WHAT TO EXPECT: Park style course in a medium sized town. Well maintained mix of woods and open field with a few trees to dodge golf. Park complex is massive complete with ample parking, walking trails, primitive and cabin camping opens in the more rustic wooded areas at the back of the park. Course boasts 18 holes all together, although uniquely 9 of them are listed as "beginner" and 9 listed as advanced and when coupled together you get a full 18. The "beginner" is ADA complaint which I had never encountered before, consisting of 9 holes between 275' and 325' (if you play everything as Par 3's) which constitute the more open park style holes on the course. Each of these holes have extra-large concrete tee pads and paved trails to each basket which is also surrounded by a generous circle of concrete. Really awesome of the course designers and park to install a course like this. The advanced 9 increases the length and difficulty while moving to much heavier wooded and elevated sections of the park.

TEES/SIGNAGE/BASKETS: Mixed tees consisting of massive oversized concrete tees on the ADA layout with ample sized concrete tees for the advanced holes that feel small compared to the other ones. Signage is older but well done and contains all relevant information including where the paved paths are for the ADA layout. Baskets are Mach 3's with hole number plates on top, older condition and catch like Mach 3's usually do.

DESIGN: While containing 9 "beginner" style park holes, the design does a good job of using hole distance, a few trees, and a couple small ponds to create an "easy to par, hard to birdie" stretch of beginner holes that I would consider more on the top end of beginner low end of recreational skill required. The course sort of requires you to have 275 feet of distance off the tee to birdie most hole. The advanced holes are not consecutive unless you choose to play it that way and are sprinkled in amongst the beginner holes which helps break up the monotony a bit and provide some very challenging tight wooded golf lines. The advanced holes also offer two separate pin locations to increase or decrease difficulty, but the baskets were in the long positions both times I have played the course. Holes (1,2,3,7,8,9,10,11,18) is the beginner loop for those interested. Hole #17 is probably my personal favorite, a twin tight gap downhill Par 3 with roll away potential around the green and trees everywhere. Beautiful hole and challenging as well.

NAVIGATION: While it can possibly be confusing the first time you play here if you are trying to play the full 18, it's pretty intuitive and the number plates on top of the basket indicate both hole numbers for the beginner and advanced layout starting on Hole #7 (which is beginner Hole #4). So don't let those get you confused.

WATER HAZARDS: Hole #3 has a very small green to land on, and at 300 feet can be hard to reach. There is a small, deep, murky brown pond that is pretty much blind from the tee guarding the green directly in front, and this is one of the ADA beginner holes. The first time I played here I didn't notice the water from the tee, thought I threw a great shot, and saw water splash. Then never found the disc. While this type of hole is perfectly fine for more advanced players, I think it's an odd choice for one of the beginner holes, especially when they are ADA holes. Hole #7's pond is directly off the tee and not really in play so it's much less of an issue, but it also resides on the beginner holes.

DISC DAMAGE POTENTIAL: With the pretty rocky terrain on the advanced side, coupled with the concrete bullseye area on the beginner holes, there is a decent opportunity to chew up your discs. This is less a con and more of a warning because while my discs could take some abuse on the ADA holes, I think the concrete around the baskets is awesome to see.

STALE PLAY: While the wooded advanced holes force shot shaping, tunnel gaps, ground play, etc the beginner holes are mostly stock hyzers in a very similar distance around some trees or through a very wide gap off the tee. Certainly, feels less exciting than the more advanced 9 which overall brings the course down in rating.

PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC: While this isn't much of a concern on the advanced holes, the park is popular and there will be many people walking dogs, jogging, or just enjoying the day out on the paved walking paths. As most of the beginner holes all run side by side, they share a lot of the same paved paths and have minimal tree cover to protect other fairways and those people using the paths.

All in all, Barfield is a decent to average park course, assisted by its catering to ADA players. I can see this course getting a ton of play by locals and being a local favorite (despite Sharp Springs being nearby). While certainly a decent course, it's an older design and has been surpassed by better courses in the area. I would not consider this course a must play in the area, but coupled with Sharp Springs you could make it a two for one and bag both. If I were on my way through the area though I would press on to Nashville if you are looking for higher praised courses and more of a challenge. I've played this course three times now, once blind in a practice round, the following day in a tournament round both of which were only months after I started playing so I wanted to go back when I got the chance now that I have years of disc golf under my belt and have a better skill set and so that I could give this course a review. While still pretty solid and a fun quick playthrough, it lacks the beauty and challenge to push itself into those higher tiers.

