Overall, a fun course for a rec player and still can challenge more advanced players.

With two tees and two baskets on most holes, the four layout options can fit a wide range of skill levels. As a "rag arm" older player, I had a blast playing "shorts to shorts". Most holes gave me a birdie opportunity if I hit my line, but the bogies loomed if I failed to execute.

It's a very scenic course, some nice vistas of the park from some of the higher holes. Good mix of open and wooded holes. Doesn't favor any particular throw, a balance of left and right turning holes.

Some cool structures on a few of the early, more open holes (3 & 4) add character to the place.

Excellent use of elevation.

Astroturf tees, layered on (mostly) solid foundations.

Good separation from all other park activity. Tees and baskets well separated, no significant "errant disc" safety issues. There are a few baskets that are not visible from the tee, but just a little course awareness should prevent any conflicts with preceding group. The big exception to this is hole 20, a blind shot next to a Picnic area? This would be a good hole to have a spotter make sure it's safe to throw.

Navigation not difficult, especially if using UDisc. Baskets had "NEXT" signs easily visible.

Good Innova DiscCatcher baskets. They are old enough to have a bit of lichen growth on them, but still catch well. Greens were fair and free of "gimmicks", though a few are tucked close enough to slopes or streams to make you think twice about running that birdie.

We're all programmed to expect 18-hole courses, but 21 holes allow the course to use some interesting parts of the property and still loop back to the parking lot.

Clean, little or no litter. I suspect the local players take good care of the place.

Many tee sign were missing off the posts. I used the UDisc app for navigation, and a few times I may have inadvertently played the "long" basket.

Hole 19 uses the park road as a fairway. There's not much traffic on the road so it shouldn't be a big deal, but I'm never comfortable throwing my "good" plastic over pavement for part of a drive.

I played on the second sunny day after some significant winter rains. The first fairway was a swamp with much standing water. The twenty-first fairway had shoe-sucking mud. Some spots on the course were very treacherous.

A couple of the short tees were a bit lumpy in spots. I didn't play the longs, but they looked to be in a bit better shape.

Wear good hiking shoes, you'll be getting a workout.

No shame in using the many benches to get your breath rate down before your next drive.

May not have the amenities of top-level courses, but it had benches and I think the park has restrooms, though I think they may have been closed on the winter weekend that I played.

Extremely long course, that is tiring just walking it. 21 holes. You start off on flat terrain, with some fun man made obstacles before ascending essentially a small mountain. From there you play in the woods along its crest before descending in a single shot down the other side. You then wrap back around to where you started with a few more open, quirky holes. Overall it is enjoyable for the variety of holes and distinct "sections" of the course. 3 types of disc golf in 1 course.

Clay DGC is almost one of the best courses I have every played. The first half of this course, actually more the first 14 holes of this course are in the Phenomenal range. Very well designed, great terrain, good mix of shots and ranges, clever twists on what you already expect. The first hole is a long bomber, then you move into some field obstacles, and work your way into the woods.

The woods holes are also great. Some are a little short, but overall I think for being mainly uphill, they're just right. The fairways are plenty wide (though all the leaves were on the ground today when I played, they may be narrower in the spring/summer). Some baskets are clear from the tee, while other positions are blind.

Baskets are mostly middle-aged discatchers. They look worn but they still catch great (shout-out to hole 7 basket for catching my high right putt and putting it in the center of the basket instead of splashing out). The tee pads are large, but they aren't all the same. Some are concrete, some terf. Some level, some not. Take that for what it's worth. The tee signs that are there are very informative and easy to read, but some on the first few holes have deteriorated.

Again to reiterate, I LOVED this park, and the first 14 holes were some of the best I've played (120 courses as of this review), and included several memorable holes.

But it starts to peter out at 15. After walking uphill for the last 9 or 10 holes, you're ready for some nice epic downhill shots. Sadly, you're just met with one short, level, valley shot, then one short drastic downhill shot. Hole 19 is downhill, but plays along a road. Hole 16 is downhill, but you have to power down so much you're basically trying to drop your disc down the hill. You do more walking than throwing down the mountain and it's just the biggest disappointment.

Especially because holes 18-21 are so lackluster compared to the first 14. They're basically flat (except 19 mentioned above, which also has water 3ft from the basket, and would make a great hole anywhere else that wasn't by a road and pond). Hole 20 plays by batting cages. There's no use of the woods right there. Or the creek.

After a great bomber starter, the rest of the holes are pretty short. There's no more chances to cut loose, and you'll even be throwing putters on more than several. It would be nice to have some par 4's or a 5 through the woods. Maybe combine a hole here or there.

