked the hole, but I didn't enjoy the long walk back to the parking area. Seemed like a 6 to 8 minute walk.
- TIME PLAY - I played at the break of dawn and got a near empty course to play. However, even with that going for me, I still spent 80 minutes throwing it solo. I have a feeling this place gets mad busy due to the proximity to downtown and the high quality golf.

Pier Park is clearly one of the better courses in the area and I very much enjoyed my time here. Every big city I've been to, would be thrilled to have a course like this near its city center. Although I didn't play them, I'm going to assume that for most, that Milo McIver and the Horning courses are the top area destinations and that Pier Park is around a top 3 destination for Portland. Pier Park likely gets more play however, due to its location and availability. Players that find themselves in Portland for a couple days should definitely check it out. Perhaps not an ideal fit for Pro players or MA4s, due to the one tee element serving up MA2/MA1 challenges, but it's such a solid course in all the other aspects that I think almost everyone will enjoy it. Again, strong 3.5 course to me. If it were a 2 basket 2 tee course, I'd probably bump it across the 3.75 threshold. It reminded me of Brahan Springs in my home area of Huntsville Alabama, but Pier Park is a far superior example of the similar styled pair. Other sort-of comparable courses that come to mind that I've played include: Golden Gate in San Fran, Shelton Springs near Seattle, Oregon Park in Atlanta, Jefferson Barracks Original in St. Louis and Cane Ridge near Nashville.

Great tee pads. Decent signage. Excellent baskets. Helpful next tee signs. It's a beautiful park that accommodates the disc golf course very well. It's surprising how the designers were able to coax such long holes out of a relatively compact and shared facility. Well done!

It was tough to know which position the hole was in. The signs didn't say what pat was. Some of the bag holders on the posts were broken or missing. Some sign vandalism. Even though there were "Next Tee"? signs, we still accidentally skipped two holes!

Very impressive city park course in a cool classic Portland neighborhood.

- The baskets, pads, and signs are all nice and for the most part maintained
- There is little to no underbrush so it's pretty tough to lose a disc
- This is a good course for players of all skill levels. There are a handful of tight drives from the pad, and for the most part the course allows for open shots.
- The course wasn't too crowded and the people on the course were helpful and friendly
- There is some elevation which makes the round an enjoyable hike through some terrifically large cedar trees

- There are conflicting signs on the course that need to be updated. E.g. there's not a sign for hole 7, then there are two signs for hole 14. I felt like i was going crazy trying to keep track of where i was after hole 6.
- The numbers embedded into the concrete pads aren't always right. E.g. i think hole 10 has a "9" embedded. Further adding to me feeling like i was taking crazy pills.
- It'd be useful if the tops of the baskets had one of the metal chain holders painted to indicate which direction one should travel to the next pad. it's a clever way to provide some help to new players in the area and it's fairly common.

- The course is located in a remote part of the city next to a skate park, and a bunch of apartments and homes. It's a neat little park that feels like its own island.
- Overall i wanted to love this course and i don't understand the excessively high average rating. This course is a lot of rinse and repeat for the holes. It's not a terribly challenging course, and the Mach X baskets are just okay. The chains added to the baskets as a second layer still allow some spit outs, which is annoying.
- Perhaps my East Coast bias is showing, but i expected the course to offer some variety, and it came up short. It was a fun course, i probably would go back, it just doesn't meet the expectations set by the average it has earned. The course design could have been thought out a little better, the baskets are in simple positions.

Nice variety of fairways (open, wooded/technical, straight, bent), multiple pin placements. It was fun to play this.
Most holes have good signs and benches.
Lots of parking.

Really crowded, even in the rain.
Some holes are pretty muddy in the fairways.
Too many people ignoring park rules, large groups, smoking.
Needs signs to help you get from hole to hole. If we didn't follow a couple who play the course often we would not have played them in order.

I look forward to playing this again, when the weather is better.

First of all Peir park, you have no Peir. You must be named after someone called Peir, I guess that's fine too.

This is a seriously beautiful park, tons of tall for trees and rolling hills provide an urban oasis perfect for our sport.

It starts out with some more open shots near the small parking lot, around the softball fields and the you dive I I the woods to a series of technical holes.
There are upshots, downhill bombs, turnovers, places where you can use a good OH shot. If you have multiple suite types bring them you can use those shots.

I threw FH, BH, OH and even one roller of the tee due to the diversity of the holes.

Good signage with both basket locations shown which was quite helpful. Teepads were pretty good, slick today but it looks as though they have decent texture on an average day.

No serious bomber holes but several in the 400s to keep it interesting.

Tons of headroom for a wooded course too, if you need a line, just look up!

Also they have brand new Mark X DGa baskets with the neon green tops and baskets super easy to see and they catch well too. Plenty of seating on many holes as well.

