its a nice course. play it! always maintained and always open. grass is green and the air is breathable.

hills. i don't like going up hill but down hill is okay.
lots of hills.

trees. i like trees, trees are cool. has a good amount of trees.

-1st off, its pretty much only a disc golf course which is always a plus

-Signs are probably the best I've ever seen due to the metal cut out numbers that are on top of the sign. This is huge for me because you can see what hole the tee is for from afar. Also full color signs with distance and all the usual goods

-Baskets are in good shape

-very good use of the land including boulder lined ditches that are used as an OB obstacle
-Lots of elevation changes; every throw is probably either up or down hill, but not to an extreme or unpleasant degree

-Some signature holes IMO (1, 9, 13) (also depends on basket position)
-Color coded flags on baskets to signal placement is very nice
-Plenty of distance to air shots out and some smaller technical shots too
-I personally like city park type courses

-Tee pad on 1 is worn badly
-Some tight fairways on the first 4-5 holes, front 9 is tight in general
-One hole that plays right next to traffic
-Couple throws aimed towards parking lot
-Bathrooms are basically busted to absolute hell
-Shot lines are fairly straight (not always a con)

For me, this course is tragically underrated. I've only played it just today but it struck me very well and I think it gives Water Works a run for it's money. They are very similar and Swope likely has less people on the course on avg.

As for the "bad part of town" argument, I think thats what drives the rating down here. Yes the area to the West is run down looking, but Swope is in a huge park that is right down the street from the KC Zoo, and next door to a parks department facility. I'm sure some sketchy shit goes down here but that stuff happens at dg courses in good locations too.

- The maps at this course, as every other KC area course, are second to none. They show each pin location with very detailed accuracy.
- There are a few holes that have multiple tee pads which help out when you are in a group with beginners. The more advanced golfers can throw from the long tees (especially on hole 13) and the new players can move up to throw at the shorter tees. Although some of the long tees are pretty tough, it just makes the course that much tougher and, in my opinion, better.
- The holes here are changed quite frequently. While not all of the holes are changed at once, there are almost always 2 or 3 holes that are moved regularly.
- As with all the other courses in the area (Water Works, Rosedale, Blue Valley), Kansas City disc golf is so unique and some of the best in the country in my opinion. When this course is set up on the Gold Tees (2009 Worlds set up and KC Wide Open), it can be on of the most difficult courses in the country.
-There are several practice baskets and a "pro Shop" near the first hole that is used for big tournaments. It is never open during casual rounds (not that I've seen), but is still a cool feature.

- The front 9 is very very very VERY repetitive. You play the first 8 holes by basically throwing one way over a valley, then throwing back over the same valley. Holes 1-4 are all in the same valley and is not something I like to see in a course.
- Some of the holes have practice baskets set up in random locations, which can make your aiming very difficult and also cause you to have to throw near other people, which is never good.
- Not a fault of the course, but once it starts to get dark, you should immediately leave the park. This is not in the best area of Kansas City, and multiple crimes have been committed in Swope Park and it is better to just avoid getting in any trouble all together.
- A lot of the holes are quite simple. Just avoid 1 or 2 trees, throw about 350 feet, and you can easily birdie a lot of the holes. This is a huge con for me as I like to have a lot of different types of holes at a course. Not just a drive/putt type course.

Although this course isn't nearly as good as some of the courses in the area(Water Works being by the far the best), it is still a very fun round of golf. You can finish an entire 18 round with a 4 people in about 2 hours, which is quite quick for most courses. If you are in KCMO for 1 day, go play Water Works. But if you are visiting the area for several days, check this course out. Or just come out for the KC Wide Open and watch some of the best players in the world struggle on the Gold Course.

The oldest DG course in KC doesnt show its age. Well maintained with good signage and multiple teepads make it easy to navigate for all players. Lots of elevation changes that create unique lanes across numerous "valleys". A solid course design utilizing lots of trees to add difficulty on drives, then again, on the putting game back across the valley. This course is bird friendly for long throwers. Centrally located with easy parking, water, and restrooms.

Bad part of town; glow rounds are NOT recommended. Weekends in the summer usually attract picnics and BBQs on the fairways.

