I had to drop Coach off for an earlier flight, so I had some time to kill while waiting for my own flight that afternoon. I had asked WCL for a recommendation where to play some disc golf near the airport. She’s got some friends who play and I knew they’d know where to send me.
www.pdga.com/course_directory/course/seatac-dgc
They got me directions to Seatac Disc Golf Course – extremely close to the airport. In fact, it’s directly under the flight path for the main runway at the SeaTac Airport. So every 30-60 seconds, you have a huge eclipse and roar of engines a hundred feet over your head. Very amusing, and probably distracting to people who care about such things. I’m used to it, having played a few rounds at Fort Snelling Disc Golf Course in Minneapolis.
I took a photo of the course map at hole 1, just in case. I had heard it can be tricky to follow the flow of the course. It actually wasn't that bad once you're out there. there are well defined walking paths and some of the tee signs tell you where to walk for the next hole.
The course is fairly wooded with a lot of tunnel/finesse shots. It doesn’t play to my strengths, but I really enjoyed playing here. Well maintained fairways with defined flight paths and, if you know where your shots are likely to go, a very manageable course. The difficulty is increased by some longer holes, which I really enjoyed, and the rough isn’t so rough you’ll lose a disc – you just don’t want to be in it because there are some holly plants and sticker bushes that will shred your legs.
It seemed pretty right-hander friendly, but still pretty balanced overall. Not a lot of elevation changes, but they did make use of what they were provided with a couple of well-placed baskets and some fun tee areas. In fact, there is a wall (maybe hole 14-ish?) that has a graffiti-style mural on it along side the tee. I saw a few people playing, but not a ton. It probably helped that it was a Tuesday morning and normal people are at work.
Be forewarned, the parking lot has six parking places – literally. So you’ll have to park up the road at the community center and walk down to the tee. It’s worth the walk though. It's a solid course without a lot of frills. I’m glad I got to play here and I’ll make sure I bring my discs again to Seattle so I can hit it up again and get good and sweaty before hopping on a four hour flight back home. Hahahaha. Sorry, old man next to me on the plane!
www.pdga.com/course_directory/course/seatac-dgc