Chattooga Belle Farm is a great location with some amazing views. With a course laid out over rolling hills, this seems like it has all the makings of something special. But, is it?
- I can see how Chattooga is a hit or miss course. The fields clearly aren't mowed as often or as short as small, local park. When the grass is tall, this would be a frustrating play.
- A fun, stroll through rolling fields. You seemingly are walking the entire farm to play the course. It feels like you're in the back of the property on holes #5 & 8, then you take a long walk through the woods, and you discover there's even more land.
- Course incorporates all elements of the land - elevation, water holes, trees/orchard, etc. The only thing the course lacks are true wooded layouts.
- The first five holes let you know this is rolling hills farm golf. #1 & 3 are downhill layouts; #2 & 4 are uphill, and #5 is a rolling down & up, layout.
- After #8, you take a long walk through the woods on a path that's clearly the one less travelled. #9 is a dogleg left to a basket backed up to the lake. From here through #15, you get more of a prairie, lakeside vibe. The final three holes then wrap up in an orchard.
- The course allows big arms to air it out. The open holes are wide open. There are only a couple of semi-tight lines. More often than not, the punishment is if you go left on holes bordering the water or thick rough - hello holes # 12 - 15. On #17 and 18, if you sail off line, you're walking down the rows of apple trees searching for a disc.
- Scenery is top of the line. Great views throughout the course. Your round may be frustrating, but there should be a calmness to the 'back to nature' vibe of the locale.
- Not the most challenging of courses. It does allow players to be aggressive. The hike up and down hills will wear you down more than course's difficulty.

Natural and arbitrary tee pads. The gal I spoke to in the gift shop walked me out to the first tee. The first tee has a marker. After that, she told me to follow the map and look for worn spots in the ground. So, there's a lot of interpretation about where to tee off from.
- Without having true tees, you're more often than not throwing from unlevel ground. Check your footing before a run-up tee shot.
- Lack of signage. I would not have found the transition 'path' from #8 to 9 without the UDisc app. Even with its GPS tracking, it felt like I was just walking through the woods instead of on an actual path. The only signage I remember seeing was pointing players from #9 to 10.
- Lack of tee signs/markers. This course can't be played without a map. Even if the tee areas are very loose in terms of precision, you wouldn't have a clue where they're located without the map.
- This can be a physically grueling course. You're climbing up and down hills. You have no shade. If you play in the Summer, it's going to a draining round. Make sure you pack plenty of drinks and sunscreen. In the Fall or Spring, this is a perfect way to spend an hour or two outdoors.
- The course is pretty secluded from the rest of the farm's activities until you get to the orchard holes. If people are picking apples, I don't know if #17 & 18 would be playable.
- Consistent course maintenance. By farm standards, the grass is mowed consistently. Looking across the fields, the course looks as if it was recently mowed. Walking the same fields, and searching for discs, you can see that the grass is taller than what most people would expect for a course. Whereas a normal course is mowed at around 3 inches (tangent: keep your tall fescue at 4 inches or taller), the field grass was around six inches when I played. And that's probably on the low side.

I liked the Chattooga Field course as a nice, relaxing outing. I wouldn't like playing here all the time as the issues would really get frustrating.
- I can see how the grass height impacts someone's impression of this course. If the fields haven't been mowed for 4 weeks when you play, you're searching for many discs that land in the middle of the fairway. That's going to get old real fast and lead to frustration. When I played in October '20, I was thinking 'this is nice. I don't see what the problem is.' So, it's a crapshoot.
- There are some nice holes. It's not a simple idea of placing 18 baskets throughout the fields and calling it a course. I liked the downhill throw on #3. That's the one hole a disc can sail for the longest time.
- There are also plenty of basic holes with no challenge other than the elevation factor. You have to try hard to find an obstacle on the first four holes. #2 for example is an uphill, 350ish-foot uphill shot. Big arms will get tee shots all the way up the hill. For us mortals, it's as simple of a par 3 as you'll see. Three good shots lead to a par. Three average shots lead to a par. Two mediocre shots and you can still salvage par with a long putt. See the problem?
- I ran across somebody living in on of the cabins near hole #10. He gave me a disc he found in the field. It was unmarked. I proceed to lose it three holes later being overly aggressive. So, if you lost a neon green disc somewhere near holes #10 - 13, it's still there. It's just in a different spot in that area now.
- In terms of views, standing on top of the hills on #3 & 5, standing at the basket for #12, and the tee & basket for #16 are tremendous places to stop and soak in the locale.
- What's with the tree house structure behind the tee on #16? There are two ladders to get to the top - first one gets you to the big branch. Second one gets you from the big branch to the overlook. Is that where the tee is located? Is this thing even climbable? If you fell, would anyone even see you? And most important, how are you getting down?
- I say this is a good, not great course. Throw in all the amenities the farm has to offer, you can spend a half day here playing disc golf, eating, and drinking. Just make sure the grass isn't outrageously tall to have the full experience.

-The first thing that must be said about this course are the spectacular views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. You really have to pause to take it all in.

-Along with great views come amazing "Top-of-the-World" Shots. Amazingly fun throws downhill.

-Nice new Innova x2 chain DISCatchers.

-Great use of present elevation. Variety of uphill/downhill, etc.

-Great risk-reward shot with lake.

