While the water may be a challenging or even frustrating aspect for a lot of players, it's hard to list the presence of all the water as anything but a huge plus for this course. Trojan is one of the only courses in the NW that has this extensive of a set of water hazards, and on roughly 10 of the holes, water is a serious factor. That said, one of the best things about Trojan is the fact that the water holes never feel "unfair" (at least for relatively skilled players), there's lots of risk-reward, and most of the water holes offer a nice chance to choose how much you want to "bite off."

As far as the technical elements of the course, Trojan has fantastic tee pads and solid baskets, and with the exception of the most rainy months in the winter, the course and the park are generally kept in very good shape. Unlike most of the top courses in the Portland metro area, even on a beautiful summer day, the course is almost never crowded.

Another thing to mention is that the course, in my opinion, has great "flow," I've seen a few complaints about the initial holes, but I would disagree. The first four holes offer a nice simple warmup, followed by a well laid out but scorable par 4, before getting you started on the grind of 10 consecutive water-oriented holes that play around the course's gorgeous lakes, then the course finishes up with a few relatively merciful forest holes to finish up. All around the course, you're treated to beautiful lake scenery, and the course truly utilizes every extent of the property to its advantage. I'll also note that Trojan does a great job of mixing in different distances, shot shapes and holes with a number of different viable approaches.

Hole 10 should be highlighted as one of the best drives in all of Oregon. The hole is just an elevated tee from the road (hole 10 is one of three holes without a dedicated tee pad so watch for a spray painted tee) then nothing but water, to a small lateral green on the other side of the lake. While it only takes a 250' shot to reach the green, the downhill visual effect looking out over the water is stunning.

Obviously this comes up in all of the reviews, but as an 2018 update, the course still does not have any tee signs or directional arrows. Even rudimentary signage would immediately push this course from a 3.5 to a 4 in my book.

The walkout from hole 12 to 13 is incredibly long (5 minute walk minimum), which is particularly unfortunate because in that space the course could easily accommodate a few more holes, the walkout after 18 is a bit on the long side, but not excessively so.

I would tentatively agree with a few other commentators that the course has a couple of relatively mundane holes that aren't particularly bad, but do keep the course from reaching an even higher-quality status (1, 4, 16, 18).

The course can be difficult to play in November-February when heavy rains occur, but with boots and logical NW gear, this is not a huge issue.

Overall, I think Trojan is one of the true NW greats, and in many ways is an underrated course, even among locals. It's certainly not for everyone, I would strongly suggest that newer players avoid this course. It's easy to lose 2-3 discs in a round, and it's possible to lose even more (however, skilled players who play safe can avoid losing plastic). The lake is artificial with fairly sharp drop offs, aside from a few places, if you're even 3 feet from the edge, your disc is gone.

*IMPORTANT NOTES FOR YOUR FIRST TIME AT TROJAN*

-When you enter the park, there isn't any signage to show you where to start. Right after you enter, park on the side of the road (by the portable restroom and basket 1), the first tee is about a 300 foot walk past the first basket on a small raised concrete platform with some old wooden benches. You play from the corner of that concrete platform. After that, the course is fairly easy to follow from the course map.

-Hole 10 tees from the top of the road, you will see a natural clearing if you follow the course map, there is usually a painted tee indicating where to throw from.

-Hole 13 tees off from the painted line in the middle of the large concrete platform, follow the course map as it appears after a long walkout that follows the concrete path around the picnic areas.

-Lastly, PRINT or have on your phone the course map. The one here on the site is accurate and useful.

-If you can find a guide out on the course, it would be a good idea to follow a local. If you have questions about the course or would like to find a local to play with, feel free to email me at [email protected]. I want to ensure that future players have a good first trip to Trojan.

The defining feature here is water. It comes into play on about half the holes, and you may become desensitized to it.

After the first few fairways play in a safe area, you're ready for a new kind of hole. Number 6 is a great fairway with water danger to the left and overhanging trees protecting a huge forehand hyzer. If you aim wrong you might get shafted by those trees, so you're better off going low and trying to jimmy it in there.

Hole 8 is a fun drive across a canal to a peninsula with the basket sitting near the reservoir tip.

Hole 14 is my favorite. The basket has a noticeable bend to it, but don't be scared of that. A big forehand or RHBH anhyzer can get you around the bend, but go too far and you'll end up in the water. Your second shot is a real butt clencher as the basket is on a hilly peninsula exposed to the wind. You know what you need to do, but in the end, you need to pull it off.

