discatcher baskets in alternating colors as you play through
-variety of straight, left and right shots
-3 or more pin positions on EVERY HOLE
-alternate challenging pro pads on several hols
-variety of terrain including flat, uphill and downhill shots
-good use of all available land
-friendly locals including course pro Steve Rico
-terrain is developing and more trees have been added
-well maintained course, with benches or places to sit added on man holes
-If you want to get a good technical round of disc golf in, this is the place!

Gets really hot and Dusty in summer
Can be tough to find pin positions if you dont play there often
Not in the best surrounding area
One teepad is on edge and kept me from a full follow through, drop of is not that high but nonetheless i dont want to eat dirt

Great variety.
Good course for all skill levels.
Multiple pin positions are nice, but I have not played often enough to notice the difference.

Short holes for big arms.
The rocks and soil on the last 2/3 of the course will make short work of DX and Pro-D plastic. I had a new DX TeeBird go from stable to understable by the end of the round.

My favorite So Cal course, due to the variety of terrain, elevation, trees, etc. It has a little of everything.

-Nice use of elevation
-Very well maintained and amenities on site, including great concrete tees (with hole numbers on them!), some hole signs, and discatcher baskets.
-Lack of underbrush makes it very forgiving for newer players (as does the distance)
-Course loops back to parking lot, which is always nice
-Fantastic, stress-free, walk in the park course.

-Very easy, both in terms of distance and lines needed, though the trees did make shaping fun. Wish I could have taken a crack at the gold tees
-Tough to find the pins/tees on many holes. The red/white/blue pattern helped, but I still had to walk a few holes to find the pin. The many missing tee signs didn't help.
-Yes, it is dusty. And hot. Why would anyone in LA leave their house when it's this hot (103* and 80%+ humidity)?

This review is based on playing only one time.
When I left, these were the main things going through my head:
-If you live somewhere with truly impressive courses, the 4.0+ ratings will make you expect a bit more in terms of golf.
-I had a fun time playing this course, and was grinning most of the time. Scoring under par even with a number of bad throws puts me in a good mood. At 8 am on a Tuesday, it was deserted and I could take my time.
-I never mind paying $2 for a well-maintained course, and this one was immaculate (probably helps that nothing could possibly grow on much of it).
-I'm assuming that I encountered a pretty easy set of pin placements, since I read about the technical nature of the course, but found it to be one of the easiest courses I've ever played. Skilled players can leave their high speed discs behind.
-I can see how this course would be a local favorite, but a rating of above 4.0 is pretty silly. I would assume that this rating comes from the age of the course and how cool the locals/scene are. These things are good, and they do factor into a course rating, but for out-of-towners it's a bummer that the numbers are so inflated.

Well kept up
Baskets chang regularly
Great Proshop
Friendly locals
Great use of the area and some amazing holes.
Not too easy but not crazy difficult.

Gets really hot and Dusty in summer
Can be tough to find pin positions if you dont play there often
Not in the best surrounding area
One teepad is on edge and kept me from a full follow through, drop of is not that high but nonetheless i dont want to eat dirt

I thoroughly enjoyed Sylmar but wish the baskets were a bit longer when i went. Not a problem just ended up using a lot of mids that day. the proshop is awesome and they got a great selection in there. I enjoy courses where you finish close to where you started so there is unecessary hiking/walking involved. If it wasn't so far from me i would play this course much more often as it was a great test of my skills.

This course features a nice mix of technical holes. Plenty of trees and vegetation force players to shape their lines precisely. However the undergrowth is pretty light, meaning bad shots will not be overly punished.

The course features a nice mix of distances with a few shorter putter or mid holes as well as a few chances to air out the big drivers.

The terrain changes quite a bit as your progress through. It starts with a couple flat grassy holes before heading into a more desert-like terrain.

The varied elevation is used quite well. Hole 11 features a nice downhill drive. The course finishes by playing back up the hill on 17 and 18.

Multiple pin positions keep things interesting. However with only one basket per hole, the specific layout is dictated by the course maintainers.

The pro shop on site offers a very nice selection of Innova, Discraft, and Legacy.

