The Ft. Hamby DGC is 18 holes of almost entirely wooded golf. I believe only one of the eighteen holes is open. The course will be located by the first parking area on your right as you head down the park road. There's a course kiosk located by the corner of the lot with a nice course map. Hole 1 will be right there as well.

The baskets here are Discatchers. All of the have the yellow top band which helps to spot them in the shade of the woods. Hole 18 appeared to have 2 baskets on the hole. One with an orange top band. Also easy to spot. All baskets were mounted level and caught great. One pin position per hole, besides hole 18. There's also 2 Discatcher practice baskets just north of the kiosk by the parking lot.

The tee signs are nicely done. The have the hole number in either white (short) or blue (long). In addition to that they have par, distance, the other tee and next tee arrow. The hole map on these are pretty detailed. They show the basic hole overview along with any OB in play and even shows the pin location in relation to trails crossing the fairway.

The 2 different tees on each hole do a great job of changing up the shot shape and overall challenge from whites to blues. I wish I had the chance to try out the blues, but it was raining and I still had to hit Rolling Pines before heading north. The whites were no walk in the park though.

The design of the course is well done. The flow is pretty intuitive in most spots. There's a couple longer walks but there's numerous blue or white arrows pointing you in the right direction. The walk to 18 was the most confusing, but nothing major.

The elevation is used tremendously here. The course traverses up and down the hills throughout the whole round. There is not a single hole that doesn't undulate up or down. The trees will be your main nemesis here. The lines are tight and being off even a couple inches can cost you strokes.

The course is almost split into 2 halves that start and end by the parking lot. Holes 1-11 and 12-18 start and end there.

The number one con here is the tee pads. They're this odd metal or plastic grating over the top of a bed of gravel. I've played on ones like these a couple other times. Not ideal. It was wet and rainy when we played and these things were slick.

The rough wasn't too terrible, but I'd imagine it gets worse as the year goes on. Even today the potential for lost plastic was very real. The water comes into play on one hole and it gets deep fairly quickly (found out for myself).

A couple holes have you throwing over the park road. Holes 1 and 6 from the blue tees. The tees are close enough to the road though, so you should be able to see any traffic coming.

As mentioned in other reviews, hole 5 is just there to get you from hole 4 to hole 6. Feels very out of place compared to the rest of the course.

This course is right up my alley. I absolutely loved this place. It's not the longest course you're going to see by any means, but it's a fun round. I'd be here all the time if I lived nearby. The two sets of tees give it excellent replay value. While not necessarily a destination by any means, Wilkesboro has 2 excellent courses nearby and is worth a little detour if passing through the area.

$5 per vehicle to enter the park.

+ Beautiful park in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, though with all of the elevation on the holes, you feel like you are in the mountains.
+ Some of the best use of elevation I have seen on any course. Usually you don't have to throw extremely up or downhill (with a couple exceptions), but there are steep slopes all along the fairways.
+ Highly technical, heavily wooded golf demands precision and shot-shaping. Fairways are tight but fair.
+ Ridiculously fast and tricky greens (this could be a plus or a minus, depending on your experience). You will probably end up laying up more short putts than usual unless you are willing to risk hundred foot rollaways down steep ravines.
+ Course is well maintained and tee pads are adequate (if a bit short).

- No real signature holes, though several are very enjoyable and well designed.
- A bit treacherous due to the steep slopes. Don't play in the rain, as I was forced to during a recent tournament. Though the course isn't that long, it will give you a good workout, especially on a hot day (this isn't really a negative unless you are looking for a lower intensity disc golf experience).
- Very easy to lose a disc in the lake on the short downhill hole, even if you throw a good shot. Use a putter and just barely throw it - gravity will do the work for you.
- As described above, the greens are very tricky and after hitting the basket and ending up 100 feet further away than you started, you probably won't count this as a plus. I kind of enjoyed the challenge, but it seems like they intentionally placed too many baskets right on the edge of slopes.

The second best course in Wilkesboro (after Rolling Pines), but well worth playing if you are in the area. Does cost $5 per car as an entry fee, but the park has a lot of other activities including fishing, boating, and camping.

