PARK DESCRIPTION - Fort Yargo State Park is a beautiful park which circles a 260-acre lake. The park features picnic areas, playgrounds, cottages and yurts for rent, a log fort built in 1792, pavilions, boating, swimming and more.

VARIETY - It's mostly a wooded course but a few holes play through more open areas. A few play alongside the water are mostly fun and non-threatening.

ELEVATION - Just enough to make for some interesting and challenging holes. Everyone's favorite hole, # 6, is just 225' but is really a stunningly beautiful hole. # 13, without a tee sign, is another fun little downhill Ace run.

CHALLENGE - Upper recreational but not quite intermediate level. The course is recreationally short with only # 17 playing over 400'. #'s 10 & 11 are in the mid 300' range, 14 more play in 200's and # 9 is the shortie of the course at just 182'. The lake is lovely but doesn't offer much in the way of challenge. The trees are the major challenge here.

EQUIPMENT - Great big, wide trapezoid tee pads. Nice Discatchers with the yellow bands which are an always great, visible choice for these Georgia wooded course. The tee signs are nice and readable although the signs on (8, 13 & 14) are missing. Some benches would be nice.

AESTHETICS - Maybe it's when I was here (mid-October) but I'm not sure in Georgia golfers realize how lucky they are to have all these lovely wooded courses WHICH are all mostly underbrush free. Yes, there is some underbrush, falling leaves, etc. But nothing compared to where I hail from, Washington state.

FUN FACTOR - The course fits me better than my favorite pair of Levi's.

ROUTING/NAVIGATION - The most trouble I had was finding the first tee. A tee sign would be most welcome.

Paying a park entrance fee of $5 and then a course fee is silly.

Could someone please put together a map for this course (and Mathews DGC).

Missing tee signs on 8, 13 and 14.

Am I the only dip stick to be confused by the backwards facing tee sign on 17? I looked long and hard for a basket somewhere out yonder behind the sign but finally coming to my senses.

Some areas seem to be known for a certain type of courses. The Chicago area is well known for its preponderance of flat, nine-hole rec courses. The Charlotte area is known for its tough advanced level courses like Nevin, Hornet's Nest, Renny Gold and more.

After playing courses around Atlanta, I'm thinking Atlanta has a large grouping of fun, 18's that are tweeners, that is, they're more challenging than a recreational level but fall short of being called intermediate level. Courses I would include in this tweener 18 category would include; Frog Rock, Oregon Park, East Roswell, Wills Park, Suwanee Creek, Little Mulberry, Fort Yargo, Mathews, Rosewood- DeKalb which is at the lower rec level, Deer Lick and many others I haven't had the pleasure of playing.



I feel that Fort Yargo falls right in the middle of this spectrum of tweener 18 type courses. I also feel strongly that it's natural beauty and overall fun factor make it a 3.5 rated course. It was really lovely on a perfect, October day here in Georgia.

I would say this course is better than its rating. The fee is a simple $4 dropped in the box by the first hole, and there is an older practice basket that I think might be a Mach II on the way up from the parking lot.

The holes other than 17 the distances are mainly in between 215-350 with most being under 300, so a lot of heavy midrange and putter work here, with the possibility to use a driver on a few holes for extra distance or just a better line.

The teepads are massive and have a wood plank at the end which sometimes helps you tell which way the hole is supposed to be played.

Good use of elevation here, and there are some spots where you could have one go long into the lake. The trees here are mainly older hardwoods with many twisting branches that proved to be quite the challenge to miss.

Some cool blind holes and interesting lines too.

Tons of leaves right now and no one seems to be doing a ton to keep the pads clean. No benches or trash cans.

A little short overall and needs Just a bit of tree trimming.

Well worth the play and a lot of fun just not one to go super out of your way for.

