You have heard of Elk Mountain, well... Plumtree Valley is a 2nd 18 hole course, close to Elk Mtn., and run by same people. The Valley course provides an easier alternative (or a relaxing break!) to the famed, but strenuous, Elk Mtn. course.

PV is flatter and more open. 13 holes are flat and only 5 are on the hill side (3 up, 2 down). Most of the holes' obstacles are the Christmas Trees, as this property is primarily a tree farm. (And believe me, those things will swallow up a disc and the trees are really close together in many spots.) Overall design was good as the holes had pretty good variety of length and shape.

Hole #1 plays right along the beautiful Toe River (your typical mountain stream). Throughout the course you are greeted with nice views of the mountains. Hole 13 is one of those memorable top-of-the-world shots where you will want to first just take in the scenery of the valley along the river between the mountains, and then you will want to throw several drives off the mountain and watch them sail down to the peninsula green at the bottom.

The lodge provides a good map and scorecard, however, navigation was good with plenty of clear signage, (they even used the generic discs that came with the Insteps baskets as signs- clever and adds a nice touch!) There is a growing proshop in the lodge that had a nice selection of several brands of discs. There is also a restaurant there that smelled great. I really appreciated the many nice and helpful workers, many of them play disc golf so they were able to give good advice. There are other outdoor activities available here too and lodging as well.

The Christmas tree farm eats discs- the trees are tall and so close together and the ground underneath cannot be mowed- it got to the point I was just throwing a putter 100' off the tee to avoid having to look for a disc as some fairways were only a few feet wide. In addition, the fairway grass was high in spots also making discs hard to find.

Some tees were grass, where others were lumpy mulch chips. The baskets were the In-Steps, they do the job, but they just don't make that satisfying sound other brands give.

Some danger spots if others were playing. Many places holes, baskets and tees, are close together. #13 is an awesome hole, but it is hard to control where a disc lands throwing 600' down a mountain, and there are a couple of tees and several baskets near #13's basket that could come under fire. (chances are, though, you will have this course to yourself.)


This course is on private land and there is a house and a garden and other personal objects here that should be treated with respect- because somebody lives here, the course has special rules that need to be followed, and there may be times where some holes or even the entire course might be deemed temporarily unavailable.

This is decent course, a nice complement to the strenuous and mountainous Elk Mtn course. The Plumtree Valley course is on the grounds adjacent to the lodge, and the famed Elk Mountain course is just down the road at the campground area. Check-in/paying is at the lodge to play either or both.

This course is not the reason you come to this area, but since Elk (and Sugaree) are in the middle of nowhere in the Carolina mountains, it is nice to have 1 more course here to make this long journey even more worthwhile.

It was $5 to play, however, if you purchase $10+ of disc golf merchandise, then you get to play for free. (essentially a $5 coupon of a disc!)