If you're road-tripping to Wilkes County for disc golf and haven't played Rolling Pines, that should be your #1 destination. However, if you have time for more than one round -- or if you've played Rolling Pines and want the next-best thing -- Ft. Hamby is the one. (Highland Hills is the very extreme, not for the faint of heart, third option, in my opinion.) Ft. Hamby is also just one of many options at this beautiful park. You could easily turn Ft. Hamby into an all day or all weekend adventure, complete with fun woods golf, fishing, swimming, boating, hiking, and camping. I didn't check out the whole park, but I understand it has a basketball court, horseshoe pit, and outdoor amphitheater too. This is a beautiful, well-maintained, multi-activity, destination park.

+ See above: beautiful destination park with multiple activities, including disc golf. (And the disc golf course is absolutely *not* an after-thought; it's a well-designed and executed track.)

+ This is a heavily wooded, technical course that will challenge all skill levels. With white (intermediate) and blue (advanced) sets of tees, there's something for everyone. I am an intermediate level player and only had time for one round, so I played the whites. Going in to the round, I didn't have super-high expectations because at only 4,095 feet from the whites, I thought this layout might be an easy, borderline red (rec) level track. Wrong. Don't let the short lengths fool you. The 5,538-foot (also pretty short for an advanced course) blues looked very challenging to me. Also, the blues are not simply longer versions of the same layout. On numerous holes, the blue tee approaches are not only longer, but from different angles or just entirely different layouts altogether. There is only one truly open hole (#5) -- probably the weakest hole on the course. Everything else is very technical, requiring lots of touch and accuracy. This course hits the two most important marks, in my book: challenging and fun.

+ This is the most physically demanding 4,095-foot course I've ever played. Granted, I played on a hot summer day and I could probably stand to lose 20 pounds, but I was absolutely gassed by the final 4-5 holes. There is a lot of elevation on this course: one of the biggest pluses, for me. But there's also a lot of elevation in between holes as you walk the course. This thing is a hike!

+ Going back to elevation for a minute, because it deserves repeating and is my favorite unique aspect of this course: the Ft. Hamby designers went out of their way to fit in numerous fun and challenging downhill holes. Sometimes the walks between holes are a little bit longer -- but the payoff greater -- to get to downhill holes. There are also some uphill holes, of course, but as with most tracks, the downhill ones are the most fun and memorable. The standout to me is the second-shortest hole on the course at only 150 feet from the whites: hole #13. It's a steep downhill tunnel shot to a small green surrounded by water. I threw a soft putter shot dead straight. It went over the basket by about 2 feet -- 2 feet! -- and skipped right into the water. This is a great risk/reward hold requiring all kinds of touch. And the lake is so clean, clear, and beautiful, I had no problem wading into the water to get my disc back.

+ Speaking of risk/reward, there are several fast greens that challenge you to confidently hit your putts...or timidly miss and endure a roll-away. I know some people aren't fans of placing baskets on hills and ridges (or on islands surrounded by water, as mentioned above), but I love this aspect of course design and think it's the best way to make putting more exciting, interesting, and challenging.

+ Navigation was simple and there are arrows for both the blue and white layouts. Many times there are separate goat paths for the two sets of tees, as the holes are laid out quite differently for white vs. blue.

+ Nice parking area with course bulletin board, scorecards, and a couple of practice baskets.

+ Beautiful piece of property and well-maintained. I didn't see any trash at all on the course.

+ While I didn't throw too many drivers off the tee (a negative), I was forced to use a lot of different types of shots: hyzer, flex, anhyzer, and flick.

Nothing major, but a few nit-picks. Overall, this is a very good course and well worth the trip.

- As mentioned, for a short course (yardage wise), it's extremely physically demanding, technical, and challenging. That said, it would be nice to throw a few more drivers off the tee. Sure, your response to that is: "Well, you should play the blue tees." True. And next time I will. But as an intermediate player, I expect the white tees to provide the best challenge to my game that's not going to completely crush me. If/when I get to play the blues, I'll get to throw more drivers, but I'll also likely be traipsing through the woods and rough more too, as I don't have the long-distance accuracy that an advanced player would. And advanced players still are likely not throwing too many drivers off the blue tees. It's just a shorter course at both difficultly levels, that's all. It still has plenty to throw at you in terms of challenge; distance just isn't a key element here.

