Pros:
Wide meadow offers plenty of room for long drives.
+ course fulfills desire to better utilize parkland
+ creek influences play on half the holes
+ uncrowded and often empty
+ scattered trees incorporated into design well as obstacles when possible
Cons:
Course does a better job of filling space than generating much excitement.
- mostly wide open, lengthy fairway throws
- awkward means of crossing creek on hole #6 (best to backtrack near #5 tee)
- little shade despite several old growth trees
Other Thoughts:
INFO
Course sits in east Dallas neighborhood park near White Rock Creek and shares space with a small playground and ball fields, the park's only other amenities. Nine hole layout covers eastern half of park, winding around both sides of casual creek. Parking available on Hollis Ave. which borders north side of park.
EVAL
It's understandable why a disc golf course was proposed for this park to take advantage of its expansive field and minor water features which were otherwise underutilized. The course spreads out across vacant sections of the lawn away from regular park use, making the most of available trees and a creek bordered by lush grasses. The course invites players to peacefully stroll the lawn in places which would otherwise be unvisited, but too many filler holes simply throw across empty areas to connect to more interesting holes with obstacles. Despite the tall trees in the park, most of the course plays in the open with little shade. Also, the layout plays rather long with fairways that mostly stretch either to fill space or add difficulty to make up for a lack of other obstacles. Perhaps short tees should have been included to make it more appealing to younger players in the neighborhood.
Sadly, this course previously suffered from vandalism and neglect. Half its baskets were missing or damaged. It's a pattern seen before in this area (see NOTE below). As of spring 2022 the missing and damaged baskets have been replaced with new Mach V baskets to complement the older Mach III baskets, making this course complete once again.
NOTE
Fifteen years prior to Lawnview being established, a course installed only a few miles away in another east Dallas neighborhood at Crawford Memorial Park met a similar fate. That course was pulled after repeated vandalism despite efforts to establish and maintain it.
LAYOUT
(Course starts in NE corner of park close to intersection of Hollis Ave. and La Vern Ave.) The first hole covers an expansive, open fairway on the lawn leading to a row of old growth trees guarding the green. Past the playground hole #2 fills space by throwing across an open field. Next hole #3 ducks beneath low-hanging limbs down a fairway studded with trees on the right and an encroaching, drainage creek on the left. Hole #4 then reverses direction along the other side of the creek and similarly throws past multiple trees on the way to its green.
Hole #5 flirts with trees and creek on the left along a gently curving fairway to an open green in a field. Hole #6 crosses the creek with a short throw between trees. Hole #7 covers the most ground with a double row of young trees lining the middle of the fairway down its entire length. A ditch and high berm lie close by on the right atop which a roadway marks the southern edge of the park. Another filler hole throws to the interior of a bare lawn and wide open green for hole #8. Then the course finishes with hole #9 crossing the lawn to the corner of the park near the start with a tree lined road to the left and a school fence line on the right.