There are 9 baskets to throw at, and it is lakeside and quiet. I practice here when I'm visiting my mom, but I had no idea what the layout was. I had totally given up on any kind of a layout, but "they" actually installed some signage recently. Too bad it was cardboard signage, and most of it has disintegrated. At least the metal t-posts that held the signs are still in the ground, so you can figure out the layout that the designer intended. Since no one actually plays here it's OK to make up your own track.

There are bathrooms and water fountains, and there's a take-out daiquirie joint at the entrance of Diamondhead that I'm fond of. The White Russian is the bomb, and The Dude would abide! The Rouses market close by has breakfast, lunch and dinner specials that are inexpensive and tasty. Shrimp creole was today's special!

It's just not a very interesting place to play, It's designed about as well as it could be, crossing fairways and all, but I'd skip it unless I'm a relentless course bagger. This could very well be the worst course on the MS Gulf coast.

---excellent Innova "Pro 28"baskets
---nicely manicured grass
---charming pond in view, and in play on two holes
---OB walking trail adds a needed degree of difficulty to most holes
---bathrooms in pavilion by hole #6
----easy to navigate
---not very far off of I-10

---most holes rather short and pretty open
---course is really jammed into a small park in the middle of a neighborhood

Diamondhead is a yawner of a course, not worth diverting off of I-10 except for course baggers looking to add to their totals. It's a decent enough neighborhood course, for those that live in the large subdivision that surrounds it, but it's one of those courses where one wonders if it gets much play at all. At least it's not crowded, littered or frustratingly rough.

Diamondhead DGC's 9 holes are situated throughout a small but varied neighborhood park that offers a surprising array of obstacles and hazards: sidewalk OB, trees guarding tee, pin, and fairway, water, and sloped terrain. The layout brings each of these into play in turn, leading to a diversity of holes relative to the predominantly short distances and the park's overall limitations. There's some line shaping here, although most take the form of some kind of hyzer. Technical challenge is enhanced if you play the walking path as OB, which can lead to some narrow fairways bordered by sidewalk on one side and water on the other. I like how the designers incorporated the water as a border on both the left and the right sides of fairways, as well as a hazard behind a basket approached from uphill. The sequence of holes mixes things up, rather than focusing on a particular feature for an individual stretch.

Tees are natural, but level, well-groomed, and well-marked. Navigation is easy once you find hole 1 (at the far right end of the park if you're facing the water, at the top of the hill). Bathrooms on site are nice.

The short hole lengths and overall cramped setting keep the course from ever feeling like anything other than what it is: a quick 9 in a small neighborhood park. Besides limiting the golf itself, this fact also introduces numerous potential conflicts with the locals. Hole 1 runs along a residential fence and tempts fate by embedding the basket in a carved-out section in the woods just beyond. I started my round by promptly throwing my new Crave into a bordering yard on what was actually a decently accurate turnover shot. Luckily a kind, if slightly flummoxed, child was there to hand it back to me; otherwise, that disc would have been gone.

Additionally, a walking path runs throughout the park and routinely crosses fairways. There's no real way for the course to avoid it on such a small patch of land. I was forced to wait for pedestrians on several occassions even though there were less than half a dozen others in the park. It was hard not to feel like I was intruding.

Despite the intermittant trees and numerous hazards mentioned above, the short hole lengths really limit the challenge this course can provide.

Diamondhead is one of several courses in southwest Mississippi. If I were to only hit one, I'd choose Buccaneer State Park, personally. There's a full 18 there that offers a lot of variety, and a greater challenge than you'll find here or at McLeod. If for some reason you want to choose one between Diamondhead and McLeod, Diamondhead gets my vote. This is a nice small course that is fine for course bagging or if you're in the neighborhood, but doesn't have much draw beyond that.