+ The whole course is a nice nature walk among tall trees, relaxing paths and welcoming fields.
+ A few worthy elevation challenges among fun tree puzzles.
+ Welcome board has tons of info, a map and paper score cards.
+ Tees have wooden leads with carved-in link#, distance and par, but...

-/+ ...The tee pads are exclusively rubber, and among them some are kind of flimsy.
- No proper tee signs: just numbered markers glued to thin wooden planks.
- I didn't see/notice a lost disc box or practice basket.
-/+ Baskets are kind of weak and outdated but passable and numbered.

The disc golf course at Prince Gallitzin State Park is one of those courses that is equal parts fun challenge and peaceful experience. That challenge definitely presents itself with working through woods, so the big arms will have to take it down a notch. That peaceful experience comes into focus considering the natural and relatively undisturbed wilderness of the course.

Link16 has a good example of that. All along the left side of the fairway is a shadowy and serene valley with a brook running along the bottom. The player gets a pleasant, if somewhat spooky, sense of isolation there. Earlier in between links2 and 3, the player can take a small walking detour to the nearby Glendale Lake. Walk on the dock. Look around. Enjoy the natural splendor. Glimpse all of the campers enjoying an aimless day around their tents. And then get back to your round.

So, how does the course play? For the most part, it offers a healthy challenge that doesn't frustrate too much. Most of the fairways hide the basket from view, so the player will have to risk their first throw as they set off, but the fairways are clean and obvious enough that I don't feel that is a negative. For a mostly wooded course, I was surprised by the distances some of these fairways have. Links7 and 9 are pretty long and possibly the most demanding of the course. Honorable mention to link17 for being a satisfying par5 with a pleasant downhill tee off and sharp right turn to manage. That one was fun.

But I think the star of the show is link11. It's one of the shortest fairways of the whole course, but it packs such a wallop as far as elevation, trees and natural beauty are concerned that I couldn't help feeling enchanted by it. What a lovely valley. What sneaky trees. Link12 is the same way, but 11 hits harder because it is the very first real instance of elevation that the player encounters.

Just before it, link10 is easily my least favorite. 729 feet of nothing but wide-open flat flinging until the last few yards? No thanks. Link5 is no winner, either, but at least that one is half the distance. Since I've entered criticism territory, I'll mention the insufficient tee signs again because they don't feature layouts of the fairway ahead. The tee pads are lumpy rubber. However, in a rustic natural setting like this one, they might be just fine, who knows? A few of the fairways feel like filler, too, but they are at least worthwhile to play.

The whole course is worth your while, though. Prince Gallitzin isn't glitzy, but it isn't chintzy, either. Come here for the nature, which also happens to have a respectable circuit of eighteen disc golf fairways to add an easy-going layer of challenge to your day. Recommended.

Rubber tee pads make for a good no-slip surface.
Excellent next tee signage makes for easy course navigation.
Decent mix of hole distances and basket placements.
Nice fairway paths on the wooded holes (which others have mentioned are the vast majority of the course) with more challenging alternate lanes on a few.
Restrooms and water available.

Not much variety in terms of elevation.
No indication of basket placement from the tee boxes.

Take a picture of the map at the start of the course to help you identify where out of view baskets are from the tee pads. Recent rains made a few areas kind of swampy. The tee marker for hole 10 has been ripped from the ground and is resting on a picnic table beside the tee box. Played one of my best rounds on this course and the views off the lake are wonderful.

This course is beautifully laid out and easy to navigate. I found this course to be a really enjoyable round of discing. Course maintenance seemed really good and the time put into it shows. Tee pad to basket placement was a really enjoyable and fun time. The 4x4 @ the front of each tee pad that's level with the ground tells you what hole your on but more importantly tells you the holes distance in ft. Baskets were in great shape too. I drove for 1 1/2 hours to play this course & was not disappointed. In fact...I'll be making a trip here a couple times a year from now on. This course has a mix of all shots with easier and harder holes as long as your hitting your throwing lanes. There are some signature holes and some ace run chances on a hole or two.

Some of the tee mats are rather narrow on some of the holes but not much of an issue. The only problem I could think of is the signs for each hole doesn't show pin placement for the holes & I'm not sure if there is more than 1 basket position only playing this course once.

