Great course layout/design. Use of park square footage and geography awesome. Like holes #1 & 2 - easy start to get warmed up. Like the hidden basket on #3 over the berm. Like the tunnel tee off on 4th hole (even though I missed it) opening up to a larger field to the basket. Really liked the downhill Anhyzer tee off on 5th hole around house/yard. I liked the restrooms after the 5th hole and they were open! I also liked the double Mando tee-off on 9th hole. Loved the 10th hole layout - elevated tee-off thru tree window - if your drive bails out left (mine did) you go down a steep hill with tough shot over large bushy tree, (nice penalty). If you make it fully through the elevated tee-off thru tree window, you are rewarded to a down-sloped shot at a basket surrounded by bushes. 11th & 13th holes are signature elevated tees that are awesome. 11th is probably the highest tee-off I've played so far in Sou. Cal. - fun to watch disc launch out and dive vertically. 13th is also an honorable mention for the same. I also liked the 16th dog-leg right hole over a small dry ravine with it's strategic tee-off distance. 18th was a nice up hill tunnel hole to an flat elevated tee.

Hard to find 4 holes on Course even with map; #3 basket, tee box #5, #8 tee box & the basket on 10th hole.

The terrain was kind of desert-like with dry like desert plants down the hills for most of the golf park - but it didn't bother me at all. It didn't even matter with the fun layout. I played this as a solo as I was in the area, but I told my family whenever driving up the 5 freeway towards Valencia and the Grapevine. This is a
"stopper" and break from the drive/traffic. Played it on a weekday AM, and it had only a few groups of golfers on it.

Friendly local players who are more than willing to help guide you. Elevation changes make for a fun round for different skill levels.

Navigating from a couple of baskets to the next tee pad was a bit tricky but with local help and Udisc, we made it through just fine. nothing really grinded my gears so.......

I liked this course along with my partner that I was playing with. We drove up from San Diego on a day trip and will definitely be back for more!

This has to be the most meticulously groomed courses I have ever played. The course is challenging and still very, very fun to play. It has lots of great elevation changes and plenty of distance to challenge even the big arms on some holes as you still have to have plenty of accuracy. Birdies are easiest on the first few holes and then get harder to come by.

I cannot emphasize how clean this course is. You can tell the locals (pros?) take great care of this course? The pro shop was nice and the disc return policy is really helpful.

Very accessible from the highway, parking was great and wasn't in the way of any of the holes.

Navigation is one of the biggest pluses of this course. The baskets and tee signs are red, white and blue...in that order. So when you hole out you look for the next color tee sign. I haven't ever seen that before and it really made the course easy to navigate. I had no problems my very first time playing it.

I am not a huge fan of mandos...this course had a couple more than I would like but it still made things interesting. On a busy day, I am sure the traffic could be bad and the holes can be a little close so would just have to be careful of that. A little bit of pedestrian traffic on one side of the park but that only affects a few holes. Not much OB that I could tell...some will like that, others wont.

A few people were practicing putts on holes in the middle of the course...hard to say this is a con as this was probably not real common but could have you waiting for a while.

Probably my biggest complaint was all the mulch. It made rollers on many holes nearly impossible. I did hear that it was really dusty and dirty out there before they put that in so all in all it was a good move.

I can't wait to play this course again. It was plenty of challenge and plenty of fun. If you are even close by come check it out! Definitely worth your time. Just make sure you have the $$$ to play with you.

-One of the best maintained courses in the area.
-Excellent pro shop
-3-5 pin placements per hole. I've played this course for a couple of years and I still sometimes see a new placement.
-Intuitive course flow (both the front and back 9 begin and end at the parking lot/pro shop
-Well marked
-TOP OF THE WORLD HOLE 11 is super fun!
-While not containing many skill shots off the tee, the ones they have are very cool.

-Last 2 holes are arm-taxing uphill shots (see my tip in "other thoughts")
-Severely elevated tee box on 1, No actual pro box on 4
-Hole 4 is an annoyingly long blind shot into a potentially trafficked area.
-DUSTY and STICKY BURRS
-Very little stroke variety off the tee. Almost every hole can be opened with a flat RHBH drive (hole 5 turns left, 2 and 9 are skill shots, 11 lets you get really creative).

If you're making your way through the LA area, this should be one of the 3 courses you make sure to play (the others being Elysian Park and Oak Grove). It's challenging but not oppressive. A beautiful location North of the city center, it's a great place to pack a lunch and make a full afternoon.