- There's a good bit of underbrush that could stand to be cut down and pulled out. There is some disc loss potential. (I mentioned the lake, but to me that's an acceptable risk and worth it for a beautiful hole.) But it's never fun to lose a disc after throwing a good drive that's either just off the fairway...or even *on* the fairway...a fairway that's overgrown.

- Not a major con in my book, but it is unique that the course really sets up as a front 11 and back 7. Hole #11 finishes near the practice baskets and parking lot. The hole #12 tee is the closest to the parking area, other than hole #1.

I really enjoyed this course. Put it on your wish list, if you haven't played it yet. This is a great destination course that you could make a day out of playing -- and enjoying the other aspects of the park.

This course has great signage, which is something I really appreciate. The white and blue tees are different enough in their spacing and placement to make the two options play like two completely different course. The path to each tee is marked as they often require a different trail to get to white/blue. Navigating here without a map is fine. I think there is something here for newbs and advanced players alike.

There are signs at at every tee pad, not just the shorts or longs as at many course. The tee pads themselves were large rubber mats and were level and worked just fine for me.

The course itself is heavily wooded and the rough can be rough and punishing. Roll-aways are a danger on many holes. A fair mix of left and right and up and down holes. There are some really fun downhill throws on this one. Just be careful on 13 as you could go in the lake.

The course has lots of elevation and I enjoyed the extra workout. Where the holes require a throw over the road, visibility is high and not likely to cause issues.

Not sure why, but we were the only disc golfers out on a beautiful 70° Saturday morning. I don't know if this is normal, but I enjoyed it.

The rough is rough and there are lots of blind throws. I might be inclined to use a spotter on some holes next time as I lost a brand new disc that must have rolled far away.

#5 did seem a little out of place and just a straight throw across an open field from the white tees.

There is normally a $5 entry fee, but the guy at the gate told us it was a "free" day. This course is right off a major highway that I travel a few times a year. I'll be stopping back through, for sure.

My dad and I are noodle arms so we played the white tees.

Fort Hamby is a solid, wooded, and hilly course. With a solid design and layout, it ranks as the second best course in Wilkes County - behind Rolling Pines, and edging out Highland Hills.
- Great use of terrain. There are a lot of uphill and downhill holes throughout the course. Lots of variety in the wooded fairway factor - from narrow fairways, such as #8 & 11 - to (relatively) wider ones, allowing players to be more aggressive, such as #12, 16 & 17. Some of the better downhill holes are #6, 9, 13 (great risk-reward hole with water behind the basket) & 17. As for the uphill layouts, #12 & 16 are solid, while #14 will garner plenty of attention for its interesting design.
- Solid risk/reward factor. There are lots of birdie chances, especially from the shorter tees. If you're on your game, you can score very low here. If you get overly aggressive and/or get some bad bounces, some 'easier' holes will quickly turn into bogey (or worse) holes.
- I'll highlight the interesting combo of #13 & 14. #13 is a tight gauntlet layout that just happens to play straight downhill. At 190 feet (long tee) or 150 feet (shorts) You're really just throwing a putt or short flick. DON'T GO LONG - or even come in too fast - or you'll be in serious trouble. The water factor turns this very birdie-able layout into a potential blow-up hole. #14 is the complete opposite in that you're throwing straight uphill. It's a blind tee shot that's listed at 127 to 138 feet (short & long, respectively), but, obviously, plays much longer. I threw a mid-range disc and still came up a good 30 feet short. From there, you're dealing with a basket on the edge of a drop-off, so the birdie putt is even more challenging. Not sure what it says about the state of my game that I came away from these two holes shooting par-par, and I wasn't upset about it.
- Great tee signs. Signs are very descriptive, very easy-to-read, and are overall very helpful, especially for first-time players. Add to that, there is great signage between holes, with arrows pointing to both the white (short) and blue (long) tee pads. I printed out a map beforehand, but didn't need it at all thanks to these steps.
- Great flow to the course. The course plays throughout the winding hills of the park, with holes often alternating between uphill and downhill layouts. I never felt I was playing the same shot/layout too often as there was a great mix of doglegs, straight holes, tight and wider layouts sprinkled throughout the course. It was also nice (usually) having an easier hole or two after the tougher layouts. The lone exception is the tough back-to-back stretch of #7 & 8, where most players are going to have to work for their 3s. At least you get a fun, birdie-able/ace-run layout on #9 after that stretch.