This is a wooded course but less wooded than I had anticipated. I always heard how wooded Prince Galitzen was but I still pictured it being more heavily wooded. Most holes definitely play through the woods but as long as your hitting the throwing lanes you should be ok. Don't hit them and your day might not go so well. There are some holes that open up for some bomb throws too. Almost aced #6...Par 3, 145' on a sky hyzer putter throw.

This is my favorite course withing 30 minutes from Altoona. First of all, the SP is beautiful and easily accessible. There is a nice mix of tight wooded fairway shots and wide open shots.

There are no signs with basket locations, so a few of the holes have blind tee shots. Other than that, I have no complaints. It is well worth the 30 minute travel time from Altoona.

I've only played this course in the late fall and mid-winter, so I'm excited to see how it plays in the summer.

The new extended 18 finally provides a true test course in Central PA - fun 9 went to a challenging 18. This is now a wooded course, with many trees, tight fairways, and difficult undergrowth punishing poor shots.
Tee pads are upgraded and flattened - still rubber but much better than before.
Long wooded holes over the middle section mix well with shorter and/or open original 9 - the flow from hole to hole is really good. The new holes include a lot of Par 4, where is the pin, look at all the trees type tee shots. If you just want to bomb it and don't like hiking, this is not the course for you.
#17 is the signature hole: a looong downhill tee shot with mando tree on the right-hand side, then a looong right turn towards a pin that exists somewhere through the trees for a Par 5...
Did I mention finally getting a tough 18 in Central PA?

No signage with pin location.
New tees are a little narrow - I think they play into the overall feel of the course, however, narrow tees for narrow, tree-lined fairways.
I love this course so I have no other complaints.

Kudos to whomever put all the work into clearing the new layout - clearly a LOT was done as far as tree felling and general clearing out the new paths.
I've gone back and played this course 5 or 6 times, and it's a winner. Classic PA woods course, challenging but fun.
Bring water and/or food if you're planning on playing it twice, or even once.
Get out and play and help beat in the paths!!

The course is very well marked with good signs directing you to the next hole. Rubber mats on tee boxes are in excellent shape and very noticeable when walking along paths trying to find next hole. 3 wide open fields on different holes to let you really rip a long drive. Walking path from each hole also well marked.

Very very wooded. The description says wooded and they are not kidding. The majority of the course feels like you are back deep in the woods very heavily tree and brush populated with the chains set up in various spots. The back nine must still be under construction as the downed trees line fairways. The signs on the tee boxes don't give you a hole description as to where the hole is and what it looks like. This is the first course I've ever played that hasn't had this feature.

Maybe my dislike of this course comes from not liking very heavily wooded areas and holes on courses but the amount of wooded area here seemed too much. It was a very difficult play. A few other courses I've played have had wooded areas here and there and weren't all out in the open let it rip capable holes but this one rubbed me the wrong way. Too crowded with trees, grass was high (where there was grass) no hole description other than distance and pay on tees.

Playing a full 18 hole round will leave you feeling exerted. Par for this course is now 63, and the new lanes make you work to stay even. Excellent new signage and all of the new pads are very well built, slip-proof, and can't collect water. Nice mix of LHBH and RHBH-friendly lanes. This course gives you the opportunity to show off your huge bombs, either across the wide-open 600'+ fields, or down the 400'+ forest alleys. Plenty of solitude from Hole 5 to 17, but excellent water and bathroom facilities are never very far away.

As mentioned before, First four holes seem like your standard city park course holes. The new lanes need the pounding feet of discers more than anything to help establish a path or two towards the baskets.

If you have thrown this course before as a 9-hole, you will not be disappointed by the additional 9. A kid (and a phenomenal discer) made this his Eagle Scout project and the hard work shows. There were a lot of trees felled and a lot of materials used in making the pads.

Hole 17 is a doozy of a par 5 (668'); you need a very decent downhill drive with a sharp right turn. After which, the lane horseshoes back uphill and requires a VERY decent upshot for a chance at an eagle. After tossing 17, I'm always grateful for the Plain-Jane shot required on Hole 18 (old Hole 9).

If you're used to playing multiple rounds back-to-back, be ready to feel wiped. Bring a lunch and maybe plan to take little siesta before round #2 at this monster course.

