great course for the advanced and above. i played it a few years ago wen i was bad, and i hatedthis course. we called it CASTLE PAYNE. but if u can throw a roc,flick, thumber and tomahawk, you might finish 4 over. my friend lives there and can only shoot even par. THE fairways are nice as well as the benches. great tee boxes and signs. play 1st nine come back to the parking lot then play the back nine. if its your first time play doubles for this course will eat u alive. this is the stomping ground of the best THUMBER DISC GOLFER IN THE WORLD brian schwebeger. so u might see a team star member during your round

none unless ur an amature. this course will test you roc game but most of all your mental game.

this course has par 3s 4s and 5s one is over 1000 in the woods on long placement....HAVE FUN!

Course is clean and has added a practise basket right near the 1st tee pad.. Clean bathrooms.Each hole has a bench by the tee box. Also has good signage for each hole. The course members do a good job keeping this course maintained well. Front nine easier than the back nine. Has a good mix of play. It is pretty much all in the woods, but the course uses the woods just right for its dog legs and opens up for log straight drives. Be sure to look at the information board at the first tee box showing the course, it will show you where the back nine starts which will make it easier for you if you haven't played this course. Course opens at 8am and closes at 11pm so you can play at night using glow lights.

This course gets really busy. A little hard for first timers who play this course to find the back nine. Some players who bring their dogs with them while playing and let them just run loose, so watch out where you step.

If you are in the area be sure to play this course or even near by. The back nine gets really muddy after a good rain and takes a while to dry out. I play lots of courses and this one I would place on my top ten. It is best to play this course early in the day if you don't like crowds. Weekends this course gets really crowded. For a county course it is really nice. Watch out for the stream on hole eight, the stream has taken lots of discs including mine. Most of the times players who get in there and retrieve them will call you, so make sure you put your name and phone number on your disc.

- The biggest strength of this course is it's fairways. It is an extreme fair wooded course that will punish you if you get off it's nicely cut fairways.
- Accuracy is king here. You don't have to have a huge arm here. If you hit your lines and putt well, you will score well.
- Two layouts are used with two pins on holes 1,3,7,10,15. Par 64 or 65 depending on the layout.
- The signage is really nice and the course is really easy to follow minus the walk from 9 to 10.
- A bunch of different shots are needed to score well here. Multiple dogleg fairways, some to the left, some to the left.
- A bunch of great holes. Hole 8 and 12 are both par 5s and probably the signature holes.

- No elevation, but what do you expect at course near the coast of NC. Alt Pin 10 is a raised basket, Hole 4 has a drop off behind the basket, Hole 5 has a lowered tee, ditch on 12 etc, so they do try to make some elevation as best they can.
- The transition from Hole 9 to 10 can be confusing for newcomers.

Must play if you're in the area, especially since there are not any other options at moment. This my home away from home course since I grew up in Wilmington, so I have a soft spot for it.

Starts out pretty nicely but gradualy gets tougher as you go along the course. Many top players around there, such as Jason Land and Dave George

Many shots that you have to watch unless you want to lose a disc

Very Fun to play and if you haven't played it, make plans to come visit this course

Beautiful course! Excellent baskets and tee signs as well as tee pads. Great vareity of holes in length and difficulty. The course is very well taken care of and it shows. Restrooms available as well as trash cans at many tee stations.

No practice basket. Long walk from 9 basket to 10 tee-can be difficult for a first timer to find. Other than that, it's all good

This course is beautiful with awesome fairways in the woods. It offers a variety of holes with different lengths (ranging from 240'ish to 700'). But don't be fooled by distances; if you don't hit the right line, a 300' hole will seem like it's 400'.

Going along with the distances and level of difficulty, you will see true par 3's, 4's, and 5's. But only with a great tee shot will you have a look at eagle. Otherwise, if you find yourself off of the fairway, you're going to have to work some magic to get your par. Also included in the course design are many double doglegs and 90 degree turn holes. You will need to pull every shot out of your bag: hyzers, anhyzers, forehand, backhand, turnovers, flex shots, tomahawks, thumbers, etc...you name it, you will probably have to throw it.

The fairways are awesome at this course. They are not too thick nor too open. A lot of the fairways were somewhat tight towards the tee box, opened up in the middle (for a landing area per'say) and closed in a little tigher towards the basket making for many challenging shots. Your shots have to be precise to score well.