There were a couple points where navigation was a little tricky. Particularly after holing out on 11, you find yourself surround by tee pads with no indication of which one is next.

The biggest complaint I had about this course was the pin location of the tenth basket. It was literally in a bush. This just feels overly gimicky - not to mention it punishes a good shot that doesn't line up with the opening just right. I half expected to find myself needing to throw through the blades of a windmill on the next hole.

Outside of the gimicky pin location on 10, I thought this was a very well designed course. It forced me to use a wide variety of different shots and strategies throughout the course of the round. None of the holes felt like fillers, they all seemed to be well thought out.

The locals I ran into on the course seemed friendly and helpful. I got stuck behind a couple large groups but they were happy to let me play through and helped point me in the right direction when needed.

If I ever return to Southern California, I will definitely play this course again.

-Easy to find, lots of parking.
-Proshop fully loaded, pay your $2, pick up a few legacy grinders and walk to tee 1.
-Speaking of the legacy guys, there are always super friendly helpful folks hanging out here. Always nice to have smiling locals around.
-Most holes are well marked, adequate signage, lots of shot variation, elevation changes, plenty of trees to shape lines around, overall really not any boring holes.
-Water and bathrooms are available and decently clean.
-My favorite hole is definetly 10 to the pyramid, great downhill 300 ft'er where you can just let fly.

-Only real complaint is occasionally pins are moved into very hard to find spots, forcing you to walk the entire hole and search for the basket...#9 was in the bushes down from pin #8 today , spent 5 of min. looking around until someone pointed it out.

A great course with lots of fun holes and a pro shop worth stopping at. The presence of the Ricos and legacy make this even more special.

Easy to find T-boxes and baskets with the alternating colors, red, white, & blue.
Friendly locals ready to point out the baskets if your lost!
Pro shop right in the parking lot with info, discs, etc right there!

Too many sidewalks and "NO FRISBEE THROWING" signs surrounding the course.

This course was the last course I got to play prior to heading back to Alaska. What a great course and killer weather!! I would love to play this course some more times.

Multiple Pin placement, color coded baskets, A Pro Shop, concrete pads, make this a very nice course.

it must have been a bad day, cuase I did not see nice people really, and no one wanted to point out the next pad or a pin (must be a Cali thing. Texas is warm and welcome). The canopy is about 5 foot high in a lot of places so its best for short people (or kids). and last but not least why so many side walks in play. You're sure to go OB at least twice in a game. Pay to Play. I already did with those high prices in the Pro-Shop, but it is only 2 bucks.

all in all I play disc golf I had a good time so it was worth the trip. I really thought Californians played more Disc Golf, but I guess it's better and Bigger in TEXAS.

-discatcher baskets in alternating colors as you play through
-variety of straight, left and right shots
-3 or more pin positions on EVERY HOLE
-alternate challenging pro pads on several hols
-variety of terrain including flat, uphill and downhill shots
-good use of all available land
-friendly locals including course pro Steve Rico
-terrain is developing and more trees have been added
-well maintained course, with benches or places to sit added on man holes
-If you want to get a good technical round of disc golf in, this is the place!

The course makes the best use of the available land. Since there is no irrigation on the bottom section of the course, it can get a little hot and dusty. There are drinking fountains near the bathrooms though.

-goat head thorns! around holes 10,11,15 these thorns will get stuck in everything, including your shoes, discs and hands. Just be careful of them!

-like MANY course, it will get crowded on weekends. This is a good thing for the sport though, crowds mean people are coming out to play.

The Rico family has done allot for disc golf, and they work very hard to keep this course up and running. Its a modest $2 to play, and this helps keep the course alive and well maintained.

The locals here are friendly, and always willing to show you around.

In terms of the 'upper course', they use it in tournaments, and there will be an Amateur only tournament, for the first time ever later this year. This will utilize the whole top for 18 holes, including the infamous 'island holes'. It is sure to be an amazing tournament!

This course offers a little bit of everything. Some long drives, tight lines, elevated tee shots, uphill shots, grass and dirt. There is a mix of tall and small trees that make this course very technical. Great tee signs and cement tee pads. The disc shop offered a variety of discs at a reasonable price.

There are no water misters on the covered benches at hole 8.

