Mobile (Palmetto), AL

Chickasabogue County Park - Original

3.45(based on 20 reviews)
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Chickasabogue County Park - Original reviews

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9 1
swatso
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 15.8 years 755 played 414 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Gnomes of Zurich 2+ years

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Dec 17, 2012 Played the course:once

Pros:

27-holes (three 9-hole loops). Easy navigation. For the original-18, 5'x10' concrete teepads, signs showing distance/shape, benches, trashcans.

Cons:

Dead flat. Single tee/pin position. Luck factor a bit high.

Other Thoughts:

The course winds its way under the thickly-grouped, small-/mid-sized diameter trees on either side of the entry road to a public park. After paying to enter, the small lot on the left is where tee-1/basket-9 are located, and the larger lot on the right will lead you to tee-10/basket-18, tee-1B/basket-9B. All three loops play in roughly a clockwise direction.

Other than the two wide-open, ~350' holes 13&14, the other 25-holes will play in the woods. These two and in-the-woods, 450', straight for 2/3rds, then hard left for the remainder 7B, are the three longest holes. Most of the remaining 24-holes fall into the 225' +/- 35' range, so this course is a about control, not distance.

From the tee, you'll need to throw a fairly even blend of left-/right-/no-turners. Turns vary in sharpness of subtle to extreme, but most are moderate. Most of the turns are required late - only a few mid-fairway. For the most part, throwing lanes are fair, but challenging. A wayward disc will likely be found, as the shule is not thick, but the trees are close together, so an off-fairway approach could prove to be difficult. To me, the luck-factor seemed a bit high - about 1/4th of the holes had thick clusters of trees (not quite a jailcell, but close) guarding the basket.

The new, additional 9-holes start on the same side as 10-18. Tee signs at natural, signs are handwritten, navigation is a little less intuitive (but not difficult - just need to look around a bit, as opposed to the auto-pilot of the original-18), a bit rougher (small tree stumps to catch your toes), and, on average, longer (hole-7B is ~450, and three other holes >270', while only 5 of the original-18 >270', and two of them are wide-open).

A fun and quick play, and popular - was teeming with people the weekday afternoon I played. Good place to work on your control game - worth a visit unless pure bombing is your delight.
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7 2
The Drake
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 20.9 years 126 played 61 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Solid Woods Experience 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Oct 2, 2010 Played the course:once

Pros:

Being a woods course there are certain things I look for in my determination of whether or not its a good or bad course. First and foremost its pretty easy to navigate. Its been a long time since I played it so I can't remember if there were markers denoting where the next tee was but I do remember it was pretty easy and obvious where to go from hole to hole. Fairways are clean without many "wtf" trees lining fairways. Greens are fair with good putting lanes from almost all angles. There are even a couple possible par 4s on the course. As mentioned before the fairways are tight, demanding accuracy but at the same time very manageable unlike many woods courses which set a tee and a pin but don't manage to actually make a fairway between.

Cons:

Entirely technical course. There's need for a driver one 1 or 2 holes which are open (13 and 14) but other than that if you have a good Roc (or your equivalent) and a putter you could play the entire course and shoot pretty well.
Being from Birmingham where each of our courses has a lot of elevation there is not really much of that here so your options for types of shots are limited to doglegs and tight gaps.

Other Thoughts:

Chickasabogue is a standard woods course which will test accuracy off the tee. I tend to be very picky and particular with my feelings on woods courses and I'd have to say this one is pretty solid, though not exceptional. I'd heard a lot about it from locals in Birmingham and was happy I finally got a chance to play it.

On a side note while playing hole 13 I threw my drive to within a few feet of the basket (15-20 feet past actually) and as I was walking the fairway a black bear came out of the woods to investigate. He sniff my disc and the basket, looked at me for good 30 seconds and then lumbered back into the woods. My first wildlife experience on a golf course and pretty cool. But with that said I'd be cautious and aware when playing here.
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4 0
DavidSauls
Gold level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 28.9 years 131 played 68 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Leave the drivers at home 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 15, 2005 Played the course:once

Pros:

For those who like technical courses, this one is almost entirely that. Fairways cut through the woods in a variety of lengths and doglegs, with a little elevation on some. Lots of very precise shots required. Tight, but never to an unreasonable degree.

In a state-park-like park, with the course in an area to itself. Camping available, a short stroll to the course.

Cons:

Hardly a chance to throw a driver. It's virtually ALL technical holes.

As a previous reviewer indicated, if technical isn't your style, this course wasn't built for you. For myself, these holes are fine but a hole course of them is a bit much.
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