Pros:
Disc Golf, Golf Carts, On Site Camping, Green River Access
Green River State Park offers an 18 hole Disc Golf course on a 9 hole balf course located just off Interstate 70 in Utah. This is an excellent place to stop and break up a long drive across this portion of Utah or your way too or from Colorado. Green River State Park offers a great place to spend the night after a long drive or a long day exploring the three National Parks nearby.
I used bullet points if you don't want to read the entire review.
Disc Golf on Balf Course
18 hole disc golf course set on a large 9 hole municipal ball golf course. The lush, green property borders the Green River. This course and the entire small town of Green River is an oasis surrounded by a barren, rocky landscape. The course winds around the lush campgrounds. The disc golf tees are completely separate from the balf tees. There are shorter Am tees on holes 1, 3 and 17.
Clubhouse/Parking Lot
There is a large parking area in front of the club house. Maybe "clubhouse" is too generous. This isn't a country club, it is a municipal balf course in a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere Utah. Start out by paying the disc golf fee in the main office. Here is where you can rent carts, get some drinks or buy some merchandise. Full restroom facilities. I honestly can't recall if they sold beer or not.
Pay to Play
Nicely manicured grass and beautiful landscape requires greens fees. At least they charge less for disc golf! Plus there is the cost of the cart. I would not want to play without the cart, it does cover a lot of ground. It is nice gentle terrain, so it wouldn't be difficult to walk.
Two Pin Placements
Every hole has two placements. As a general rule, the A placements are left or shorter than the B placements. It is really great that the Pro Tee Signs included the distances for all placements as well as an A/B indicator for the current placement.
Tees
The disc golf tees are completely separate from the balf tees. All Pro tees had signs. Tees are marked with small honeycomb rubber mats. The Pro disc golf mats have a blue edge to identify the tee area. Am Tees have a white edge. The mats are only three feet by three feet, so they are small. However, the rest of the tee area is beautifully manicured grass. Holes 1, 3 and 17 have a second set of Am tees.
Signs
Pro disc golf tees all have disc golf specific tee signs. This course does not borrow the balf signs and distances. The signs had accurate graphics and included the distances for both pin placements. A letter A or B was bolted to the sign pole to indicate which pin placement was being used. I think when you are playing for a round, this kind of detail is important.
Navigation
Since course follows the balf course, navigation is pretty easy. They also have nice printed scorecards with maps and all distances in the clubhouse.
All 18 in a row
The course follows the 9 hole course and does not return to the main parking area until Hole 18. If you are camping, you can stop by your campsite during the round. If you have a cart, you can always drive back to the clubhouse if you need more supplies.
Carts
I would recommend renting the golf carts. Even though the course is fairly compact, it is pretty long. This is not a short executive balf course.
Kids, Carts and Strollers
Well, rent a cart. Kids will have more fun hanging out in the golf cart. If the budget doesn't allow a cart, it is very disc golf cart friendly. Course is too long for a youngster to play along without a cart.
Losing Discs
Well, there is water in play on a few holes. The river does not come into play, but there are a couple of ponds on the property. If you are unfortunate and throw into one of the ponds, you could lose a disc.
Restrooms
There are full service restrooms in the clubhouse. While out on the course, there is a full service campground restroom between disc golf holes 8 and 9. Other campground restrooms can be accessed easily, especially if you have a cart.
Camping on site
This is not camping near by, this is camping right here in the middle of the balf course. There is a separate fee for the state park/campgrounds and that fee also includes access to the Green River. The disc golf course plays around the lush and shady campground. More on campgrounds under other comments below.
Cons:
There really are not a lot of cons or a lot of room for improvement.
Pay to play
If you don't like to pay, this could be a con. Not all disc golf is free, especially if you want beautifully manicured fairways and carts.
Small rubber tees
Most tees are small 3 x 3 honeycomb rubber mats. If you don't like natural grass tees this could be a con for you. I love golf course grass tees.
Layout
There is not much elevation or traditional disc golf challenges. The design is a little tame, but understandable given the land.
Other Thoughts:
Camping ON site.
Again, you are camping in the middle of the disc golf/balf course. This campground has super large and grassy campsites and several nice and well maintained restroom/shower facilities. Most of the golf course is fenced off from the campground, but disc golf holes 2, 7, 8, 12 and 13 are right next to the campsites. You can see my blue tent in the photos for Hole 8. Holes 7 and 8 are next to the river on one side and next to sites 25 -30 on the other. Campsites 41 -48 are right next to the fairways for 12 & 13, but these are tiny campsites for last minute arrivals. There is a cabin for rent located near Tee 9. However, the cabin doesn't have a bathroom inside, you still have to use the campground restrooms if you rent this. I will absolutely stay at this campground if I am driving through this part of Utah again. Camping at Green River makes a much less expensive base camp for exploring the nearby National Parks. You can reserve online though Reserve America.
On the Green River
Holes 7 through 9 play along the Green River. The river does not really come into play as this is a giant balf couse. On the walk from 8 to 9, there is a boat ramp and river access for park users. I was going to launch my kayak here as the river is nice and easy. Sometimes there just are not enough hours in the day to do everything. Disc Golf usually wins when I have to choose between activities.
Rating
Since I am from Southern California, I have had the opportunity to play plenty of disc golf/balf courses. This course does a great job with flow and utilizing the sides of the fairways. Play generally stays away from the greens. It sure is a wonderful green oasis in the middle of such a vast rocky landscape. It has up to date signs, carts and some distance challenge. It has more amenities than most local dg/balf courses I play. The layout I played wasn't super exciting or challenging. However, it does offer two placements on every hole. Rating is between 3.5 and 4.0. I will round up and give this one 4 discs. I will definitely stay and play here again on my next trip through this part of Utah.