(2.663 Rating) A mostly wooded course that needs some love.
- POTENTIAL - Normally when I give a 2.5 rating for a course, it means I find the course to be a typical example or average. That is not the case for Deer Lick, as it only has 3.5 and 1.5 rating qualities and attributes, that then averages at a "decent" 2.5 rating grade from me. The course has lots of potential that's currently not being realized due to the course's condition. A majority of this course plays in the woods and it does have many tantalizing lines. Unfortunately, eye-catching lines don't really translate when there's waist high weeds in the middle of the fairway. Course maintenance by local volunteers is desperately needed here. Several of these lines would look glorious with 3 or 4 man-hours of labor. It appears most of the local effort is going to nearby Boundary Waters instead of here.
- RAW BEAUTY - I scored this aspect a touch above average, but Deer Lick has the potential to be more in the 70 to 75 percentile range for this aspect. Hole (8) with the English ivy along the entire first half of the fairway looked spectacular. Hole (10) was another really pleasing fairway being both heavily wooded and having a slanted fairway. Hole (15) was uniquely beautiful with the basket perched on a mound past a bend in the creek and surrounded by heavy woods. It's unfortunate that the full glory isn't currently realized.
- HOLE VARIETY - It seemed like there was some decent play variety here. Hole (1) is a warm-up the cannon type of hole. It's open and over 400 feet long. There are several technical plays with the basket placements breaking in both directions. Water comes into play a few times and it includes lakes and creeks. There are up-hills, down-hills and valley shots. Only one par 4 despite a DGCR listing of two of them. Extending (7) a bit would be an easy way to add a second par 4.
- CHALLENGING - As an MA2 level player, I finished at even par. It feels like a high-end MA3 course, but the poor fairway conditions will likely add 2 to 3 throws compared to if the course were actually in good shape.
- CHAINS, TEES AND BENCHES - Concrete tees, 24 chain DISCatcher baskets and benches on every hole.

The volunteers aren't coming here.
- UNKEMPT - As has been alluded to many times already in this review, the conditions on my visit were not good, and it appears that this is often the case. I'll throw out a guess and say that coming here during the winter is likely the best time to play here as much of the overgrowth will be dead. I personally took off about a ½ point in my rating due to consistently poor conditions and I could see others thrashing the course for even more rating points than I have. Plan for lots of searches on this one if playing it over the summer.
- BEGINNER FRIENDLY - Not Beginner friendly or even MA4 friendly due to the conditions and the disc loss potential. Hole (14) has a pond in play along the left most of the way and it is likely the biggest plastic collector.
- NAVIGATION AND SIGNAGE - No course map posted at the community board. The tee signage is good on some holes, but terrible on others. Next tee directions are also present in some areas, but also lacking in others. I advise using a navigational app or having a guide like I did for this one.
- TIME PLAY - It took my super quick foursome an hour and 40 minutes to complete this one. I don't see how first-time solo's can tackle it in under an hour, due to the search in reconnaissance aspect.
- IFFY LINES - Even in perfect conditions, there are at least three holes that need a redesign or a couple trees removed. The line on (4) has no route to run it to the basket clean without some blind luck. Hole (7) is one of those 3.5 par holes. Moving the basket up 50 feet on (7) or back 50 feet and labeling a par 4 would both result in a better hole IMO. Hole (11) felt like a poke and hope shot as well.

I liked it and didn't like it. I found Deer Lick Park to be beautiful behind the veil of overgrown conditions. Unfortunately, the overgrowth bit too many times for me to find this place blissfully enjoyable. If Deer Lick were to ever have a sustained effort to keep up the fairways and to update all the signage, this place is then an easy 3.0 course in my books. As is, I'm going with a 2.5. I see no issues with someone scoring this place a 1.0 if conditions and navigation are a players two most important rating aspects.
- THANK YOU - I was fortunate to meet up with my friend Roman to serve as my guide for this one. We use to throw in a doubles league in the Tampa Bay area and have now both ended up in different big cities. Thank you sir, hope we can do it again.