Given the name of the place, you might expect rubber tee pads. Nope. They are solid and firm and ready to get the job done.

Navigation is okay if you use the map, but a couple of the baskets aren't there (#1 and #7, off the top of my head). You don't want to spend time looking for a hole and find out you're not even in the right area.

You will lose discs here. I didn't lose any in my one round, but I can't see playing many rounds and not losing any. This isn't that big a con to me. If you've been playing long enough, you have a trunk-full of discs you don't throw, and now is the time to put that junk in your trunk to work. If you don't have spare discs, you haven't been playing long enough to enjoy this course.

If you're frustrated with big swings in scores vs your friends, you may hate it here. On many holes, you could be laying 2, laying 4, who knows.

My biggest complaint would be the final couple holes. They mainly play around some parking lots and roads. It's not as hard at the end.

There was no one here. On a late Sunday morning I didn't see any other disc golfers. It's a terrible place for true beginners, but I thought there would be some people here. Contrast that with Pier Park, Milo McIver, and any other course in the Portland area. It is well worth the drive for the solitude. Sometimes the best practice happens when no one is watching.

Drove by this course many times on the way towards Astoria but never had the time to stop until recently. The bottom line is that it is a unique course and although I've played a lot of golf I've never played one quite like this. As mentioned in many of the below reviews, the water makes for plenty of risk/reward scenarios that can be quite fun. This is the kind of course that you play for some "mental" golf (or go to the mental ward if it goes badly). The setting as a whole, despite its notorious past, was aesthetically pleasing enough and there were only a handful of people around when I played so I had free reign to take me time and enjoy the round.
I felt some of the hype about lost discs might be overstated. This probably isn't a course for a beginner but even someone new to the game could play pretty conservatively and probably (maybe) be okay. Since I wasn't sure when I would have a chance to be back I went for it and walked away with all my plastic.
Given that the course is relatively empty, you could certainly design some of your own holes. Someone with skills or a sense of humor laid some pads that faced a basket about 400 feet over water. I skipped that.

Navigation can be tricky but with a little patience and the correct map (print out the second map available on the website) it shouldn't be a problem to find your way around. I made the mistake of printing out the first map and as such couldn't find the first hole. That was on me, not the course.
Many of the holes were fun to play but I have to say that the first (and incorrect map) had a couple holes that seemed enjoyable and a bit longer. I think a couple par 4s where you have to strategically place a shot and then throw over water would have strengthened this course.
Given the history of this place I would probably refrain from swimming, drinking the water, or eating the geese.

Oregon has so much great golf that this isn't the best option for beauty and challenge but it is certainly worth playing. I've played quite a bit up and down the west coast and nothing similar comes to mind.

Trojan Park has some really great natural features for a disc golf course: sections of light to moderate treed areas in the midst of rolling grassy stretches all along the banks of a few interconnected ponds. In my NW experience thus far, a genuine water course like this is a rare find in the Northwest, but Trojan is good enough and is centrally located to provide both Oregon and Washington golfers with their fix for the wet stuff.

Challenge - As I stated earlier, water hazards present a unique challenge for golfers in this area; contrived "false-lake" OB just doesn't give the thrower the same rush as the experience of throwing over water. Just like trees and distance, emotional challenge will factor into the overall difficulty of these holes. However, gold level golfers who have developed hard and set composure under these circumstances, with a few exceptions, will probably not be adequately challenged by most holes on this course.

For Silver and Gold players who haven't developed this mental composure, a lot of these shots strike a really great balance between the hole difficulty (which under normal circumstances would be quite easy) and requiring those players to rise to the challenge of consistent and accurate shot-making under pressure. For example, hole 6 is the first water test that the golfer comes to which is a simple midrange turnover for RHBH or rather short sidearm with a pretty much forced fairway over water. You've got all the room in the world on the left side and trees lining the shore on the right. Its not a difficult shot to make......BUT any error will result in a penalty and, very likely, another toss over the water.

Fun - Lets be honest here, its just plain fun to throw holes with water hazards; especially with a group of friends; and especially when you aren't the one landing in the drink : )

Navigation - As other reviewers have stated, you will want the map when finding your way around here, there are several twists and turns and a section where you loop around lakes in a figure 8 pattern. The teepads are flush with the ground so you'll really have to look around at some points in the course even with the map. Having said that, if you have the map, you should be able to find everything without too much trouble - so...print the map!!!