This course is very very nice! The holes are long and challenging. Hole 6 is over 700 ft long and wide open!! I needed two monster drives just to get an approach to the hole. That was pretty awesome. I played in mid-spring so the trees were pretty full and the grass very green. The grassy fairways were well maintained for the most part. Some areas needed a mow, but it wasn't hindering play at all. There are plenty of opportunities for awesome (and lucky) throws thru the trees and out in the open fields. The fairways in the woods are usually straight and narrow so it can be difficult to throw far on those holes without getting off course. The walks between each hole can be long, but the course is excellently marked and I had no problem finding the basket and next tee for every hole. This is my favorite course so far in the Altoona area! Also, found no poison ivy off the fairways and that's always a plus!

As with most courses, the first tee can be tricky to find as it is near the corner of a HUGE parking lot. If you follow the Local Directions, you should find it without too much difficulty. The course isn't super challenging to start, but for me that didn't take away from the fun. Some of the tees need a little maintenance. The biggest con is this is only 9 holes. If it had a back 9 as great as the 9 that are there now, it would rank nearly 5 stars in my opinion. Even a second tee location would be great. Can't wait to go back and play again!

Prince Gallitzin State Park is very nice. The park itself is large and provides a ton of entertainment from swimming to fishing to camping to cooking out to sun bathing on the lake beach and much more. Come for the day and bring the family for more than just disc golf. Bathrooms are on site and there are plenty of other things to do. It's a PA state park so it's completely free to enter and do stuff.

Had some big long open holes to let it rip. The course also balances that with a majority of wooded holes that have tight areas to drive through. Baskets are top notch. There are a ton of little signs pointing you in the correct direction to the next hole. helps navigation a ton.

Tee pads were a little short in my opinion. Some holes seemed a bit overgrown and impossible to find a throwing lane. Really hard to find the course

Great view of the lake from some holes. Lots of other stuff to do at this park. bathrooms on site. some of the signs were falling out of the ground.

Wooded course that also comes out of the woods for some long holes that can really test your distance game. One hole is 700'+! Some holes weave through trees so it makes it hard to keep it on the fairway to add some difficulty to the 9 hole course.

Kind of hard to find the first tee without knowing where the sign is. (Right side of parking lot when going in). Also, first few holes aren't very hard for the average disc golfer. Some holes are overgrown and not maintained too well.

A lot of amenities are around this disc golf course with it being in a state park. When I went, I took my fishing rod and did some fishing as well and made it a day out of it. Overall, 3.5 rating factoring in the course difficulty and the maintaining of the course.

Long-n-wide flat rubber teepads. Very well marked with obvious paths and plenty of "next tee" signs - an extremely simple course to navigate. Bathroom, concessions, water (as in to jump in on a hot summer's day) available.

Single tee/single basket. Quite flat. Small chance to interfere with other park users.

Course plays in a clockwise direction in the gently wooded and open space of yet another high-quality, free-to-enter Pennsylvania park. #4 and #6 provide you the chance to really crank loose across open fields, while the remaining holes make you throw straight, left-, or right-turning through tree-lined paths of various tightness (nothing extreme). #5 is probably the most challenging hole - a long, sharp-right-turner, with a little left-hook at the end to find the basket. Most holes in the 300' range, with 5 & 6 considerably longer.

The entrance to the park is also marked as "Buck Road". Depending upon where you park, may also start at tee #4 or tee #6. Course flows in a clockwise direction.

Fun play with non-DG options for other family members. Probably most appropriate for Intermediate/Advanced players.

Nine holes in the deep isolation of central PA mountains. Beautiful Forrest and Lakeside setting for a disc golf course. Mixes 2 open field holes with 4 in the woods and 3 mixed. The most perfectly marked course I have ever played. Navigation signs and Tee signs assured you never got lost and always knew what to expect and where you were going. Rubber tees in ample condition. Parking, Info, benches, seating and nice bathrooms onsite. The middle 5 holes are excellent disc golf holes and would be fun holes on any course. Hole #3 is a difficult wooded anhyzer slightly uphill that makes the 270 feet feel a bit further. Hole #4 gets into the wide open and allows a chance to rip across a beautifully mowed grass field to a protected basket tucked in the woodline across the field. A fun hole that rewards a precise long drive at 359 feet. Hole #5 is the most pro worthy hole a 565 foot drive up a tight but honest fairway to a wooded landing area and then down another fairway to a very wooded green. This is a very good hole and seems almost out of place on a 9 hole course! Hole #6 is an even bigger drive across an open field to a basket tucked even deeper into the woods on the other side of the field. There is an access road about 250-350 ft across the field that is OOB to make it interesting. This is another hole that allows a few big rips but rewards a controlled approach drive into the woods to score a par 4 on this 729 footer! Hole 7 is the best hole on the course. A clever par 3 shoots downhill a tight wooded fairway then a dogleg right and the basket rests on a slope slightly uphill. This is both a fun and challenging par 3 272 footer. I would say this hole would stand out on any course. It's fun and will garner birdies and double-triple bogeys. Just a real treat and pretty too. Those middle five holes make this course a pleasant surprise.