I'd visit this course more if I didn't have to pass 4 other great courses on my hour and a half drive out there.

* Beautiful terrain incorporating massive eucalyptus and pine trees throughout this 94-acre hillside, in the foothills of Los Angeles. With grassy fairways on the first three holes, the rest of the course plays up and down much more rugged terrain the remainder of the round. Looping toward the paking lot multiple times, this course has great flow and challenging design.
*Multiple pin placements (3) w/ red, white, or blue DISCatchers on every hole, hence the name Veteran's Park. Baskets get moved regularly and are often strategically placed around natural obstacles. Accurate tee signs showing distance, par, obstacles, and pin position make navigating the course much easier for first timers. There are large concrete tee pads on every hole w/ cinder blocks to support when necessary due to erosion or elevation. Some w/ two pads like holes one and three, which add hole length and difficulty.
*Technical course allowing for multiple approaches both off the tee and in the fairways. Holes range from 215ft. -390ft. Course is well balanced for both LH and RH players, rewarding accuracy over power. Only a few holes on the course are blind.
*Strong local club which helps to maintain the course and make ongoing improvements. The $2 fee helps to push this course in to the future and allow it to compete as one of the premier courses in the state! Well worth the cost to enjoy a premier level course.
*Best pro shop I have seen on site in all the courses I have played to date! It offers snacks, drinks, wide variety of discs, apparel, etc. Visit the 19th Hole when you visit and help support the Rico brothers. They do a lot for this community and the game itself. For being one of the best dgers in the world, Steve is very humble and very approachable.

Favorite hole/s: #11 (Pyramid Hole), #12 - #15

* Lower portion of the course can get brutally hot and dusty during the warm summer days so bring shades and water.
*Multiple areas where a disc can go out of bounds over a fence and in to a neighborhood so just be aware.
*Due to its popularity, crowds can be an issue during the weekends and summer.
*With only a few placements reaching nearly 400 ft, it would have been nice to have had some longer holes although not necessary. They do however use the upper portion of the park (above the first three holes) during tournaments which addresses this issue.

*Sylmar has been around for over three decades and yet continues to get much praise for being technical and challenging. Although the original course has been modified and redesigned over the years, it continues to utilize the land making every hole unique unto its own. Since the takeover by the Rico brothers, Sylmar has vastly improved and become a place where advanced and pros alike come to get better. A-Tiers are held here as well as several other competitive pdga tournaments, and is home to a disc golf legend.

**A must play if in LA**

On-Site Pro Shop
Multiple Pin Positions
Baskets/Each Position is Color Coded
Amazing Use of Elevation
Requires Every Shot in Your Bag
Figure 8 Design (9 & 18 End at Parking Lot)
Great Flow and Design
Great Variety of Distances
Course Is Away From Other Park Traffic
Very Well Manicured and Maintained
Locals Are The Best (Friendly and Helpful)
Practice Basket
Trash Cans and Benches Throughout
Ample Parking
Beautiful Course/Landscaping
Lessons (From Pro) Available for a Fee
Great Tee Signs
Bathrooms On-Site

*I really have to nitpick for cons.

Could Use More Distance Holes
Can Get Crowded
You Can See the Wear/Erosion Issues

Sylmar/Veteran's Park Disc Golf Course is located in a nice 96-acre park in Sylmar, CA, a suburb of Los Angeles. The Park is very easy to locate, just minutes from the 210. Enter the park from Sayre Street and make a left once inside the park. The 19th Hole, the pro shop, and parking lot will be on your left.

From the parking lot you can see the pro shop, practice basket, and the first tee pad will be beside the pro shop, left of the entrance to the shop. Be sure to stop in the shop, not only to pay for your rounds, but to check out their huge selection of discs and accessories. The pro shop is also where you are likely to find at least one, if not both of the Rico brothers, Bamba and Steve. Not only do the run the shop, they designed the current layout and also give lessons by the hour (for a nominal fee).

Begin your round at hole 1 near the pro shop. The designers have implemented a well thought-out red, white, and blue color coded system for the baskets. Each hole has a red, white, and blue placement and the baskets are painted to match. Not only does this allow you to see which placement the basket is in and the distance of each, it also helps with navigation. The holes are always placed in a red, white and blue pattern so if you just played a red hole the next will be white, then blue and so on.

