-This is a neighborhood nine hole course, so it's there to raise the interest of locals and send them to play The Bear or Catawba Meadows. One thing that stood out was how pretty it was. The photos on the media look nice but nothing compared to what I saw.

-A couple tee shots that are good for practice. There's one hole here that's really interesting. And many previous reviewers mentioned it. Hole 3. It's an uphill dogleg left. You tee off on the sidewalk and the landing takes you uphill. There are hanging limbs on the trees in play so you could try and learn to throw a grenade on. I threw a huge hyzer up about 50' and was left with maybe a 30' putt.

-Hole 2 was a cool right to left hole. I landed literally an inch from the basket. Good ace run hole. You have to throw around a tree with a wider limbspan.

-The signs list some of the holes as par 4s or 5s but if you're reaching the point where your distance is reaching close to 400' then this is good practice on your driving accuracy (so is Catawba Meadows).

-Navigation is not easy. When you get to the parking lot, cross the bridge with the blue rail through the woods. I took the first one I saw and the first tee sign I saw was #7. #8 was next and I thought it was back down the field. Nope. ALWAYS tee-off to the right side of the pads here at Bethel. Hole is 270' and it was around that to 6's pin too.

-That takes us to nine. I saw the pad and initially thought you threw a big anhyzer around the tree about 450' down the field. That'd be cool but nope. That's 2's basket we're talking about. Instead you have a boring 330' field shot. I saw this and put my hands on my head and pushed my hair back with great force seeing this.

-#4. So dangerously close to the picnic table. Hole is only 125' so it's easy to get close on, but come on! Really?

-Hole 6's pad I couldn't find, and all I saw was a huge field. The next hole is also wide open. Hole 6 can be a good for practice because a two on that hole (if you can find the pad) would be a darn good one. But #7 is just boring.

-And they said it. Too close to other park activities. No need to get in someone else's way of their afternoon walk. I kinda played this round halfheartedly and quickly got tired of it after I played hole 3.

-Hole 3 was interesting and you don't see holes like that, so that one was a real challenge, but from a straight line the hole is only about 200' so if you can really spike it up there, you might be able to get close on this hole. But aside from that, this course is very bland. A guy at my school who's from Morganton told me that he played disc golf once. This was the course and he said it was boring. He was right. But if you want to practice your drives and try to deuce every hole here, that would be a way to improve your game. But Catawba Meadows is nearby and it's also pretty open, you could just play there instead. But the scenery here is nice and it's a nice little park. Decide for yourself whether or not it's worth it.

Update: Some locals in Morganton are establishing a few long pins here. I saw one of them on Facebook and it appears to be a neat downhill throw. Not sure where it is, but I'll upvote this course if I like the changes when I come back.

6 tee signs, 8 baskets were in good condition. Fairly easy to navigate.

The ground had a lot of standing water.
Most holes were in an open field.
Tee Pads are narrow and short.
Tee signs are missing from holes 2, 4 & presumably 6 (see below).
Holes #3 & #9 go over walking paths.
#7 basket welds were broken, so the basket was lying on the ground.

I never found hole #6, I ended up walking about 100' past #5 basket onto the walking path just past the telephone pole and threw from there. #6 basket was leaning way over at about 45 degrees, but I was able to push it back upright and stomp down the mud around it.

I'm going to be honest, the list of pro's here is short.

Firstly, the park seems to be a fairly nice establishment in itself. Disc golf was definitely an afterthought.

If you're anything Intermediate or higher, this will give you decent practice at up shots. Every single shot, except hole 3, is a straight shot with nearly zero obstacles and zero elevation. This is the definition of field work. At the very least you could dial in the distances on your putters/mids and fairways.

The course has nice signs and even has concrete tee pads (although they're way too small), but at least it's something dry to stand on...

The baskets are at least top of the line DISCatchers.

The cons are a mile long, but honestly I'll try to keep it short because this course doesn't really deserve too much time spent on it.

Firstly, the overall goal appears to be to appeal to recreation players, as indicated by the exaggerated pars and overall difficulty of the course. However, I still think it does a fairly poor job at that. Most courses like that will not have anything over 300ft, whereas this course has several shots like that. Yea they may be straight and easy, but some are still long for the average rec player.

The worst thing about the course is how it flirts dangerously with other park amenities. Hole 3 is a prime example. The only "blind" shot on the whole course has you shooting up into a picnic table area that is around the corner from the tee pad. Additionally, several holes have you shooting across walking paths, courts and other fields that could be in use.

The park itself seems to be located in a flood zone. The entire area was soggy when I played and was holding fairly large puddles making several holes unplayable.

For anyone Intermediate or higher, this course will be extremely easy. You won't really challenge yourself and you likely won't learn anything about your game. The only reason to play here is to check off another course if you're a junkie.

I appreciate the local parks and rec putting a course in, as I usually believe that any course is better than no courses, however in the case of Bethel Park, I'd almost prefer it not exist.

It won't appeal to anyone Intermediate or higher, it's slightly unattainable for rec players, it's wet and often dangerous. The only thing it has going for it are the signs, baskets and the fact that there's a dry spot to stand.