It absolutely irks me that whoever set up this course on dgcr lists multiple pins as multiple tee's. It makes it impossible to change the distance to the pin in the app if you pick the wrong tee-to-pin set up when you start your round, you can't change it when there's only one basket set up. There's a way to list multiple pins for a reason. Anyway rant over irk noted.

Some tee's are horrible (just a few), and some signs need to be replaced. Not as big an issue.

Navigation is pretty easy, but there are a few times it's really hard. And there's also Hole A, that just pops up out of nowhere.

Despite the length, I was in love with this course until hole 15. That was when I realized that the best was already behind me. The strange shortness was maybe not a lead up to some long downhill bombers, but just because of design not reaching full potential. The great holes, in retrospect, just seemed to be good holes accidentally put on great land.

But I would love to play this course again. I don't know if I would play the whole thing (who am I kidding of course I wouldn't). But I definitely don't regret stopping at all. It shows some of the best of what Alabama has to offer, and at a level accessible for beginner to moderate players.

(4.104 Rating) One of the top courses in Alabama.
- SKILL LEVEL FRIENDLY - Unlike Inverness, Clay appears to be very approachable for most recreation players. The red tees appear to be true reds (Recreation level). In addition, the back (blue) tees appear to be challenging enough for advanced level play. This is great for an intermediate level player like me, where I can choose between running for aces or taking a beating.
- CHALLENGING - The back tee and back basket combo will no doubt challenge lower end advanced players to stay pace with par. Several 300 foot holes that need some precision. Figure a typical 940 rated player will average around par from the backs. Rec players playing the front tees should also hover around par or be a couple under.
- CHARACTER - Clay has a bunch of great amenities. Thankfully this mountain course is stacked with seating and the benches were only omitted at one or two holes. Tee (1) has seating room for something like 15 people. It's as though they are encouraging players to admire or laugh at every throwers drive. Good shading at a majority of the tees as well. The tees are a mix of concrete and artificial turf. Although turf tees in the mountains are less than ideal, but they are still ok. I understand the difficultly of hauling concrete ingredients up the side of a mountain. There are two practice baskets adjacent to tee (1). Most holes have duel tees and there are alternate basket locations. There are even two actual baskets at 5 or 6 holes as well.
- NAVIGATION - Good, but with a couple of needed omissions. Great course map and community board just behind tee (1). The hole signage has been done professionally and has all the information that a well traveled player expects from a great course. Direction cues below baskets to keep players on track. I only peeked at my map twice. What's dearly needed are basket placement indicators. After throwing at a nonexistent basket location, I began running up all the blind basket fairways. Which is not fun on a course with elevation changes. Lastly I'll point out tee (A) which occurs after hole (11) and allows players to skip two holes. Probably not the wisest move for safety reasons as tee (A) and tee (14) can't see each other.
- SHOT SHAPING - The first five holes are rather other open, however after the beginning stretch, being able to correctly move a disc along a planned path is going to be key to score birdies from the back tees. Holes (6) through (15) are fully wooded and holes (17) through (19) are heavily wooded along the right side and have their basket buried deep into a right breaking pocket.
- ELEVATION - Lots of it. Unfortunately twice as many up shots compared to down shots.
- UNIQUENESS - In addition to elevation, There's a really nice mix of hole types. Although not labeled, I'm pretty sure that hole (1) at 838 feet, is a par 4. The holes range from completely open to heavily wooded. Water comes into play a couple times. Be wary of throwing long on (19), water is lurking just beyond the basket. There are even a couple of manmade wooden enclosures on (3) and (4). This bodes much better than what likely would have been an obstacle free shot. Missing elements include a par 5, doglegs and a well defined left pocketing shot.
- RAW BEAUTY - As of this review, I would put Clay in my top 15 most beautiful courses that I've ever played (207 courses). As mentioned above, great terrain and elevation. Great views from atop the ridge, large gorging dry washes slicing though the base of the ridge and hordes of wooded areas. All these elements make Clay a definite treat to walk and to play along.

