There's something peaceful about having an entire course to yourself first thing in the morning. It's even special when this course has some amazing views and quality disc golf.
- I REALLY liked Chauga Rapids. There are a lot of great qualities here. That said, I do see some of the potential issues and how the course's biggest strengths could be its biggest weaknesses.
- Outstanding terrain. Lots of elevation in play. There are some crazy steep downhill layouts (hello #3 and 11) and some crazy uphill shots (#5, 7, 16). It's enough elevation that #16 at 445 feet is more grueling than #11 at 677 feet because the former is uphill and the latter is downhill.
- Some great hole layouts. My biggest regret was not knowing how steep and sharp a dogleg #3 was. I played it way too conversative. After walking the hole, I wish I had really let a disc fly here to see how far down the fairway I could have landed.
- Hole #4, 8, 14, and 15 are also all great layouts. Each has an aspect of elevation along with trees in play. Of these, #8 was my favorite.
- High risk/reward factor here. I felt like I was teetering on the edge at times here. With some steep elevation, you run the risk of discs sailing far away with a bad bounce. I already mentioned how cautiously I played #3. #12 is an extremely sharp up-and-down dogleg right. Hit the point of the curve in the fairway, and it turns extremely sharp to the right and down. My disc missed the fairway. I searched for 15 minutes before finding it. In the meantime, I discovered how steep the drop-off is to the right of the fairway. Land a disc down there and you have to evaluate if it's worth your safety for a piece of plastic.
- Tee signs. They are outstanding. With so many blind tee shots, they need to be great. These delivered big time.
- Good course flow. #9 and 18 end right next to the disc golf parking lot. Took me 30 seconds to walk from my truck to the first tee. Took 45 seconds to walk from #18's basket back to my truck.
- Out in nature. The parking lot remained empty my entire round. Granted I finished by 8:30. I didn't hear a car. I didn't hear a plane. I watched the sun rise over the horizon and shine through the trees. I was....happy.

I probably played this course at close to perfection. That said, I see how this course could have major issues at different times of the year.
- I don't know how this course is playable after a heavy rain. Steep walks up and (more importantly) down hills could be major safety risks with poor footing. There are steps on #5. But more holes need them on the steepest portions.
- The disc golf gate was wide open. If it's not open, I could see how a half mile hike, especially if you're hiking over this same elevation wouldn't be fun. It's tiring enough playing this layout. Now add on a mile of hiking to get to and fro the course? Undoubtedly my perception would be different.
- Too isolated? Did I mention how I didn't see a person or car the entire time here? That means nobody is around in case you slip. Internet service also wasn't great. So, some less agile and/or adventurous types may not want to play here solo.
- The course ends on a flat note. #18 is one of the simplest holes on the entire course. #17 was tough but also in the bottom half. The front nine is far better than the back 9, then slowly runs out of steam after #15.
- Be prepared for a physically challenging round. As such, it was noticeable that there was a shortage of benches on the course. There need to be more.
- Lost disc factor is higher than normal hear. Again, steep elevation + lots of trees to hit + potentially poor footing = not every disc will be accessible.
- One of the few courses I wished I didn't play solo. Several long searches for discs that landed just off the fairway that were thrown on blind and/or elevated layouts. Plus, throwing extremely cautious on #3 isn't how that hole should ever be played.

Ratings for the course will probably be all over the course. At its peak, Chauga Rapids is an absolute hidden gem. At its nadir, it's frustrating, unplayable, and a waste of time driving here. I suspect as this course gets more ratings, you'll be able to tell the weather/natural conditions based on ratings.
- This is probably not a course I'd want to play in November when the leaves are falling. I suspect discs could easily get lost even on fairways.
- This course would get a lot more love and attention if it were closer to...anywhere. Place this closer to Greenville, Charlotte, or Atlanta and it's getting lots of attention. Being 30 minutes past Clemson and not convenient for out-of-towners, and not so much. In that regard, it's impressive how good this course is maintained.
- Good grippy shoes are a must. Patience is also crucial here between climbs up and down hills and possible long searches for discs. I'm one whose often inclined to retrace my steps back to the tee if I can't find a disc. I wasn't doing that on #12.
- The fairways are plenty wide. If you hit your lines, you should play really well, or at least have plenty of birdie runs.
- With the talk about elevation variances, the greens are generally fair. Not too many spots where a disc will roll 100 feet away if you're slightly off.
- Overall, I really enjoyed Chauga. Coming from Charlotte, it reminded me of RL Smith with even more elevation. I recommend a visit here **IF** conditions are good.

