The course at Gardner-Webb University is stunningly beautiful! The 18 holes begin right beside Frank Nanney Hall, with a course map next to the first tee. (NOTE: There has been a slight redesign, since the map was installed. Hole 11 on the map is gone, and has been replaced with a new Hole 12 has been built. The Hole 14 on the map is gone, and has been moved closer to Hole 15.) All of the holes tee off from the sidewalk or tees made out of brick pavers. There are nice DISCatcher baskets and colorful tee signs for each hole as well.

All around the course I noticed signs warning pedestrians of flying discs. I thought this was a really nice touch, considering the course weaves its way through the campus. About half of the course plays around the lake near the student center, the other half plays around other parts of the campus.

The course features a short water carry (Hole 7) and a semi-water carry (Hole 11) that has a precarious putting green perched on the side of a steep hill. While this is not a decent mixture of slightly downhill, slightly uphill, and flat tee shots.

Most holes play with a hole length somewhere around 200' to 250' long, which makes the course a great course for all skill levels. Beginners/casual players are still going to have the potential to make par, but intermediate/advanced players will be aiming for birdie on every hole.

The course is a mostly open to moderately wooded course, but the holes are well designed to typically have some sort of obstacle to be avoided. With the primarily wooded course, Wolfman Woods, only being 10 minutes away, the two are great compliments to each other and can be paired for a fun day of disc golf, with a lot of variety.

Due to being located in prime areas of the campus instead of tucked away in a corner, the maintenance is flawless. And knowing how serious most colleges work on maintaining their appearance, it is likely that the course always looks flawless.

As I stated before, please note that the course map at Hole 1 is slightly wrong. Tweaks were made to the course for holes 11, 12, & 14.

Holes 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, & 11 all play from the sidewalk, but the front edge of the tee has no visible marker. I am not sure if maybe these ones have just worn off, because 13, 16, & 17 (which also play from the sidewalk) have painted lines to denote the edge of the tee. Holes 12 & 14 play perpendicularly from the sidewalk, which creates an uneven run-up, it would be nice if pavers were added to create an even tee, in a similar vein to Hole 18.

The course does play over or around multiple walking paths, and two holes play over one of the college roads. I played on a Saturday during the school year and didn't really have any issues. In fact a couple of times, pedestrians were extremely courteous and told me to throw my disc before they walked by. I could see this being less likely during the weekdays while there are likely to be more students milling about or making their way to class.
There are a few places throughout the layout, where the course has a weird flow. There are a couple of baskets on the front 9 that are very close together which can create a bit of confusion, and cause awkward transitions. Similarly, you have to walk back up Hole 12's fairway and then past Hole 14's tee to reach Hole 13's tee. There is also a very long transition from Hole 15 to Hole 16. While none of these are too big of an issue, if it is your first time here, be sure to take a picture of the course map by Hole 1.

If you are not a huge fan of double mandos, you likely won't be a big fan of Hole 8. I thought it was okay because they at least seemed like they were in place to protect the swing set to the left of the fairway and the tee pad for Hole 9.

Hole 12 is an obvious filler hole meant to replace a hole lost since the course map was installed. It is a downhill, 145' hole that, even with a slightly touchy green, feels out of place compared to the rest of the course. It would be nice if a different hole could be built or if this hole could be lengthened by pushing the basket a bit further into the woods.

Gardner-Webb University is an excellent college course. If I were a student here, or even if I just lived in the Shelby area, I would definitely play here all the time. For everyone else, as I mentioned earlier, playing it and Wolfman Woods on the same day, makes for a great trip of disc golf. For now I am giving it a 2.5 rating. I would love to see the tee pads (or at least the ones with no marker) marked a bit better. It would also be nice, if space is available, for a hole to be added between 15 & 16 somewhere to reduce the long transition to possibly replace Hole 12 or allow Holes 14 & 15 to be combined into a Par 4.

Favorite Holess: 7, 11, 17

I played the 18 hole layout in July 2022. My updated rating reflects this round. Quick summary is this is a fun, rec-level course. Play when the campus is empty and you can experience the entire layout.
- The holes that incorporate the water get an added bonus. Some of the other holes feel like filler; albeit, we're dealing with a limited amount of space.
- At some point I may update everything else. In the meantime everything below here is based on the old 9-hole layout.

****(somewhat outdated) 2012 REVIEW INFO STARTING NOW****

Nice nine-hole layout on the campus of Gardner-Webb. Based on old reviews, the new layout is a big improvement. The course winds throw the back part of campus, behind the lake.
- A good array of hole layouts - doglegs, wooded & open holes, water in play and a little elevation throughout the nine. There is only one 'easy' birdie hole (#8), the other holes require a little shot making to earn your birdies.
- Good use of the land adds to the quality of holes. The water holes are all different from each other: #3 - water is behind basket on downhill shot, so don't throw long; #4 is an uphill shot over the lake & #5 is a downhill, dogleg back over the water. Other holes have good use of trees - #9 is shot around the trees to a protected basket.
- Easy course to navigate. Tee pads are close to previous hole's basket, so minimal wasted walking. Tees are marked by red minis in the ground. This all adds up to a quick round.
- Nice scenery and clean landscape, very pleasant experience playing. I played when no classes were taking play (between spring and summer classes), so campus/course area was deserted. There might be more issues & crowding while school is in session.

Signage could be better. Without UDisc, navigation is tricky in spots. I threw to the wrong hole once. It was more frustrating because it was a great shot. I understand not putting up next tee signs on campus, but have indicators on tee signs and/or baskets.
****(somewhat outdated) 2012 REVIEW INFO STARTING NOW****
A buddy and I couldn't find the first tee. We walked around for 5 minutes and didn't see anything indicating the tee (mini discs, signs, marking on pavement or sidewalk, etc). No problems for the other eight holes.
- The water holes all have some lost disc factor. The water is brown and murky, so any disc in it will be impossible to spot. You also have to be careful not to hit the trees along the water on #5 (it's a creek at this point), or you might end up wet.
- Course is in a greenway area near a lot of buildings, so it might not be playable during school days. There might also be issues parking on campus during those times, so use common sense when playing.
- There is construction going on across the water. It might have an effect on #4 (basket is in the construction area) & #5 tee.

Course is pretty simple and straightforward. You won't be amazed playing here, but you're not going to be disappointed. Along those lines, no single hole is great, but it's a solid variety of 9 decent to above-average holes.
- This course is better (and cleaner) than another nearby nine-holer (Palmer in Shelby).
- Based on the reviews for the old layout, this is a major improvement. I never had a desire to play the old layout, so I was cautiously optimistic when I played. Easy to say, I was pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of this layout. Good job to whoever decided to redo the course. It was a wise choice.
- I wouldn't go out of my way to play here, but if you're driving along 74, it's worth a stop. Based on the conditions when I played here (empty campus, no crowding issues), I'd say this is slightly better than the average 9-holer.