The course has been given some much needed attention. The course plays very similar to the time before it was left fallow. It's playable because it's winter and the undergrowth is down. The trees down and trash cans have been dealt with... a good mix of open and wooded holes.

Very poor signage since the course was reworked to make room for Douglas County Animal Control. Hole # 1 was moved from the old location with no obvious directional signage. No traffic directional signage showing the location of hole number 1. The "Master" sign is still illegible and showed the 30,000 foot view. Hole # 2 now has a tee pad and still plays over a retention pond. Hole # 3 has been cleaned up and several trees removed. The rest of the holes show some maintenance. Hole # 9 has been rerouted around the mountains of debris. The balance of the course is pretty much as prior years but does show effort to keep the course mowed and clear. There are few hole to hole directions.

Deer Lick will never be my favorite course but it's playable and will provide plenty of challenging holes with Wooden Guardians.

The layout of this course is a lovely, mostly par-3 challenge.

-Woods: Though some holes have unappealing park views, there are some holes out here with beautiful forestry. (3)-(4), (7)-(8), and (14)-(16) are a charming environment to play.

-Terrain: Along with these woods, there are plenty of other park features that make this a great choice for disc golf. Creeks come into play from (12)-(15) and gentle hills lend interest to most of the holes.

-Star Holes: A couple here could make a list of my favorite par-3s. (7) is a very challenging 400' left turn through the thick woods, (13) is straight and shortish but funnels down to a creek, (14) plays with a lake view on the left, trees on the right, and a right-to-left downslope, and (15) works downhill from the field into the woods with a creek-guarded green.

-Shot Shaping/Gameplay: The 14 holes I played here showed very good diversity and reasonable challenge. It's mostly par-3s, but there are varying levels of tree cover, fairway bends, and distance. There are thick woods technical challenges, a couple of pretty open drives, and some holes with a change of biome part way through. Other than (12)-(13), no two holes feel the same. In its heyday, I think Deer Lick would easily be a 3.0 and pushing 3.5.

Badly in need of better care.

-Overgrowth: Dreadful in parts. (6), (9), and (10) are virtually unplayable, being mostly engulfed by weeds taller than me. A lot of the other holes could use underbrush cleared for both gameplay and comfort, and possibly a small tree or two removed on some of the woods holes.

-Altered Layout: At some point, a couple of the holes got moved. (UPDATE: Just figured out it was the "redesign" in 2016. Unfortunately, neither UDisc nor old course maps have been updated anywhere I have seen.) Using UDisc, I couldn't find (1) or the teepad for (2), so I started at (3). (3)-(9) were fine, and then I never found the teepad for (10) despite locating two baskets numbered (10). At this point, I discovered that hole (1) had been moved to make way for a retention pond, with the new tee near basket (10) and the basket closer towards basket (2). After playing this hole (never did find a tee for (2)), I backtracked to the baskets for (10) and located hole (11), which was also several hundred feet off from the UDisc layout. The rest of the course was as previously. Note that the course map here on DGCR begins at hole (12).

-Navigation: Even disregarding the undocumented layout alterations, there are some flow issues. After the first 9, remaining holes are bunched up. (10)-(11) are next to each other, but then it's a long and uncertain walk to find the hole (12), then another go-with-your-best-guess to find (15) far across the street from (14), and another non-obvious straight walk 400' from basket (17) to tee (18).

-Parking: Due to ongoing construction, there isn't parking very near hole (1). Your best bet would be to start at (11) or (12).

I like a lot of Deer Lick's personality, with fun shapes in a relaxing environment. I do not like holes that have been abandoned to nature, missing teepads, and long and unmarked transitions. I've settled on Reasonable for the moment, in light of the fact that there are unplayable holes interspersed throughout the course to make it a pain just to play the good ones. Someone needs to clean up and put in a nice course map, and Deer Lick would be a very fine place to play.

