PARK DESCRIPTION - Knox Owensby designed and built this course as his Eagle Scout project. 10 bonus points if you can tell me who was the only US President to become an Eagle Scout? Answer is below. Hurricane Shoals is quite a nice little park with a pioneer village, creek rushing through, a lovely wooded area and the open grassy area where the course starts.

VARIETY - Definitely a weakness here as there are basically only two throws needed. Holes 1-5 play with the tree line on your right leaving you with the same short right turning throw each hole. Then 6-9 play out in the sloping grassy area with open holes reaching up to # 9's 380'.

ELEVATION - There is some throughout the course as you throwing slightly uphill on some of the early holes and then finishing with the longer sloping downhill # 9.

CHALLENGE - Not much for anyone over recreational level but it would be appropriate for beginners and local rec players.

EQUIPMENT - For a scout project, the equipment is just what you would expect. Older, temporary single chain baskets, natural tee pads, black and white tee signs mounted on a board with a plexiglass cover with a basic map. There is a kiosk with a simple course map.

AESTHETICS - It's not unappealing but at the end of the day, it's still a field with the fairways mowed. The fairways have been mowed recently so there is some maintenance being done.

FUN FACTOR - Often for me, the fun factor at some of these courses is trying to birdie or eagle the holes where the pars are set for elementary kids or perhaps in this case, by the scout who just didn't know any better. Here you have the signs reading that #1 is a 205' par 4 but the one I liked most was # 9. It's 380', gradually sloping, over downhill and is listed as Par 6! So, a 5 is a birdie, a 4 is an Eagle, a 3 is a double Eagle and a doable 2 is a rare Triple Eagle. I think the double Eagle might also be referred to as an Albatross.

ROUTING/NAVIGATION - It's pretty basic, playing counter clockwise around this field with the next tee always in sight.

OTHER THOUGHTS - What a shame that this course doesn't start and partially play through the wooded area by the parking lot. It has scattered trees and sloping terrain which would have made for a wonderful couple of holes and given the course the much-needed variety and personality. But in Eagle Scout Owen's defense, I'm going to have to assume that these woods were not made available for his project.

The gravel tee pads are mostly unusable and players will be teeing off next to or behind them.

Single chain older basket.

Lack of variety and excitement.

Recreational challenge.

Not being able to place some holes in the lovely, wooded area.

Imagine my severe disappointment, when entering my scores on my DGCR AP, I discovered that all the holes were considered Par 3's and I had lost 4 birdies, two Eagles, an albatross, a flightless Dodo and a partridge in the pear tree.


Answer to today's trivia quiz: Gerald Ford, as witnessed in his Presidential Library in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Seems appropriate to first note that by all appearances this course was entirely put together for someone's Eagle Scout project, which I think is pretty cool. It's a scenic field with some open shots.

-Natural Beauty: It sounds silly to say, but this is a really beautiful field. Hurricane Shoals is just outside the grip of metro Atlanta, and the rural feel of wide open spaces with gentle slopes and living things is great. Rolls of hay dotted the area off the fairway on my visit.

-Amenities: Good chains. Tee signs include distance, beginner-level par, and a small map.

-Gameplay: All shots are very open, but two elements come into play to make the course more interesting. First, a treeline is used on many of the first 5 holes, creating some kind of right-turning shot. Second, the gentle elevation changes enhance some of the field shots, most notably the downhill plays of (6) and (9).

-Beginner Friendly: Good place for new players with very few obstacles. The beginner pars on the tee signs will give them something reasonable to shoot for.

It's too open to hold interest.

-Lack of Variety: There are two shots here. The first is a 150-200 foot right-turning shot with nothing on the left and woods on the right, the second a wide open 250-400 foot meadow. That gets a little monotonous for experienced players.

-Tees: Gravel-filled 3' x 3' boxes aren't even big enough to x-step. I threw from beside them.

-Exposure: Not a big con, but in a wide open field you'll get lots of sun, lots of wind, and lots of ants.

-Upkeep: A lot of the signs are beginning to lose their definition. Hopefully someone comes by in the next year to freshen them up.

This is a cool Eagle Scout project. It's a good beginner's course. It's a beautiful field/meadow. But as an attempt at a recreational disc golf course it doesn't do very well. I've played dozens more courses since first reviewing this one, and I've decided that it is closer to Poor than my original Passable.

As another note, Hurricane Shoals Park is much cooler than its disc golf. There's an old mill and very pleasant shoals--my partner and I enjoyed getting our feet wet and watching the rapids after playing the round. It's not too far off the interstate, and would be a great place to quickly golf and picnic during a road trip.

-This is a very scenic place far down in the country. It's isolated, it includes an old corn mill right beside the parking lot and a historical heritage village. That automatically makes this place unique. As for the course, I kinda liked it. There's something about it that I really liked and makes me want to go back sometime.

-The troop of Eagle Scouts did a really good job with the land available. None of the holes here are bad. Most of them are pretty straight, but one of them is a neat dogleg right. I also liked hole 9. It's a cool downhill throw. The hole is wide open, but the appearance of it does excite you. It has that "Grandma's backyard" feeling.

-The red baskets were unique. They aren't disc catchers but they catch just as well I think. The course also had nice tee diagrams with the hole info.

-Navigation for the most part is a breeze. It's a simple quiet walk out in a nice grassy field. A field that isn't flat. There is also a sign directing you to the course once you get to the entrance. Park by the kiosk.

-The view itself is a pro. This place is very picturesque on a sunny day.

-The main problem is where the tee signs are placed. They are right in the back of the tee pads. I didn't need much of a run up on any of the holes, but I did on a few. Brings me to say this course is painfully over parred. Hole 1 is a 205', very aceable hole but it's listed as a par 4. Now hole 9 is listed as a par 6. Why? I got a two on this hole; a minus four score and I don't know what that's considered. Fun hole, but clearly an all par 3 course.

"Put the peppermint stick in the orange and use it as a straw to sip through it." We all come to find that doesn't work. My kindergarten library teacher told my class to do that for some Christmas event. I knew even as a six year old that it doesn't work that way. It's the same way with tee pads and tee signs. Don't stick the sign in the pad.

-This is a nice unique place to visit and play disc golf. I could see people developing a stronger interest in the game after playing this course. I really liked the red baskets. Something about the red baskets and green grass made this place beautiful and feel like a better part of Georgia. Every hole here is likable to some degree. With holes 3, 6, and 9 being somewhat more enjoyable than the normal open hole. Those three holes utilize the available elevation pretty well. Even though it's not that significant, it is nice and interesting.

-8/29/2019. I heard from one of the designers that the park requested that they put the signs in the pad. So I'm upvoting this course to a 2. It has some fun holes and it's a gorgeous place for a relaxing round of golf. I think a 1.5 is a bit low in hindsight.