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Thomasville, NC

Hughes Park DGC

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2.335(based on 6 reviews)
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11 0
Moose33
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 12.4 years 219 played 216 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Ace run time! 2+ years

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Oct 18, 2021 Played the course:once

Pros:

I basically just picked this one because it was near the highway and I wanted to stretch my legs. As you pull up, you pass a couple of baseball fields and end up in a gravel lot where you will find a sign proclaiming"Disk Golf ->" and as you pull up to the parking area there is a small sign pointing you at hole 1 and letting you know that you need to finish your round by 7pm.

Since it was 6:10 I was wondering if I would have to cut the round short. Turns out that worry is completely unfounded. The course is mainly shorter holes that are slightly wooded and require a touch of shot shaping, but at 120-250ft if you can avoid first available you usually have a putt.

There are a couple of longer holes mixed in that share a field in the 400-470 range that are very soft par 4/5s and at least let you air it out a bit.

Decent signs, but no map and two of the holes I didn't birdie probably would have been 2s if I had known where the basket was.

Pads are wooden frame with pea gravel in them and are a decent size for the short length of many of the holes. Baskets are Innova disc catchers and in pretty good shape.

Course isn't going inspire high ratings, but I played 18 holes in 40 minutes without running so quick play and a reasonable ace run on 14 of the holes.

Fun little play, great place to lean the game and get new players started.

Cons:

It's a fairly basic course, that plays fairly short and though pretty well played isn't super special. Pads are uneven and several of the fairways come close to one another on the open holes.

One basket also has the inner chain ring displaced and I'm not even sure how that even happens.

A couple of well designed holes, but just a basic red level course, fun but basic.

Other Thoughts:

Good spot to learn how to play and pad your ace count, not much beyond that unfortunately.
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7 0
DiscGolfCraig
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 20 years 605 played 549 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Hughes Park 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 29, 2020 Played the course:once

Pros:

Taking the fun Welborn Woods nine-hole layout, incorporating the open field for additional holes, and you're given the new Hughes Park course. Still a fun short course, just with a little more filler material.
- This is a short course. 18 holes total 4056 feet. Taking away the two 400-foot plus layouts (#11 & 12), the other 16 holes only average 201 feet. Can you say birdie fest.
- The course is a nice split between open and wooded. The open holes are the longer layouts, allowing for more aggressive throwing. The wooded holes play much shorter, requiring a little more precision. Even then, the fairways are wide enough to allow most skill levels to succeed here.
- This is a fantastic course for beginners. In some ways, hole #1 may be one of the most challenging shots for a beginner. The rough is deceivingly thick and an errant tee shot can discourage a first timer. Get through #1 and things get easier.
- I enjoy the simplistic challenges of #2 - 5. #2 is a slight uphill, open 261 foot hole. #3 & 4 are also open field shots with baskets protected by the single tree on the fairway. #5 is an open, uphill 224-foot shot. Adjust for the distance increase and park your tee shot here.
- In terms of scenery and charm, #7 is one of the best simple holes I've played. The fairway is nestled between a rustic farmhouse and outbuilding. It's only 140 feet, but you're throwing to a basket protected by a tree. There's a level of tranquility here that makes one want to kick off their shoes and lay down next to the tree. The only thing this scene is missing is the babbling brook running alongside. Seriously though, if the farmhouse could turn into a clubhouse, this would be a great hangout.
- The final six holes are in the woods. #15 plays close to a pond. I still think there's a way to incorporate the pond as it seems it's not used for anything else.
- Course can be played with only a couple of discs. Good for a quick round. It was less than 40 minutes from the time I hopped out of my truck to when I was back in and leaving.

Cons:

The tee pads are way too short. They are gravel. But they're framed. If there is a plan to pour the pads, please extended them to regulation length.
- #1 sticks out like a sore thumb. It's not good as a first impression. It takes several more holes to get the stench of #1 off of you before you can really start enjoying the round. Push the tee back 75 feet and you at least bring the rough into play on both sides.
- Signage for the course could be greatly improved. Pulling into the park, there's one sign for a 'disk golf' course. Keep driving past one lot, then you end up in a wide-open field. Where's the course? Drove through the field until I saw a small sign for the course. How about one more sign, pointing to the right, towards the first hole?
- Going from 9 to 18 holes, there are obvious spots where holes were added to simply get to 18. #2 & 3, #11 & 12, and #16 & 17 all play the first hole outbound, turn around and play right back to where you started. The only reason #11 & 12 are the only 400-foot holes is that if you have one 400 feet plus, the other needs to be just as long to head back.
- Course lacks basic amenities - trash cans, benches, and simple signage. The first sign for the course is once you're in the back half of the park. From there, you're on your own to find the first tee.
- For being so close to the interstate, I felt like I was in the middle of nowhere. The first time I played here, I took back roads so I felt as if I were in the middle of nowhere. The second time I played, I was surprised I was only 5 minutes from the interstate. That's also where you'll find the nearest gas stations for food, drinks, and restrooms.

