To preface this review, the trees around the course have grown up and filled in A LOT on many of the holes since the course photos were taken so the course looks/plays much differently than it would appear. If I'd have realized this I'd have taken new photos while I was there, but alas I didn't. Into the review.

1) Despite the average hole length only being ~190ft, the layout is surprisingly good. Very good balance of straight, left and right shots. Being able to throw both forehand and backhand is important if you want to get into the circle on every hole consistently.

2) On the back of the first point, there is a fair bit of technicality here. Very narrow, but mostly fair, lanes on hole 4, 7, 8, and 9. Of these hole 4 is the most questionable. You have a ~10ft wide gap like 70-80ft out with a very low ceiling. After the gap it's a sharp dogleg left and the basket is about 60-70ft out. The only play is a LHFH/RHBH skip shot or maybe a right forehand roller. If the hole was any longer I'd say it's absurdly dumb, but with it being so short it's not as demanding as it looks on the tee. I got 2 birdies, a par, and a bogey in the 4 rounds I played before this review. Holes 7, 8 and 9 are the best part of the course. 10ft wide tunnels; 7 goes mostly straight, 8 doglegs right and slightly uphill, and 9 doglegs left and slightly downhill. All of them are very easy birdies if you hit the line, but you can very quickly find yourself in bogey-ville if you kick early. Hole 1 is just a mostly open straight shot but getting around/over the middle tree and keeping it in the circle can be tough, it's the only hole I didn't birdie in the 4 rounds I played. Hole 3 is also mostly open, but forces a lefty hyzer and has a couple grabby conifer trees that will stop you short of, or just inside, C2 if you push it a little long.

3) Innova Discatcher baskets. In great shape and catch like you'd expect.

4) On site port-a-potty is always a plus, especially on a course without and public bathrooms anywhere close. I didn't use it so I have no input on if it's emptied regularly/frequently or not.

1) The tees leave a lot to be desired. They are all rutted out gravel. They're not so bad to make it dangerous; they are all plenty useable but definitely close to being risks for rolling ankles. Hole 1 is just in the middle of the gravel path, the rest of the tees have wooden frames around them.

2) The conifers are extremely overbearing in places. Holes 3 and 5 clearly were intended to have straight gaps, but they just don't exist any more due to the conifers growing into them. Then the wooded holes that are lined with the conifers make some of the worst jail you can imagine if you find yourself in them. I get it, don't throw there and it's not a problem, but everyone is going to be there eventually (especially with how narrow the woods holes are) and it is simply not fun to even get to your disc, much less try to throw out of it. I, mostly, got lucky but I could see people getting stuck in them for 2 or 3 strokes before getting out if they get some bad luck on a kick. Just a little bit of trimming on the open holes and a little bit of pruning of the dead branches close to the ground in the woods would basically remove this con.

3) Also on the topic of the rough, there are lots of stabby plants in the tall grass. This in itself is not an issue but some of the tall grass is very much within C1 of multiple baskets so keeping out of it can be very difficult. Wear long pants or just be prepared for your ankles/shins to get scraped up. Mowing a just 5-10 feet more around the baskets would go a long way to making it a more enjoyable experience play here.

4) The weak points of the design are holes 2, 5, and 6, though 6 is the best of these. Hole 2 is pretty unremarkably boring. Wide open, under 200 feet. Hole 5 looks like it used to be much better, but it's now basically a forced LHBH/RFHF spike hyzer as the middle gap is almost completely closed up due to the conifer trees. Hole 6 is a fun little hole, but again just short with almost no risks unless you pump it long and end up in conifer tree jail. Additionally, many holes have those large, grabby conifers very much inside C1. Hole 5 you can be 10 feet out and have nothing even close to a clean putt. That is by far the worst offender on the course, but a few other holes have similar frustrations. Again, just like con 2, a little bit of trimming and/or pruning would solve this issue completely.