A great course with just thoughts of what could have been.
- MISSED OPPORTUNITIES - Make no mistake, Clay is a great disc golf course, but wow, there are some misses. The property that Clay sits on is some of the best disc golf land I have ever come across. Huge elevation changes on the property, over 250 feet of grade change inside the park boundaries, vast wooded areas and a 10 to 15 foot wide creek. Are these features used? Yes, sort of, but it seems like it could have gone so much farther. A perfect example is hole (16) where the shot is around an 80 to 90 foot drop. The tee shot easily could have grown further up the slope to be 400 foot long, and become a 125 to 150 foot monster down shot. Another bummer was the use of the creek which is almost completely ignored. At 10 to 15 feet wide it's the optimal size. Just wide enough to make it register in the shot process, but small enough to be able to fish a disc out. Hole (21) easily could have been a play across it with a bridge being right there going back to the parking area. I also question the over use of the top of the mountain. Nothing like being on a ridge and seeing all the great terrain, but throwing shots along the flat top portion.
- TERRAIN - Players with walking impairments or bad knees should avoid this course. It's a 200 foot climb up and down the mountain on this course (source Topoquest.) I consider myself to be in decent shape and this course wiped me out.
- SAFETY HAZARDS - 95 percent of the course is completely separated from other park uses. However hole (19) and especially (20) bring in hazards. (19) plays along the park access road. (20) plays alongside a pavilion and the shot is blind.
- FORGIVENESS - For this type of course, surprisingly not as bad as I had envisioned, but far from an open city park course. The most likely scenario that will crush a player's score and open up the possibility for a lost disc, is hitting a tree and the resulting ricochet sends it barreling down the ridge. Playing the short tees will alleviate some of this issue, but not it all.
- BEGINNER FRIENDLY - I wouldn't bring someone here until they've played at least a few dozen rounds. Way too many opportunities to lose a disc for untrained players. However, there is an open field with some baskets not part of the (21) hole layout. This would be a good area to teach someone the game.
- PARKING - The parking by tee (1) is not the greatest. A section of it is gravel but it seems that some people actually park on the grass closer to tee (1). There is paved parking nearby (17) and (18), I wonder if some players begin up there instead.
- TIME PLAY - Clay is not a quick in, and quick out bagger course. This one is going to take a solo player close to 90 minutes to complete. Figure a group of four skilled players could spend 3 hours here from the back tees.

One of the better courses in Alabama. I currently have it as the second best in the state behind Inverness and I've played 9 of the top 12 courses listed on this site. Clay, unlike Inverness, is very much more approachable to lower skill levels and this could be the ultimate course for recreation players in the state of Alabama. It's hard to find courses with this much elevation and still be this user friendly. So all stated, traveling recreational level players that are in the Birmingham area should definitely place Clay number one on their hit list. However, those that are looking, and that can handle a greater challenge, should choose Inverness as first option.

Has Discatchers in great shape, descriptive, accurate tee signs at all tees, benches, and a mixture of concrete and astroturf over gravel tees (the former mostly on the holes not located in the woods). Two baskets on many holes, though not all.

This course makes excellent use of elevation, playing up, down, and along a substantial ridge line in the woods. While only two holes are sharply uphill, there are several in a row that just play that much harder because of the elevation gain before they give way to a few left/right slanted holes and then 16, one of the most deceptively downhill holes I've played. All of the fairways in the woods are well defined and well kept. All of the greens are open enough to be reasonably able to putt from a good shot, though many are still quite interesting/hairy - ditches, slopes, water, etc.

Compared to the remainder of the course, the first few holes felt a touch underwhelming. Hole 1 is a literal driving range, distance markers and all, hole 2 is an interesting uphill over rough from the long tee but an open, level putter shot from the short, and hole 3 is a man-made obstacle hole with questionably effective obstacles - the fence is short enough to putt over if you misplace your drive.

A few of the tee signs have had some Sharpie edits made in order to accommodate new pin positions. The usefulness of the hole map is kind of lost in those situations, but the distances are still indicated - and I am grateful that the new/altered positions have been marked. On the holes which only have one basket but two pin positions, tee signs do not indicate which is currently in use, and the answer is not always visible from the tee.

Holes 14 and A share baskets/greens, and are potentially two or three holes apart, which raises the possibility of throwing at other players unintentionally. Given as A isn't particularly remarkable (or necessary to get to the next hole, though it may serve as a way to cut two-three holes out of the middle), I'm inclined to ignore it and only play the 21 numbered holes.

I keep hearing people compare hole 4 to Winthrop Gold's hole 7. There is some resemblance - Clay 4 has a bamboo structure around the basket with an opening up front, but it more resembles the double mando old version of Winthrop 7 than the newer triple mando - that is, Clay's version doesn't have anything across the top. Further, there's no indication that there is, in fact, a mando, so if you miss, you can pitch through the slats and take a par, which is probably friendlier to the average player.

The philosophy on tees seems, on most holes, to have been that the two should play differently primarily in terms of length, rather than the long one adding a dogleg or a completely different line or some other feature absent from the short tees, though there are a few exceptions. While I certainly respect the ball golf philosophy, I personally favor the other approach, which brings me to the elephant in the room: is this the best course in the state, or least in central AL? I, personally, have to favor Inverness on account of more demanding woods work, especially from the long tees, and more challenging usage of elevation overall, even though Clay may have taken a few holes to greater heights.