I think this was one my most anticipated course ever. When I heard that Chau Ram State park was going to have a course, i began to dance, couldn't WAIT for it. Because this course is in a gorgeous park with a beautiful river flowing through with amazing views, we had such high hopes. Too bad they couldn't use that side of the park for the course. Sigh.

I was apprehensive about the wooden-deck tees. I FEARED slipping on them. Luckily it was dry with almost no humidity, so they were nice and grippy. Some were nearly a foot off the ground and that really messed with my brains targeting software. Something about having the ground 6-12" below my feet left me feeling unsettled. But the tees were solid as a rock, didn't move, budge, sway etc. We found that in dry conditions they were very stable.

I'm not saying Navigation was easy, but Stevie Wonder could have found his way around the course. Super easy, nice signage, almost no places were hard to figure out where to go.

And for a new-ish course, I think there were no brush piles, no real thickets to lose a disc in. In fact, even if you got way off the fairway (which is very possible here), we really had no problems finding our discs and sometimes had lines back to the fairway.

When we stepped up to the first tee were were like "this has great potential!" And we felt that way through the first eight holes (some really nice variation in them!), but started to notice a trend on #9 - so many fairways had no direct line to the basket. And I don't mind having to throw a short placement shot to have a line for the basket, but not a fan of multiple shots this way. I want to get on the tee, see the line presented, and attack. I feel short-changed if I toss a putter or a soft flick, then attack.

And after hole #9 the course began a series of 'throw over the valley', 'throw over the valley again' and 'Throw over the valley again and again'. Once, twice, fine, but by the time we hit the 3rd one, we were like, 'c'mon, throw something different at us!'

I normally do a break down of every hole, but many of the holes were so similar, that they all ran together in my head. And I don't think there was any one hole that we went, "Now this is golf!" and was memorable. There were all 'okay' but none were great.
You discover on the back 9 that you basically throw up hill, up hill, up hill, to throw down hill...wash, rinse, repeat. We were so tired of the repeating holes it almost got depressing. Now, there was some variations in them. Some you threw hyzer, some anhyzer, but it seemed to be the same overall design to the point that we longed to see #18 just to be done.

And it also seemed that so many of the greens became 'poke-and-hope' with trees guarding the target. Now, I - once again - don't mind this. But after awhile your're tired of throwing shots and just hoping to penetrate enough to have a putt.

If you have knee issues, aren't 925 rated or above, or have a solid 3 years under your belt, stay off this course. Two of us were advanced players and love challenging courses, but had decided half-way through that we probably weren't coming back. I love challenges, one of my favorite courses is Nevin in Charlotte. Course eats me alive, but I love it because its fair. I just didn't get the warm and fuzzies with Chauga Rapids.

-Very nice wooden deck tee boxes on many holes.
-Tee signs that feature local wildlife.
-Wonderful elevation change that adds variety to what Upstate SC already offers.
-Brand new baskets
-Camp store stocks Innova gear.

-Hills can be slippery when wet.
-Couple of "poke and pray" holes. (6 & 18)
-Can be a bit of a hike if the back access gate is not open.
-Hole numbers are wrong in Udisc. (They put the tee pad distance in Udisc in place of the hole number.

Took a birthday trip to Westminster to play this course since I had been hearing rumors. We first drove into the park and paid our $2 fee and cruised on down to the park office to have a peek. The campground appears quite nice with a river flowing right past. Looks like a great camping destination.

The office is stocked with various standard Innova molds, some bags, towels, etc. We talked with the Ranger who happened to be in there, and she told us the back gate was open and it would be much less of a hike to just drive around. It is only open on weekends in the off season, but it will be open all week for the summer season starting on April 1, 2021. We decided to drive around and that was the best decision we made on Saturday.

We parked on the power line and made our way in. The first tee was within circle 2 of the parking area. There were very nice wooden navigation signs. We walked up to this beautiful wood deck tee pad with high detail tee sign. I had a par 800 rated player with me, so we considered playing the white tees, but decided against that when the first white tee was only 175ft from the basket. That was our first mistake. The white tees lengthen out just fine after hole 1, and it would have been much more reasonable for my buddy's skill level.