*The course is very easy to navigate, and it's so open, with very few trees and little foliage, that it would be hard to lose a disc.
*There's a good map of the course online.
*The L bend fairway on hole 3 provides the only break from the monotony of the other 8 straight fairways. Hole 3, going uphill (+24 ft rise), also has the most significant elevation change, then 4 and 5 are a bit downhill to take you back to the flat lands.
*Umm... the double chain Discatcher baskets were good too

-Lots of potential safety issues with picnic tables and a basketball court too close to the fairways.
-8 of 9 fairways are open straight shots.
-There is very little elevation variety.
-Lack of terrain variety. 7 holes are open grass with very few trees or obstacles while 2 have a few trees. Way too open for my taste.
-Lack of length variety: 7 holes are in the 220-340 range, so they feel very similar.
-The tee pads are tiny and detrimental. They're only about 5 ft long x 3 ft. wide
-Hole 3 was hard to navigate with the L bend and the basket out of view up the hill.
-The pars listed on the online score card are bogus Rec pars. The 325 ft hole 3 isn't a par 5, even if it is uphill, and the 430 ft hole 6 shouldn't be a par 5 either.
-There's a discrepancy on the hole lengths between the tee signs and the score card, especially for hole 3.

Course Level: White (most suited for Intermediate players rated 900)

Being so open the course could be good for new players, but 5 holes are too long for beginners.

Since I was already out in western NC I just played a quick round then got back in the car and hit the road again. Don't go out of your way to play here.

<span class="underline">A note about my rating:</span> My rating is a subjective measure of my enjoyment of the course, on the day I played it, and it is NOT intended to be a measure of the quality of the course. My ratings are given "on the curve" in relation to all other courses I've played.

~My more detailed "Overall Rating" notes and "Hole-by-hole Ratings" are available in the Files section.

The course plays through a pretty multi-use park. There is lots of parking, and available restrooms and water fountains, and a dog park. The baskets were in great shape, and there were tee signs with the hole distance.

There were a couple holes with some decent length, and one that required a hard dog leg up a hill that made for a fun challenge. We played with some locals who were very friendly and helpful, and showed us the reverse layout they play for some different looks and more challenge.

Other than hole 3, the course is very straightforward without any real challenges. Most of the holes are basically wide open and don't force any specific shots. There is a creek along the first hole, but it doesn't come into play at all. The tees are too small for a reasonable run up, and are not level enough with the ground to step on to, we just threw from next to the tees.

The course overlaps too much with other park uses. Most of the holes play across the walking path, and many play very close to picnic areas, basketball courts and sports fields. On a busy day this course would be pretty unsafe to play.

This is an ok course for beginners, though players without good control are even more likely to hit other park-goers. More experienced players will find little here to hold their interest or challenge them, and all players will likely be frustrated with the amount of non-dg traffic.

This is an ok quick round if you're passing by, but don't go out of your way for this one.

What I personally like and how this course stacks up:
1) Holes with good risk/reward -- C-
2) Holes that have rewarding birdie opportunities -- C
3) More wooded than open - lots of variety of shots required caused by hole shape and topography -- C
4) Natural beauty (Appalachian beauty preferred) and seclusion -- C-
5) Multi-shot holes with defined landing zones, good risk/reward and multiple options to play them -- NA

I ranked this course subjectively based on my own personal enjoyment factor...more accurately my "personal addiction factor". Since I have played a decent number of courses (115 18-hole, 50 9-hole as of early 2009), my hope is that players/explorers who have similar tastes will find my ratings list helpful as they chose courses to play and explore.

Over time, I expect to fill some of my reviews in with more descriptive verbiage...if what I say adds anything to what has already been written. For now, my list is more important to me than the verbiage of my reviews.

I fully expect others with different tastes/philosophies to disagree with me. See my profile for my rating philosophy.

Wide open course with decent length lets you really unleash some throws. Park has plenty of open space to practice throwing.
- 4 of 9 holes are over 300 feet. Average hole length is more than 280.
- Easy course to navigate, except for #3 (see below). Course flows well, has tee signs and good baskets.

Course has almost no obstacles. Trees really come into play on holes 2 - 4. There's a creek and overgrowth left of hole #1. It's wide open on the right, so that shouldn't even come into play.
- Course is monotonous with 4 wide open holes (1, 5, 8, 9) all between 270 - 340. You're essentially playing the same shot on these holes.
- The hole layout for #3 was confusing. When you're on the tee, the only basket you see is for #8. There's an arrow pointing to the left, which I wrongly thought meant a mando left. Turned out, the arrow is pointing up the hill toward the basket. If the tee sign had a hole layout, it would fix any confusion.

It's a good 9 hole course. 9 hole courses tend to be more for the recreational player than the serious one, and that's true for this course.
- My favorite hole (and the only challenging hole) is #3. It's a sharp dogleg up a hill. It plays longer that its distance and takes a couple good shots to get par.
- It was encouraging to see several other people playing the course on a hot, muggy afternoon. The area really could use another course closer than Glenn Hilton Park in Hickory, which is about 30 minutes away.