22nd Street Disc Golf Course

One morning, we woke up and decided to explore a new disc golf course. We thought we would make a day of it by going for lunch at Mel’s Hot Dogs. As it worked out, the restaurant was near the 22nd Street Disc Golf Course in Tampa.

When we choose courses to play, we usually prefer 18-hole courses. When we can only find a nine-hole course, we typically play it twice to turn it into 18 holes, but it is not our favorite way to play. If they have both pro and short tees, we play one round from each to give us more variety. The 22nd Street course only has nine baskets, but each serves two holes, creating an entire 18-hole course.

The first and longest hole is a monster at 976 feet. It plays across the field with the basket nestled behind a few trees. After the big first hole, it was a relief to play the shorter blind second hole. The hole requires you to play around a bend to the right.

You can see the third basket from the tee, but plenty of trees are on the fairway. Beautiful large live oaks cover the course. The fourth hole plays around two of them with a creek to the right. While the creek isn’t an extreme danger, it could come into play if you throw an errant far right shot.

The fifth hole plays through the middle of the course and across a field. The basket sits nestled among the live oaks with a large trench behind it. After the fifth hole, you walk through the trench to get to the sixth tee. There are more live oaks with low-lying branches directly in front of the tee.

The seventh hole plays back across the trench, which is much smaller at this end, and then across the tree-dotted field back towards the first basket. It was much trickier to navigate the hole than it looked at first glance. The eighth hole leaves the trees to play across a field. Perched on the edge of a hill, the basket has a significant drop-off behind. An overthrow on this hole could end badly. The ninth hole plays back into the trees, with the live oak branches forming a tunnel.

While the front and back nine share baskets, the new tees give you the feel of playing a new set of holes. The tenth hole follows the trees on the left, returning to the first basket. The eleventh hole is a straight shot with the creek on the right.

The twelfth basket is slight to the left, with more low tree branches directly in front of the tee. The thirteenth hole shares the fourth basket, with the creek now behind the basket. Unfortunately, the water came into play this time as my disc sailed past the basket and into the creek. It is a significant drop-off to the creek, so Chris was kind enough to retrieve my disc for me.

More massive low branches come into play on the fourteenth hole. The fifteenth hole plays right next to the trench, and of course, I threw my shot into the gully. I was happy that there was not much water in the trench the day we played. I managed to play the trench all the way to the basket, but not on purpose.

The sixteenth basket is slightly left off the tee, with plenty of trees in the way. The seventeenth hole plays through a gap in the bushes and around the turn. This time you play the basket from the other direction, throwing up the hill to the basket.

Finally, the eighteenth hole plays through the gorgeous live oaks dripping with Spanish moss. I had some trouble with this hole, managing to hit a tree, a bench, and a trash can, adding a few strokes to my score.

Overall, the course was easy to navigate with arrows on the baskets to point you to the next tee. There was only one time when we were unsure of where to go because there were several tees in the same area, but we were able to figure it out with the good signage. If time is an issue, you could speed the game up by playing both tees on each basket instead of playing it as front nine and back nine.

We enjoyed the course and liked how they fit the full 18 holes into the smaller space. Trash cans and benches are available throughout the course. My only complaint would be that the port-a-potties are not well maintained. I would suggest using the restroom before you get to the course.