-Amenities: So-so. There are all concrete tees (except on (1)-(2)). Some holes have good tee signs with maps and distances, but other holes have no tee signs. DISCatchers are a plus. There are a few navigational aids on the holes that haven't been affected by layout changes, but no help at all for other confusing transitions.

-Old Listing: If you want to read some solid reviews, check out the old listing for the course. The "redesign" prompting the relisting was pretty small, and you can get a good idea from the many more people who played the course pre-2016 what it's like (other than the current maintenance issues). https://www.dgcoursereview.co...&mode=revis the link.

It is a course and has baskets. The park is nice and clean.

It is obvious that there is a local group that cares about this course, but right now I can't recommend.

Looks like it hit it mid construction and revamping of the layout. I tried to use UDisc, but it was out of date. Hole #1 was now a retention pond. Some of the holes are just waist high weeks in the fairway.

Don't bother to go out to this course till the construction is done and the local group has had a chance to get it back on it's feet.

The design looks like there is a group that cares. The property affords many opportunities to build great holes. But right now it just isn't playable.

Deer Lick's 5277' par 56 course is an Atlanta classic. Starting back in 1997 with a modest 9 holes, it has undergone 20 years of improvements and today has evolved into a really fun and well stocked 18 hole course. Most recently, with the addition of some concrete pads, new DisCatcher baskets, signs, benches, and more love that you can shake a stick at from the Douglasville club, Deer Lick became a hidden gem. Unfortunately, with the construction of a new animal shelter, it was one step forward and two steps back. But even that setback couldn't break the will of the Douglasville folks and after some thoughtful redesign work. The course is back in one piece.

Fortunately, a lot of the classic holes are still here and this is still a really fun course. It features a reasonably wide range of hole types ranging from 195' to three holes just breaking the 400' mark. There's a fair share of wooded holes, both short and long, but you'll get to air it out a time or two on some longer open holes as well. Expect some elevation shots scattered along the way too. Water also comes into play a couple times. Your first time is with a pond along the left side of the uphill fairway that leans towards the water. Believe me, that lake is on your mind the whole time you're on the hole with the threat of a roll away getting wet. Moving on to the next hole, maybe the most memorable if not the signature, is hole 15's creek shot. It's a downhill shot that punches into the woods and the fairway follows the creek. The OB creek bends and forms a peninsula just made for a pin placement. Otherwise expect some decent golf holes and look out for those with really tight woods shots.

Several holes have alternate pin placements that get moved on a fairly regular basis. There is some OB scattered around and one mando to keep you honest. Overall this is a solid course with a pretty high fun factor. There's plenty of ace and birdie opportunities. This is the kind of course that if you are throwing well you can light it up and if you are off, you may leave with your head hanging low.

The areas involving holes 6 and 9 still has some back filling and grading going on. So far it has gradually been improving and should be complete with time.

A time or two you'll find a couple holes that are shoehorned into place. If the course is crowded or come tourney time, expect to wait for other throwers.

On the back side of the course, on a few holes, you'll be sharing some of the real estate with other park users. On a busy day near the lake, don't be surprised if a friendly walker or angler brings your drive back to you.

Navigation is sure to be an issue on your first visit and the map on this site isn't up to date as far as hole numbers or the course in general as of this review. Expect some wandering around and backtracking looking for the next hole a time or two. Luckily, there are some directional signs and markers to help you along the way. That coupled with some disc golf intuition should help.

When pulling into the park, take an immediate left past the median. Follow the road up the hill and park by the tennis courts. Across the lot from the courts, look to the right past the fenced dog park. A disc golf kiosk with info greets you to the trail head leading to one's tee pad.

As with all the westside/Douglasville courses, the club does a great job maintaining and improving the course. This course compliments the variety in the Douglasville area with the pair of courses at Boundary Waters, Frog Rock, and another soon to be installed course. If you are in the area, try to carve out time to hit them all for a great day of golf.

Deerlick had always been a very solid course, and the slight rework didn't change that much.

It's a nice but not new park with baseball fields, tennis courts, a pretty cool skatepark, a large pond and a lot of amenities.