Nice facilities here, several restrooms, tennis courts, playgrounds and ball fields. Great little community haven.

I had a good time here and if I lived in the area it would likely be a go to course for a quickish round.

I played a a nice pace and finished in less than an hour.

The layout is hard to follow on a few holes and its easy to get turned around if you haven't played there before.

No huge bomb holes but not taking points off for it, to layout is very diverse given the limited land and dealing with the fact that this is a multi use park.

Not much parking, I don't know if this is a normal issue but there was a cross country meet there today and I had to park way down the street. The only normal parking is in a small circle near hole one.

Overall this is a great neighborhood park, I had a great time and if I'd had the time might have played 2 or 3 rounds there.

It's got its cons but no major ones and I would defiantly play it again. The trees are truely special.

Very scenic with mature trees throughout.
We'll maintained (played during worlds)
Worlds signage was there so that was very good.
Very good incorporation of elevation with several downhill and uphill shots.
Huk Lab signs were present to show direction for blind shots. (Not sure if they are always there)
Good mix of of technical and open tee shots.

Biggest con is the repetitive nature of the holes. Most of the other players and myself found that we threw the same disc (or two) on the majority of the holes. I literally threw one of two discs on 14 of the 18 holes.
Most holes were generally straight, with a slight turn at the end.
There could be a shorter hole or two to mix in a putter or midrange.
Other than recovery shots, a mid-range was not necessary at all.
Greens were generally flat, but fast based on the dry conditions we played under.
It was quite dusty, also attributable to the dry conditions.
Navigation had a couple of non-intuitive routes: hole 6 to 7, hole 9 to 10, and hole 13 to 14.
Also, it's a real long walk back after 18.

After playing it the first time, I really liked Pier park, but after playing it three+ times I found it to be repetitive.
That said, it does give you the portland feel, and it was the only city course in the worlds rotation.
If traveling in portland I would still say its a must play, just for the PNW feel.
Also, it's right down the street from huk lab. Stop there before or after.

One of the most fun courses in the Portland area! Variety of hole lengths and shapes and elevations make this one a lot of fun to play more than once! Great scenery, park is well taken care of!

Can be busy, which is not a problem with the course just something to be aware of. Gets muddy in the spring/fall, again like any course in Pdx.

A must see if you are a PNW disc golfer!

Great course in a city park. Very enjoyable and has all the city park amnenties such as trash cans and bathrooms. I really like the throw on #2 very possible ace hole with a great bender shot. Pads good, two pin placements and once you realize which one it makes it easy with your map. Enjoyed it!

On busy times I'm thinking parking would be in short supply. Need signs pointing the way from one basket to next tee pad. #12 basket to #13 tee pad was hard to find even with the picture on our cell. The group in front of us never played 13, 14...they went just like we did to 15 tee pad. Yes...the sign said 15 so we started looking. Not much of a con, huh. #18 tee pad was a little hard to find. Long walk without directions back to parking and you walk right along side of #1 fairway which causes players on hole #1 to hold up until you pass through.

Very popular course, best to play it weekdays in the morning. Take a picture of the course layout on your cell it will help you find of a couple of tees. Need to watch for runners and dog walkers, there are just as many of them as golfers and some paths are out of sight but in range!

Free
Close Parking
Layout is challenging
Multiple pin placement with good baskets
Concrete tees
Well maintained

Hard to find some tees.
#18 finishes no where near where you parked.
Busy Busy Busy Busy

Get here early or stand in line the entire round. A great course overall but has a few irritations.

-Good teepads
-Multiple pin locations
-Good signage
-Location, location, location
-Good mix of left, right, up, down
-Good mix of long and short
-Beautiful park setting with cathedral tree vibe
-Well-maintained
-Sausage Guy!

-Often overcrowded
-Street parking
-Nasty bathroom

Pier Park is peerless in Portland in that this is the only course within the actual City limits. It's also peerless in Oregon for a City Park setting featuring the kind of majestic trees you'll normally only find on Pacific northwest courses in the woods. This course is manicured like a City Park but gives you a classic Pacific northwest forest feel under the trees. In the space of several holes you can go from feeling like you are alone in the woods to facing a stark reminder that you are smack dab in an urban/industrial area with a busy road, train tracks, and dense housing in the surrounding area.

The course is very well designed to take advantage of the ups, downs and side slopes of the hills in the park as well as the many trees. There are lots of different lines and shots on this course from short downhill left-to-right to blind uphill right-to-left to straight down a narrow fairway lined with soaring conifers. You need distance as well as accuracy to score really well at Pier, but even a just okay player can have a lot of fun and shoot in the vicinity of par. It is a fun, fair course that rewards accuracy as you negotiate the trees, but doesn't punish you with dense underbrush for errant shots.