Clay DGC is a great course circling a hilly park with good mixes of open grassy holes and wooded brushy holes that often feature significant elevation change and some water. Long and short concrete tees that were pretty good. A few holes had more than one basket. The signs were mostly pretty decent. Hole 1 is just flat and brutally long with trees lining the left side of the fairway. 2 is fun, throwing blind over rough up a small hill, and bending right medium distance. Man made obstacles on holes 3 and 4 in the form of wood fences and bamboo walls. Number 5 is uphill and pretty long with a mando making you go right of a tree and use the center of the fairway from the long tee. 6 is where the woods come into play, and will be present throughout the center portion of the course. Fun shots of all shapes up and down through trees with nice fairways. It opens up some on the later holes. 16-19 play on the fringes of the parking lot, open left side and basket tucked into trees along the right edge. 20 is short and open, uphill, with a funky double basket target. 21 is a long downhill bomb with lots of open airspace.

A map would have been great to have, I overlooked hole A, as well as hole 20 somehow. It was the third course of the day and I was to tired to double back. Having multiple baskets on some holes can create confusion if you are not familiar with the layout. Mud was pretty heavy in a few areas because of recent rain.

I enjoyed this course very much, but it could have been even better with improved navigation, and maybe a little dryer. Not as intense as Inverness, more elevation than the Trussville course, and more difficult than George Ward. A very good course that compliments the others nearby very well. Definitely worth playing, glad to have made the trip.

Wow! So this course is super great. Long distance holes ( which I really like) , lots of obstacles, man made structures, and elevation change.

Only con that I can really state is that it's a really long course, so you might not have the energy to play a 2nd round.

Definitely a must play course. It is tough, but fun nevertheless.

This is a solid course for any level of player. The course starts out on a wide open super long hole that has distances measured out to the pin that is 600'+. It is a great way to get warmed up for what is ahead. Quick tip as this confused me, head to your left after 1 to the gate that says no trespassing and that is where you walk into hole 2. That was confusing to me...just pointing you in the right direction. Hole 2 is a blind toss up the hill with plenty of nasty stuff and a drop off behind the pin. The next 2 holes are "man-made" challenge holes, 4 being a near exact copy of the bamboo mando hole at USDGC. I thought that was fun to see how I would do there. It plays slightly uphill being the only noticeable difference. After that you start up the hill playing a double mando uphill shot that takes you to the holes on the top of the hill. While those got a bit repetitive and had a few mosquitoes here and there they provided an excellent challenge. You really have to play your shots right to not roll down the hill. I was fortunate enough to not have any rollaways. Double astroturff covered pads with 2 pins on almost all holes. That confused me a bit (saw the same thing at George Ward) and is not something I am accustomed to. I get the plus in retrospect after I got over just being confused at what I was looking at. Coming back down the hill was fun although they could have made better use of throwing down the hill around holes 13-14 with a lot of wasted space walking between those holes...would have made a fantastic "top of the world" shot. The last few holes were fun and challenging at the bottom of the hill. Good to know there is a nasty little pond just past 19s pin and a creek right behind 21. Just something I wish I had known from the tee.

I was impressed that they put tee signs on all pads. I know that costs money and is one of those extra nice touches. All in all, a spectacular course and I can see how this is rated the highest in the state at the moment. I think George Ward is prettier and Inverness is harder but this one had the extra things that made it overall the best course of those three.

Like I said above, wasted space between holes 13-14 and 14-15 that could have been used for a top of the world shot. Just a missed opportunity at one more cool feature to an already cool course. The course doesn't favor rollers even though a few holes would have been ideal as the grass was too high and has grass trimmings on it that kill your roll. That's it...everything else was right on track.

Tough call between a 4 and a 4.5 on this course. If I am ranking it against all Alabama courses then definitely a 4.5. If I am ranking it against a larger number of courses then a solid 4.0. Being most people reading this are from all over the place I went with the 4.0.

Can't wait to play this again someday when passing through...great job to whoever designed and upkeeps this course!

Great design utilizing the park terrain.
The distance markers on 1 are fantastic!
2 putting baskets and 2 pins.
The BEAST!!!

For me a 4.5 or 5 has tight windows, all elevation types, water and or natural OB (rock formations etc)
The infrastructure is 5.0, only a couple if open holes are my drawback.

Danny Self and the city of Clay have outdone themselves with this course. What a great location for a big tourney with distanced contests, multiple baskets and the Beast!