Shawnee has a well-designed and maintained disc golf course that gets lots of play from the KC area. While usually busy, it is a spot that provides challenge, but nothing that would scare away a beginner.

Concrete tees on all 18 holes, Holes 1 and 2 have longer tees. All the main tees have excellent signage. Baskets are DD Veterans that do the job as well as any other Veteran... so not great but still passable. The long pins on 1, 2, 4, 9, and 17 are set permanently with the old Mach 3s.

The course has a practice area, not just a basket... however it does have three of those. Two old Mach3s and a Veteran, each set about 125ft from each other in a line, there are brick markers for the 10 and 20 meter distances on the furthest two from the first tee. Putting practice and short upshot practice are both possible.

To the course itself, the first six holes are excellent, winding in and out of the treeline, a big culvert to throw over on 4 with a hole that finishes right, the rest have some very tight gaps (Hole 1's 60ft from the long pin or 6's right off the tee) or are tight tunnels (2 and 5), the beginning really is the highlight of the course.

More elevation is used on 12-18, booming downhills on 12, 14, and 16 are offset by uphills on 13 and 15 that require a lot more power than the distances on the tee signs would lead you to believe. 18 is one of the best holes on the property, with thick trees all the way down on the left and having about a 15ft drop in elevation to the green, both pins are equally tough to stick.

The more park-style holes of 7 through 11 are the weakest part of the course. Lines are either sharp doglegs (10 and 11) or open bombs off the tee with a little work to do at the end in the trees if it's set in the longer pins. But with little elevation (except hole 9) or shot shaping to speak of off the tee, there's not a lot going for these holes. 12-16 suffer from this to an extent, but are saved by their elevation.

The rough is nasty in the summer. 4, 8, 11, and 17 are the scariest, but there are plenty of other spots to watch your disc take its last flight.

Crossing the road from 3 to 4 and from 18 back to the parking lot isn't ideal, and teeing over the walking path on 6 can cause a short backup from time to time. Nothing too awful, just worth noting.

My opinion of Shawnee Mission has greatly improved since my original review (which I'm sorry if you took the time to read, it was awful). The weaknesses of a lot of holes are saved by trees or elevation to keep most of the course fresh. There are definitely better courses in the area, but if it's nearby SMP is definitely worth a stop.

An update planned for 2025 will add 18 new holes throughout the park are and split the now 36 holes into four 9-hole courses.

Really well kept course with nice signage, benches, garbage cans, bag hangers, etc. Can't really complain about the amenities!

Good shot selection requiring both hyzer and anhyzer shots, and some good use of terrain taking you up and down some hills. I'm a fan of just getting to toss a disc down a hill and watching it fly, so I enjoy courses that allow me that satisfaction once or twice!

If you like chances at a hole in one, many of the short pin locations are doable for intermediate players, but are still some challenge to approach due to trees or terrain.

Speaking of pin locations, every hole has 3 pin locations, and the alternate locations really change things up in a meaningful way.

May not be super exciting for advanced players, as it's a fairly short course, and the terrain isn't super challenging. There are some trees and hills in play, but they aren't all that challenging to navigate.

I also felt like the more "interesting" parts of the course (I tend to enjoy wooded holes to the wide open ones; for a frame of reference, I LOVE Rosedale Down Under) were clustered together too much. There's a stretch of a couple more interesting stuff, but then you're back out of it and into the open. I would have preferred some time in the thicker stuff, then back out, then back in, etc.

On that note, there's a looong stretch of holes that are just wide open with the pin dead ahead of the pad. That section of the course is really why I'm dinging the rating so much, as it's a good half the course that gets pretty boring and monotonous.

If you see other groups at Hole 1, consider starting at Hole 13, which is just across the street from the parking. The course flows just fine from there, so it makes a good alternate starting point if it helps get you staggered from another group.

I actually like that starting point better anyways, as it puts the more wooded stuff in the middle of the round, so you get to play some open stuff, some wooded stuff, and then back open, rather than all the more wooded stuff at the end. It also ends you on 12, which is a longer, satisfying, downhill shot. I enjoy ending a round that way!

The first five holes. This course starts you off playing through a fairly open, yet technical section. Just the right amount of trees to keep you on your toes. When I played, hole 5 was at the long position which is an uphill shot to a great right dogleg (quickly becoming one of my favorite throws). Holes 17 offers a great uphill shot with another dogleg right throw just with a bit of a difference from 5. And as you go to 18 to finish the round you get to throw a nice tight hyzer shot wrapping around the woods rather tightly. Thus ending a round at a fairly decent course

Now onto the bad. After five your led to a short (200-255') hole that offers little challenge other than the few low hanging branches. Six was alright, not too challenging, as long as you can get a decent amount of distance without hitting one of the few trees scattered about it's an easy birdie hole. Then seven is just a straight shot with a few trees protecting the pin, again a fairly easy birdie shot. The part that really starts to just blend together is when you get to ten. Ten to fifteen are all the same shot for the most part. One goes downhill slightly, the next goes uphill slightly, rinse, repeat. At sixteen you get to break that cycle but barely due to the chance to shank one into the woods.

Then comes the lack of signage. After you get out of the woods and into the open almost all of the tee signs have been removed, leaving distances to ones imagination. Benches are present on most holes, but a lack of trash cans means you'll be hauling any trash you may have accrued with you.

All in all this course is worth a play at least once. With the great selection of great courses spread throughout the kansas city metro area, this one is kind of placed on the back burner. Yes it is a great course, but the challenge just isn't what I expected. In my opinion if you have the time, go to water works, or better yet head out to smithville and play at Woodhenge.