5) Related to the layout, this course is very cramped. The baskets for hole 2 and 5 are inside each other's C1s, if not extremely close. Most of the tee pads are very close to other baskets and the only viable line to the basket on hole 3 requires you to throw right over hole 5s tee. I played on an 80 degree day in November and everything else around (disc golf or otherwise) was packed to the brim and only saw 3 other groups in the 1.5ish hours I was there. So, this course doesn't seem like it's ever too busy, but these issues could be problematic/dangerous if there was more than 3 or 4 groups on the course at once.

6) Pretty minor since the course seems to not be very busy, but parking is very limited. Street parking only and only on the same side of the road as the park. Do not park across the street or you may get a ticket.

Overall, it's not a bad time but it needs a little bit of work. Very short but deceptively tricky, higher level players can go putter only and almost anyone could get through here without even a fairway driver. With a bit more length or some tree trimming/pruning as mentioned above I'd bump up the rating to a 2.0 as I'm very close to doing so as it but there's just not quite enough there for me. 9 down is certainly doable, even for someone well below 1000 rated, but you need to be on your game to get it as just a small mistake on the woods holes completely takes birdie out of play. For reference I'm about 915 rated and averaged -3 on my four rounds with some exceptionally terrible putting. I wouldn't recommend driving out of your way for it unless you are just looking for a place that won't be busy, but it's a super quick round (under 20 minutes if you walk fast) and I'd say it's worth a stop if you are nearby and have some time to kill. Though, I'd recommend Brekke Park just down the road, on the other side of Stillwater, over this course if you've never played either and only have time for one.

I played a scramble with my daughter and the short holes and fairly scant rough made it easy to find our discs. It also allowed us to use some of my kids throws which is good for moral.

Only a couple garbage cans available so you end up carrying garbage with.

I like the tighter fairways and the fact that most holes can be reached by multiple styles. Great for practice and family play.

It's not a bad little course. Tucked away in a back alley of a secluded part of Stillwater. Most of the holes are short and reachable. If not you'll be close but in the long grass or pine trees.Which leads me to my cons of this course

Long grass and pine trees in the way on most holes. Makes for a couple of blind approaches. So if you have a younger player with you (as I did) you'll be looking for discs a lot.

There are also no tee boxes. The areas where I assume you are to tee from are eroded and provide no footing...so we improvised.

My biggest frustration with this course is there is no parking anywhere. There appears to be one available spot with a no parking between the hours of....sign above it.

I am just getting back into disc golf and I wanted a course that wasn't busy where I could work on my game. This course offers short, but some challenging holes. Trees and narrow shots do come into play, but for seasoned players it may not be that challenging. For beginners, it offers a fun and technical round.

The park is kept in great shape and clean. It is rarely busy. You can play a few rounds in the time it takes to play one at a busier course. It is kind of tucked away, which adds to the charm.

After a couple of rounds, I started to feel my game coming back. Will definitely be playing again!!

The course plays around a nicely secluded park area. The baskets are discatchers that were all in great shape and catch nicely. There are very basic signs by each tee. These are brown, metal signs that have the hole #, par and distance on each. There are also smaller signs just like these telling you the location of the next tee throughout the course where needed. this made the navigation very easy here. It wouldn't be to hard to figure the layout out anyway but still nice for a new player here like myself. The main obstacle here is trees. Most holes have some amount of trees on them, and only a couple are really wide open. The course was very clean and appeared to be well taken care of. There's a restroom by hole 1 and it's free to play. two other pros. The tees are natural but were all fine when we went in early August.

There's not any elevation or water here, just trees and prairie grass rough. So it wouldn't real fun to play more than a couple times in a row. The distances are all really similar and can become repetitive. Other than that, not much for cons.

I gave this a 2.5 because it really is a typical pitch and putt type course. It's much better than I was expecting to be honest. However with this being my 11th course played in MN, it didn't surprise me how nice it was, since the other 10 I played were all very nice as well. Nothing to go out of your way to play, but if nearby this and nearby Brekke park would make for a fun couple rounds near each other.

1) Holes are short, so if you want an ace this would be the place to do so.

2) The course is pretty secluded and not very popular, so it is nice if you want to get away and not have many people around.

3) They recently acquired new baskets.