The corse is a good mix of long and short, woods and open, with a little bit of water and has enough mandos and interesting lines that even though it's mostly not very long it's pretty fun.

The new holes are mostly open and play across the open field behind the dog run. Not concrete pads yet but the rubber mats are good except in the wet.

Overall it's a very solid course, not my favorite, but plenty of fun.

The layout isn't super intuitive, and the holes with the mats aren't ideal. The holes are mainly on the shorter side and though they are mostly insteresting so that's not a huge knock.

If it were busy though I can see some of the fairways on 10-11 12-13 being so close that newer players could hit someone on the opposite fairway.

Overall it's pretty good though.

It's a good course and a fun addition to the Douglas county area. It's not in the same league with Boundary Waters but it's still fun to play and if you have kids with you there is more for them to do.

Some great holes to really let it rip, good mix of in the woods and out.

Rather confusing layout no real map available.

I played this course several years ago and remember it being very good. I love the throw at hole 9 out of the woods and across what can only be described as the surface of Mars.That however can't make up for the terrible course markings and utterly confusing layout. The tee for hole two was non existent and had to be skipped (we looked for 15 min before giving up). We also had to walk AGAINST the basket more than twice to find the next tee. This course definitely needs some work before I recommend it to any one. I will say though, while I told my buddies that yeah I hated having to throw over rubble and climb over rocks and other debris I secretly loved it. So yeah the course has that going for it.

Has concrete tee pads for most holes (holes 1&9 have rubber tee pads)

Has tee signs

Has many benches throughout course

Has multiple basket placements some holes (4, 9, 14, 16, 18)

Good mix of open/wooded fairways with most holes having slight elevations

Free parking - but it's a walk to the first tee and from last basket

Restrooms

Safety issues - course has a few holes that play near the road and park's amenities

Course design and flow could use improvement as there are awkward transitions between holes 9&10 and 11&12

Some opportunities to lose discs here via the lake at hole #14 and murky creek at hole #15

Tee signs for the revised holes (1, 2, 5, 6, 9) could use some updating

Course can get crowded with other parkgoers which can interfere in playing hole #14 if the basket is in the long position due to a swing in the fairway

This is a nice course in a multi-use park in Douglasville that I enjoyed playing. Construction of a new animal control center broke ground in 2016 and has affected several holes. For the new layout, only five holes (1, 2, 5, 6, 9) have been modified and it's about 400-500 feet shorter than the old layout. It's been recommended to park at the tennis courts since hole #1 starts adjacent to the dog park - leaving a shorter walk to hole #1 tee pad than from hole #18 basket. Since the practice basket from the old layout has been removed, the basket for hole #10 serves as a suitable one. Hole #1 is now a shorter and open, forgiving fairway unlike its old counterpart. Hole #2 seems to be flat and about the same distance as the old one but feels shorter due to no uphill elevation. Holes #5 and #9 are significantly shorter than its predecessors due to the construction dirt and boulders dumped in that area. Hole #6 is slightly shorter to make space for the relocated hole #9 tee pad. One thing I noticed is that I could never find any of the short tee pads here as the old layout had them posted. Other than the two concrete slabs with one on hole #14's fairway and the other one near the trail between holes #16 & #17, the short tees are not marked and non-existent. A couple of holes, such as hole #11 playing close to the road and hole #14 playing close to a swing, can present challenges on a busy day at the park. A couple of holes had transitions where you have to backtrack a little but it's not too bad. There are some opportunities to lose discs here via the lake at hole #14 and the murky creek at hole #15. Also the layers of leaves on holes #10&11 and boulders on hole #9 can make difficult work to find a drive. The park is very popular with parkgoers but you won't really come into contact with them until holes #11-14. There are restrooms near hole #11 basket but these are closed for the winter. The local disc golf club has really given this course some TLC considering the ongoing construction and missing baskets at one time. I appreciate the club's efforts in making this 18 holes again and this is a very good course that I recommend playing if you're in this area.