Beginners probably aren't going to like this course very much. If you can't throw 200 feet and/or keep a disc from hyzering hard at the end of a RHBH throw, you are in for a frustrating and probably expensive round. Several of the holes don't really have reasonable "safe" routes for true beginner players and often have water danger on the left side of the fairway in prime areas for hyzers that fall too short - but note that these are "Pro's" for higher skill levels.

Mud - It should be fairly obvious but, with most of the holes bordering the ponds and being fairly low and flat land, the place gets quite wet and muddy after it rains. Not a huge con really, just bring your boots and a towel.

As I've stated earlier, this course is suited to a wide range of skill levels except for novice and elite level professionals but should offer at least a fun round for all except the true beginner.

I've been to the park on two weekends this winter (2009-2010) and have found it pretty much empty - sounds like it gets very busy in the summer.

Warning: Watch out for the water beyond the basket on hole 7 - each time I've played here, I've totally forgotten about it and only worried about water lining the left side of the fairway.

Trojan Park in Rainier, Oregon is just minutes away from the border of Washington State and is located in a beautiful park setting which surrounds water. The course is mostly flat, with trees and other native foliage spread out along the grassy fairways. A walking path meanders throughout the park (primarily along the water) which means that one must constantly be on the lookout for pedestrians whom are walking, biking, picnicking, or fishing. Because the course is isolated from much of the other courses in or near the Portland area, most of the time you will find very few other disc golfers playing. However, the locals I did come across the day I played were extremely helpful, whether it was helping with navigation or lost discs.

Course maintenance at Trojan Park was fantastic! The fairways were all mowed, trees and bushes were well manicured, there were several trash cans placed throughout the park, and there was also a gazebo toward hole #9 that had benches and tables. The cement tee pads on the course were fairly new, large, and in great shape. Baskets too seemed fairly new, sturdy, and well taken care of.

The design of the course seemed to challenge players of all skill levels, especially amateur. I found many of the holes were well thought out and required a lot of strategy. Pin and tee placement added to much of the challenge, and deflections from the trees could be fatal to both your score and discs (splash)! This course had some of the best holes I have yet played, including holes six, eight, and twelve. All three were high-risk high-reward, with tee pads on one side of the water and pins on the other. The holes require you to throw toward the pins which were all positioned on the end of a peninsula. These holes were great in the sense that they could create a lot of separation in player scores which is what makes this course so great!

Even though this course truly had some epic holes, there were some that just seemed thrown in. Hole one was wide open and gave little to no challenge. Hole ten was extremely short and boring, and hole eleven was extremely narrow and like ten, VERY muddy! During the winter months I could see skipping these holes and continuing on with the rest of the course.

Navigation is a serious issue too. There are no tee signs or arrows pointing first timers toward the next tee pad. Getting to tee pad 9-11 could be rather difficult, making a round at Trojan that much more frustrating. However, once played it is much easier to navigate. Hopefully it is just a matter of time before these issues are taken care of. It is obvious that the local scene is doing a lot around this course, improving it all the time.

Lost discs can be a problem on this course so just know that you are going to most likely lose at least one (especially your first time). This would be a very tough home course to have with so many chances to lose discs. With twelve of the eighteen holes having water on it, one must really think about each and every shot. It wouldn't hurt to keep some cheap dx plastic in your bag just in case.

Last, geese poop. I know others mentioned it earlier but I really didn't think much of it till I played here. It is everywhere, and gets on everything! Extra towels are a must, and hand sanitizer could go a long way. I found myself slipping on tee pads because it was all over them.

I have wanted to play this course for sometime. I must say that Trojan did live up to it's hype as the Fountain Hills (AZ) of the Northwest. Over time I can see this course getting better and better. With such a dedicated local scene in the Portland area, and continual improvements, this course's rating will continue to climb.

I played here when it was raining and still had a great time. I can only imagine how amazing this course plays during the summer months (especially during the Rose City Open). I look forward to coming back and playing this hidden gem as it was worth every minute of my time. If traveling near Portland this is a must, as well as Pier and Horning's Hideout.