-This course places a premium on Drive & Approach shots. Good place to practice.

-I love the look of fairways with knee-high rough.

-Amenities at the cabin are awesome. Bathroom is very nice with new tile and no-flush urinal.

-Apples, Peaches, jam, and muscadine wine available at the shop on site.

-Somewhat lacking in variety of shots. You throw long open hole after long open hole...

-This course can be absolutely grueling in the Summer. Very little shade, long walk, and long throws.

-Grass was tall even on the fairways (about 3-4 inches for a tournament).

-Natural tees.

-I know this has been said, but the woods really need to be utilized. This would be a stunning 27 hole course if the added 9 included tight shots through the woods.

This course is worth the trip if just for the views and throwing those "Top-of-the-World" shots. I would go in the Fall when it's cooler.

This course is akin to Lake Russell, but did not pull off the look and feel of LR due to the lack of trees and lack of variety of shot.

I wanted to give this course a 3.25, but went with a 3 and this is a Solid 3.0 disc course. If the above issues were fixed this could easily be a 4.0-4.5 disc course.

Brand new course with new Innova Discatcher baskets, and a practice basket next to the shop. Very, very scenic land with some woods, fields, rolling hills, vineyards, orchards, etc. Also a VERY nice pavilion/shop at the beginning with orchard/vineyard type products, which I'm assuming will soon house a nice pro shop. Very nice bathrooms also in the pavilion, which is open air and very modern.

The fairways are well-mown and you will have no trouble discerning them from the surroundings. Tees were marked at the time I played with flags with the hole number written on them. Course is fairly easy to follow, and no problem using the map.

My memorable holes:
3 - Longest hole on the course, but plays downhill, so I had no trouble parking in two shots. Very neat row of apple trees you have to throw through off the tee.
6 - Not too long, but the fairway rises then drops then rises again, basket hidden behind a tree.
9 - The only real "wooded" hole, but still very open. Up and over a rise, then the basket is just shy of the mucky lake, so to don't overthrow!
12 - This is what I would call the signature hole. If you have the cojones, throw over the water and take the shorter route. If you are a scaredy-cat like me, go the safe route to the right around the water.
16 - Not the longest hole on the distance comparison, but it plays WAAAAY longer than any other hole on the course. Uphill almost 500 feet, but the hill is about 30 degrees, and is a BEAST.
17 - After the monster that is hole 16, this is a nice little short downhill shot to let you relax a minute.
18 - Plays between the vineyard and an orchard, in kind of a small valley, ending up a small slope right down the hill from the pavilion.

No tee pads or tee signs. I understand the no signs yet and the pad issue should be remedied once the final layout is determined, but it would have been nice for the tee areas to not have dips that are begging to twist an ankle.

The entire course is mostly straight and not terribly complex. The elevation and farm scenery certainly help make up for it, but pretty much most of the difficulty comes solely from pure distance.

The rough, which is everywhere but a fairly narrow strip on each hole between the tee and basket, is very rough. The owner of the farm gave me some great advice, "When you throw, watch exactly where it lands, and walk directly to it without taking your eyes off of it". This could not be more true. Hopefully the fairways can be tamed a bit more in the future.

No next tee signs, and quite a long walk between 8 and 9. Then when you exit the trees to go to 10, you have to make sure you walk past the tee for 14 and not play it instead.

My rating of a 3 could be a little higher once the course if finalized with some concrete tee pads and tee signs. Also useful would be benches and trash cans on the course. I did enjoy this course, although I did not enjoy looking as long for errant throws in tall grass as I did actually playing the course. I did not have to pay a fee but I understand once the course is finalized it will cost $3 to play.

Scenically this course cannot be beat, it is absolutely beautiful. If you are in the area, I suggest stopping on by. Being a multi-purpose farm, it is also cool that there are several other activities on-site (see their website).

The views! WOW! You really get to soak up the Appalachian beauty from these rolling hills! The apple trees, the grapevines, the manacured meadows, the lake, the smells and sounds, excellent!
The people here seemed very friendly, we met the designer at #7 as he was placing numbers on the temporary tee markers.
Lots of up and down challenges, BIG up and BIG downhill shots give you chances to test your skills.
Beautiful, brand new Innova holes. Practice basket right when you walk through the gates.
Hole 12 is excellent -- the fearless will go left 500+ feet over the lake, but they will be few and far between.
Hole 5 is my favorite -- a big downhill drive with an uphill approach, hole nestled near a row of apple trees. View from the tee is remarkable!

The course itself is very straight. Fun, but not challenging except for the elevation. There are some wooded areas here, and the lake, so hopefully these will be brought into play in the future, but 9 is the only real woods hole, and that's pretty open.
The biggest con -- discs are easily lost in the very thick rough, and often hard to find even in the fairway. The grass is a mix of ivy, nettles, morning glory, etc, and it is very easy to lose the most visible disc on what you might think is an easy-to-spot location. We ended up having to have a spotter near the landing zone on each hole, just keep that in mind and it should minimize the problem.

Please keep in mind, this review is based on my experience RIGHT NOW. 8/8/10. I know this course is green, and will definitely improve, but as of RIGHT NOW, I can't rate it any higher. They mentioned the will be selling drinks here soon.
I look forward to changing my review in the future as this course blossoms and matures!