Minot, ND

Polaris Park

Permanent course
2.15(based on 10 reviews)
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3 0
jmadgiroux
Experience: 6 played 6 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Weekday practice 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 21, 2019 Played the course:once

Pros:

Local beginner / practice course in Minot. Baskets are in decent shape, park is well maintained.

Holes 5-9 have some trees but still fairly easy.

Cons:

Holes 1-4 are open field, no challenge.

No tee pads, just tee posts, muddy.

Other Thoughts:

Large population of cute prairie dogs digging around the baskets, oblivious to the deadly flying discs coming their way... :(
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1 1
JFasteen
Experience: 28.8 years 65 played 3 reviews
0.50 star(s)

Best for field work, not rounds 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:May 9, 2015 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

It has baskets. Excellent field work. Good for practice.

Cons:

Not really a disc course. Flat, open, short, congested, playground in the middle, little kids football/baseball/soccer leagues frequent some of the course in the summer.

Other Thoughts:

Not really a disc course however it offers pretty dang good opportunities for practice. It does have a large stretch of open land that is well suited for field work. From one location you can see 90% of the baskets and throw to any one of them. Baskets are terrible but being so force you to maintain pinpoint accuracy and not rely on the 10 chains they have to catch. A safari layout offers "real course" feel if you are there without much other park use happening.
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5 0
ACE Ventura
Experience: 12.9 years 105 played 24 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Decent City Park Course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 3, 2013 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

This 9 hole course is located in a residential neighborhood park which is very well maintained. The majority of the holes have no elevation changes (except hole 8, slightly uphill) and only on a few holes does any foliage come into play.

The hole layout is ambidextrous friendly on every hole except #6 which has a dogleg right around the fenced in tennis court. Aside from that all you really need is to be able to throw straight. Most holes are parkable with just mid-ranges but a couple of them allow for you to pull out your drivers and get after it.

The overall course layout is done pretty well, with most tee pads being a few yards from the previous basket. It plays back and forth around the park with hole #9 bringing you back fairly close to hole #1's tee.

The tees are all dirt but are marked with posts stating the hole number. Little to no extra information is provided on the poles but the baskets are blatantly easy to see (except #8 and #9). The baskets are unique, not sure what type they are but they are in good condition and colorful.

Cons:

The biggest con for this course is the very close proximity of the following hole tee pads to the current hole's basket. Almost every hole I had to wait for the group ahead of me to tee-off on the following hole before throwing since the people were within yards my target basket.

I feel like they could definitely improve hole #9. First the tee post is missing, although it's easy to see the markings from thousands of drives for where it is. Secondly, the hole is located behind the row of tall pines and there is no alleyway to aim for to get a good placement. Basically you just huck it at the pines and hope it goes through. Not a great philosophy IMO.

Even though it's expected for an inner-residential park, this place was very busy. I admit I was only there for a couple hours playing, it was packed.

Other Thoughts:

I hate to include this in a review because I'm sure it doesn't apply to everyone playing, but the players I did encounter on the course were lacking on some common disc golf etiquette. Mainly not waiting to allow a faster player play through and then when I finally asked and they let me through, I was thrown on MULTIPLE times before I even reached my disc! Sorry but yelling "heads up" doesn't mean it's okay to throw on someone who is walking away from the tee.

I think this course deserves the rating of 3.0 because although it's well-maintained and in good shape, it lacks challenges and is packed with people who lack good DG etiquette. I would recommend this to anyone passing through the area, just keep your head down or wear a helmet.
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3 0
Arnie
Experience: 15.8 years 61 played 38 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Ruger Park 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:May 15, 2018 Played the course:once

Pros:

The course is laid out very nice. Easy to follow and play. A great course for beginners, because of the flow of the course and easy to see most of the basket. Tee pads are in great shape and clean of trash. The basket has been replace with brand new baskets. The Tee post are new and they fill in the worn down tee pads. Tee pad #9 has been moved back and over, making a better play then the old tee pad.

Cons:

Windy and wide open.

Other Thoughts:

The city has been updating the parks. tennis courts by hole #6 has been removed. They also remove lots of trees. Pro par is 27, the beginners should be 31.
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2 3
Mincus14
Experience: 14.9 years 26 played 26 reviews
1.00 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Nov 4, 2010 Played the course:once

Pros:

Short and easy. Good beginner course. Nice little park.

Cons:

Not very well signed or laid out. Really flat and no variety. No trees either, which also means it can get pretty windy. 9 holes.

Other Thoughts:

Good beginner course.
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4 0
DiSCRoCKeR
Bronze level trusted reviewer
Experience: 23.9 years 204 played 43 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Victim of Bad Design 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Mar 18, 2011 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Quiet neighborhood park that is also home to a small skate park, ball diamond, tennis court, and an outdoor hockey and skating rink during the winter. Course is fairly easy to navigate once you have actually played through it to see where the pins are in conjunction to the tees. Good course for beginners and decent practice for seasoned players. It is almost impossible to shoot over par, even with only using mid-range discs and putters. Also, there is no chance of losing a disc unless it gets stuck up in a tree or buried in the snow.

Cons:

Of course the usual dirt tees and no signage is a fault, and the baskets aren't very top notch disc catching devices. My biggest problem with this course is in the design. There really doesn't seem that much thought went into the layout. The little elevation this course has to offer isn't even utilized except on hole 8, and even then the tee area is situated in a terrible spot that doesn't offer a good line to the pin. There is also good oppurtunity for a good downhill throw or two that I can't see how those were even missed. There is, however, a basket sitting in the area where a downhill toss should be so if someone wanted to make up their own downhill hole then it is possible. The tee post for hole 9 was missing so I just made up my own for that hole.