1) Dirt tees.

2) Not very challenging.

With most of the holes hanging around the 200 ft area, it isn't much of a challenge for skilled players. If you are in the area, I would say play it, but I wouldn't drive to far out of the way to play the course.

Nice baskets. Nice signs (including ones leading the way to the next holes). Decent use of the trees that are there.

Dirt teeboxes. Super short.

Nothing special about this course. 9 holes, couple going left couple going rights. The last couple holes are a lot tighter, but still not that impressive. Shocking large amount of deer poop all over the course. They must hide here over the winter. If they let the grass get as long as it appears this would be an obnoxious way to loose discs (and I found one on hole 1 with no ink so I expect that is the case).

Very nice innova baskets, easy enough to navigate, good use of small space, each time i have been it has been quiet and nearly empty.

very short, tee sign are nice but no maps, although maps aren't all that necessary. No tee boxes, most tee areas are sloped, bumpy, or too small.

I only started playing this course 2 weeks ago after i saw it pop up here on the site. Seemed very well maintained although nothing much has grown in yet, so we will have to wait and see on that one. Stillwater has 2 small courses and is a good distance from anything else so it is nice to have this course on the edge of town. I really want to see them lay some concrete tees. That would increase my rating a full star at least.

update:
The first six holes are not very challenging, only a couple have real "in the way" obstacles. The final three holes are heavily wooded and tight. Ive noticed it becoming a bit more popular, however Breke park is always more busy.

1) Nice looking tee-signs with Hole #, Par, and distance listed. No map on the sign, but it is hardly needed on these short self explanatory holes.

2) Port-o-potty and a garbage can by the first tee and your exit from the course after #9.

3) Rules sign at the first tee area also a good thing to see.

4) Nice newer Innova Discatchers are nice to see on this course because it helps pick out the basket. They look great and catch fine.

5) Directionals are used appropriately after Hole #6, 7, and 8 to direct you to the next tee. The rest of the course is easy to figure out where you are going.

6) Very beginner friendly course because of it's short length and relative difficulty of shots. Holes 7 8, and 9 keep the challenge there and show the beginners what else they might encounter on more challenging courses.

1) The walking path around the park comes into play a couple times. I am not sure how frequent the walkers would be on there, but it is worth mentioning.

2) The mowing seems to be a little awkward. The big open area in the middle of the course will barely ever see a disc, yet the prairie holes only have one mower pass width fairway. It isn't a huge deal in the fall and winter, but in season disc searching might be difficult and take up a lot of time.

3) Heavy brush and trees on the sides of some of the fairways might also account for some frustration and disc searching. Being a beginner course this is a little frustrating to see.

4) The last few holes are challenging . . . maybe too challenging. It is a beginner course, but even I struggled with 8 and 9 and they were still around 200' long. It may not be an impossible shot but if you don't play a perfect shot you are looking at a bogey.

5) There was a lot of brush and cut branches off to the sides of a couple fairways. I would rather that stuff be disposed of in areas where discs will not end up, or chipped up to cover the high traffic areas like around the baskets.

6) This course just feels a little cramped, even though it was clearly for beginners. I am not sure if there is more property available, but as those evergreens on the last couple holes get bigger there will be almost no fairway, unless they start limbing them up from the ground so the high shot is taken away but the fairway becomes wider with the low shot.

7) There are lots of prickers annoying plant species in the prairie areas. I would imagine some poison ivy is possible but I played in the winter so I wouldn't have seen it.

I think this course has some potential if a few things can be straightened out. The fairways on 8 and 9 need to be better defined either by limbing up the evergreens or cutting a couple down to make legitimate fairways. I do not know if there is more land available but I would look to expand a coupe holes if possible because they are all just about the same distance and it becomes a little repetitive.

I do agree that with some improvements and more regular maintenance this course could peak at 2.5 discs but as of right now it is still only a 1.5. I do see the potential and can still appreciate that it is something for the beginners to play. However, I just hope they don't avoid the game because they are so annoyed with looking for discs in prickers and tall grass. Sometimes a course should be more "finished" before it is opened. Perhaps this is not the fault of the designer or the city who maintains the area, just a factor of reallocating funds and resources, and we can look for a better course in 2012!