I love the elevation change this course presents. I felt like I was looking at types of holes I rarely get to see with other Upstate SC courses. Hole 3 was especially impressive. Its a big sweeping left hand turn through the woods. I would love to just play that hole again and figure out how to get into C2 with my drive. Great fun!

The woods are absolutely beautiful. It felt more like a nature walk with disc golf. There was a good variety of holes, and I was loving it.

I will say the elevation change could make navigation very tough after a rain. It could definitely use some steps to help footing on the steeper ascents and descents. There were also a couple of holes that were a little tight for my preference, but I honestly would not take out any trees to clear them out. I would wait for nature to select which ones come down.

You could tell a lot of love has been put into this place. It seemed as though they could easily put another 18 in, and that would be phenomenal. The rating on this course could definitely improve with some steps to help navigate. Keep in mind, I already place this course in very good company when compared to other local courses with similar rating.

Out of the 68 courses I have reviewed, this is where this course ranks along with similarly rated courses:
Rank-Course, Location
7-Shaver Recreation Center Championship, Seneca, SC
8-Tyger River DGC, Reidville, SC
9-N.E. Lions Park, Norman, OK
10-Grand Central Station, Central, SC
11-Chauga Rapids, Westminster, SC
12-Stoney Hill DGC, Newberry, SC
13-Mekusukey DGC, Seminole, OK
14-Regional DGC, Ardmore, OK
15-Dolly Cooper Park DGC, Powdersville, SC
16-Woodruff Leisure Center DGC, Woodruff, SC

-If you love to go tubing, or hike around a waterfall, go camping with your significant other, or enjoy a nice quiet day of fishing, or all of the above, then you are hooked at Chau Ram Park! The waterfall is probably the main attraction. If you are looking to get married and are coming up with an idea on where to propose, a tour to the top of waterfall would be a real good call! I've seen some excellent campsites from Clemson to Toccoa, but Chau Ram Park is the best one that I have seen around this area. The trail in the woods is narrow, and takes you to the edge of the property and you get to see a disc golf course on the side of a hiking trail! The greatest thing about this place is that it has many different attractions in one area.

-I appreciate the fact that there is a visitor center beside the parking lot. They have beverages. The course is about half a mile, maybe more from the parking lot. You have to hike to get to it. The hike does not give a solemn warning on the elevation here at Chauga Rapids........

-This course is very hilly and very steep in parts. I'm all about elevation and intensity on the disc golf course! It's not the hilliest course that I've ever played, but it's without question the hilliest course in or near Oconee County. A couple of holes have elevation drops past the 60' mark and one of those two is more than 70 feet below the pad! Both are interesting with different expectations. One of them is gradual sharp left turn par three on the edge of the woods off of a deck and the basket sits on a small ditch. The other one (#11) is a narrow par four with two gentle turns. Starts off slightly downhill down a scary path leading you to an ideal landing zone only a notch to the right side from the long tee. The remainder is down the hill creating a right to left approach shot. You won't want to throw a driver on this hole even though it's long. It's very tight!

-Many holes have dual sets of pads and a few holes offer a different look from their short pads and long pads. #11 and #12 for instance. #11 is a 677' major downhill hole down a path in which the path takes you to the short pad. 369' and more of a bag emptier hole. The look is much different from the short pad than the long. #12 is a dogleg right par three that's over 300' from the long pad. The short pad is the funner pad on this one. It's 270' and forms a 90 degree angle from the long pad (further down the path to the left side after about 60'). The short pad has you teeing off of a hill on a higher degree of elevation, being more of a fun steep downhill straighter hole while the long is a difficult dogleg requiring you to throw a major anhyzer or a cut roller. This is just an example of the different appearances.

-Nice signage. Course is new but already has some alt pin positions that haven't been used yet, but they've been planned. Gives you something to look forward to. The discCatchers

-There are bathrooms next to the visitor center. They were unlocked when I came here.

-The variety in challenge is very diverse. I'd say even on the shorts would be about 920-925 even though it's a 4500' layout. The longs are only about 5400-5500' but they are tough because of tight lines or difficult fairways (#3-6, #9, #12, #16-18) and some rollaway greens (#2 and #7). #3 is 393' and extremely downhill (most elevation the course has). The line is a major hook left. This hole is toward the end of the woods, so a bad kick to the right could kick you out of the woods. The line is tight too, so you really have to know this fairway. #2 isn't as difficult from either pad, but the rollaway green is steep on a higher degree angle so placement is extra challenging. #7 is the shortest hole on the course, but is uphill and perched on the hill you throw up. It is steep. You want to really park this hole in order to make a secure birdie. A missed birdie opportunity will most likely lead to a bogey.