Other Thoughts:

If this course went through a thought out redesign that offers more challenge to beginners and seasoned players alike it would definitely earn a higher rating. There is even enough room in the park to add some more holes and still not interfer with the other park ammenities that would be in use.
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4 0
TVA_
Experience: 18.5 years 48 played 2 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Polaris Park 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 13, 2009 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Makes good use of the little terrain available, Has tees and baskets that are accurately marked, not busy, easy enough to navigate, set in a nice little park, wind making it a challenge to play.

Cons:

9 holes, very short, very open, this all negated by the huge winds (also a Pro) baskets are mach-5-ish (no inner chains, very little metal in general) Dirt tees.

Other Thoughts:

This is a solid little course for what it is, where it is, wide open and easy if it weren't for that darn wind. you can leave the drivers at home, I played most every hole with a putter or mid. all in all worth your time if you are in Minot already, (and trust me you'll be looking for something to do if you are) but don't go out of your way to get here.

oh, and did I mention the WIND.
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2 2
DHUMPS
Experience: 1 played 1 reviews
2.50 star(s)

What We Got 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:May 31, 2009 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Minot is a beautiful town to toss some discs in. It has lush foilage and is one of the more prettier towns in ND. Polaris is probably one of the nicest parks in Minot with a greak skating rink and some nice plaground equipment for the kids. Pretty fun for disc golf, even if its windy. Lots of trees in certain areas.

Cons:

The location of Polaris is definitely not as legit as other areas in Minot. Located at the edge of Minot on top north hill (Not on the edge of Downtown), it gets quite gusty on certain days. This could be a con or pro depending on who you are. It is definitely good to get practice in the wind. The baskets kinda suck, no inner changes and a few less loops on the outside than "normanl" baskets. They are also a little higher than all of the others. The trees on hole 8 and 9 can gets uper frustrating, especially on 8, with a huge mofo oak right in the way.

Other Thoughts:

Since were not as "privilaged" as the basers and their good signs and concrete pads, we still make this our frolf park. It is the only one within a large radius and we make best of what we have. It is definitely a good stress releiver to play on a pretty course and have a lot of activity around you when you play. The layout of the holes are a little deceptive. Some of the other reviews say its easy to ger a 7 or 9 under but they get pars and -1's because it is a skill course as much as its a leisure course. Ive never hear of a 9 under. It is a lucky feat to get 5 or 6 under, I usually land at par or 1 to 2 under, sometimes with the wind, ridiculous amounts over par!
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4 1
ZipperBlueZ
Experience: 20.6 years 12 played 10 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Polaris Park DGC 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jul 5, 2008 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

No waiting, easlily acessible, well maintained.

Cons:

It is a 9 hole course (I don't think I could ever give a 9 hole course more than a rating of 3). The traps didn't seem to have enough chains, but that is probably just the make they used. Discs would hit center pole and bounce out more frequently than would be expected.

Other Thoughts:

Polaris park is a nice park, I wouldn't go out of the way to play here, but it is convenient for the Minot area. Just looking at the holes, most are fairly easy and few require a specific tee shot, but the strong winds ramp the difficulty up considerably. I would think, as the previous reviewer did, that -7 to -9 would be a reasonable score, but I played the course twice scoring par and -1, due in large part to the wind.
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10 1
JR Stengele
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 23.9 years 251 played 191 reviews
1.50 star(s)

Polaris Park 2+ years

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Apr 8, 2008 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Polaris Park Disc Golf Course is located on the outskirts of downtown Minot in a smalll quaint neighborhood. This 9 hole course includes seven Par 3's and two Par 4's, making Par 29. The course was designed to weave throughout this multi-use park. Other amneties include a hockey rink, tennis court, playground, and skate park. There are some trees clumped together but, for the most part the park is fairly open and flat. The trees they do have though have been strategically used to guard a few pins.

Wind was a LARGE factor, similar to Minot Air Force Base. Polaris allowed for many birdie opportunaties, including some ace shots and a couple pars. Because of the wind, bogies can be quite possible. Baskets were similar to Mach 5's, durable, and good enough for being a family friendly course. The baskets were blue with red tops, and the poles were painted yellow which was kind of funky fresh.The course was very easy to find, and the neighborhood seemed friendly and safe.

Cons:

When the wind is not blowing (which is rarely) the course would be fairly easy to score well below par.The course design lacks imagination and difficulty and therefore creates little to no challenge, With the terrible winds blowing the few times I played, I still shot 4 under with missing two birdie opportunities.

The tee pads are dirt with no distinct start and finish, and the tee signs are basic wooden posts with numbers etched into the side. Distance and par written, but in black marker which looked as if a middle school wrote it.

Much of the surrounding land and elevation in the general area was not utilized and becasue of this, the holes suffered greatly. There were a couple of fun holes but the rest were really too simple and at times dangerous considering they played near the other ameneties. A redesign could do wonders for this course and perhaps allow the rating to eventually move up to possibly a 2.5. Unitl then, I stand by my rating. It is designed for the novice or intermediate player in mind.

Other Thoughts:

The fact that this course is located in a neighborhood surrounded by young families is fantastic. This is a wonderful place to learn the game, and for more advanced players, a great place to experiment using the wind. With all the land here in Minot, it would be great to see them build a championship 18 hole course considering there is a University in the same town. I bet if a local disc golf club was was organized on campus that a lot of great things could happen in this little town. I hope for the best but am not sure it will ever happen. I hope I am wrong.
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