Disc Golf in Butte County

South Pines Disc Golf Course

The South Pines course in Mag­a­lia is a project of Mag­a­lia Com­mu­ni­ty Park (a 501c non-prof­it). Locat­ed at the site of the for­mer Par­adise Pines reg­u­lar ​“ball golf” course, this disc golf haven is not only pop­u­lar for its beau­ti­ful loca­tion, but also for its rea­son­able price and friend­li­ness toward disc golfers of dif­fer­ent skill lev­els. It’s a long 18-hole gaunt­let put togeth­er by up-and-com­ing local design­er Jacob Bates that will nice­ly stretch any user’s $5 entry fee, and it includes a vari­ety of tee types, gen­er­al­ly flat ter­rain, and even a few par 4 holes.

Per­haps nicest of all, Izzy’s Too Sports Pub (con­ve­nient­ly locat­ed past the 18^th hole) has patio din­ing with a great view for tour­na­ments, and a Pro Shop is now open just below it, with rentals avail­able. Since the course is var­ied and friend­ly to a vari­ety of play­ers, from begin­ners to more expe­ri­enced play­ers, South Pines is a per­fect rec­om­men­da­tion for just about any group of afi­ciona­dos, or for bring­ing along the whole family.

Holes: 18

Cost: $5

Get There: Take Sky­way Dri­ve north of Par­adise towards Mag­a­lia. Take a left at the first stop­light in Mag­a­lia at South Park Dri­ve, and find the park­ing lot on the left. The Pro Shop will be on the right.

Pere­grine Point Disc Golf Course at Upper Bid­well Park

One of the most pop­u­lar cours­es in Butte Coun­ty is sit­u­at­ed at Upper Bid­well Park​’s beau­ti­ful Pere­grine Point, an 18-hole course of over 5,300 feet over rocky ter­rain with stun­ning views of the val­ley below. This chal­leng­ing course will require more robust equip­ment due to the rocky ter­rain, so make sure you leave your weak­er discs at home (and bring good walk­ing shoes). The course is also closed dur­ing wet weath­er, so plan ahead if you’re not com­ing to play at the height of sum­mer. Also be aware that there are no tee signs, so it may be help­ful to check a map online pri­or to set­ting out or have one acces­si­ble on your phone, and garbage cans are not avail­able, so come pre­pared to take any refuse with you when you leave.

This more advanced course isn’t so chal­leng­ing that upper begin­ner play­ers can’t enjoy it, but the ter­rain and loca­tion make it one best enjoyed by those set­ting out for the pur­pose of golf­ing. It’s less ide­al for fam­i­ly groups, unless of course those not plan­ning to play want to take advan­tage of the beau­ti­ful scenery and hike the Point while their com­pan­ions play. The Sher­wood For­est kids’ course below is also less than ten min­utes away by car.

Holes: 18

Cost: Free

Get There: From High­way 99, head east on High­way 32. Pass through the light at Bruce Road, con­tin­ue past Hum­boldt Road, and con­tin­ue on for 1 mile until you reach a small paved entrance on the left. Sig­nage is min­i­mal, so look for cars parked in the area or for the wood­en entrance sign with yel­low let­ters sta­tioned at the Pere­grine Point trailhead.

Sher­wood For­est Kids’ Disc Golf Course at Hook­er Oak Park

This beloved local clas­sic isn’t just for kids. For begin­ners or those look­ing to prac­tice their short game, any­one who doesn’t feel like walk­ing a great deal, or those who haven’t yet grad­u­at­ed to more advanced cours­es, Sher­wood For­est Kids’ Disc Golf Course at Hook­er Oak Park is great for prac­tic­ing short­er throws. While it’s only 9 holes, and it gets some thorns and occa­sion­al snakes dur­ing the hot­ter months, it’s a per­fect loca­tion for fam­i­lies. All 9 holes are under 300 feet, mak­ing it an ide­al spot for groups with kids or seniors espe­cial­ly. Every­one can have a good time here, not just the disc golf fans who play every weekend!

If your mixed-lev­el group wants to split up after­ward, the Pere­grine Point course is also close by, mak­ing it an ide­al next stop for a group of stronger play­ers after warm­ing up with friends and fam­i­ly at Sher­wood Forest.

Holes: 9

Cost: Free

Get There: From High­way 99, head east on High­way 32. Turn left onto Bruce Road, stay on to Chico Canyon Road, and go left at the bend to Man­zani­ta Avenue. Go through the round­about at Val­lom­brosa and stay on Man­zani­ta, then take a right at the next round­about to enter Hook­er Oak Park. The first tee is to the left of the park­ing area.

River­bend Park

North

This is the first of two 18-hole cours­es locat­ed at Oroville’s River­bend Park. Always a nice place to walk, the com­bi­na­tion of open spaces and rolling hills makes for a some­what var­ied course that’s friend­ly to begin­ners, and makes a great warm-up to the more chal­leng­ing South course. Some land­scape obsta­cles and slight ele­va­tion changes offer a bit of vari­ety with­out rais­ing the dif­fi­cul­ty. Vis­i­bil­i­ty with­out good sig­nage can be an issue, so be pre­pared to do a lit­tle walk­ing around (or ask­ing a friend­ly local play­er) to get to the next hole, espe­cial­ly when get­ting from the front of the course to the back 9.

This is a great course for fam­i­lies, as many of the holes are short­er, and young kids or oth­ers in the group who may not want to active­ly play can find plen­ty of oth­er diver­sions in the park itself. Old­er kids will be able to have a great time on the course itself, though around 5 of the holes are close enough to water that less skilled play­ers will want to be care­ful — many a disc has end­ed up at the mer­cy of the Feath­er Riv­er! Pub­lic restrooms, garbage cans, and water foun­tains are also avail­able in the park, and it’s sit­u­at­ed close to Oroville’s down­town restau­rants and businesses.

South

This sec­ondary course at River­bend Park is sig­nif­i­cant­ly more chal­leng­ing than its north­ern coun­ter­part. With nar­row­er shots and more ter­rain chal­lenges to con­tend with (watch out for los­ing your discs in the long grass!), this more tech­ni­cal course will appeal to an inter­me­di­ate or advanced crowd. Most sea­soned play­ers con­sid­er this to be the supe­ri­or of River­bend Park’s two options, though many will still choose to play through both simul­ta­ne­ous­ly, and the North course is con­sid­ered by many to be a good warm-up.

It shares River­bend Park’s love­ly envi­ron­ment with the North course, which means that it’s still a great out­ing for fam­i­lies, with pub­lic restrooms, garbage cans, and water foun­tains, and many play­ers will want to make a fuller day out of doing both cours­es simul­ta­ne­ous­ly. River­bend Park’s prox­im­i­ty to down­town Oroville’s array of restau­rants also make this an appeal­ing loca­tion, both for locals or those just pass­ing through for the day.

Holes: 18 per course, 36 holes total

Cost: Free

Get There: From High­way 70, exit Mont­gomery Street in Oroville. For the the North course, go west into the first park­ing lot on the left, where you’ll find a prac­tice bas­ket and the first tee near the club­house. The back 9 is across the entrance road from the park­ing lot. For the South course, take the dirt road on the left near the park entrance and fol­low about a mile to the bridge, where you’ll find park­ing and the first tee on the right toward the river.

Whether you’re mak­ing the rounds through all the area cours­es, or just doing a lit­tle disc golf­ing in between excur­sions into any of Butte County’s gor­geous nat­ur­al envi­ron­ments and hik­ing areas, you’re sure to find no short­age of options to inter­est you and your fel­low disc golfers.