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Athey Creek Church reviews
5
0
Not your average church course!! 2+ years
Reviewed:
Updated:
Played on:Jul 5, 2018
Played the course:once
Pros:
The first big plus on this course is that it now has 10 beautiful concrete tee pads and Dynamic Veteran baskets. Combined with the baskets and tees, the property itself was very neat and clean. It seems like the designers of the course have done a lot of recent work to clear out blackberries along the side of the large rise in the middle of the course that, if present, would have been a serious problem as about 4 holes play directly over or adjacent to that space.
The next big comment on this course is that, unlike most <18 hole church/small park courses, Athey Creek has some serious size. There are two ~500 foot par 4-esque holes, along with several more in the 400 foot range. These mix in pretty well with a number of shorter reach-able par 3s to the give the course some nice variety. The large space, coupled with a nice smattering of large Doug Fir trees give the course a nice "fun" factor, with good opportunities to shape some fun shots without too much danger of losing discs. Going off that "fun" factor, the course has some nice use of elevation, mainly in the course's 3 (4 if you count hole 8) downhill shots. I wasn't as impressed with the uphill holes (1, 2, and 4, though I did like 7), but hey, hard to have big downhill shots without some climb as well.
While the tee signs right now are rudimentary (laminated sign with just the hole number), the course was actually quite easy to navigate, one of the perks of the Dynamic Veteran baskets is that the "next tee" arrow is cleverly built into the metal of the basket. The holes also have large, highly-visible flags, which did come in handy as a few tees do have the issue of having 2 or 3 baskets in sight off the tee.
As of now, there are signs next to where I imagine short tees might eventually be made, as of now there isn't anything there, not even a dug out space, but in general, I liked the idea, and for a number of the longer holes, these am tees would really help the course for newer players.
Hole highlights: It's rare for a course with just 10 holes to have a few "top-of-the-world" like holes, but Athey Creek manages. Hole 5 plays nearly 80 feet down, and about 400 feet out, with some obstacles in the way, to a stunning elevated "stump" placement. I also particularly liked hole 8, a pretty straightforward open 250 foot shot, to a basket perched on the edge of a large downhill slope on the right and behind. Lastly, hole 3, while not standing out as a particularly exciting hole, is a nice downhill chip shot to a protected basket that's a real joy to play.
The next big comment on this course is that, unlike most <18 hole church/small park courses, Athey Creek has some serious size. There are two ~500 foot par 4-esque holes, along with several more in the 400 foot range. These mix in pretty well with a number of shorter reach-able par 3s to the give the course some nice variety. The large space, coupled with a nice smattering of large Doug Fir trees give the course a nice "fun" factor, with good opportunities to shape some fun shots without too much danger of losing discs. Going off that "fun" factor, the course has some nice use of elevation, mainly in the course's 3 (4 if you count hole 8) downhill shots. I wasn't as impressed with the uphill holes (1, 2, and 4, though I did like 7), but hey, hard to have big downhill shots without some climb as well.
While the tee signs right now are rudimentary (laminated sign with just the hole number), the course was actually quite easy to navigate, one of the perks of the Dynamic Veteran baskets is that the "next tee" arrow is cleverly built into the metal of the basket. The holes also have large, highly-visible flags, which did come in handy as a few tees do have the issue of having 2 or 3 baskets in sight off the tee.
As of now, there are signs next to where I imagine short tees might eventually be made, as of now there isn't anything there, not even a dug out space, but in general, I liked the idea, and for a number of the longer holes, these am tees would really help the course for newer players.
Hole highlights: It's rare for a course with just 10 holes to have a few "top-of-the-world" like holes, but Athey Creek manages. Hole 5 plays nearly 80 feet down, and about 400 feet out, with some obstacles in the way, to a stunning elevated "stump" placement. I also particularly liked hole 8, a pretty straightforward open 250 foot shot, to a basket perched on the edge of a large downhill slope on the right and behind. Lastly, hole 3, while not standing out as a particularly exciting hole, is a nice downhill chip shot to a protected basket that's a real joy to play.
Cons:
A number of the holes are both a bit uninspired, but also, due to their length, are a bit of a drag to play (at least for anyone with less than 400' of power in their drive): hole 4 is the big culprit here, being 330 feet straight up, playing more like 430. While I can't say that I outright dislike holes 1 and 2 (unlike some other reviewers I somewhat enjoyed the novelty of hole 2's extreme uphill blind tee shot), in combination with 4, having the course start with 3 out of the first 4 holes essentially having no obstacles on the tee, playing significantly uphill *and* out of range for 95% of arms, felt a bit disheartening, especially compared to how much I liked the rest of the course.
This critique is more admittedly picky, but I think this course suffers a bit from the "tweener" par 3.5 holes. Holes 1, 4, and 6 are all holes where only a player with a massive arm is going to have a chance at birdie, while at the same time, there aren't enough obstacles to make par a real challenge for most experienced players either.
I do think that adding am pads will help a lot with this course. As it stands, in part because it's only 10 holes, this course isn't really worth driving a long way for (though certainly worth coming to see it at least once); or for out-of-town visitors. However, for the people living nearby who might play this course regularly, I think both newer players who might struggle with the length, and more experienced players who just want more variety, would appreciate a second set of tee pads.
This critique is more admittedly picky, but I think this course suffers a bit from the "tweener" par 3.5 holes. Holes 1, 4, and 6 are all holes where only a player with a massive arm is going to have a chance at birdie, while at the same time, there aren't enough obstacles to make par a real challenge for most experienced players either.
I do think that adding am pads will help a lot with this course. As it stands, in part because it's only 10 holes, this course isn't really worth driving a long way for (though certainly worth coming to see it at least once); or for out-of-town visitors. However, for the people living nearby who might play this course regularly, I think both newer players who might struggle with the length, and more experienced players who just want more variety, would appreciate a second set of tee pads.
Other Thoughts:
Overall, I was really impressed by this course. And I think it's definitely a bit more "fun" than my 2.5 rating might suggest. Honestly, if this course had more holes, or if they put in some sort of am pads where they are currently marked, I would give this course a 3 out of 5. This course certainly bucks the trend of boring church courses, following in the tradition of another local church course (Lunchtime disc golf course). You can really tell that the people who put this course in took their time and really poured some heart and soul into this course.