In General, The "Advanced" Holes: This course, while 18 holes, can be played in two different layouts. One is a 9-hole "beginner" layout. The other is an 18 hole layout with the 9 beginner holes and 9 "advanced" holes. The advanced holes are generally wooded and play into some spectacular scenery with lots of large rocks. These holes were definitely the highlight for me on this course.

Hole Variety: The beginner course is field-golf with some trees, while the advanced track is woods-golf to the core. The field-golf is flat, while the advanced track has some elevation in play. Best of all, if you play the full 18, the beginner/advanced holes are mixed together, so you don't get 9 holes of open throws followed by 9 holes of tunnels. It's a nice balance.

The ADA Beginner Holes: I've never seen an ADA disc golf course before, but the 9-hole "beginner" track is ADA compliant with paved paths from every teepad to every basket, including a concrete pad around the basket. I personally didn't see anyone in a wheelchair playing on my day out, but I am impressed that the course designers took those players into consideration when designing the course.

The Feeling of Sameness: The course, although being very split in terms of open/wooded holes, had a lot of similar holes. Most of the beginner holes have bled together as they're all similar distances with some trees. The wooded holes are more unique, but 16 and 17 are basically the same hole back-to-back.

The Lack of Fairway on a Couple Advanced Holes: Some of the lines in the advanced course were a bit ridiculous. Mostly looking at you, 13 and 14.

The Water Hazards on Holes 3 and 7: I'm not a big fan of water to begin with, but I have a few issues with these particular ponds. First, the water is NASTY. It was stagnant and straight brown with no visibility, so if you threw a disc in there you were blindly reaching into the water to find it. Second, they both occurred on the beginner/ADA course, which I think adds unnecessary challenge for the purpose of those holes. And third, the Hole 3 water hazard was directly in front of the basket. Considering it was a 270ish foot hole on a beginner course, it's basically in a prime landing spot for drives. Hole 7's pond was placed less egregiously, but still in a place where trees could knock discs into it. Overall, I think the water was an unnecessary addition that slightly detracts from the beginner course experience.

All things considered, I thought this was a decent-to-good course. It has flaws, but if I lived in Murfreesboro I'd probably play here regularly. However, since any route that takes me to Murfreesboro from Nashville would have me passing Cane Ridge, I don't see myself stopping at Barfield often when I can stop at Cane Ridge instead. So I probably won't be back, unless I move to the Boro.

As the flagship course of Murfreesboro, Barfield offers two solid styles of disc golf and is easily accessible.

-Layout: Barfield has a really neat split 18. There are nine open holes (the "Beginner" layout; 1-3, 7-11, 18), all of which have concrete path and a concrete bullseye for handicap accessibility. Interspersed in these are the "Advanced" layout in thick woods (4-6, 12-17). The flow is great to play either just the beginner 9 or all 18.

-Amenities: Nothing really missing. Giant concrete tees. Course map. Practice basket. Signage with #, distance, and map (though generous pars). Numbered Mach III's challenge your putting touch. Plenty of benches. Usually a few big sticks around (3) for pond retrieval.

-Beauty: Although the open 9 are unspectacular, the wooded 9 are really beautiful, with rock fairways, lots of trees, and some steep elevation. Ponds come into play on (3) and (7).

-Variety: The open 9/wooded 9 layout insures that Barfield has a very even mix of terrain types.

-Shot Shaping/Gameplay: A fair sampling of par-3s. The open holes, though beginner-friendly, do include challenges like an almost-surrounded basket on (1), left and right turns on (9) and (18) respectively, and some foliage to go above, below, or between on the other holes. Distance tops out under 400 feet. The addition of the wooded nine adds significant challenge, and requires precision. Again, various par-3 challenges with straight, left, right, and s-shapes. The (15)-(17) range is probably the most interesting, with a long and winding path that could qualify as a par-4 on (15) and then two steep downhill plays through the woods.