The biggest issue I had with the course design is that too many holes used the 'gimmicky' trick of placing baskets on the edge of hills. Most courses have a couple of these basket placements. There were just enough here that I noticed it and it became an annoyance. Again, that's my ONLY complaint with the course design.
- Goat paths down (and up) some of the hills could be better designed for safety purposes. I played on an autumn day just after a heavy rain. Between that and the downed leaves, a couple paths were slick and I had on great footwear. Having steps and or ropes (similar to Highland Hills) would be a nice added touch in the future.
- I wasn't a big fan of some of the holes from the long tees. It seems pretty clear (to me, at least) that the course was built for the short layouts first and foremost, then the long tees were added. Whereas some holes have natural layouts and flows from the short tees - holes #2-4 & 6 come to mind - the long layouts have awkward/odd flows to them. Hole #3 has a sharp dogleg within the first third of the hole, then a second sharp dogleg in the opposite direction in the final third. I missed the intended fairway on #6 long bad enough that I ended up in the fairway for the short tee, and ended up in a much better position that my friends who had barely missed the correct, long fairway. Somehow being 30-40 feet right of my target was better than only missing your line by 5-10 feet. Go figure.
- #5 is a complete 'fill in the gap' hole, in that you've got a long walk across the field going from #4 to 6. To break up that walk, it feels like a hole was put in to shorten the 'walk' portion. There's already an even longer walk going from #17 to 18 so I'd rather have a long walk here and get a better hole somewhere in the woods. And yes, there's a tremendous amount of unused space close to other holes that you could easily knock off the worst holes here, and replace them with elite layouts.
- The course isn't really broken into two 9-hole layouts. Rather, the first loop is holes #1 - 11, and the second loop is #12 - 18. After finishing #11, you walk past hole #1 to get to 12. I could see some disc golfers getting confused with layout, especially those who have been inebriated with foreign substances.
- This is a small problem that I could see as a possible major one. The second time I played this layout (May 2016), the course was less than a year old. In that time, basket layouts were already being tinkered with...and not in a good way. First off, you've got elite tee signs, so those are now useless on holes #9 & 14. Second, the new layouts aren't improving the holes. On #9 especially, you had a potential ace run hole to a horrible layout that now uses part of a park walking trail as part of the hole. Oh, and you're completely blind from the tee to whether someone could be on the trail. Making the hole worse is bad enough. Adding potential danger to non-disc golfers when there's no reason to do so? An utterly inexcusable and thoughtless choice.

Fort Hamby is a very solid course. I've now played both the long and short layouts. The shorts give you more birdie chances, allowing players to be more aggressive. From the longer tees, you'll see a more grueling round, with accuracy vital to any good round.
- This course is open to play even when the park is technically closed. When the front gate is locked, you park in the small lot to the right of the gate. From there, the first hole you come to is #6. I loved starting my round with such a fun layout. The downside with starting the round on #6 is that I also ended my round with the course's worst hole - #5, as I stated above. Still, it's probably easier doing it this way than having a long walk to start at #1.
- From the short tees, this course had lots of similarities to Reedy Creek in Charlotte - a good, wooded and technical course that can appeal to many skill levels. I imagine this being a course many casual and newbies will play. I feel comfortable bringing those players here while also bringing in very experienced players. Courses that can appeal to many skill sets are hard to find/
- After playing this course a second time, I was slightly less impressed than the first time. Several things went into that: the basket changes on holes #9 & 14; the grass was really high on the front 9; not a fan of some of the long hole layouts; and, oh yeah, I had just played a grueling round at Ashe. Still, I'm giving this course a 3.5 rating. The shine on that rating isn't as bright, but it's still a solid, enjoyable place to play. For out-of-towners, it's almost a requirement that you play at least two of the three Wilkes County courses (Hamby, Rolling Pines, Highland) or Ashe County. You do that, and you've got a solid day trip.

