Welcome! Disc Golf Around is a site dedicated to all things disc golf. Whether it’s course reviews, helpful tips, access to the game’s best players/products, or anything else disc golf related, Disc Golf Around is made with you in mind. Here, we’ll do a review of Sideshow Disc Golf Course in Raymond, Maine. Enjoy!
Course review Introduction
Never have I spent less time on a course and had a better impression!
“If it’s so great, why not spend more time there?” you rightly ask.
Good question.
Picture this. You are on vacation with your family in Raymond Maine. On your second to last day you are scrolling through instagram (@discgolfaround)and you discover a new course opening right down the road.
You have a 4-year-old, and a 2-month-old and you have to convince your wife that it is, in fact, a good idea to leave her with said kids so you can go disc golfing.
She wants to support you and your disc golf project (which you can support just by subscribing to my free, no-spam, infrequent mailing list!), but she can’t be supercharged about it either.
Enter the grandparents to the rescue. You now have an hour and change.
You go. You run. You shoot. You snap photos. You enjoy! And you definitely don’t complete the entire course.
But next year, based on the impression it left on you, you will definitely go back!
All told, Sideshow Disc Golf Course is one that I would definitely recommend. Let’s review the basic info and then I’ll highlight what I appreciated about it in my short time there!
Basic Information
Address: 1528 Roosevelt Trail, Raymond, Maine
Price
Directions
Parking
Ease of Navigation
Busy?
$5
Easy with GPS
Plenty
Got lost once
Not While I was there
Easy/intermediate
Low
Well-maintained
Concrete
not yet on UDisc
Signature Holes
These are just the opinion of the writer. With each course I like to showcase a few holes and explain what stuck out to me on that particular day. Then, I let the photos do the talking…
Obviously, given my limited time and inability to complete the course, I can’t do this with complete fidelity.
There’s a great chance there are fantastic holes I never got to see.
Instead, I want to show some holes and highlight the little touches I noticed.
For me, the feature that stood out to me most was the boardwalk between holes 3 and 5.
That right there took a ton of time and resources! This was a lengthy runway over some marshy terrain. And somewhere in the middle, they took the time to build benches (pictured above) so disc golfers could pause and enjoy the nature they are surrounded by.
Add in the trash cans and recycle bins scattered throughout the course and the signs pointing you along the way.
Not to mention the incredible amount of clearing they did to make the fairways playable and challenging, and you have yourself a nice little course!
Below you can see all the work they did as well as a few shots I took from the tee boxes on a couple holes.
Ideas to Borrow for Future Course
Some day I would like to construct my own disc golf course. Come along for the ride and see if I do (Subscribe)! With each course, I play, I want to find some element that I appreciate and can use for a course I help create some day…
I already touched upon this in the previous section, but if I ever build a course some day, I would love to include some of the touches that Sideshow Disc Golf Course features.
The boardwalk alone adds so much to the ambiance and would be fantastic to include!
I also love the idea of having a pro shop on the property, which they also feature as well!
19th Hole
After a round there is nothing better than going to a local establishment, having a beer (or whatever you want), some food, and talking about your round (or just disc golf in general). This section is always open to suggestions on where the best place to go after your round is…
I reached out to Sideshow, who know the area far better than I do! Here are some great recommendations, in their words, for you to go after your round…
“People can travel west on 302 down to the causeway in Naples. There are many places to sit and have a beer, or eat some food. If you want to go get a beer, Gary’s Brew Pub, is a great option. Get your beer inside and then go hangout in the bier garden… If you go closer to evening they typically have a fire going and maybe some live music.
If you keep heading down to waterfront there is Brother Fleckers, Beacon, and Captain Jacks. All have outdoor seating as well. If you want some good BBQ and a beer stop at The Galley.
Traveling SouthEast on 302 back towards Portland, you can stop in North Windham. My go to spot for beer and food would be Rustler’s. Get some Garlic Parm Wings, a Corona with lime, and go sit outside. You won’t be disappointed.
Both directions are 10 minutes away, and they both offer a lot of choices.”
Course In Summary
When I connected with Sideshow Disc Golf Course I asked them what, if any, was some other messaging they wanted to convey. Here’s what they had to say:
“We are just excited to be open to the public now, and will continue to upgrade the course. We have a task list to complete that will bring added features to our course. So stay tuned to our social media pages (@sideshowdiscgolf). Please stop in the shop if you want to know how we built out the course and what our plans are.“
Strong words and their actions speak even louder. It is clear they have worked tirelessly to bring us a complete disc golf experience that leaves no stone unturned. It’s also clear that they will continue to uphold these standards and keep giving us a great experience for years to come.
Personally, I can’t wait to get back and I highly recommend you check out all that Sideshow Disc Golf Course has to offer!
Thank you all for reading! If you’ve played this course and wanted to add anything, please feel free to post it below. And while you are there, don’t forget to subscribe (free and no spam) and follow as I build a course in my back yard and travel around the world playing the courses built by others! All subscribers are permanently entered in a raffle to win $50 gift cards to Infinite Discs.
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Just finished a round here and I was super surprised nobody has left any follow up comments to this review, so I figured I’d give it a shot.
First off, let me say I would love to see this course succeed because it has great potential. It looks like it has been steadily evolving for a few years and I really hope that trend continues because a lot of effort clearly has been put into this course so far.
They have done a very good job making the paths from hole to hole intuitive, the pads are nice, and the signage is pretty good.
That said, there is still a ways to go for me to heartily recommend it.
Most of the holes float around 200′ to 250′ and either go straight or curve left. It got repetitive enough that when our group hit the first and only hole over 400′ on hole 16 our whole group cheered.
The signage looks like it may be in the process of getting upgraded, which is great because too much of it is laminated paper which was often on the ground and hard to read. As I said, the layout was intuitive enough that this wasn’t a problem, but nice signs to match the nice pads, nice trash cans, and nice posts will really finish it off.
The pro shop mentioned in the review was nowhere to be found, and the only sign we saw referencing it had literally all the hours crossed off… so I’m going to assume it was not a viable element at this stage in the course’s life. I could be wrong.
We had two cars bringing people today, half of us found the course parking lot, half did not, so the road signage needs more road signage.
So, again, there’s a ton of potential here and clearly a desire to make it work. It is generally well maintained and would be great for younger or less experienced players. I think if some of the baskets can be moved to make the holes longer and less repetitive it could easily appeal to players of all levels. I expect I’ll return once or twice a year.
Jeremy, first off, thanks for taking the time and I appreciate your comments. You bring up great points and I always enjoy reading what people have to say in the disc golf world. It was about a year ago in August that I visited it and it had just opened at the time. I can’t remember if I wrote this, but I never got in the shop. One of the course designers I contacted assured me it would be up and running. I’m a little concerned based on what you’re telling me that it never got off the ground, or that they just weren’t getting the traffic to justify rent/keeping it open.
The fact that the upkeep/potential sign upgrades seems to be in play is good sign however…
Next time I get up there, I want to revisit it and I’ll look at it through your lens. I now remember vividly that I had like 40 minutes (our one year old was a newborn at the time) and I was literally running before I linked up with someone else. I definitely didn’t get the whole course, but I remember being impressed with all the work they had put in.
I really hope they are still in the building process and they get to some of the changes you mentioned. Your suggestions could make a good course great!
Thanks again Jeremy. That’s good stuff!