This is one of the better manicured courses I've played. Woodchips were well placed to keep wetter areas from being muddy. The fairways were well mowed and shaped so that the rough was a bit longer. It felt a little like a golf course and added to the pleasant scenery.

The holes tend to be in the 275-425 feet range and are all reasonable par 3s. The first half of the course plays around (but not through) some heavily wooded areas, and there is often a gap that you have to hit on the way to the hole. The back 9 is more open, but most of the holes are not completely open and do have some trees to contend with. The moderate elevation changes are used well on the back 9.

Navigation was a breeze, and I didn't need a map. The next hole is pretty much always where you would guest it would be.

Tee signs are the same ones you see in most KC courses, and I am a fan of this type of design. The holes were usually visible from the tee, but the signs always made it clear where you were going and which position was in use (most holes had two positions).

The rough, while aesthetically pleasing, did force me to search a minute or so for some of my discs. The grass wasn't so long that you could really lose a disc, though.

Probably the biggest con for me was that there was clearly some wooded terrain that wasn't used for this course. There could have been some great short technical holes interspersed with the more open holes, although I recognize those types of holes are much more labor intensive.

There aren't any signature holes here, but all of them made me think about what line I wanted to take. The atmosphere was nice, and it did seem like a pretty family-friendly place. If there are some courses where the neighborhood (or the other disc golfers!) is too sketchy, this is a good alternative. The course didn't blow me away, but I had a fun round and would come back.

Coming down #18, I had 3 huge wild turkey just pop out of the woods and started walking down the fairway with me. It was really cool. This place has some elevation, great tee pads, great tee signs, and decent baskets. The fairways are mowed nicely. You can tell it is well maintained. They have a message board and you really don't need a map as it is fairly easy to follow along.

Between many of the holes, there was enough space to put another hole in there. So expect to walk a bunch. Most of these holes are straight shots and I did not really feel much accuracy needed to navigate yourself through the holes. This place needs more trashcans, needs benches, and there was no bathroom on the course that I saw.

The Fun Factor here is not really doing it for me. This was just an OK layout for me. There really isn't anything wrong with this nice course. I just didn't have that feeling where I wanted to throw multiple drives on any particular hole.

Not hard to find just inside the park entrance. Plenty of land and with lots of potential. Tee pads have recently been poured in time for 2009 Worlds. For its length, still friendly for recreational players as it is not terribly overwhelming. Elevation on holes 3-5 is used very well. These are the best holes on the course. Also some cool open holes where you can really rip some bomb drives. Rarely crowded and except for a couple of spots, flows really well.

Once you get past hole 10, the holes start to look all the same, and play all the same. About the only difference is whether you're going uphill or downhill. As of my last visit, they weren't mowing it terribly well either and you might be looking for your disc in 8" grass on several occasions. There are also some flow issues between holes 5-6, and again between 7-8. Hopefully, the introduction of teepads will solve this. SMP is infested with deer so watch out driving to/from the parking lot. Ticks and poison ivy are abundant in the wooded areas. Aggresive enforcement by park police (some of course might consider that a pro).

An oasis of repose in the middle of an urban area. SMP is located in a huge park that also serves as a nature preserve. If you enjoy having an adult beverage during your round, DON'T do it here. SMP has its own park police and players have been known to be confronted by park rangers to open their bags to check for alcohol. If you're caught, there is a stiff fine, as there is for being in the park after curfew or having your dog without a leash. OTOH, if you prefer a more family friendly environment where you can take your kids, this course will be up your alley. Efforts are being discussed to help curb the deer problem, in the meantime be careful.

-The land is really nice. The park is so huge that you forget you're in a KC suburb and feel like you're way out in nature, away from civilization. The first three holes border a woodland area, and I saw deer walking around in the early morning. The rest of the holes are my favorite type of terrain-- trees interspersed among grass. The well mowed fairways had a traditional golf feel.
-There are lots of elevation changes with 11 Down/ 6 Up/ 1 Flat. The back 9 is hillier than the front.
-There's an excellent map; it's one of the best I've ever seen.
-On the back 9 there were many mowed paths to lead the way to the next tee, so that made it easy to find your way.
-In the park office there are maps, a couple of discs for sale, and restrooms.

-Tee Signs: There are no tee signs. This is a big need that I hope they will address soon. This would make course navigation much easier.
-Tees: there really aren't any tee boxes. The tees only have bar in the front with the hole number on it. The tees are dirt, but they're level and adequate.
-Fairway shape variety is low. They're mostly straight and that gets a bit repetitive. There are 14 Straight/ only 1 Right to left / 3 Left to right.
-Length variety is somewhat low; the majority are in the 300-399 ft range. 3 of 231-299/ 11 of 300-399/ 3 of 400-441.

Course Level: Blue (most suited for Advanced players rated 925-975)

You be the judge-
My favorite hole: 14. It has a wide grass fairway with large scenic trees scattered all down both sides and an 18 ft elevation drop

With a length of about 6200 ft. shorter throwers, such as myself, won't be carding many deuces.

Navigation- with no tee signs or tee pads there's potential for the course to be hard to navigate. Don't even think about going there for the first time without taking the excellent map with you.

This is a good course on nice land, and I had fun playing it. Most holes are above average. There are no lame holes, but on the other hand, there are no holes that knock your socks off either. If there were tee signs and tee pads I'd bump my rating up to a 7. It's somewhat more wooded than other KC courses, so it's a nice addition to the area. I'd definitely go back again.

NOTE: Look in the "Links/Files" section for my files with Hole-by-hole evaluations, and a more detailed Overall review. You can also read more of my reviews at the Yahoo Group, DG Course Reviews, http://sports.groups.yahoo.co...ourseReviews/