The course itself plays through beautiful mature trees that really force you to chose your lines and use a variety of shots to shoot well. The designers also made great use of the elevation that this park has to offer. At least half of the holes, if not more, have some sort of elevation in play, whether it be uphill, downhill, or a well placed basket you will need to know how to play elevation changes on this course.

The designers/crew also did an amazing job with the landscaping and overall aesthetics. Carefully placed boulders, bricks and landscaping timbers are not only pleasing to the eye, they create challenge and prevent further erosion keeping this park in great condition.

Overall this is one of the best and most fun courses I have yet to play. Sylmar is a must-play for anyone heading to the greater LA area and a course I will play time and time again.

Great hole variety, nice elevation on certain holes, all baskets are clearly marked.
Easy to find your way around hole to hole.
Nice pro shop.
Good tee pads.
Park right at hole one and finish near your car.

Can be very busy, had to wait for two people in front of my group last time, but not everytime.
2 dollars to play not a big deal really but still.
My one BIG issue with this course is the overgrown weeds with thorny stickers, that stuck everywhere, and i mean everywhere the entire bottom of my shoes were covered with them and for a course i have to pay to play at, they should really have better upkeep.

Good challenging course that I would give 4 stars if they would clean it up a bit.

First off, I would like to say this is now my favorite course to play. When we played this course there wasn't to many people so it was nice and relax. I love the scenery, the holes are short but still make you give your shot some thought. Technical but not out of control. You got your left hooks, and you right hooks, you got your trees, your ups and a downs. My favorite hole is 11, you throw down the hill and your disc just flys real nice. They also have a man-made pyramid that a basket sits on top of raising the basket about 4 feet off the ground, we weren't lucky enough to have it the rounds we played but it looked like it would be alot of fun to play. Also one thing to bring attention to is the tee work and color coded tees and baskets. This set up makes the flow of the course extremely easy to follow. You simply see the color that is posted on the signs and that is the color basket you are throwing to. Such a great system to have. All the tees have some type of stone work or rock work around them. Tee pads to range in size but never to small. and the biggest plus of all..this side of the park is 100% Dedicated to Disc Golf.

Holes could be a little bit longer, its sylmar so on the wrong day it could be a scorcher! A little far out there (thats just for us because we live further south so its a bit of a drive)

PLAY HERE!!!

Amenities, views, course upkeep

The course at Veterans Park is a high-end SoCal disc golf experience. With an excellent onsite pro shop, lessons available from the onsite pros, top-end signage, concrete teepads, a large area of the park devoted strictly to disc golf, an easy to follow color-coded system to get from hole to hole, and a bunch of broad views, you'll be hard pressed to find a better overall disc golf outing in the whole Los Angeles sprawl.

The course starts out on grassy, flat, groomed park land, which does unrealistically set expectations a bit. After hole 4 you move down into the more dirt and mulch area of the park, but the advantage is that elevation becomes more of a factor also. Sylmar is an older course, and thus is not particularly long, but does have plenty of fun shots, downhill, uphill, and just among the many large trees. There are enough trees to keep you honest, but you don't need a variety of shots to succeed out here - driving long enough and for the most part straight is the main thing. Beyond the pro shop and other amenities already noted, the two features that stand out are the nice views of the valley from several holes, particularly #11, and then the several uphill holes, which add a good bit of challenge to an otherwise par 3 course.

While Veterans Park has only one set of teepads, multiple pin placements will keep the course fresh for even regular players, I'm sure. It's the kind of course most of us would love to have as a local course - you can buy everything you need right there, it's nice looking, the baskets can be moved around as needed, you don't have to share the space with other park users, and it's kept in great shape. I'd put this course at or near the top of your SoCal wishlist if you're planning a visit, and I'm sure all you locals are grateful to have such a nice course tucked away out there on the quiet edge of the L.A. megaopolis.

Exclusive use course, great pro-shop, multiple pins and tees. I really enjoyed this course. The staff at the pro-shop were great!

It's not in Colorado!