I enjoy this course and find most of the holes to be fun to play. Park in the center lot and start on Basket #2 for quicker in and out games.

i you can throw big swope is for you. plenty of spots to chill. good crowd. one of the most popular courses in kc. multiple pins. bathroom . water spout. bench on every hole i think if not a comparable landscape timber. multi tees

close to the 'hood' so lock your cars.

i like it but i play it alot

Good intermediate to recreational course in a large and very scenic park. Has multiple pin positions and on some holes multiple tee pads. Has a good element of elevation, albeit not extreme. Very fun for folks who like uphill/downhill golf. Tall glass OB at the bottom of the tree guarded "valley" on 6-11 and 14 provides a unique obstacle. God knows I throw one in there every time I'm here.

For advanced/pro caliber players, Swope (at least the usual track) hasn't kept up with the times and can be a birdie fest. Redundancy. A lot of holes have a parallel hole going back the other way. Towards the middle of the course, some holes (namely holes 7-11) feel a bit squeezed too close where you can easily end up on another fairway and in the line of fire. Some issues with flooding and mud on holes 12 and 13 if its been raining. Not in the best part of town. Definitely lock your car and keep anything of value out of view.

My last trip here was almost the perfect disc golf day. Course was freshly mowed, 70's and little wind. At 30 years old now, Swope is Kansas City's original DG course. While many have criticized that it is getting behind the times in terms of challenge, it still provides for a fun time for the casual player or even some big arms wanting to play some deuce or die golf. An excellent place to take newbies or kids.

I love this course. It has nice variation in elevation, but it shouldn't wear you out. The tee signs are very nice and clearly marked. It's pretty easy to navigate the course; each hole has a metal number on top of the tee sign telling you what hole it is. Most holes require you to have a controlled drive and dodge a tree or two. This was the first course I played where there were "mandos" in place which makes it interesting. There are multiple pin locations which is nice. The course is pretty well kept up. The tee pads are nice, clean and long. Overall a very fun course. It's also fairly beginner friendly course which is nice. There are a good number of trees, but they can be easily avoided with low drives. There are plenty of holes <350 feet.

This course isn't in the best part of Kansas City, but I've never had any trouble. I wouldn't stay after dark though. Some of the fairways run right next to each other so if you have a bad throw on hole number 3, it could land on hole 1. It's usually not a big deal though.

This course is definitely one of my favorites. It's the first course I went even par (54) on and I don't consider myself a big arm so take that for what you will. My long drives can be 350 feet to give you an idea of how long this course is. I think it's a great course and everyone should atleast give it a try if they are in the area.

The use of elevation changes, while not too extreme, benefit this course beautifully.
It is very well layed out and quite simple to figure out where to go and where to throwat.
Combination of long holes and shorter but technical holes.
A hard enough course for advanced players to have their issues, but a good course to learn on.

There are a few sections with switchbacks, butg the holes are still very unique.

Make sure to bring a solid driver and mid range with ya!

Easy and quick round of disc. Good variety of obstacles with generally short walks from basket to the next tee. Stretches out on the back side when pins are in long position. #13 back pin is on one of the best targets in disc golf, period.

Some repetition and can be busy.

Great daily player. Disc and nothing else at this course. Benches and trash cans readily available. Unique high grass areas dedicated as H2O/OB Take a stroke but easy retrieve of your disc. Dudes traveling from Chi town.... Lake Shore: http://www.pleasanthill.com/i....aspx?nid=116

Big tee pads allow a big run-up. Baskets have flags on top of them and are really easy to see. Trash cans and Benches at every tee. Large, metal numbers on the signs are easy to see. Signs are also very nice. Multiple tees and pin placements make it a different game every time.

Lots of elevation. Most of it is throwing from the top of a hill to another hill top. On a few holes there are some interesting piles of rock that are O.B. Holes 9,10, and 11 play over a water filled pit (I can't think of another way to describe it).

Switchbacks get boring after a while. Back 9 is much better than the front. It's very easy to lose a disc in the giant piles of leaves between 7 and 9.
Watch out for people a hole ahead of you...switchbacks make it easy to hit them. Not really any other cons that I can think of.

There are bees in almost every trash can during the fall. If hole 13 is in the long position there's a giant cliff 3 ft. past the basket. Restrooms and a water spout around 16. Be careful of the road on 16. I almost got my disc ran over by a car.

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Great course with great elevation and use of space, varied holes. Look amazing in the summer/spring, but I'm not sure it would be as appealing in the fall

some fairways have trees that are just random, which can be annoying. Some interesting people tend to crowd the fairways. Was afraid of getting robbed past 6 at night.

great course and one of my favorites, would play again, especially before three in the afternoon. Would never play this or any course on the missouri side at night, or even the kansas side except shawnee and prarie center.