Has practice basket

Has concrete tee pads

Has tee signs

More wooded than open fairways with most holes having changes in elevations and some having doglegs - which will be challenging to the casual player

Has a lot of shade - which can be appreciated in the hot and humid summers of Georgia

Course navigation without a map is fairly straightforward

Had the whole course to myself on Labor Day

Nice scenic views of the lake

Restrooms

Water Fountain

Has a lot of undergrowth on several holes that needs trimming or burning

Hole #2 tee sign and post have been lying on the ground for some time

Bike trail runs along a few holes and may cause delays

This is a nice course in Barrow County that I enjoyed playing. If you're like me who didn't buy the $50 annual parking pass for the state parks, the park is $5 per day to enter and $4 per day to play disc golf. You'll get a separate pass for each from the attendant to put on your windshield. To be honest with you, the course looks a little rough and lacking in course maintenance to be paying $4 a day. Holes #12 & 17 had vegetation higher than 6 feet in certain places of the fairway - which was quite intimidating to throw towards to. Holes #7 & 10 had tree stumps that were uprooted from a storm. Overall, the course is short but challenging due to some of the tight fairways and many trees to shoot through. I played on Labor Day and I was the only one playing on the course at the time. However, finding an available parking spot to park was a challenge. It is a nice park to visit if you're in the area, but there are nicer courses to play nearby without the fee.

Hell yeah. That's exactly what this course felt like. The most perfect sandwich combination known to man, creamy and sweet, you feel me?

This course completely blew my expectations out of the water. The rating is much lower than it should be and this is definitely the best course in the immediate area, I would consider it much better than alexander.

Pure fun to be had out here. So many fun ace runs, hole 6 is extremely memorable for being such a basic shot. Pretty scenery all around you and there wasn't another soul to be seen our entire round.

Extremely wide teepads are awesome out here, you don't really need a long teepad as you won't really be ripping any huge drives.

Solid balance of shot types. I threw a lot of thumbers and flicks, along with backhand hyzers and straight shots, I enjoyed how it tested all areas of my game.

This isn't a championship caliber five star course by any means, but it is a ton of fun.

There are a couple of trees that could stand to be removed, hole #15 stands out in my mind as a hole that has a very strange route to the pin, if you throw your disc on the fairway i imagine it's near impossible to actually get in the circle.

I didn't mind paying to get in, this course was well worth it, and was just a ton of fun, probably the most fun i've had in disc golf in the past few months.

Definitely ignore the older reviews and come out and form your own opinion, I know there used to be a ton of undergrowth and poison ivy out here but I didn't notice any issues with either of those things.

Deep enough into park to give you some isolation and great scenery to look at.
Good signage, nice concrete tee pads.
Course is tight: numerous opportunities to hit your line or work on your second shot if you miss.
I really like hole 6, short down hill ace run with water behind the basket.
Good flow, easy to navigate.
The $8 fee keeps the chuckers and crowds away.
Lots of non disc golf family activities including a large mini-golf course across the street.
Wooded course gives you shade, to make playing in the Georgia heat more tolerable.

Cons: First 9 are pretty short and easy. Much of the course was just about hitting tight lines, even if you missed your line it was not hard to maintain par, especially on the front 9. You do not hit a hole over 300 feet until hole 10. There are only 3 holes over 300 on the entire course (average hole 267ft.).
Only single tees and pin position.
$8 to enter the park, while I included this as a pro as well, $8 leaving my wallet is a con, but the course is worth it.

There were very few major flaws, it is a very solid course, but it is also 18 short tight holes with single tees, no alternate pins, and not much in the way of signature holes. It is definately worth a stop if you are in the area, I personally enjoyed it as much as nearby Alexander Park.
As far as numerous comments on Briars and Thorns, I was wearing shorts and long socks and never had any issue with violent vegitation.

Fort Yargo State Park is home to a very nice disc golf course. Playing through the woods, the fairways are defined, but are generally spacious, and tend to be short. There are one or two holes that are more crowded with trees, requiring very tight lines to hit the windows. Only one hole over 400 feet, and two over 300. Changes in elevation add another wrinkle on four or five holes. Don't expect to wear out your arm on epic par 4's and 5's. Do expect to score a few birdies and enjoy a well laid out course, in a clean and beautiful park.