Flat, relatively easy 9 with some challenging obstacles on a few holes. Has some good holes for lefties and righties. Also has a scenic layout

No big drives, you can basically use a mid-range and putter on the whole course. No cement tee pads

Don't understand why it has such a low rating.

Arcola Heights Park Is a new Pitch & Putt course just north of Stillwater. When I saw this course show up on this site I was very excited because the location has a ton of elevation and great scenery. Unfortunately when I got to the course I was let down by the layout and lack of elevation changes. I live within 20 minuets of the course and was also excited to have another course in the area, and was again let down by what it ended up being.

There are very few good things to say about this course, but I will give it a try.

-Good tee signs with distance and hole number. The course has the Innova course system installed.

-Brand new Innova baskets.

-Prota Potty and garbage cans on site.

-Could be a good course for beginner's if/when more work is done.

-Good course for working on upshots and putter only rounds.

-All holes are Ace runs
Thant's about it for Pros though unfortunately.

There is way more cons than pros at the moment. I am trying to give this course the benefit of the doubt because it is new but the money spent here could have been spent in a better location. The land is flat and full of tall grass with very few mature trees or natural obstacles.

-There are no tee pads here and the ground is not even level enough for a run up on most of the holes. Don't roll your ankle. The course is short so stand and deliver is not that bad but if this is going to be a beginner course they need to at least level the ground for some sort of tee pad.

-The fairways on most of the course are only one mower width wide. The tall grass makes finding disc very hard. I looked for a disc that was 4 feet from the fairway for over half an hour (longer than it takes to play the course). For this course to be beginner friendly they must do some more fairway work to make finding discs much easier.

-The rough is very rough. Lots of nasty plants, tall grass and stinging bugs. It is grassland with tons of flowers witch are pretty but attract all kinds of bees and wasps.

-The course is very short with no holes over 236ft.

-No elevation changes at all.

-Nowhere to expand the course.

-Most of the holes are very straight with small pine trees as obstacles that can just be throw over. Hole 7-9 have just a bit of shape but that is it.

If there is some major work done on the fairways and tee areas this course could be great for introducing people to the game. That being said it will never be more than a pitch and putt because there is nowhere to expand to. If they don't fix the fairways and pads this course is just a massive waste of money. I wish I could have the baskets for our awesome course in Somerset WI just 20 miles away. I really hope they do install tee pads and clear the fairways and rough a bit more because this could be a great putter only course. I really enjoy putter only rounds and I will play this course for that fact but I am not going to get my hopes to high. This course maybe could rate at a 2.5 but right now it's a 1 if not less.

DISCatcher baskets and nice tee signs. A lot of interesting routes to the baskets. Appropriate distances for the type of course it is. Located in Stillwater, an underserved area of the Twin Cities. A large part of the course is mowed grass. Port-a-potty on site.

Most of the cons will be worked out over time, I think. More mowing or more foot traffic will take care of a lot of it. But for now, the rough is really rough. Now that the park is being visited, perhaps the port-a-potty will be serviced more often than monthly.

A lot of the "trouble" is long grass (or maybe meadow, if you prefer) which is just annoying. Thistles and other thorny, stinging plants can be found. Some holes only have a path through the weeds to the target, and there is only a tiny space mowed around each target.

It is very easy to lose a disc, even if you have a spotter who saw where it landed. The grass eats it up, and the trees still have all their low branches.

The tee signs don't always seem to be in the right place, a few even appear to be in the middle of what would seem to be the teeing area.

The anthills haven't yet been beat down, and many of the little trees that were removed were cut of at ankle-breaking height above the ground. So, watch your step.

There are 9 unique, interesting holes laid out with good flow. The holes are all par-3 length, with a few that almost everyone will hope for a 2 on. It's all flat, so the challenge is to get around, through, or over trees while trying to stay out of the long grass.

It's fun, go play it, but be in a forgiving frame of mind when you do. After all, it's new.