The bookend 4 holes are remarkably unremarkable compared to the middle 5. Hole #1 is a nice simple starter but is a bit too short of a dogleg left 301 ft. Hole #2 is a silly 303 foot straight drive through a shady picnic grove area. After playing the middle 5 I was prepared to forgive the starter 2 holes but then I ended the day by playing the weakest holes on the course. Hole #8 is a tighter 316 ft drive that seems to promote more luck than skill as you weave around numerous trees with no real obvious fairway to negotiate. Then your greeted with the dud of hole #9 which is a 295 drive over a picnic grove to the final basket to end your day on a letdown. I was prepared to sing the praises of this course until I played the final 2 holes. Damn! It should also be noted that this course is very very isolated and though appears on a map to be near IUP Lodge it is quite a distance away. No real population base to support the course I would imagine outside of those who would make the long trip from State College. Wonderful lake does not come into play and there is little elevation outside of holes 3 and 7.

If they do increase the course to 18 holes I would hope they scrap the final 2 holes and follow the theme of holes 3-7. Central PA needs a solid 18 holer I think this place could be a gem in the mountains if done right.

I live about 13 miles from here and it's definitely worth the drive every time! The glimmering shine of the lake and light peeking through the trees is a great atmosphere for disc golfing. Holes are marked very well from tee to tee with signs and wooden markers. The kiosk at the beginning has a lot of nice information on disc golf and a good score card. Bathrooms are also abundant in several places. I enjoy the variety of tight wooded passages and opportunities to launch my drivers as far as I can in open fields. The hole on number 7 is as beautiful as it is fun because you have to throw down a ravine with incredible accuracy. The course also wraps around pretty well. You won't have to worry about navigation here due to the good signage.

- Big arms will like some of the holes on this course (#4 and 6 come in to mind, with the latter being a 700+ foot drive) due to the fact that some holes are quite open.

- There's also a technical challenge. Holes #2,3,5,7,& 8 will require threading hardwoods on some narrow gaps. Hole #5 is the signature hole, with a double dogleg 565ft path to a well-guarded basket.

- I'm not a big fan of hole 8--just seems like a filler hole to me. Seems like the hole rewards more luck than skill, as there's no definitive line to hit.

- Not a very beginner-friendly course. Sure, you could bring a newbie here, but he/she will hit a ton of trees and get frustrated on the 500-700ft holes.

- Hole 9 plays close to heavy picnicking/beach activity. Watch for oblivious people before you throw.

Pennsylvania's state recreation and conservation agency, the DCNR, takes really nice care of the disc golf courses in its state parks; Prince Gallitzin is no exception. The best time to go is in the evening, when the warm glow of the sun shines in through the trees. The Blair-Bedford-Cambria Disc Golf Organization is looking to make this course 18 holes in the future. If that happens, this will join IUP College Lodge as the premiere disc golf destination in west-central PA.

This course is very large..in scale and fun. Every hole has a bench at it in case you need a rest or want to have a bite on your favorite hole. The course is very well marked even as far as to post 3 or 4 signs between holes to let you know you are going in the right direction. This course also has running water and TWO sets of bathrooms. Parking puts you right at the the first hole and is right in the middle of all the holes so you have easy access to your car if need be. The course really challenges all aspects of your game, especially your arm strength.

Maybe a little to much woods for the beginners ,but I liked the challenge. You really need an arm for some of the holes and you definetly need an accurate short game.

This is a great course and my scores sucked so you know I really must have liked to have it kick my ass and still love it. Very much worth the drive from State College. An added bonus is the ability to take a dip in the lake if the heat gets to you!!!

new, large and in charge. This is one of pa's newest courses, hope they put in another 9 holes soon make it a full 18

it's a drive, but i don't mind driving, that's about only con i can think of oh and it's only 9 holes...

it's free to play no cost. can't wait till it get's leaves on trees and greens up a little.