The equipment is top notch. The discatcher baskets are all in great shape. Tees are all marked with signage including a hole map, with distance. The transitions from hole to hole are well marked, also. The tee pads are concrete and they are BIG.

The down side of this course is the cost. A disc pass and park entrance was $8. There are no benches and very few trash cans around the course. I played about noon, right after an overnight/morning, soaking rain. There was some standing water in the fairways, but the footing was surprisingly good and still very playable. There is water near a couple of holes, but it takes a wild roll or serious shank or ricochet to put a disc in there.

Fort Yargo DGC was very fun for me. An experienced player without elite control, I was able to score several birdies, and have some looks even after less than perfect drives. A great mix of shot shapes and enough trees to keep it interesting, but not ruin your day.

The state park is also home to other activities, but I didn't look around much. There is a lake, and a historic fort on the premises, as well as campgrounds. Well maintained park with nice staff. I would recommend this course, although elite players would likely find it a bit to easy.

-Tee pads are amazing! Tapered to accommodate for multiple shots. Very wide and very flat. Well done FY!
- The recent control burn has provided copius room to find errant shots. Also, it has cleared any and all shule that previously would make the chains almost impossible to find/see from the teepad.
-Encourages you to play various shots and lines.
-The design was clearly made to expliot minor and major flaws in ones game. It really was designed well to compliment a discs flight.
-Very good signage to show "next hole." Easy to find your way around the course.

Well, I really enjoyed the new teepads and the clearing of the underbrush. Also, the park is BEAUTIFUL! Fort Yargo itself is worth the trip to go see. The course is well designed and difficult. Any weekend warrior will find it overly tough, though more advanced players will embracethe challenge.

-Holes need to be lengthened. The course is a short one. Not much of a distance challenge.
- ^^ With that said, the aount of trees on each fairway is ridiculous. Fort Yargo had put so much money, im sure, to build new teepads and do a control burn, why not cut a few trees down and make the course more playable?
- No trash cans!
-Pay to play is lame.

3.5 says very good, but the idea of this course being excellent or better would have been a lie. Its a good course and ill be back alot more, ill probably even use it as practie getting ready for a tourney. The woods here really forse you to through perfect shots and weave your way in and out of the hazards and trees. All-in-all, good course, not the best ive played though.

I didnt mean to put my other thoughts in the cons section... just switch the two till I update on something other than my mobile device.

It should be called The Gem of Barrow County - Fort Yargo State Park in Winder. The disc golf course is just over a mile past the front gate. Such a beautiful scene on a bright, sunny, cloudless Saturday afternoon, and 72 righteous degrees! A nice view of the lake reservoir is within full view for most of the ride inside the park. Tons of spots for camping, fishing, grilling, hiking, etc. Heck, they even have miniature golf right across from the DISC golf course. Now how cool is that??

--- Just park right past the 'Mini Golf / Disc Golf' sign and you can see Teepads for #1 and 3.
--- Super easy to find the next hole. Didn't even need any arrows to point us the way.
--- Nice concrete teepads that are wider in the back and then narrow to the more typical width at front . You can easily lay your golf bag at back of teepad while teeing off.
--- Most of the holes are in the woods and some of them have very defined tight paths to get to pin.
--- To me, it has that that 'old school' course feel to it. Lots of short holes, but technical. Feels like a step back in time to my earlier golfin' days (1989-1995).
--- Holes had a nice flow from one to the next, despite the walks from 9-10 and 11-12, which are worthwhile themselves since you're walking along the lake.
--- A lot of the briars and underbrush have been burned away through a control burn, which must have been done within the last couple months.
--- The bathrooms just after Hole 18 were convenient, and clean too.

Overall, there were really not a lot of negatives to this course.

