Chattooga Belle Farms is an 18 hole course with DISCatcher baskets, natural tees, rolling plains, and it's all set with the backdrop of the mountain range on the horizon line. It is an absolutely gorgeous course.

Players with big arms, or players who simply want to open up and throw far will find plenty of chances to do so here. While we were playing there was a single engine prop plane flying around the property which really added a unique ambience to the day.

I thought the use of rolling hills to create dynamic elevation was a huge highlight for me. Watching some people throw really far, but not land with the correct angle and roll way back down a hill created some actual thought to which angle to throw.

The store/restaurant was fantastic! After we finished playing, we made our way to have a nice meal, and it was delicious.

The tees being natural and not really having permanent indicators as to their locations, made the course feel like an afterthought for the property. It made finding the tees incredibly challenging, even with uDisc, and felt more like field work. Part of that was because the amount of missed opportunities. Honestly it was pretty staggering how many missed opportunities there were. Outside of the wind and elevation change, there weren't really many, if any obstacles I felt I had to really focus on missing.

Some of the holes were borderline unplayable due to a lack of maintenance. Hole 9 for instance, only had a small strip of grass cut towards the green, with the rest of the fairway having grass up to my shoulders, and I am over 6' tall. It was so unruly, we initially walked past it because "there was no way that was the tee." While it was the first hole in such a rough state, it was not the last.

We played in May, and already the heat, the amount of sun/lack of shade, the distance of the course, and elevation of the course made it a bit taxing to play. I can't imagine how harsh the course would feel in the dead heat of summer. Make sure you bring a water bottle to play here.

Hopefully I will get to come back here to play some time when the course is in a better state, maintenance wise. I would probably come back mostly for the scenery and the farm store to be honest. For now I don't think I could bring myself to give the course higher than a 2.5 rating, and that is with a small bump for the scenery/store combination. If the course had a slightly more interesting design, was better maintained, and had better infrastructure (signage/tees/etc) I could see this being a destination course

Favorite Holes: 3 & 5

(2.637 Rating) A medium length and open 18 hole course with stunning backdrop views.
- THE HORIZON LINE - Undoubtedly the first thing one will notice here is the killer landscape. Wonderful views of the southern Blue Ridge Mountains fill the west and north backdrops. The most prominent feature on the horizon is Rabun Bald. Rabun Bald is the second tallest peak in Georgia and it's the focal point from the bistro's viewing deck. While out on the course. There are 3 or 4 times the tee shot is nice just because of the backdrop view. There's a tranquil small pond and lots of wine making grape vines and apple tree orchards flowing along the undulating terrain. The facilities are gorgeous too. The overall beauty of the property (not the disc golf portion) would make my personal top 5. Despite my praise, I only just scored the course beauty into my top 25. This is because the layout doesn't use the land anywhere close to the insanity that was possible. The water clear on (12), was my personal favorite looking hole.
- BOMB PLAYS - After the views, the remaining pros listed are quite a step back in grandeur. So anyways, second I'll note the exhilaration factor of adding 100 feet in distance to a players average drive because of the grade change and open nature of the course. I personally paced off some of my longest backhand drives I've ever had. Hole (3) I thought was the best opportunity to really launch one.
- CHAINS - DISCatcher baskets, woot. A couple have taken some bad hits from farm equipment and need to be repaired.
- FARM STORE - I've never used this header as I rarely go shopping, but for whatever reason I really enjoyed going into the farm store here. Lots of wines, cheeses, sauces, fruits, chocolates, etc for sale. Just about all of it is from small businesses just like this farm. The wife and I spent over $100.

The layout and investment doesn't do the land quality justice.
- MISSED OPPORTUNITIES - It's too bad someone like Houck didn't get tapped to design the layout here. This is the type of land that can actually deliver a 4.5 caliber course. Several holes don't have a tree in play. The tee shot variety is pretty bland considering land and space available to use. I often found myself just checking an app for the distance and then quickly grabbing a disc and throwing. The walk between (8) and (9) was extremely disappointing as it's a 500-foot walk through heavy woods to get between two open holes.
- LOST DISC POTENTIAL AND MAINTENANCE - The odds of losing a disc is way higher than normal. Luckily I came out here in very late fall and the grass was no higher than 10 inches on all but one hole. I've read stories that players will get out here during the summer and there's only a single mower pass for a fairway threw waist high grass. I wouldn't even consider playing the course in a condition like that. I'd probably lose a couple within a few holes or spend an hour searching. Be sure and check course conditions before coming here. My score for the course doesn't really factor in seasonal unkempt conditions. Plus the conditions for me weren't too bad.
- NAVIGATION AND SIGNAGE - No course map or tee signs and it's near impossible to follow without a navigational app. I found one simple marked tee, hole (1). After that I played according to the approximate location marked on my app. The only navigational cues I recall seeing were between (8) and (9).
- TEES - Natural tees and only tee (1) had a tee line. Kind-of sad that they couldn't even put up a couple cheap flags to mark the tee-off location.
- NOT BEGINNER FRIENDLY - If the grounds are mowed, perhaps a novice player might have an ok time. I think the ideal player for here is the kid who wants to chuck 500-foot bombs. The challenges presented was not satisfying to me as an Intermediate level player.
- TERRAIN - Not appropriate walking conditions for those with knee and ankle pain. I am in decent shape and the course wore me out. Although I did do a 5-mile waterfall hike earlier and I played two other courses earlier in the morning.
- TIME PLAY - 82 minutes for this quick solo. This includes the time it took me to climb the tree fort next to tee (16). Thus the answer to Craig's tree fort question on climbabilty is a yes.
- WIND - "Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me." Poorly throw discs have the potential to sail hundreds of feet off-line on a couple holes.

The drive into this place was awesome. The walk through the front door of the bistro left me awe-struck. The walk over to tee (1) was sensational. But unfortunately, the stare down to basket (1) was rather... meh. This is a really tough course to rate and I'm not surprised that the trusted reviewers have scored it from 1.5s to 3.0s. One of the bigger rating factors here is going to be the wildly different course conditions that are possible. Had I been presented with a one pass mowing strip fairway through knee high grass, I doubt I would have scored it has high as I have. The course reminds me of a newer south Nashville metro stop called Hop Springs Beer Park. That course is also a place with great terrain and off-the-course amenities, and it also lacks thoughtful design and has maintenance issues. All-in-all, I'm going with a high 2.5. I could be lured into a low 3.0 if the tees and navigation were addressed, and also obviously a much higher rating if the course were to be professionally re-designed.
- PAY TO PLAY - It says pay to play on dgcr and other sites, but I did not pay. I even asked an employee about the play cost, and they said "free." Perhaps it was the time of year or the course conditions or they were a new employee? I don't know.

Absolutely breath taking scenery! Catch it as the sun sets and it is stunning. The course was wide open with hardly a tree to hit.

Except for being really, really long, it wasn't all that challenging. Basically you had Long throw up hill, long throw down hill. You could summarize the course this way: Thow down hill, throw up hill, repeat as necessary.

If you're heading to Toccoa, or have time to kill (this place is waaaay off the beaten path), stop by, drop a few bucks in the offering plate and enjoy the scenery as you throw a few discs