Ashe Lake's 9 hole course is thoughtfully disposed to accommodate a variety of special needs: paved sidewalks running between several tees and pins are intended to allow comfortable access to those in wheelchairs, and bells atop baskets are meant to enable the blind to locate them. It's a unique focus that I've never seen duplicated that opens the sport to new players, which is great.

The course area has the right amount of obstacles to engage young children and true beginners: there are a few trees to avoid and lines to shape, but nothing significant or frustration-inducing. The shorter hole lengths are especially well suited to introducing children to the game.

Course is well-groomed and parking is immediately adjacent. Ashe Lake's quality 18 hole course is just a stone's throw away on the opposite side of a small lake, providing experienced players with a round of their own once they've played with their children.

This isn't a course meant for the average player. If you're over 12 and don't have special needs, you'll get very little if anything from Ashe Lake's 9, simple as that, and I know of much younger players who'd even get bored. The holes here are exceedingly short (often under 150 ft), navigation is terribly confusing, and obstacles are minimal. The reason to play here for most is to add another notch in your belt while enjoying Ashe Lake's 18 holer.

Many of the baskets' bells are missing, sadly, reducing the usefulness of that feature. Although park traffic doesn't seem significant, there's some opportunity to conflict with non-DGers on Ashe Lake's 9 (not present on the 18, thankfully).

I applaud building a course geared towards children and those with special needs; this focus makes Ashe Lake's 9 holer a worthwhile visit for its target crowd. Otherwise, there isn't going to be an attraction to play here, but you may as well spend the 15 minutes it'd take if you're playing Ashe Lake's 18.