-FREE!
-Some really nice holes. Wooded (but not incredibly dense), with a couple open holes peppered in. Fairways force discers to choose between a few tight, deliberate lines. Some uphill, some downhill. Good use of elevation change.
-Concrete tees, all in great shape and clean.
-Solitude. We were the only ones playing when I visited Vance. One walker and one police cruiser (more on him later) were the only other people using the park.
-Baskets are in good shape
-Close to Rockwood, if nine holes doesn't scratch the itch.

-Parking is a little rough. Don't park in the adjacent church parking lot. They will tow your car.
-No tee signs or other navigation aids.
-Locked (apparently long-term) restrooms
-Hole nine tees off behind a big rubble pile and barbed wire fence. I found that tee to be kind of weird. Wished it was off the fence a bit more or coming from a different direction for a better aesthetic.
-Only one set of pin locations

What a beautiful park! Tall, beefy trees and a little bit of up and down make for some really nice (shortish) holes.

Just watch out for car thieves...

After finishing hole three a cop in his cruiser came up to us. I freeze like a deer in headlights (old habit), and he proceeds to ask if we had seen some tweaker chick who had been seen in the area and was on the run after stealing quite a few cars. Remember to lock your doors.

Outside of that, this is a really nice park, enjoyed best with a guide or, at worst, a map. Check it out if you can.

This course will be challenging for the beginner yet capable of satisfying the experienced DG'r. Navigation is easy and all baskets are visible from the tee giving the opportunity for an ace on all holes! The flat terrain of the course will be liked by the beginner and the trees can be challenging for all. Concrete pads and well marked baskets at fairly short distances add a handful of friendly locals, that's what makes it a fun course

: No practice basket, tee signs & restrooms. There is non Dg'r traffic that can hold up your game on holes #5, #7, #8 and #9. Rock Quarry on the other side of the fence will happily swallow your disc and good luck retrieving it!

Basket on #5 has been relocated about 15 feet to the right from the last time I played here also tee pad for # 9 has been relocated and is between basket for #8 and basket #6 and is aimed straight across the field. This is a great course to hit up after work or even on break if you work nearby. There is a soccer field next to the course allowing you to practice your drives too. This is a neighborhood course enjoy it

I love Vance! This was a fun one for me personally as I love Pier Park in Portland and this is just like a miniaturized version of that course. The trees were a really enjoyable obstacle and if they hadn't have been there it would of made this short course dull and boring. The designers did a really good job with the exception of hole number five which has the room to be moved back and made longer than it is. Navigation is as easy as it gets, just look for the next concrete tee pad and every basket is visible from the tee. This course has a very high fun factor even though it's not much of a challenge.

Not many cons other than not much of a challenge and really short. Like I said hole five has room to be moved back about 70 feet to make it more challenging and not such an open ace run hole but that is nit picking. No parking except for on the street and it's a bit of an ordeal finding hole one. There is still a chance of throwing over a couple of fences where you will not be able to retrieve your disc.

This was a fun experience for me and I would love to come back and play this again. Other reviewers commented on the tee pad for hole number nine, well they have moved that pad to a longer and more safe position, actually making it one of the longest holes on the course and keeping people away from climbing over and breaking a fence.

*Good mix of shots required...
*Big trees typical of Oregon courses, but no undergrowth to lose discs in.
*Quick, easy 9
*Easy to navigate (just look at the map in the links section for this course page)
*Great course to practice with your mids/putters
*ACE RUNS!!!!!!
*New #9 tee position is much better, O.B. is still in play, but only on an errant shot.

*No tee-signs (though most pins can be seen from the tee, so they're not really necessary)
*Flat
*Some of the holes seem TOO short (#5) TOO bland (#6)

This is a pretty sweet little course that wouldn't even know was there if you didn't know to look, in fact, I drove by it several times on my way from Gresham to HH, and never knew it was there.

The course starts next to the NE corner of the church parking lot, from there, the flow is pretty intuitive. Leave your drivers in your car, and bring your mids/putters, that's all you'll need.

This is definitely not a destination course, but if you happen to be in Gresham/Eastern PDX, or driving through and want to get a quick, easy 9, stop by, you won't be disappointed.

I love this course because it's easy but hard at the same time... you have to be somewhat accurate but even when hitting trees you can par and it's just a good course..

There is a cliff on the side of hole 8 or 9 and my friend threw his disc down there and it's never coming back....but in the parks defence it's almost impossible to throw it off the cliff my friend is just retarded..

Great variety of shots.
Varied Lengths.
Not a lot of traffic.
Dedication of several golfers and the wonderful coffee shop.

A few homeless people.
Not a lot of long shots where you can air out a throw.
The gully, which they are currently trying to fix.

This is my home course and it has been a great course to learn on and get better at. It's also great to see Rockwood Park so close.

Great use of available space
Lot's of varied shots due to trees
Very easy to navigate, even without the downloadable map
Good course to practice precision shots without much "risk" involved-like losing a disc
Great course for introducing people to the sport while still providing a challenge
Good course to fine tune various shots and shot selection skills

Not many cons, given what this course is...a small city park course.
If your expectations are accurate, you will thoroughly enjoy this course

With this course and Rockwood right down the street--this is a great mini destination to get in a few quick rounds to fine tune your game in a non-crowded setting with 0% chance of losing a disc, so you can throw multiple discs in a variety of ways.
Of the two, I liked this course more because it had more trees...