Tip: Try playing the back 9 first, then the front 9. It's a good way to avoid having a tired arm for those uphill shots on 12, 17, and 18.

- $2 to play
- distance and technical, great for experienced players.
- clear signs and clean cement tees
- feels safe for solo ladies* a big plus!
- proshop
- played within a large, grassy, clean park
- "rest" spots offer some privacy
- restrooms near by (park area)

- new players don't expect many pars unless you are gifted.
- baskets are a tad hard to locate for newcomers- bring a map

I like it here and will play again!

-Red,White,Blue layout makes course navigation fairly easy without a map for first timers
-Good mix of holes. Long/short/left/right
-Some elevation comes into play
-Has a shop on site
-Nice teepads and baskets
-Not too many pedestrians walking through when I played
-Bathrooms conveniently located

-Some teesigns are missing
-Didn't really have any holes that stood out to me
-A lot of trash on the ground considering amount of trashcans around

I played this course at 730 am... Was one of the only ones there the whole time I played, shop wasn't open

- Sylmar offers one of the best disc golf experiences in SoCal. With a good variety of lines and distances with elevation changes this course offers a fun but challenging round of disc golf.

- All holes have 3 pin positions, giving the course a good feel of variety.

- Big elevation changes on a bunch of holes. Hole 11 is a big downhill shot, a lot of fun when playing to the elevated pin position. Also pleanty of uphill shots with a good deal of distance.

- The couse is DG exclusive!!!. I will happily continue to pay 2 bucks so I don't have to worry about hitting little kids or their oblivious parents walking throught the course.

- The course offers a variety of obstacles. Most holes are moderately wooded, with major elevation changes. Also the wind can be very punishing. Last Sylmar Open there were gusts of 30 mph, making a very interesting round.

- Navigation is easy. Maps are provided at the pro shop and baskets follow red white blue pattern.

- The course has a great disc golf vibe, you can tell that the course is well maintained and enjoyed by the locals. with the pro shop on site and a local disc golf legend calling this course home.

The course can be very dusty during the summer.

No major complaints about this course. I will admit that it plays kind of short, but it still offers a good challenge.

Sylmar is a bit out of the way for me but everytime I go there I end up wishing I made the drive more often. This is one of my favorite courses in SoCal.

I would highly recommend this to anyone visiting the LA area. If you have time do Sylmar and Oak Grove in the same day for a great day of disc golf.

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.

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.

-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**

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.

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.

- Just added a website: http://sylmardiscgolf.com
- Best pro shop I have been to so far in my short disc golf career (Started June 2009) .
- All levels can play here.
- Regular tournaments every Thu before dark, call to get time, and Every third Sat. I am a new player and have yet to try a tourney. There is an ace pool. Gets in the hundreds I am told.
- Holes are varied regularly. I have been playing this course since June 2009 and I still see new holes.
- Excellent acess, easy to find.
- Good bathrooms (near hole 5)
- Plenty of parking.
- Excellent course map displayed on the bulletin board near tee 1.

- Watch out for the fence on hole 6. Throw it over and you will have a long walk. There is a hole in the fence benind basket 5.

- Bring a course map for your first visit.
- They say the pro shop opens at 8am, but this has never been the case for all of my visits. I would say 10am is the average opening time.
- I buy all my discs here. The pro shop is well stocked. I also take my 14 year old daughter and 6 year old boy. Good family fun
- The locals are the best.
- This is my favorite course of all the local courses I frequent.

Where to start?
Pro shop: with excellent selection of discs, drinks, snaks, etc.

Tons of old growth. Beautiful scenery. Kind of stuff we dont have in north Texas.

Challenging : Plenty of distance for the long bombers. Scenic elevation changing shots up and down hill. You will use every shot in your bag.

Great Locals!

Bathrooms, etc etc

The only con i can think of is that I'm not yet good enough to shoot under par here.
It's a really fun course to play!

I travel for a living and get to play a different course about every week since i started playing about 7 months ago. This is without a doubt one of the top 5 courses i've played and the people i met made it the best. Very friendly locals that taught me a lot about the sport and even took me on a road trip up north to play a few courses. I recomend anyone of any skill level to play this course. It will make anyone better. If work doesn't bring me back to this course, I'll still be back.