(1.822 Rating) A +40 year old park style course with simple gameplay.
- A SECOND COURSE NEAR BY - Rockwood is about 1/3 of a mile from Vance Park DGC. One can literally tap out on (9) here and walk over to tee (1) at Vance in 7-minutes. This is a great aspect for course baggers like me.
- QUICK PLAY - The sun was about 90 minutes from setting when I arrived here. Which apparently is enough time to get in 5 solo rounds. The course is somewhat easy to follow, hard to get into trouble, and goes super quick. I was in, out and on my way to the Confluence course in 19 minutes with one navigational goof. Perhaps players will get bogged down on active park days.
- BASICS - The required course items of tees, baskets and signage makes this a reasonable course to me. 4-foot by 12-foot concrete tees. The baskets are MachVs and they are in good shape. The signage is a painted number and distance on the concrete pad. Most of the tee signage paint is fading unfortunately, but I'd guess they'll be repainting them soon.
- BEGINNER FRIENDLY - This place is a great choice for newer players. A 250-foot arm should be able to make a handful of birdies when everything clicks. The odds of having to search for one is zero. The lost disc potential is also zero, unless one forgets to pick up or throws one over a residential fence.
- HISTORY - Rockwood was the first course in Oregon to have baskets installed according to what I read on the PDGA's website. Champoeg apparently didn't get baskets until the 90s and that one has been redesigned.

The de-ja vu feeling.
- THRILL-FREE - I felt like I was going through the motions on most of the tee shots here. Had I stuck around to play 3 or 4 more rounds, I probably would have birdied them all. Every hole is a basic park style play with 1 to 8 trees to gameplan around. The mirage of smashing chains was the only adrenaline pumping element to me.
- NATURAL BEAUTY - Rockwood is a nice pleasant small park. However, there is nothing exciting or exotic about it. It's, flat, small and has lots of buildings in view the entire time. The park appears to be well-maintained though as it was mowed and free of downed tree branches. There are large Western Cedars and Douglas Firs, like just about every course out this way. I ended up scoring this aspect about 30 percentile among the 620 courses I've played as of this review.
- AMENITIES - Besides the concrete tees and baskets, there are few other course related amenities. I noticed two seating areas and a practice basket. Restrooms are also available.
- NAVIGATION - As noted in my basics pro, the painted tee pad signage is fading. This sign is also obviously flush with the ground. Thus if someone doesn't have an navigational app, they may end up heading to the wrong tee. For example, I skipped over to (9) after (7) by accident and had to run back over to (8) to complete the round. Regardless, no one is getting lost here for an extended period of time.

Rarely have I ever played two courses back to back that were as similar as Rockwood and Vance. The gameplay, aesthetics, amenities and vibe are all nearly identical. I think it's possible that someone could write one review, and use it for both courses, and no one would know. I did not, but most of my bolded discussion topics are indeed the same. Anyways, a mid 2.0 to weak 2.0 level course to me. There may be some added draw hear over Vance due to the history, but otherwise I find it to be a rather typical non-descript niner just like its neighbor. Besides Vance, it also reminds me of courses like Azalea in Tampa Bay, Ken Johnston in Huntsville Alabama, Donner Park south of Indianapolis, Calvert City Park near Paducah Kentucky, John C Poole north of Nashville, Portland Park near Chattanooga and Silver Lake Excalibur north of Seattle. Not surprisingly, this is the same list of courses I noted on my Vance review.

The teepads are concrete and the baskets are spectacular. The course is decently designed, with many of the trees in the park coming into play.

There is zero elevation change here. The "hill" on hole 6 doesn't count. I only saw one sign, which was on hole 1. The holes were laughably short. Although I may not be considered a "beginner" anymore, scoring birdies on three of the holes is unheard of for someone with my range. The other park users seemed to all be drug addicts, and were absolutely offended that a disc might come within 20 yards of them.

I was unimpressed with this course. I'd only thrown a par round once in my life, and threw this course to a -3 with a mediocre round. Being told by a park user that my disc "could have killed" them was a huge turnoff when they were sitting in a fairway. If I lived in Gresham I would play Vance through 18 before I would move on to this park, but if I were in a rush I would hit this one. This just seemed like a typical beginner 9 hole, which just isn't challenging enough for a player who is visiting. Hole 9 was worth a look due to the trees directly facing the teepad, but so short that I nearly aced it. I was able to leave my bag in my car and play through with just two discs.

Practice basket, concrete tee pads, restrooms, H2O and FREE!

Usually crowded with locals everyday all day! Residents that border the course may not return or even allow you in their yard to retrieve it. Tagging along side the fence and tee pad signs have been vandalized or missing. Some holes have multiple baskets in view from the tee pad giving uncertainty on which one to shoot for.

A small neighborhood park making the most of what they have! One block away is Vance Park (another 9 hole course) can easily do both to make it an 18 hole outing. Good place to learn or just hone your skills. Lack of signs on this course isn't really a problem since there is always a local that can aim you in the right direction. This is a great course to play if you have to get your fix in a short time.

This course is very rudimentary at first glance but the people who swear by it know it can be a fun course that offers a good tune up to your short game. Unlike many courses made in the early years of disc golf (1980 for this one) where the average hole length is about 240, not all the holes are simple and straight forward.
Also it's only 3 blocks from another shorter 9 hole course, so it's really an 18 course.
Vance is only 3 blocks away turning a trip to Rockwood into a nice 18 hole experience.
Fun winter tournament series running every other saturday with a large local following.

Short, only one hole with a full 330' drive.
flat, no real elevation change.
not a particularly challenging course.

2018 Update: Sadly, due to safety concerns, hole 7 has been considerably shortened, turning a fun tricky 245 foot shot into a wide open, simple 175 foot hole. Also, a major tree came down near the pin on hole 9, making that hole considerably easier as well.

If you live in the Portland area definitely check it out. If you're coming from out of town, your probably better off playing Pier or Dabney or Milo Mciver

Great for a lunch break round.

Basket are old. Very small park. Short holes.

Nice new course two blocks down the street.