The Pines DIsc Golf Course

If you are a disc golfer that lives on the South shore of Lake Pontchartrain, you only have 2 courses to choose from; City Park and Lafreniere Park. If you truly enjoy this game, you owe it to yourself to cross the Causeway bridge and head over to The Pines disc golf course in Pelican Park. The park is only 5 – 10 minutes from the foot of the Causeway and offers much more than disc golf, to include batting cages, a skate park, a dog park, soccer and softball fields as well as a sand volleyball court. However, I will only be reviewing the disc gold course.
This 18 hole course is nothing like the south shore variants. The tee pads are natural and contain a mixture of soft sand this is fairly stable when the conditions are dry. However, I would not recommend playing this course for at least 48 hours after any rain activity. There are several drainage ditches that can come into play for the 1^st 9 holes, and some of them had water in them, even though it had not rained in almost a week when I played. I can easily see how this course could be unplayable, or not very fun after a rain. I’ve heard that «very large, if fairly shallow, puddles cover large parts of holes 15, 16, 17 and 18 after modest rains; and hole 2 develops a small pond during the wetter months.»
There are lots of trees of trees here, with most of them being large pine trees that will ruin a good throw at least a few times every round you play. This course’s location lends itself to windy conditions, so be careful on those windy days, or you’ll be chasing errant discs all over the place.
I was not very fond of the layout, as there is a lot of walking from the basket of one hole to the tee pad of the next hole. Perhaps a little more thought could have been given here. For example, the distances between holes 4&5, 5&6 and 6&7 are nearly 300 feet; and a first timer will have a hard time finding the next hole without a map. Hole 9 & 10 are separated by a dog park as well. Some signage pointing the way to the next hole would be nice.
Some of the trickier holes (baskets) can be:
Hole 2: If you find yourself to the left and in the water/​marsh, you may be out of a disc.
Hole 3: The pro tees offer a 600+ foot shot, so bring out the big guns but try to avoid the trees.
Holes 7 & 8 have enough trees to make a straight shot nearly impossible.
Hole 10: Trees, trees and more trees. Unless you can throw with laser accuracy, you are bound to hit a tree. I’ve tried to throw out over the soccer field and hook it bak into play near the basket, which is well protected with more foliage.
Holes 12 – 18: These are all long holes with more trees. Holes 12 – 16 are bordered on the right by woods, and if your disc goes in them, you will probably not be able rto find it. And I speak from experience.
Overall, I like this course. Even though it’s flat and has no real elevation changes, it offers some good challenges via water, woods, fence lines, dog parks and a million trees throughout the course. Just be sure to play when the course is dry.