Hill top to hill top is how much of this course is played. You are either throwing up and down a valley or over one. This course obviously has a ton of elevation, simple greens, and uses the hills to make it unique in that way. There are only 2 holes where I could say there's just slight elevation to them. The rest of the holes are for the hill hikers. This course has some interesting rough areas, OB and mandos. It has a pro shop in the center of the course and at least 6 tee pads are close to the pro shop. There is off street parking and a restroom here. This course has some nice tee pads and tee signs.

The layout seems a bit repetitive going back and forth, up and down the same huge slopes. There are enough pads and baskets in close proximity, you will need to be careful if someone is one hole ahead or behind you. You do throw over a road on 13, so be careful of cars or people there.

The Fun Factor did not really get me too excited here. I loved the elevation, but it just seemed to get a bit redundant after while. It is a great workout playing here. It is absolutely worth playing once. I enjoyed the last half of the course even more than the first half.

I played this course when in KC for the 2009 Worlds competition after the competitors had finished for the day; and found it to be both a fun and pretty challenging course. Although Swope Park itself is mammoth sized in scope, this particular course is set on a 'square tract' of land that is completely enclosed by either roads or parking lot. As such, getting lost is NOT an issue. It is also pretty much impossible to lose a disc here. Another plus is that all holes are played over varying elevations; so you have the vantage of watching your tee shots remain airborne for good lengths of time!

Due to the scarcity of available space, a couple of the holes are parallel to each other; so they share common fairways. Although Swope Park itself has one of the best zoo's in the country; and many other amenities worth visiting, even the locals will tell you to stay away from this particular course after dark as it's not 'safe'.

I haven't been able to play the many other KC metro area courses; however if this course is the least ranked round, then the others must be really excellent as this was a good play.

Well maintained, nice variety of holes, can play real long, is easy to get around and usually not so bust you can't play at whatever pace you want. It's so under rated.

It gets overshadowed since Water Works has come on board.

It is really close to the ballpark so when we go down to see the Twins play it's cool to play a round before the game. Really is still one of my favorites.

the course has a nice change of elevation on alot of holes, and a decent amount of tall trees to make it a fairly decent course.

there is alot of congestion among some of the holes (5-7) and (15-16) share alot of the same fairway space. We commonly found ourselves waiting for the fairway to clear for other players. It also plays very short.

Lots of elevation changes, not crowded, its nicely maintained in a nice park. Back 9 offers a variety of holes. Good use of the smaller space.

Switches back a lot so it was hard to find the next tee sometimes (look for trash cans, tops have numbers painted on em). A bit "open" as a whole for my taste.

Good beginner course, if you have a decent apporach game you have no buisness not finishing under par on this course. I am nothing special (decent putt and appoarch with accurate drives to about 325 ft.) and didnt feel challenged at all.

Excellent use of land available to keep the course challenging. Lots of trees and elevation change make it tough. The wind gets swirly with all the hills adding in some more "fun" to your round.

The switchback style can get monotonous, though it's not an easy course. Lots of holes throwing from one hill across the valley back up another hill.

Excellent course that will challenge you to make birdies and probably the best course for the space that's there.

This course offers a decent variety of terrain on a standard switchback layout. The winter months are obviously very forgiving without foliage to hamper an errant drive. The summer playing conditions require much more accuracy due to low branch foliage. Approach shots are fairly open from most locations even with a poor drive.

All holes are easily achievable in 3 on a straight drive. There are plenty of opportunities to air it out. The mandatories are a must as they will challenge the rhbh player to adjust their game on the 3 holes they are in effect.

It was surpsiring to see that the course was not too crowded on a gorgeous 70 degree afternoon. a bonus for a great course - must be because there are so many to chose from in Kansas City.

A great course to practice up and downhill approach and putting. There were probably only 3 or 4 holes where the approach was flat.

Holes felt a bit straight away and just a little repetitive. Could use a little more variety on first 4 holes.

There is a "grand stand" at tee 1 with a disc return. I founf this a tremendous bonus because we found a disc in mid fairway that was lost with a name and number, so we trust that it is attended on a somewhat regular basis to check for these. We hope!

Concrete tees are awesome!

Has restroom.

Great 18 hole course given the are it is squeezed into. Brilliant use of the property overall!