-Multi-Pins: Many holes have a second pin placement, and they get changed up every so-often for a change of pace.

-Disc Punishment: The concrete bullseyes around the baskets substantially wear discs. The rock fairways in the woods eat deep into them. I would stick mostly with your most durable plastic here on drives, and I personally always use a DX putter to save my nicer ones from the grind of a skittling miss.

-Disc Loss: Big possibility here. The water on (3) and (7) has seen many a throw go splash. You could also lose track of something in the woods, especially at dawn or dusk.

-Variety: I know, I know I listed it as both pro and con. In the pros, it refers to balance of fields and woods; in the cons, it refers to length and gameplay variety. There isn't much to the open holes, and the wooded ones are pretty short. No good multi-shot holes and very few thrilling challenges.

-Lines: I've always found the lines dubious in the (13)-(17) range here. If you don't get lucky, you may have an impossible scramble.

-Busyness: One of the busiest courses I've been to. Usually lots of players and beginners out. If playing alone, it can get frustrating to wait.

Barfield is a small-scale example of excellent balance and amenity-oriented design. The layout ropes in both beginners and experienced players. I don't find enough compelling in this par-54 course to put it above Good, especially when you consider the cost of plastic to play here. It's been a great course for Murfreesboro, but with the town growing rapidly it may be time to make a Mega-Barfield for a real regional challenge.

Barfield mixes some longer, open park style holes with low trees (gah, I miss Alabama pines) with woods holes about 50/50. There are some shot shaping considerations on the open holes, and some longer par 3s, plus some good should be 3s (which are not). Some of the woods holes offer really neat technical plays, with hard doglegs and straight tunnels, and there's a really beautiful fairway of pretty much solid rock on hole 5.

There is a nine-hole (mostly open) loop which runs close to a paved walking trail, which goes up to tees and baskets in an attempt to make the course accessible to the differently abled - I cannot state with certainty that this is effective, but I believe it could be.

Tees are concrete, and baskets are in sound condition. Tee signs indicate hole numbers for both full course and the accessible loop.

Two or three of the woods holes were just ridiculous, exceeding my pinball tolerance, and most were forgettable, aside from hole 5's stone fairway. Of the open holes, there were none at the 400'+ range, despite seeming opportunities to lengthen some; even the supposed par 4s topped out at 378 feet.

Tee signs are kinda unhelpful on showing hole shapes, especially in the woods; additionally, the sign for hole 12 was all kinds of wrong about the distance.

Visually fairly unappealing, except for a few spots in the woods; the evident artificial, angular landscaping on the front may be part of what I found so offputting.

Mach II baskets catch about as well as I do.

I do not consider this a con, given the intention, but concrete around the baskets chews putters.

I am told the Barfield Open layout adds some cool temp stuff. Cannot comment, having not seen it. I am also told that there's a store in the park which sells discs.

-well maintained
-good signage
-trash cans located at almost every hole
-benches at every other hole
-good mix of open and wooded areas
-warm up hole located right by parking lot
-course begins and ends at the parking lot
-18 advanced holes and 9 beginner holes

-some holes have very dense trees
-holes don't have clear paths to next hole
-water hazards eat plastic
-crowded most of the time
-hole 16 and 17 are the exact same with a hike in between
-some tee offs are very small
-pea field

for some reason the park has decided to grow peas in the middle of the course and you lose plastics in there for about 30 minutes each time

18 Holes with a Front 9 beginners option and a Practice Putting green.
Benches, trash barrels, and signage with very accurate hole info and pin placement at every tee pad.
50/50 mix of open and wooded holes.
Dual purpose paved walking path set up for handicap access to front 9 from pad to pin.
With the tourneys and monthly's' held on a regular basis by MTDGA (local club) the course is decently maintained by them on top of the already constant upkeep of the City Parks Department.
Parking, restrooms, and water fountains are available in the park.
Park Wilderness center has a small "Pro" shop with a variety of Innova discs available for purchase.