Pier Park is basically everything you want in a City Park disc golf course, and that means it's what everyone else wants too, which is really the only drawback to Pier. It can be very hard to get through a round at Pier without having to play through or wait for large groups of casual golfers. I try to hit it up early in the morning when I am in Portland and have left mid-round more than once when I have had enough golf to be satisfied and lost my patience to wait for or desire to hurry through slow groups. That's a testament to the fun and challenge of the course overall, but does make for a Con in the overall experience of playing there. But it doesn't stop me and it shouldn't stop you. When in Portland, you should play Pier Park!

-Free
-Trash cans almost every other hole or more.
-beautiful setting in a park that makes you feel like you aren't anywhere near the city.
-Good mix of required shots. I think I used every shot I know for this course.
-Good baskets for catching the disc (not so much for visibility).
-Concrete tee pads, pretty good lenght as well (get a little slippery and muddy when it's wet).
-Some good elevation changes.

The map from this site sucks. The course signs are not too helpfull for placement either as they don't have actually dictation of object that are on the course (like if there is a big bush in the middle of the fairway in front of the basket, it wasn't on the sign).
The layout is a little scrambled, as a first time player I was very lost right of the bat... got some help at hole 2, then he had to go and I made do with a little serching about hole 11, luckily I met another disc golfer who helped me find my way the rest of the time.
Baskets are a little hard to see. The whole course is mostly under large trees and is therefore in the shadows, there are not really any bright marking on the baskets to see from a distance.
Even with all the trash cans, there was a lot of trash on this course... didn't make any sense.

I liked this course, it was very nice to play the long and short, left and right mixtures of holes.
The trees were so big that they seemed to make the basket look further than it was, but at the same time they were far enough apart that they are able to be avioded, but not easily all the time.

Few cities can boast of having a serious dg course within city limits. Pier Park's proximity to civilization has not resulted in short gimmicky holes. Nor has the design been left to amateurs.
Many challenging holes offer problems for lefties and righties alike. There are good tee signs and tee pads. And though an occasional jogger or dog walker interlopes, they usually seem aware of the flying plastic.

Winter and mornings aren't crowded. Local players range from the homeless bottle collectors (yes they were playing) to former world champions. Everyone I've run into (in my four or five times here) was pleasant.

Most of the challenges of this course involve finding a route around a gigantic early tree(s). But what great trees they are!

Most of the hole lengths are similar (many around 320, or downhill but playing 320) and quite a few of the holes present the same problems. (3 and 4 for example. Or 17 and 18.)

There isn't really that much elevation/gain or loss despite what previous reviewers say. (visit Horning's Hideout, Stafford Lake, Lake Casitas, or Dela for a taste of elevation gain/loss). That said, the holes that involved elevation were fun.

All of the greens/basket areas are pretty easy. There's never really a price to pay for blowing by a basket. And there's never that one little annoying branch to alter your otherwise easy putt. (some may view this as a pro, i prefer the challenge.)

-Easy Parking

-good warmup/practice area

- donation box

- barely good enough bathroom.

The park plays through a cathedral of large firs and is a great hideout for both sunny and rainy days. The layout is challenging, enjoyable and can cater to many skill levels. The elevation plays into well over half the holes though it isn't too steep and gruelling. Discs are easily found on the ground as there is rather thin underbrush. Accuracy is the key with a mix of lengths to make you happy.

This course is a marvel as you navigate through the big trees - some of the biggest I've seen on a course. They truly shape the fairways.

Navigation can be a little confusing - they do have some "next tee" arrows high up in the trees to help out, but a map may be better for the first time.



Garbage (beer cans and bottles) - despite there being numerous trash cans in the park, we found numerous cans and bottles on nearly every hole. Needless to say, I can't stand the scum who litter. This is not the fault of the park or disc club, just a rant against people who have room to pack it in, but no room to pack it out.

There is a really nice guy who is now selling discs and grilling food next to Tee #1. Please give him your business, as concessions at disc golf courses is truly a rarity and a privilege!

Great baskets, open areas, very clean, mowed. Elevation shots are fun. beautiful scenery. Theres a private disc/accesorie vendor out there most of the time selling bins of discs at good prices.

My only one complaint is that there are no signs at each hole desribing the layout and basket location of each hole. especially when you get back into the wooded area it gets really confusing. we had to ask for help to the next hole a couple times because we would go the wrong way to the next hole. Someone needs to spend some $ on some signs to make this already fantastic course a perfect course....

I wonder if we could setup a Golf Disc fundraiser to fund the project of gettting each hole on this course a hole description sign?

Nice cement tee pads. I really long course with Par 3. Lots of trees.
lots of Blind shots. Easy to find.

Long holes for a Par 3. Half the holes are closed until March. Really crowded. Long walks to the next hole. Need tee signs with picture of hole.