-The fact that Chauga Rapids is shorter doesn't mean it isn't tricky. It's a harder course for advanced players on the longs. However, the distances kind of speak for themselves in the order of hole difficulty. #3 is the longest par three at 393' and would probably average close to half a stroke over par in a pro division with an average rating of 970. It's reachable but extremely demanding with high accuracy expectations. #7 is the shortest hole and is one of the easiest holes to reach. Holes #1 and #13 from the shorts is are 136' and 166' respectively. They are easy to reach but have some sort of line you have to hit in order to reach them. The par fours on the longs (#4, #11, and #16) are 437', 677', and 445' and the distances speak for themselves too. The correlation between hole length and expected scoring average is about 90%. Only a couple of surprises here in that aspect.

-Some of the tee pads are solely wooded decks that are raised. I played after it rained and I slipped multiple times. #3's raised deck is especially scary as there is no rubber on top of it and nothing prevents you from slipping while you are throwing down an instantly steep hill. This is just an example. I'd say plan accordingly if you make a trip here, but there's no telling how quickly it drains. If it's muddy, other parts of the course will be hard to walk on. The green on #2, the fairways on #7 and #11, and with #12's fairway being wider on a less dense trail in a clearer area where you can see the sky, its fairway gets wet more easily.

-You might not enjoy the fact that you have to walk 10-15 minutes up the trail to get to the course. It's a LONG walk. I saw the sign directing me to the course from the visitor center, but I couldn't interpret it from the distance. I had to walk to the sign in order to find out whether it was directing me to the course or not. The trail can be confusing too. I walked back down it after playing the course a couple of times and I somehow lost my way. Instead of taking me back to the center, I ended up on the path taking me to the park entrance. Not a big deal, but I thought for sure I was headed back to the center. It's decently marked, but not entirely clear on your way back down.

-Anticlimactic ending. #17 is a boring sweeping hyzer left with many trees close to the basket. #18 is the pure doom and gloom. It's unclear with a very tight twisting fairway with a ton of trees approaching the basket. The line isn't formed to support the flight of a disc. Its simply too tight with a weird turn with dense woods left and right. You'll see #18's basket as soon as you start your round and you'll see the fairway from the basket and shake your head. #18 is the worst hole, but there were some other fairways that were not up to par. Out of town pros will probably struggle their first time around here. Ambition is not always rewarded. If you try to go for it on some of the harder holes here, you'll be punished even more. It's like climbing a rock wall without a harness or any sort of supervision. Higher you climb, the greater chances of death or injury. Many holes have peculiar lines that are way below the threshold for normal or even discernable.

-Course is disjointed from the shorts. The short holes, granted, are not very difficult. But the longer ones are very hard. #3 is a great pro par three, yes. But is not enjoyable for newer players. #16 short is bad. The long pad is a LOT easier due to it being a par four pushed back maybe 100'. The short is 340' on a fairway similar to #18. It's bizarre for a par three. It's tight offering many unforgiving routes through spreaded trees and sharply turns right. Par three distance on a clearly par four fairway. It's sharply uphill too with a very low ceiling. Logic states that its not a fair hole. Reminded me of #5 in the C position at Little Mulberrry in Dacula, GA. The long pad is far better with clearer objectives. If you play the shorts, the spark ends after #15.

-It's toward the edge of the property in the woods, so it's all wooded. No opportunities to let one rip. It's all tight and wooded.

-Chauga Rapids is a solid course offering more of an adventure than a true disc golf experience that you'll see at Grand Central Station or likely at Shaver Championship. You get to see what it's like to play on the side of a hiking trail! The amount of variety is lower than what you typically see in an 18 hole park course, but there's a ton of elevation! It isn't the best that it can be and hopefully with time it'll improve. I hope that it does.

-You are very close to Georgia. Rose Lane is about 20-30 minutes away and the Shaver Rec Center is maybe 20 minutes. You have a variety of options around Oconee County. You can have an adventure at Chauga Rapids with some major elevation or play a more diverse course at Rose Lane if you want to get some open holes in.