Most of the cons I list are agreed upon across the board so I will list them but follow up with my after thoughts:
50/50 open to wooded ratio is good but not split up enough.
From the pin at #15 to the pin at #17 there is a very bad flaw in the design. Most people don't include the long walk to the #16 tee pad in this complaint but that's where it starts. Then of course the uphill walk to the #17 tee pad to throw virtually the same hole as #16.
Not enough variety or shot selection.
Aside from basic obstacles that don't usually come into play allot of the holes are just straight shots with varying distances.
The handicap access more often than not is a plastic eater.
My #1 con: The little (a lot of times grown men) gremlins that swim in the 2 water hazards at #3 and #7 for your lost plastic while you are in the middle of a round. Keep an eye open I have good aim!!
Lastly, the back 9 has a trash issue and its mostly after monthly's I noticed.

Even though I haven't dealt with them, it seems MTDGA does a decent job of getting info out regarding events and tourneys. Back to the cons I have listed, Just be happy to have a course to play at that is free. The idea is too promote the sport of disc golf. We are lucky to have it here in MT.

-This a pretty good course for beginners and more experienced players. It is extremely easy to navigate after a quick look over the map. The entire course pretty much makes a big M.
-There are concrete paths between all the holes on the front 9 which make it wheelchair friendly and clearly defines OB.
-The fairways are maintained weekly and the woods aren't too bad.
-There are two restroom facilities near the parking lot and a water pump by the pavilion. ---Every hole has excellent signage, a trashcan, and usually a bench.
-The course offers a wide variety of shots from long, straight and wide open to short, dog leg shots with a low ceiling.
-Most of the wooded holes have multiple pin placements.
-MTDGA, the local club, is very active at this course and Sharp Springs (north) and has either singles or doubles matches going every weekend.

-Everyone says the water trap on hole #3 is terrible but as long as you lay up it shouldn't be a problem. The real problem with three is the lack of space around the pin for going straight for it. If you go short you're in the water and if you go long or right you're in the woods. The water trap on hole #7 is about 30ft in front of the tee and the overhanging trees tend to toss your discs in the water if you don't get through the gap just right. Not much of a problem for experienced players but beginners usually skip this one or throw from the left of the pond.
-The concrete around the pins is nice and all but has chewed into many of my discs and makes a good shot skip right past the basket. -Some of the holes have ridiculous lines for rhbh players so having a decent forehand drive helps.
-Tee pads are super slick when wet.
-The pins don't get changed to the alternate placement often enough.
-There is a bit of a hike back up the hill from 16 to 17 but you are rewarded with a nice bench and a fun hole.
-The only downside to the course being located in a rather crowded park is that people will picnic or throw football in the middle of #18's fairway. If it's a couple of ignorant teenagers just yell heads up but sometimes parents will let their children run around out there.

This has proven to be a good home course for me due to the wide variety of shots and a good local club. This is by no means my favorite course in the area but is one you should try if you're in the area.

NIcely maintained by both park personnel and the local disc golf community. I played on July 1st; 12:30 PM. Hot and sunny day. The grass was freshly cut. The all-access for 9 holes is unique; I've never seen that before...very nice concrete pathways leading up to and surrounding each backet. As mentioned this was only on 9 of the 18 holes. The woods portion of the course is very technically challenging to work around all of the trees. I enjoy playing golf in the woods and so this was a pro for me. Good signage.

A couple of the holes were throw and pray where there was not a clearly delineated fairway. Please someone - updae the tee sign on number 3 to indicate there is a pond of nasty stench water in front of the basket. You cannot see it from the tee and I fell victim. That was my main-stay original Roc!

This course is not meant to be a championship caliber course; but there is plenty of land where they could expand and have both a 9 hole all-access and an 18 hole technically difficult course.

Well kept.
All baskets have concrete pads around them (mulch in the woods).
Challenging woods holes
Many alternate pin placements
Close to parking

Hard to find next hole in woods.
Many woods holes have NO path to the hole with NO overhead options...plinko

Will play again

This course is solid, with a good variety of shot types. The layout of the course is easy to follow, and makes good use of all the land at the park. Several holes play across a relatively open field, but the majority of the holes play in the woods, along the side of a hill.

When I first arrived at the course, it was easy to find the first teepad - with a practice basket 50 feet from the parking lot.

This course is fairly short, but the woods and elevation change makes up for some of that with a bit of added difficulty.