-Water hazards
-Kept fairways & nice baskets
-Never crowded
-High Risk

-Must have course map
-Couple of holes not playable in the wetter months
-Fishermen can come into play
-Flat

I love this course!! The water hazards make this course great. One of the more relaxing places, during the week the place is empty.In the summer the fisherman can get in the way of a few holes but seem pretty cool & the Mosquitoes can be a b*tch. Trojan is one of my favorite courses, I am thankful I live so close

Trojan is a beautiful course set around a lake. As we all know there are several spots on this course to lose a disc but I believe the pictures online make it look worse then it is. I played using a bag with discs I have either never thrown or haven't throw in quite some time and had no idea what to expect out of them and I lost two discs but they were both on shanks that might have been lost in bushes or something else at a forested park. If I would have brought my regular bag of discs I most likely wouldn't have lost any discs in the water. There are safe areas to throw to on every water shot if you are willing to take a par or bogey but I would recommend bringing some discs you don't care about just to try and throw the water shots because it's fun. The place is quite pretty with a great little walking bridge near hole twelve, there are plenty of opportunities to take wonderful pictures.

Well the water shots are a con for some; mostly the ones who end up in the water, hehe. There are a couple of tee pads that could have been moved to make the water come into play more in a couple of areas and they chose not to do so which is too bad because these couple of holes are the only clunkers on the course really. You are going to need a guide or the course map to find your way around as there are some long walks between holes; mostly on the back nine.

I can imagine that during the summer months this course could get hard to play as this looks like a great place to enjoy a nice walk through the park or have a picnic, so I'm sure the course gets busy with non disc golfers. As I mentioned before the water shots aren't all that bad and you can avoid them if you are willing to not get a birdie. This isn't a great place to take beginners to and advanced players should be under par as long as you keep it out of the water.

Course starts out with a handful of easy holes around groups of trees, which is great to get your mojo and flow going before things get technical. Very challenging course due to all of the holes adjacent to lakes and ponds. Risk/Reward is very high on all of these holes. I loved the whole vibe and setting of the course. Very rare to play courses that have so much water hazards and provide that level intensity and focus. Very cool. Course is well designed and utilizes is terrain very effectively

Absolutely need a map to find your way around. With the map, we had no real problems navigating the course. If you did not have one, you would be challenged. I did not find the walk outs to be an issue. They were necessary to get from point A to point B.

Holes 8 and 13 are the signature holes of the course. Awesome pin placements out on the edge of peninsulas with tee shots over water. I found the course mentally demanding due to all the water hazards, but this is what made the course so appealing to me and worth the drive to get to it. This course would be frightening if windy. We caught it under perfect conditions. Definitely recommend this course.

Very well designed in every aspect
Excellent use of available space
Great use of ponds/water--Holes 8 and 13 are classic examples
Good variety of hole configurations
Creative basket placement to take advantage of trees
Forces strategic throw/disc/path selection
Classic holes with baskets very close to the water for very tangible risk/reward shots
Beautiful setting
Very fast course

Tees are not marked and most are not very obvious...a couple of large gray garbage cans at them...they are invisible in the grass...make sure you download and print the map, you'll definitely will need it
These two "cons" are not the fault of the course or design, just facts to be aware of:
1) Very flat course...if you like big elevation changes, you won't find them here--but the course is so well designed you won't miss the elevation (and I LOVE elevation changes)
2) Fowl poop...especially on hole one...bring an extra "throw-away" towel

This course is well worth the drive and isn't that far from Portland...if you do a road trip to Portland, this should be on your itinerary

-Scenic beauty
-60% of holes have water hazards
-Good baskets
-Brand new tee pads installed by local DG club (fall 2008).
-Quite challenging, but not ridiculously so.
-NEVER crowded.
-Great test of mental fortitude, throwing over water can be very stressful.
-Best place in the NW to practice for The Memorial!
-Can be windy, add the water hazards and you've got a very challenging round.

-No maps, no markers, no teesigns! (no guide, no way).
-Bit of a flooding problem at rainy times.
-Due to stagnant water and flooding, this place has a HORRIBLE mosquito problem in the spring and early summer. I highly suggest some type of insect repellant.
-Bad shots equal lost discs in the lake.

This is a very fun place for advanced and pro golfers. Having the water come into play so closely on so many holes brings a whole new aspect of decision making into your round. Do I really want to throw my money disc? Do I really want to try to birdy it? etc. It's great to play out there and watch golfers change their game out of concern for losing discs. Most people lose at least one disc per round when they play here!

If you're planning on playing The Memorial in Arizona some day, Trojan Lake is by far the best course in the NW to practice on. The wind can kick up and it can feel very similar to Fountain hills, and even Shelley Sharpe.

Trojan lake is a great test of skill and the all important "head game". The only thing really lacking at the course is markings. There is no indication of where hole one is, where hole two is, etc. And there are no tee signs once you find the tee pad. It's a good idea to try to contact someone that knows the course before heading out there for your first time. With proper signage, this will be a fantastic course.