Four Poles is a decent 9-hole track less than 5 minutes away from the very popular, high traffic (double meaning) Park Circle. I stumbled upon Four Poles because I was planning to play Park Circle, realized my window to play golf wasn't going to allow for 18 holes (with lots of people on the course), and fortunately a brand new 9-hole track was very close by. As far as beginner to intermediate-level short tracks go, Four Poles is a good one and worth a stop before, after, or in lieu of Park Circle.

+ The top plus is the scenery for most of the course: beautiful Lowcountry trees and setting.

+ As far as 9-hole tracks go, Four Poles has better than average distance, shot variety, technicality, and difficulty.

+ Four Poles is a good intermediate challenge and will test your shot making skills mostly in the 250-280 foot range. I'm primarily a RHBH player and I threw lots of annies and flex shots. My more forehand-leaning son threw lots of flicks.

You'll see in my ratings that I tend to be tougher on short tracks than 18-hole+ courses...because by definition they can't offer as much variety or (usually) as much of a challenge. So don't let a 2.0 rating deter you. This is a decent little course.

- For the pretty setting of most of the course, there's an abandoned building with barbed wire fence around it.

- Hole 7 is my least favorite and I thought a rather poke and hope hole.

- The holes are somewhat jammed into a small space, so watch for other players, and yet navigation can still be iffy in places. No tee signs or pads yet.

Definitely worth your time if you are passing through or if you're local and want to work on your short game or want a quick round or two.

Four Poles is a fun, intermediate level course that has two distinct feels. Play the holes along the road & new subdivision, and you feel as if you're encroaching on the neighborhood. Play in the back part of the course, and you feel as if you're out in nature. Just be sure to play this course before it's gone.
- This was a fun, simple layout. You can navigate this course for a quick round and/or with only a disc or two with relative ease.
- Great scenery. I loved the backdrops for holes #1, 2 & 5. These baskets back up to marshes of Noisette Creek. There's also a boardwalk past #5's basket. A nice place to stop for a couple minutes and enjoy the fresh smell of pluff mud.
- Wooded, natural feel. In case you didn't know, there are lots of magnolias in the Low Country. You're throwing around plenty on this course, including several larger, more mature ones. They can really prove to be tricky on #2 & 4.
- High emphasis on accuracy. Just look at #1. From the tee, it looks as if you're throwing directly to the marshes and pipelines. You better get that disc cutting back to the left or you'll learn quickly that even if a disc is visible, it's lost. Holes #6 - 8 also require accuracy as the fairways get tighter. #8 is the toughest (relatively) and best (again, relatively) of these three holes.
- Proximity. You're one mile from Park Circle. Play this course once or twice, jump in the car, and tee off on #1 at PC in seven minutes.
- Abandoned old building factor is high. There is an abandoned old building at the front of the park. Unfortunately it is surrounded by a razor-wired fence. It's still cool because it's an abandoned building.
- Good for a quick round. I played in about 20 minutes. That includes stopping to enjoy the scenery at multiple points. For a regular/fast player, you'll be done in 15 minutes. Easy to squeeze in 27 in an hour.

Two major work-in-progress issues: navigation and tees.
- Navigation is not good. If you park in the 'parking lot' or alongside the road, you'll most likely follow existing path into the park. If you do this, as I did, you'll see markers for a tee area. I tee off from here, threw to the basket, walked towards the basket, and....found out I was on hole #4. It wasn't until after finishing the hole, I looked up the online map on another app, and found out where hole #1 is.
- Basically the course has simple markers for tee areas. The markers don't have hole numbers or signs pointing to the next hole. Most holes had some semblance of a transition between holes, some being more defined than others. That said, there will need to be signage here or this will be too much of a nuisance for first-time players to stomach.
- Tees are dirt areas with small markers. When the course is dry, they're dirt tee pads. After rain, they're mud pads. Either way, you thankfully don't need big runups for a course that has no holes longer than 300 feet.
- The course isn't welcomed by the locals. The new neighborhood was ok to tear down old houses for their benefit, yet when old stuff is torn down for others (in this case, disc golfers), they're already complaining. The vibes coming out is that anything bad going on in the park (aka litter, cars parked alongside the road) are going to be blamed on disc golfers. The region already has a history of courses being pulled due to local outrage (does anyone remember Eagle Landing in Hanahan?). If I had to bet, this course won't be here long.
- Locals use the park as a place to walk their dogs. Watch your feet (although they'll blame the piles on disc golfers too) and watch before you throw. That will lead to the course being yanked sooner than later.

Four Poles was a very fun course. There are only two 'eh/shoulder shrug' holes - #6 & 7 - that just seemed to exist. Other holes all had nice flows to them throughout the park.
- This course is really crammed into a tight space. It wasn't until I finished my round that it really stood out how little room is here. You're looking at about five to six acres to have nine holes that don't overlap. That's still a lot more space than the amount of space this course should be based upon its name. That's 1,089 square feet.
- Nine is a change-of-pace closing hole. Right around 200 feet, you're teeing off along the edge of the woods/tree line while having open room to the right. You can throw the more direct, tighter line straight ahead or aim further right and expect to have a sweeping right-to-left shot back to the basket. If the hole was longer, this would seemingly be a more realistic option. As it is, take the more direct line and end up in putting range.
- I think the first hole is one that will grow on players the more you play it. Once you familiarize yourself with this dogleg left tee shot and have taken the marsh out of play, this will be a fun layout. I played it safe, too safe in reality, and left myself a tough second shot. I thought I was cutting it close and I still had 50 feet to work with.
- I hope this course stays in the ground. It's a fun play. Cooler heads will hopefully prevail when the difficult neighbors see the benefits of having a course. I guarantee that were the course to be pulled, the littering and other problems won't go away.
- Another benefit of this course is its proximity to the Park Circle food and drink scene. There are some great spots to eat here. I'm a big fan of Sesame Burger.
- I'll give this a 2.0. It's a bit better than your average 9-holer. It's not as good as Park Circle. If you're looking for a local comp, there are lots of elements of Tidal Creek aka Fire Swamp.