I played this course on a cold and windy day, and it was relatively busy. I can imagine that on a nice day this course can get very crowded.

This course has 5 or 6 holes that play in a field with sparse trees. The rest holes that play through the woods. They range from 200-350, with many having tight fairways or dogleg hooks. All of the wooded holes have modest elevation changes, with one drive that requires a throw over a small pond (150 to clear the water).

Hole 17 is the signature hole at this course, playing down a steep hill with rock outcroppings. The final hole is ~410' and plays from the edge of the woods, back toward the parking lot to finish.

The best thing about this course is the elevation change on the wooded holes - it is very similar to Mastin Lake in Alabama if you have played that one.

This course could be improved by having a few more benches/trashcans and maybe an alternate tee-pad or two. This is not a pro-level course, but it is fun to play for all skill levels.

This course has a nice mix of short and long holes. It also has some open holes and wooded holes. The tee pads are large and the signs are nice. This is one throw over a small pond and some nice down hill throws in the woods. I really love hole #16.

It seems like this course is either open or too wooded. A couple of holes have absolutely no fairway are you are just throwing and hoeping to get lucky. I also do not understand the concrete around the baskets. This scuffs up your putters and makes approaches skip away. It's just a very bad idea

This is a decent course if you are in the area. The have planted a bunch of young trees on the open holes so it will get better in time. It just feels like the holes are too easy or rediculously hard.

Nice variety of open and wooded holes. None of the holes are insanely long- good for the average player. The wooded holes are on the side of rocky hill, providing nice scenery and elevation, almost like hiking. Discs can be purchased at the Nature Center in the back of the park.

You can play the course as "Advanced" which is all 18 holes, or follow the "Beginner" set-up which consists of only the easier, more open, original 9 holes. The tee signs and baskets have 2 sets of numbers.

*Update 11/26/09- They have just created a new water hazard for hole #3. It is in front of the green area, protecting the basket. It is a nice addition that makes it play more like a traditional ball golf hole. (Hole #7 still has its water hazard as well.)

*Update 2/1/10- There is now a brand new large color course map on the kiosk between the parking lot and tee #1. The tee signs have also had a major upgrade as they are now large, full color maps with distances, alternate hole locations, and clearly labeled numbers corresponding to both the 9-hole and 18-hole set-up.

A few of the wooded holes have very small fairways. (you can just close your eyes and throw and probably do just as well.) It requires a lot of luck to have a great drive on these holes, as even skillfully executed shots still have a good chance of being punished by hitting a tree.

The concrete greens really do damage your discs. (As I mentioned this course began as the 9 open holes with the concrete rings around the baskets, and I have been told the original plan was to have it handicapped accessible.)

Work is constantly being done on this course in the attempt to make it better, as the course is still relatively new. Now I am all for improving a course, but sometimes it appears things are done just to do more stuff and the "improvements" are not always better. Some of the artificially planted trees are in strange spots, just look ugly, and are unnatural.

This course can be pretty crowded at certain times as it is in a decent sized town with a major university (MTSU). And when it is crowded expect a lot of casual players (college students and families).

The course is 18 holes (there were attempts to have 19 or 20, but they have been reversed.) The finishing hole features the picturesque gentle open downhill anhyzer to finish. If you can... park your vehicle closer to the practice basket/kiosk and NOT near hole 18- I have seen many cars get hit with tee shots off #18!

Many people consider this their favorite in Middle TN and I would recommend it to someone traveling to the area. I like it ok and think it has the potential to be really good, but right now there are others that I think are better overall courses in the Nashville area. (Sharp Springs, Cedar Hill, Seven Oaks)

This course has open fields and woods. Hyzer holes, anhyzer holes, and line drive holes. In a beautiful atmosphere for disc golf.

Concrete halos around the baskets can mess up some discs as well as cause good approaches to skid 30 feet away. There has also been an attempt to plant more trees...this is very unnecessary. The open meadow portion had plenty of trees to start with and the new ones are poorly placed.

The course was fine at the 18 hole layout. The new 19/20 hole layout is just thrown together. Hole 18 was one of the better finishing holes in this area, and it is not really used that way anymore as the old tee is thrown at a new target.