Disc golf courses near Palm Desert, CA

Hovley Disc Golf

The only disc golf course in Palm Desert itself: a free nine that loops around the outside of the city's Hovley Soccer Park. Regulars say it is quiet and easy to walk on a weekday morning, but several of the fairways run along the park's walking paths and it becomes unplayable when there is soccer on the fields, so weekends are the worst time to turn up. A local club runs a Sunday evening round here under the stadium lights. Two warnings from recent reviews: the tee pad on hole 1 is slick, and the back-nine basket positions do not always match what the app shows.

Palm Royale Disc Golf

Eighteen holes laid over a par-3 ball golf course in La Quinta, the closest course to Palm Desert after Hovley and the best rated anywhere near the valley. You book a tee time through the pro shop and pay a green fee, currently listed at $20 to $25, and the club enforces a dress code: collared shirts, no denim. Grass fairways, lakes, bunkers and real greens make it feel like resort golf rather than a park round, and a local club runs a monthly tournament here. Dogs are not allowed, which rules it out if you usually bring one.

Fallen Heroes Park

A free ten-hole course on an unused hillside corner of a Beaumont city park, up over the pass and roughly an hour from Palm Desert. The land gives it genuine elevation change and almost no trees, so the wind is a permanent feature and so are the downhill looks. The catch is upkeep: players this year report no real tee pads, just patches of grass and dirt, and say the routing is hard to follow without the course map open on your phone. Worth a stop if you are already in the pass, less so as a destination of its own.

Nicklaus DiscGolfPark DGC

The easiest course in this table, and the one to pick for a first round or for kids: a short, flat, free nine at Nicklaus Park in Beaumont's Fairway Canyon. It is a properly installed course rather than a set of baskets in a field, with artificial turf tee pads, tee signs and a printed map, plus restrooms and drinking water in the park. Every hole is a par 3 under 300 feet, so a round takes well under an hour. The trees along the fairways were planted recently and have not grown in, which leaves it wide open and often very windy.

Valle Vista Fire Station

Five short baskets laid out around the fire station in a small park in Valle Vista, east of Hemet and the first disc golf you reach if you drive out of the valley on Highway 74. The PDGA classes it as a practice course rather than a full one, and it plays that way: under a thousand feet of total distance and about twenty minutes of walking. Most holes have a marked concrete tee area, but players say it takes a visit to work out which basket goes with which tee. Free, and best treated as a stretch of the legs on the way somewhere else.

Yucaipa Regional Park

Nineteen holes through a county park of lakes and grass on the far side of the pass, tied with Palm Royale as the best rated course within reach of the desert and by far the busiest, with a weekly and a monthly league running through September. The cost is a vehicle fee paid at the gate before you enter, listed by the county at $10 Monday to Friday, $15 weekends and $20 holidays, so plan around park hours. Regulars praise the shade, the holes beside the water and the range of lines, and mention two things to expect: real hills, and rattlesnakes in spring and summer.

Ford Park DGC

Nine baskets in a 27-acre Redlands city park with a duck pond, normally played as an 18-hole round using two tee positions per basket. Water carries and mature trees give it more shape than most of the open desert-side courses, and the routing was drawn to keep throws away from the busiest parts of the park, though on a weekend you are still sharing the grass with families, tennis players and a dog park. Free to play, with restrooms but no drinking water. Finding the start takes a moment: hole 1 tees off from behind the volleyball court.

Cottonwood Disc Golf Course

Nine holes played over a municipal executive ball golf course in Moreno Valley, with a green fee listed from about $6 paid at the golf center counter. The holes run long for a nine, from 288 up to 771 feet, and include two par 4s and two carries over water, so it rewards distance more than any of the free park courses out this way. Two house rules matter: every putting green is out of bounds, and when the disc golf markers are not set you tee from the red ball golf tees. Wind is common, and the course is flat and easy to walk.

Martha McLean Anza-Narrows DGC

The most played free course in this table by a wide margin: eighteen holes along the Santa Ana River in Riverside, laid out by touring pro Eric McCabe in 2018 and carrying nearly 3,000 community reviews. It is hilly, mid-length, and deliberately rough around the edges, with a mix of grass, concrete and dirt tees rather than a uniform set of pads. The park is open sunrise to sunset. There is drinking water but no restroom on site, and it is the longest of the free drives here, out past Riverside on the far side of the Inland Empire.

Glen Helen Regional Park DGC

The longest course here and the longest drive, at the foot of the Cajon Pass north of San Bernardino: 18 holes over almost 6,900 feet of grassy, rolling county parkland with concrete pads and clear signage. Throwing is free, but the county charges admission per vehicle at the gate, quoted recently by players at $10 on weekdays and $15 at weekends. Reviews this summer are consistently good, calling it playable at any level and open enough that you are unlikely to lose a disc. Bring water, because there is none on the course, and check park hours before a late start.

Paragon Park Disc Golf Course

The newest course in this table, installed in 2023 in one of the largest city parks in Perris, and the one that feels most looked after: stamped concrete pads, new tee signs, new baskets, two pin positions and both short and long tees, so one visit can play easy or hard. It is free, with restrooms, water and plenty of parking, and it sits on the Highway 74 side of the valley rather than up the I-10. The park is genuinely busy, with a skate park, playground and outdoor fitness court, and the designer's own note asks players to watch for joggers and pedestrians crossing the fairways.