Newport News Park Disc Golf Course

Newport News Park covers almost 8,000 acres at the north end of the city, which the parks department calls one of the largest municipal parks east of the Mississippi. The 18-hole disc golf course sits in the Arboretum area, off Jefferson Avenue near Lee Hall Reservoir, and plays through dense mixed woods rather than open field. Newport News GIS publishes a hole-by-hole story map with the location of every tee and two sets of distances: a regulation layout totalling about 4,200 feet and a championship layout at about 5,400 feet. The ground barely moves — USGS elevation data across the 18 holes spans roughly 15 feet.

Unlike most city courses, this one is pay-to-play. A daily permit is $4 and an annual pass is $35, sold along with rental discs and merchandise at the campsite office; seniors 60 and over and juniors under 12 play free. The park and course are open dawn to dusk, and the course closes on the dates of major park events. The rest of the park is worth the trip on its own: a 188-site year-round campground, a ten-lane archery range, a Japanese Peace Garden, a 5.3-mile gravel bike loop, and freshwater fishing on Lee Hall and Harwood's Mill reservoirs.