This is a must visit if you're in the LA area. I can't wait to go back.

Sylmar has a great variety of holes with varying degrees of length and difficulty. Some nice elevation change, nice tunnel shots, some more open holes with protected greens, shorter finesse holes, multiple pin locations, and now a couple of extra "pro" tee pads. The disc golf section of the park is used primarily for just that. Some occasional folks walking their dogs, but all that I have encountered yield to the disc golfers. I've even had some stop their walk while I putt. The tee pads are a good size and all concrete. The baskets are in good shape, and they alternate colors. Red, white and blue as you go around the course. This makes navigation a breeze. My first time playing it I did it with no map with no problems. They have an excellent pro shop with discs, bags, apparel, snacks, and drinks. Some times Steve Rico is working behind the counter. Nice practice basket just outside the pro shop. There is a bathroom close to several tee pads and baskets.

The course can be a bit dusty, but it's not too bad. The area is frequently windy, and this makes the dust worse. There could be a few more trash cans throughout the course. Some players might feel that the course is too short or not challenging enough, but for a player like me it is great.

One of the best things about this course is that the Rico brothers are very involved with it. Unless I play the course multiple times in one day, it is never the same. I have personally never experienced back ups on the course except in tournament play. One thing I feel I should mention is that the sheriffs patrol the park frequently. No alcohol allowed and smoking on the course is prohibited.

-Friendly and knowledgeable staff at pro shop.

-Friendly fellow disc golfers on the course.

- Relatively short course, but that's more than made up for with trees and elevation changes in addition to the multiple pin locations that seem to change every week or two.

- Pro shop has great selection of discs and other related equipment. As well as some snacks and drinks for those hot days.

- Arriving any time after 10:00 a.m. on weekends, the course can get a little crowded and very HOT. Although there's a good amount of shade, bring something to drink or buy water or gatorade from the pro shop.

This will most likely become my "regular" course as not only is it the closest one to me, but it is an excellent course to boot and I'll be returning frequently.

Let me begin by saying California lacks the park land for really spectacular disc golf courses...This being said...Sylmar offers a course that is about as close to what I expect coming from my home state of Iowa...

-Multiple pin positions changed fairly frequently allow a different course to be played each week.
-Accurate tee signs
-Pro shop right off of hole number 1
-Friendly locals willing to show you around
-Excellent use of terrain...this course will require you to throw hyzers, anhyzers, up and down hills, etc...
-Practice basket off of hole 1 to allow you to warm up
-Weekly mini on Thursday nights

-Can get fairly crowded on the weekends...if you arrive early enough its usually not a problem
-Kind of rocky terrain can scuff up some of your plastic
-Gets hot in the summer time...try to play from the shade

There is a huge expanse of land just north of the park...If the city would allow the course to drift a little farther up that way another 18 hole course could be created...

Because I showed up to play at daybreak, I'll have to skip on a couple of obvious pros to this course. The pro shop wasn't open yet. There were no friendly (or unfriendly) locals around to play with or guide me. Just a nice old couple out for a early morning walk. It's obvious that a lot of TLC has gone into this course. Great teepads with some rock work on some. The signs were pretty clear and informative. This is just a nice park for a course, lots of trees, plenty of elevation. A little more rustic than most courses I've experienced in SoCal. It's definitly a course that could challenge most any player. There are chances for most of us to air it out. # 11 plays is a sweet downhill throw. A couple of very demanding uphill shots. There's enough elevation to wear you out.

Just a couple of smaller items. Playing by myself in the early AM, navigation ws a little dicey. Even with the map, I wasn't always sure which basket to throw to. I think I'm a liitle too thick for the three colored basket system. There were a couple of holes playing very close to neighbors yards.

I'm sorry I missed out on visiting the pro shop. Sounds great. The $2 sounds like a small pittance to play all day. And I think had I been able to play here with a local or had been able to follow some locals, it would have greatly enhanced my experience at Skylmar. While I liked this course, I won't say it was my favorite in the area. I don't know if the locals consider Lake Casitas as an area course or not? But I would have to rank it as my favorite SoCal course. But having said that, I enjoyed Skylmar and would love to play it again or have it as my home base.