If you've hesitated playing this course because it's a small 9 holer--I think you will be pleasantly surprised--it'll be worth your time

**It's a little hard to tell from the map...but the tee off for hole one is along the fence behind the church parking lot...once you find that, the rest flows very nicely

Vance park is a very fun course to play, it offers many challenging shots that are friendly to lefties and right handers that throw both back hand and fore arm, allowing a wide arrangement of throwing techniques.

The baskets are in great shape and easily viewable from the tee boxes. The tee boxes are concrete, nice, level and point in the correct direction (w/ the exception of #9's tee box being a tad tricky).

I like the fact that the majority of the course is under shelter of huge trees that kept me dry during the rain.

The course also was well maintained and seemed fairly clean. The holes that were open and unguarded offer many ace ops and the holes that were guarded offer many bird ops if thrown correctly.

The locals were very friendly and kind enough to show me the flow of the course, which i might add is very well laid out. I thought of this course being a smaller version of Timber park and as one person below said a Pier park type setting as well. I would gladly play Vance again and feel at home here.

There aren't many cons to this park other than the fact there are no hole signs or a course map made available. W/ out the fact of being guided by locals i would have had a hard time figuring out the flow of the course. the only other thing i can think of is hole #9's teebox location is next to a fence and makes it an odd hole to tee off from.

Rock Central DGC is located just 3 blocks away making two courses w/ in walking distance of each other. Vance park offers a playground many fields and other sports to play, allowing other activities for those in the family to do, if not playing discgolf. there is also a porta-potty, multiple trash cans and picnic areas provided as well.

Beautiful park especially for a small city park, great big trees create a nice setting.
For a short pitch and putt course (average hole length ~250) it offers some challenging and unique shots.
Good tees and baskets.
Because it's a fairly used city park, it's kept up nicely.
because it's only 3 blocks from Rockwood, it's essentially an 18 hole course.
There's a great bi-weekly singles league on saturday mornings all through the winter.

No tee signs or course info, it can even be heard to find hole one at times, it's about 600 feet into the park.
Like most small city courses there's no real chance to air out big drives. (but for those with a serious craving they do have a large field.)
Layout is fairly simple, no blind shots, only one significant dog leg.
On nice weekends the park can get crowded with non-golfers, (expected at an urban park)

2018 Update: Unfortunately, this course underwent some design changes under safety concerns and while they may have helped in some regards, it's weakened the appeal of the course. Hole 5 was shortened considerably, as was hole 7, and the tee pad for hole 9 was made easier.

Vance is a great park, and because it's only 3 blocks from rockwood it makes a very fun 18 hole course that's a great tuneup for anyones short game. My only design complaint is that they could have thought out design a bit more and lengthened some of the holes 30 or 40 feet. I would say that if you live anywhere on the east side come and play Vance and Rockwood, if you're from out of town, you're probably better off playing some of the bigger more impressive courses like Pier or Milo or Dabney or Trojan.
Oh and if you live in Portland check out the Rockwood winter series, it's one of the rare leagues that meets in the winter, and brings out 50 or 60 people even if there's ice on the ground. There's usually a sign either at Vance or at Rockwood in the winter.

UPDATE: The shortening of hole 5 and hole 7 has forced me to drop my rating a half disc, as the course is now significantly easier.

The trees here and how they affected the throws reminded me a little of Pier Park. This is just your basic, everyday, run of the mill city park course. Probably, 20-25% of the DG courses in the US are in little city parks just like this one. Vance does have enough trees to add to the challenge. I especially liked # 8, a tunnel shot through the trees.

I didn't like # 9 teeing off right beside the chain link park fence. Obviously over the years enough players have hit the top of fence and caromed OB. The fence here is breaking down as it has been climbed over too many times. This is not only unslightly but it pisses off park department officials. There are no tee signs not that they're needed here but the yardage is always fun to know.

Just another nice little practice course. Challenge enough to be enjoyed by most players, easy enough for beginners and families.

-Good baskets
-Solid teepads
-Great course to practice new shots
-Great course to practice "discing down" (using a mid instead of driver and putter instead of mid)
-Enough trees to keep you honest
-Well designed for amount of space given
-Plenty of safari opportunities
-Great fun for players with less D
-Events to participate in

-No tee signs
-No kiosk w/map
-Lots of trash at times
-Lots of crime in the area at times
-A few fairways cross ped paths, unavoidable really, just be careful of walkers.

Vance Park is a really fun course to practice new shots on. Over summer of '07 I started to practice forehand drives, I'm primarily backhand and have never forced myself to "figure out" the forehand drive. Vance was a great tool for me to begin dissecting that shot. I often played rounds throwing only forehand off the tee. All the holes are under 300' so I didn't have to worry about hurting my tennis elbow by overpowering it.

My girlfriend is also a competitive golfer and loves vance. She doesn't have too much D but is excellent in the rest of her game, so Vance was like a playground for her, she could reach all but one hole, and often times can tie or beat me out there because of her excellent putting.

In regards to course design, Jerry Miller did and excellent job in regards to the available space. The tee pads are far enough from the previous basket that you don't feel like you're still in the "fly zone" for people driving behind you. There are also some elements of modern larger courses tucked in. Hole 9, for instance, is a fairly technical big hyzer for righties, and a really fun big putter/roc anhyzer for lefties.

I think that any advanced players that live in the area could use this course and a great practice tool, also when you're done throwing a couple nines, there is a HUGE soccer/baseball field next to hole two that you can use to practice distance.
Golfers of somewhat less skill or distance are really going to benefit from playing Vance Park, and they will enjoy getting birdies and learning the the various shots required to drive well at Vance.