This course is very well taken care of and it shows. There are benches at every tee box and the craftsmanship in them is immaculate. The club has done an excellent job keeping the course clean and you can see evidence of the projects they are working on such as cutting out new paths through the woods and leveling off banked slopes by the train tracks.

If you get the opportunity, I strongly suggest you play this course. I heard from a local that the course designer is going to be designing 2 more courses in the area in the near future, so I plan on keeping an eye out for these as should you.

I am biased. I play here all of the time. The course is gorgeous. It's long and tough, but very rewarding. Concrete pads are a plus. Friendly locals.

I can't sleep here! LOL

Please, be considerate of our park. We have worked hard to get it where it is today.

One of the most fair courses I have ever played. Lots of risk/reward shots on a mix of par 3, 4, and 5 holes. Fairways are wide enough to tempt long drives, but the rough is punishing if your drive carries off the fairway. Every shot in your bag will be tested, especially tricky escape shots. The course is designed expertly to demand a variety of throws and reward those that stay in the fairway. Tee signs and benches installed.

Some areas get a little muddy after alot of rain. Wish there could be more elevation, but there is none in Wilmington.

One of the best courses in NC. Do not come out expecting to get many 2s.

Extraordinary course, great scenery open well kept up. Wooded canopy is a plus on a hot summer day. This course will make you utilize every disc and throw in your arsenal. If you every are in the Wilmington area bring your disc you will not be sorry.

The heat in July is very humid, just bring lots of H20 or Gatorade.

All in all this is a great course wide open just becareful of whole 8 it is a disc eater unless you are a ringer. Cheers!

Designed well for the terrain. Amazing what thinking people can do with a flat parcel of swamp! Benches, excellent tee boxes, trash cans....alot of effort from the locals; "Thanks," from us out-of-towners.

Swampiness after the rain. However, play the course anyway and drive home barefoot. The course is worth a pair of soaked shoes.

I broke my first any only disc at this park my second time out. Still love it! Need a couple of more courses in the area to make a great day trip from Jacksonville while the wife shops in town!

Epic course design at work. Distance, but technical. You will use everything in the bag. Shot diversity is mandatory to score here. A true test and a test of the overall Golf theory. Placement is key on all shots as the designer was on his game when he built this. All the power applied will be utterly useless if you cant place a disc on the right spot for an upshot. Thats right, upshot - there are many par 3's, 4's and 5's with well built landing zones.
Smart Golf is the payment for the reward of good round here. For a place at sea level, they have managed to integrate elevation change when ever possible and used if wisely.
Excellent job by Harold Duvall et al.

Nothing - except I dont live there.

Year round disc golf love!!
Even though this course is in a city park, it is rarely busy and when it is, it's busy with serious Disc Players who are respectful and informative.
No mindless hikers/walker/bikers wandering everywhere - just players. I live in Colorado and I travel to play this course EVERY year

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

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.

Excellent Course! It has a nice set up and uses the woods well. Great variety of distances.
Course has nice signage and is relatively easy to navigate, especially if you print the map.
There are cement tees or elevated wooded tees at all of the holes. Very clean bathroom facilities. Clean course with garbage cans present.
Course lends itself very well to tournament play and the difficulty level makes the course fun for advanced players and still enjoyable for recreational players.

Very few! It was crowded, (but it was 3:00 on the friday before a large tournament) I had to skip hole 4 because there were 11 guys waiting to throw.
I would have liked to have seen more elevation and water or a unique signature hole to give it a 5.

If using a navigator DO NOT search for Parmelee in Wilmington. The course is in Castle Hayne. Parmalee in Wilmington is 20 minutes from Parmalee in Castle Hayne

Fantastic course that forces you to use every throw and every disc in your bag. Equally challenging for lefties and righties. Uses the elevation available. Navigation is usually simple, but it's best to hook up with a local the first time you play; several tees cannot be seen from the basket. Long course that rewards long, accurate throws. Great upkeep and maintenance.

Water along Hole 8 is deep and eats plastic. Could use more alternate baskets and tees. Navigation is usually simple, but it's best to hook up with a local the first time you play; several tees cannot be seen from the basket.

Hot and sticky in the summer, mosquitoes and insects, without much breeze. Course design is excellent. Park includes bathroom facilities, a large playset area for the kids, and a baseball field that is often used for practice throwing.