--- One obvious thing was the lack of trash cans. Several pieces of trash were thrown down on various holes, which I promptly picked up. Later after my round, I threw them away in the cans at the restrooms just behind pin 18.
--- I wish that a few of the holes were a little longer (such as 1, 3, 5, 9, 16). Hey that's fine with me, allows more for me to birdie
--- Having to pay $5/park fee PLUS $3/round (I guess it went up from $2 to $3 this year). But read on further and I'll tell you how you can avoid paying that $5 daily parking fee (a cool teaser - stay tuned...)
--- There are some walking/hiking trails throughout the course, but for most part they don't interfere with the fairways. Just be wary of pedestrians at times, who may not have any idea of disc golf or the origin of these strange, yellow, metal chain thingies.

To sum it all up, I give it a 3.5 - a very fun, 'old school' type of course! The scenery along the lake didn't hurt either. Also it was neat to see at least 3-4 groups of golfers throughout the course. The more foot traffic and exposure for the course, the better! Glad to see park officials are finally putting in time, care and maintenance into the course.

I know a few other golfers who had played it last year, or even in '09. They complained a lot about the lack of maintenance on the holes, cruddy gravel tee pads, and the fact that the briars were sharp and prickly enough to slice your throat. That was then...

This is now... March 2011! After the control burn done recently, the course looks fantastic. There is still some charred ground and dead trees, but all (if not most) of those vines, thorns and briar patches of yesteryear are gone!!! (Sorry Brer Rabbit, you'll need to find another home).

To me, the most scenic hole of the course was #6, a short downhill 225' flick. Just seeing the grand lake behind the pin on the mound was so nice. Tricky hole - if you go too far to left of pin or 20' behind it, your disc will likely be swimming.

After playing 9, look at the edge of the lake, where you will see a wooden bridge. Takes you right to 10. After 11, take the foot path along the lake to 12. The course had a good balance of flat, hilly, lefty, righty, backhand, forehand holes. The designer used the terrain and contour of the land to the best of his ability.

Speaking of Holes 10 and 11, the local par is listed as 4, same with 17. Legitimately, I think 10 and 11 should be Par 3's, with 17 being the only true Par 4 (and even that's a small stretch). I'm not always a Par 3 purist however, and at times, I will keep score based on local par.

Oh, let me tell you the 'teaser' from earlier. In case you don't know, you can go to your local library, sign up for a free library card, and actually CHECK OUT a parking pass for any State Park or Historical Site in Georgia. It will waive the entrance or parking fees. So I went to my local library and did just that. (You can check it out for 7 days). Hung the pass on my rearview mirror and... voila! $5 park fee waived! Only had to pay $3 for my round.

I encourage everybody who reads this review to go check out this course. Well worth checking out, despite the short length. Lots of fun holes and the lake scenery more than makes up for the cost to play. And as you're driving into the park (hopefully with your Parkpass in tow just take in all the wonder and scenery of this beautiful state park.

Wow, all the online reviews must be old. There are concrete pads on all holes. Very nice, challenging course with lots of cool elevation features which make it a lot of fun. Playing next to the lake makes for nice scenery

There is a mass of poison ivy. I will be amazed if I don't have some somewhere. It is all wooded and a lot of ivy (regular) so finding rogue discs can be a challenge sometimes.

As others have said, I am not keen on paying an extra $2 after I paid $5 to get into the park.

I see that this course received poor reviews. It has clearly seen some TLC as of late. Weeds appear to have been sprayed in several spots. I spoke to a park attendant and she said that the boy scouts have been in there for their eagle projects. Well God bless the boy scouts. The concrete pads are great. It really is a fun course. Not really for the beginner though.

Difficult with the trees, which makes it fun. Great signage. 2 miles from my house. Nice lake views.
Nice baskets & Concrete Tee boxes.

As of 2-19-11 Recent controlled burn, burned brush but not the fairways.

Wood chips put down on the fairways for many of the holes.

Hilly, #17 Tee still missing sign.

Since the controlled burn, I'm upgrading my rating to 3.5. Before it was between 2.5 - 3.0. Briars are nearly gone since the burn. It is much easier to get your disc if it is off the fairway. They need to do a controlled burn every year or even fall & before spring.