Typically when I play a new course with two sets of tees, I play just one set but visually check out the other. Not so at Hamby. I played the blues and on some holes, I didn't even see the white tee. Rarely have I seen a course that so differentiates the fairways of the different tees. When I did see the whites, it was the result of the course's favorite trick: create a solid hole from the white tee, then put the blue tee about fifty feet behind the white, and thirty feet lower. Seriously, I don't know how they found so many sharp inclines to put tees under but I'm so glad they did. This course from the blues is a lot of fun and can be summarized in three words: short and steep. The inclines in general here are so steep that if you don't like throwing up, you should pass. Obviously there are going to be hills in this area but in contrast to nearby Rolling Pines these are shorter and punctuated by flat spaces. And much steeper. There is solid length from the blues and quite a bit of variety when it comes to fairway shape and distance. The holes, when cleared, make for a really nice design. Not a shot here that you want to throw.

Not sure where the course is in development but while some fairways and trails have been constructed with utmost care, some seem to be not yet built. I would have probably let it pass if it had been listed more recently, but he first reviews are from the spring and at this point there shouldn't be fairways with knee high vegetation. I fear that rather than not yet built fairways, these are areas that don't allow for a riding mower and will be left to fend for themselves. It's only 3-4 holes but it's a big downer. It is very possible that I just happened to be there the day before it was mowed down, but this is a national park with paid labor. It should never be that bad.

I can't believe that a town this size has three courses of such a high quality. Combined, the three make a great day trip with very little travel between courses and I highly recommend it.

NC Disc Golf just gets better. I was really surprised playing this course for the first time. There are some beautiful lines and hole shapes. Especially as you get near the end and get to play around the water. This course has it all. Long wooded shots, narrow fun ace runs, water, and even an open shot (albiet an approach). The water hole isnt too scary, you should be able to retrieve your disc easily in the clear water. Signage is great, informative and friendly, with some environmental information for you to read too. Fairways appeared to be generally "fair" and left adequate landing zones for par 4 shots. While a bit lefty friendly, I think the throws could be executed by both types of throwers. No shots were impossible for either lefty or righty. There weren't a lot of super straight throws. This made you feel like there was variety. The teepads were sufficient and felt like they had grip. Definitely framed in well, only time will tell how they hold up. I think you could survive this course with just mids, since the par 4's were really short but a fairway driver or 2 wouldnt hurt. The undergrowth, while a bit thick in areas wasn't disc eating. If you are just off the fairway you might have to pitch back out. Course was clean, quiet, and pay-to-play is a + in my book if some of the funds go to course amenities. If you are in the area, dont miss out, its a quick play and well worth the time.

Some small but largely fixable cons. This first one, however is not, probably fixable. A decent percentage of the teepads were framed uphill. That's one of the toughest throws, and even more difficult that they aren't concrete. They were not installed level and that is a major con in my book. This course utilizes elevation and ravines. Goat trails and rudimentary stairs are installed but I can see these eroding away with play and rain. Some more permanent safety measures need to go into place. Baskets on hill sides need retaining walls to protect the ground around them. A number of the greens are VERY small and you will be in dense brush even in the circle. 40' rings need to be cleared out of the small stuff. The par 4's are like 350-400' so they end up being 2 short throws. Not entirely bad but you will see eagles as the course wears in. Some of the stairs, while greatly appreciated, were installed at angles or tilted and loose. They will pull out or be even slipperier than the ground around them. It might be good to go through and straighten them up a little bit. A few of the fairways are narrow, trees will lean in to them, so regular maintenance will need to be addressed.

Please stop here, great course, well worth the $ to enter. Enjoy your time. Thanks to the builders for bringing another gem to NC.
*with some more permanent stairs, retaining walls, and goat trails, and benches I would absolutely elevate this course above a 4 disc rating.

well maintained maps of the hole are excellent white and blue tee box, great scenery direction to the next hole are great

a few of the wholes are very simple and had to pay a dollar to play

add some benches and hooks to hang your bag on