Long holes, difficult, well maintained, easy to navigate. All shots required to score well. This course has it all, really. Legitimate par 4s and 5s that force you to think out the hole rather than pitch and putt, open, wooded, the best kept fairways I've ever seen, turnovers, spike and sweeping hyzers, you name it you'll have to throw one. Lots of holes feature throwing in and out of woods, which is great (hole 11, prime example). Nice large concrete tees, benches at every tee, ample trash cans, bathrooms. Some tees alternate between long and short.

None really, one of the best I've ever played. Can get crowded on weekends. Beginners need a wetsuit for hole 8's little creek on the right. Occasional road block at the park entrance to catch all you boozers. This course does get crowded because it is the only game in town, for now. There are 2 new courses going up in Wilmington in the next couple of years so that should alleviate some congestion.

My hole-by-hole analysis:
1. Moderately wooded, when in short position a hyzer down middle; long, turnover or flick.
2. A little dogleg left, a big hyzer or a flexed flick right around the mando gives you a bird.
3. Wooded in just the right places to bother your line, slopes gradually down to a creek. I advise a hyzer-flip that turns just past trees on right but contains enough fade to stay straight thru flight. A tough par 3, even tougher when long.
4. A par 4 that yields itself only to careful flex shots. Basket has drop off behind it to a creek.
5. A sharp curve right, great for big annhyzers or flicks. Very wooded, tight lines to the basket.
6. The epitome of a sweeping hyzer, slightly down hill and lazily lists to the left. A long par 3 with just the right number of trees in the fairway to ruin your day.
7. 3 big pines just 15' or so in front of the tee. When short, a long straight drive with slight fade serves well, basket guarded by trees. When long, the basket lies down hill past the short pin and to the right of the fairway, still guarded by trees. Takes a heck of a turnover or flick to get there in one throw. Usually played as a 4 when long.
8. Long, par 5. Drive with a big gliding hyzer, beware of disc eating creek that lines the right. Fairway slightly S-curves, eventually to the right. A birdable hole, if you play smart.
9. A big annyzer or flick to the right, basket lies just outside of the gap.
10. Plays similar to 6 except flat. Basket lies either to the left on a pyramid or to the right behind a line of big trees.
11. Requires a controlled flex or hyzer-flip to shoot out of woods and back in. Basket lies deep in left curve.
12. A very birdable par 5. A safe flick across the creek and leaving it just short of the drop off leaves you with a tunnel shot with the basket just to the right.
13. A hard 3 to bird. Fairway tightens to a point that only a flexed sidearm works well here.
14. Long hole that L's to the right. A tough 3.
15. Horseshoes to the right, with steady dose of trees. When in short position, hole resembles an L but in long the hole continues right in horseshoe. Forehander's dream.
16. A short, very tree lined hole. A gentle flex shot serves well.
17. Long and straight and dotted with big trees. Trees tend to stay in middle of fairway. The bomb line is to weave through them starting left with a big flex.
18. Another in & out of woods type hole. A big flick or turnover off the drive to the hole that lies inside the right curve. A tough 3 as well. Rough on right side is nasty with thick underbrush.

Nice course map by hole #1. The holes are marked clearly and flow very well. The fairways are fairly wide and lined with thick groves of trees. There are canals that run parallel to the fairways on couple of the longer holes. If the canals are used for out of bounds, you better be very precise in keeping your disc in the fairway. The wind is usually is a factor and couple of holes have trees you have to deal with right in front of the tee. I am not a very strong player, but I love the challenge that Castle Hayne makes use of about all the discs in my bag. I like courses that I can throw long approach shots. Also some of the baskets are guarded by trees. Par 64 is about right for Castle Hayne.

After a storm, the back nine can have a lot of standing water for a few days after it rains. This would be expected by the close proximity to the ocean and the soil

This is the only course in a 40 mile radius of Wilmington[that I know of] but it is a definite must if you are in the area.

Very Challenging and beautiful setting. Each hole is different from the previous and takes various types of shots to stay safe. This course keeps you thinking if isn't mastered easily.

In the middle of summer, once the foliage is thick, getting a disc caught in the rough is just plain devastating to your score. It can be extremely hard to bounce back.

Awesome course. Easily worth a trip if you are anywhere near the area.

you don't have to have a big arm to shoot par, there is not a lot of OB, and harlod duvall designed it

millions of trees and akward lines for those who attempt to make twos

extremely fun course that takes some skill, luck, and patience. some local pros have played the course everyday for years and still haven't mastered it. It keeps you coming back for more.