It is great to have another solid option for in-town Atlanta disc golf! DeKalb Memorial opened in October of 2022, and was very much a "community driven" project. Hats off to all involved.

To me, the best aspects of this course are: the variety, the use of elevation, and the "fun factor".

VARIETY: The main strength of DeKalb Memorial in my opinion. There is a great mix of types of holes, and that mixture is interspersed throughout the course in a way that keeps your attention and prevents any redundancy. I mentally put the "types" of holes at DeKalb Memorial into five buckets: short, mid-length (250-290) dogleg right, mid-length (250-290) dogleg left, long tough tunnel (300+), and open field. Just with these five types of holes alone, most disc golfers will have every shot in their game tested. The best part about DeKalb Memorial though is how these holes are scattered throughout the course: rarely are you playing the same tee shot consecutive holes, and definitely not more than twice in a row. The course crescendos from a difficulty standpoint to 13 and 14, both long tight wooded tunnels. From there, a breath of fresh air is offered as the player is given a fun downhill ace run (16) before getting two open field crushes (17 & 18) to finish the round. My (very) rough groupings display this variety: short (1,8,9,12,16); mid dogleg right (5,11,15); mid dogleg left (2,3,7,10); tough tunnel (6,13,14); open field (4,17,18). The course flows together very naturally.

ELEVATION: I feel the course designers really used the most of the available elevation on the property, with a couple very cool elevated tee shots on 1 and 16. The uphill holes are generally on the shorter side, and elevation is also used as a "hazard" on holes like 13 and 14 to make roll-aways even more punishing.

FUN FACTOR: This course is fun!!! That was my first takeaway. There are some birdies out there, some ace runs, some tough holes... and of course, you get to finish the day with a couple huge rips. For the length of course it is, and the amount of property available, I think DeKalb Memorial maxed out the sliders in the "fun" category.

INFRASTRUCTURE: 1 basket and 1 concrete tee pad per hole, but multiple basket locations on nearly every hole that will get rotated. Solid amount of benches, and a dedicated practice basket with a good sized "green" to practice on that is out of the way of other play. I also have to give a particular shoutout to the wooden structure that the basket on #11 is built on to give it challenging greenside elevation. There are stairs as well for some of the more challenging walking slopes on the course.

Sometimes "Cons" aren't really the course's fault: not every property can naturally provide a Maple Hill level of distance, topography, and hazards (nor should it). DeKalb Memorial does a great job of taking advantage of what it has available, but there are a couple shortcomings:

ROUTING: The routing of the course has a few trouble spots and long walks. The walk from #4 to #5 goes directly across #2 fairway, which I see as a potential issue with people not paying attention when throwing. #2 to #3 is a bit wonky, and #17 to #18 is a little weird, having to walk back the length of #17 while people are throwing towards you/the basket.
Another small point but I saw multiple groups arrive to the course and immediately tee off of #11, which is right next to the practice basket (as is #1, to be fair). I wasn't sure if this was an intentional strategy to try to avoid playing behind anyone, or genuine confusion of where to start.

FENCING: There is fencing separating the disc golf hole from thick woods and brush to the right of #3 and left of #4, #6, and #7 that presents a major lost disc hazard if you were to clear the fence. I don't think a disc is retrievable from beyond the fence.

LENGTH/CHALLENGE: Based on the length and difficulty (even in its most extreme setup), I think a 3.5 is about the peak for DeKalb Memorial. It will never be championship length or quality, hence the 3.5. But, as far as I know, this course was never billed to be that, and it accomplished the goal set out before it. It is another excellent "tweener" course in Atlanta.

While these courses are graded on a 0.5-5.0 scale, I usually mentally grade courses on a binary scale: do I want to play it again, yes or no. DeKalb Memorial is absolutely a yes: I have been back, and I will continue to go. It might not be where I go to give myself the ultimate test in disc golf, but it is a fun course with good variety to work on different type of shots.

The great thing about disc golf is every course doesn't *have* to be Pro Championship Quality. DeKalb Memorial had a goal of bringing a playable course for everyone to in-town Atlanta, and achieved it. Despite a few instances of wonky routing, DeKalb Memorial and its designers did about as much as they could given the land they had.

This is a brand new course built into an existing city park just east of downtown Atlanta.

Pros:
- Good size concrete tee pads (1 per hole)
- Brand new prodigy baskets
- Great tee signs
- Makes excellent use of the topography with over half of the holes featuring meaningful elevation change.
- 2 excellent (though perhaps too similar) downhill ace run holes (1 and 16) that you will want to take a few shots at
- Has a large creek that is in play on multiple holes.
- Very good mix of heavily wooded, moderately wooded, and open holes
- Short enough and open enough to be beginner friendly while still being fun for more advanced players

- Single tee pads and limited available land means many holes are unlikely to ever challenge more advanced players (the hardest holes are 2, 6, 7, 11, and 15 which are challenging for me at intermediate, and 13 and 14 which are likely to be challenging for anyone)
- A couple wide open holes (4 and 18) with no danger at all
- Somewhat easy to lose a disc with relatively thick rough and OB fences which you can take a tree kick over and have virtually no chance of retrieval
- Constant ambient highway noise from nearby I-20

Love this new addition to the ATL ITP (inside the perimeter) disc golf scene!