Other Thoughts:

Hughes Park was a surprisingly fun course. It was a scaled-down version of a typical course. For short courses, (4000-foot range), this is near the top of the best I've played
- The biggest thing this course lacks is variety. There's not a longer wooded hole. There's not one that weaves in and out of the woods. There's nothing that stands out as wow or different. Again, simply throwing over the pond would be a fun, different look.
- The eight wooded holes - #6, 10, 13 - 18 - all range in length from 133 to 229 feet. That's putter or mid-range throws on all eight.
- Here's what I wrote for my Welborn Woods layout, "The park has a lot of unused space that you could expand to a full 18. A beginner-friendly, birdie-fest sub-4000-foot layout would be a fantastic addition to the Triad." I think they did a solid job making the transition.
Think of Elon Eager Beaver in Charlotte (3300-foot layout) and how popular that is.
- For more advanced players, this is a birdie-polooza or ace run. Players more skilled than me will be making a run at 18 straight birdies, or at least breaking 40. My round of 48 wasn't only a 895 rating according to DGCR. I had some solid tee shots, but definitely lost some strokes due to slightly askew tee shots or poor putts.
- This is a solid, decent course. For beginners, kids, and casual players, I think this is a great place to play. To make championship level courses possible, we do need beginner-friendly courses to draw a bigger pool of players.
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8 0
BrotherDave
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 16.9 years 192 played 189 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Ace Race Destination 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:May 31, 2020 Played the course:once

Pros:

This course has 18 nice baskets, tees that are fairly easily to locate, solid tee signs, some benches, and holes that are more or less conventional. Some of the holes are in the woods, some of them are in a big field. There's a pond that is marginally in play on a couple of holes but mostly just aesthetic.

This is a good course for beginners, kids, and those that just want to run chains over and over. It's just begging to have a Discraft Ace Race type tournament here, very little modification would be needed. Only 2, maybe three holes are too long for most players to reach for an ace. The wooded holes on the back 9 are fun, technical holes that you see in NC disc golf a lot.

Cons:

The tees are not great. They're smallish, framed above ground pea gravel, and basically every one was rutted out in the middle. So footing kind of sucked as you do the tango around the perimeter of the tee without rolling your ankle off the side.

The baskets are good but at least 4 were assembled improperly where a chain is wrapped around the pole.

A lot of these holes are very short, like jump-putt short. Not necessarily a bad thing since entry-level courses are fine for introducing people to the sport but it seems like some of them could've been at least try to look like par 3's instead of obvious par 2's. Mostly due to this big field that the middle of the course plays along 3 sides of. I can only assume that most of this field is not park property but that's weird since the park nearly surrounds it. If it is park property, they could've avoided going from 100' holes to 400' holes and spaced the holes out a bit more. There's also a decent sized field right next to hole 18 that isn't used but that could be due to use as overflow parking for baseball games.

One hole plays between a barn and somebody's house. You're literally in someone's back yard (I don't think anybody lives in the house). It's kind of cool but it's also one of those short, filler holes that seems unnecessary due to that big field.

Distances are way off. For example you play uphill one hole, do a 180* turn and play the next hole down the hill. They appear to be the same length but somehow the downhill hole is listed as 30'-50' farther than the uphill hole. This is especially curious when the downhill hole is a par 5 and the uphill hole is a par 4.

The par 5 gave me my first albatross opportunity, hahaha. It's funny b/c I only sniff 400' on a good day.

A lot of baskets and tees are really close to each other so you need to be polite and try not to distract people on other holes.

Hole 18 is super muddy and its tunnel will probably close really fast if tree branches aren't trimmed routinely. The mud is likely due to the massive amounts of rain we've had recently though.

Other Thoughts:

I threw a lot of cons on here but honestly it's a decent course and a good warm-up. If you're coming from the south to play Creekside in Archdale this is a great warm-up for that for instance. It is a pitch and putt but there are enough trees on some holes and enough distance on others to scratch your disc golf itch and spice it up a little. I enjoyed it because I like to flick putters, drive mids, and throw a Polecat. If you need to rip a Destroyer or Cloudbreaker every hole to have fun, you won't enjoy it as much.

I might seriously take some tools and fix those baskets with the wrapped chains though, my OCD was killing me, lol.
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