Flat Rock, NC

Bonclarken Retreat DGC

Permanent course
2.815(based on 13 reviews)
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Bonclarken Retreat DGC reviews

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DiscGolfCraig
Diamond level trusted reviewer
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Experience: 19.9 years 594 played 543 reviews
2.00 star(s)

2+ years

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jun 5, 2010 Played the course:once

Pros:

Nice, mostly open course. Several wooded holes on course add some variety. The second half of the course is actually pretty fun and, more challenging (relatively speaking).
- Nice tee signs. Good descriptive pics on signs.
- Course is easy to navigate. There's a map on the kiosk (and on this site), but didn't really need it.
- Open field, and longer open holes, are good to unleash some drives. Good area to practice throwing.
- Plenty of birdie chances. You take lots of short holes and lots of open holes and you should be seeing birdies.
- Course is definitely aimed at beginners. Being a retreat facility, you can tell the course was built to give people another activity. If you get bored playing, you can always scale the climbing wall near #1.
- Course does a very good job, about as good as possible, taking advantage of the very limited obstacles. Strategically placed baskets around sharp doglegs, good use of elevation, baskets near the creek, baskets placed behind trees are the spices added to an otherwise bland meal.

Cons:

There aren't a lot of major cons simply because the course does what it does pretty good. Back in school, if you only answer 5 questions on a test question test, you'll fail the test even if you answered everyone correctly. That's kind of what I feel about this course.
- Too many easy, or unimaginative holes. A lot of short holes, including the epic 80 footer #8. In its "defense", you have a really narrow opening to get through to reach to the basket. You can see the pic to get a feel.
- Course is aimed too much at beginners, so any advanced player will not be challenged.
- Unless you're staying here, no water fountains or restrooms. You can play a round in 45 minutes, so that shouldn't be a huge issue.
- Dirt tee pads with some wood chips.
- Holes #2 - 3 are played in their paintball area. Obviously they're not played at the same time, but it looked bad having the tee signs covered in paint from being hit so much.
- For a beginner course, I was a little surprised they had some baskets so close to thick rough, underbrush. An errant shot could easily lead to a lost disc, especially from beginners using loaners from the center.

Other Thoughts:

This is a tale of two course. Holes #1 - 8 offered little to no challenge. Everyone of these holes is birdieable. Suddenly on hole #9, the course gets much better, with more challenge.
- The portion of the creek near #9 & 10 is surprisingly deep. It's ankle to knee deep near #15 - 16, but here it's a good 4 feet deep. So be prepared, if you throw a disc in here, you're really getting wet, not just taking off your shoes & socks.
- My 3 favorite holes were the 3 that best used elevation - #12, 13 & 16.
- #12 is a solid 300ft + uphill shot (the tee sign is wrong) to a basket behind a mass of trees, brush, etc.
- #13 is a short down hill shot. Don't sail your shot long or hit the street sign.
- #16 was my favorite hole. Short, downhill shot over the creek to a basket protected by trees. This is probably an easy shot when there are no leaves on trees, but much more challenging the rest of the year. Most aesthetically pleasing hole as well.
- I'm still wondering how this course has been rated so high. I'd say 1 - 8 rank as barely a 1.0, 9 - 18 a solid 3, so overall this is a 2. If 1 - 8 were as good as the last 10 holes, this would be a very good, under the radar course.
- I had no problems playing this course. I passed plenty of people and employees and was never questioned. As long as you act decent - no drinking, smoking, pets, don't be loud - you'll be fine.
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