There are a lot of positives about this course.

Layout- The layout is pretty intuitive with a good flow. I did get a little turned around looking for the tee box on hole 4, but I attribute that more to it being my first time playing than a poor design.

Floor- The sandy floor is awesome. I've never played another course with a floor like this, and it was a huge reason i wanted to try it out. I was not disappointed. Air shots are pretty much the only play here, even though a lot of the holes also have low ceilings. The combination of low ceiling and sandy floor made for a very fun and unique challenge.

Location- The course is very accessible. Close to major roads and located in a public park, so there's free parking less than 100 feet from the practice basket and first tee box.

Map- There's a large course map just before hole 1 that's pretty true to the course. It shows all tee locations, basket locations, and paths from each hole to the next. It was cool to see an overview of the entire course. There are also signs at every tee pad with basket locations and distances.

Tees- The tees are a combination of rubber mats, concrete, brick, and wood. I was sure that with the sand I'd find myself slipping on a tee pad or two, but that wasn't an issue at all. There are also benches at every single tee, which is nice if you're playing with a group, if you're waiting to play through, or if you just want to take a break or set your bag up off the ground.

Hole variation- There are short holes (<200 feet), average holes (270-350 feet) and long-ish holes (450+ feet). There are also par 3s, 4s, and one par 5. Some holes are wide open, some are highly wooded, some are straight, and some have sharp turns (an overhand is a fun play from the tee on a couple of holes). I used every shot in my arsenal on this course.

Signage- I found a couple of the hole maps to be misleading or inaccurate. One hole in particular had a sign that showed the basket ahead and slightly to the right, but after I threw an anhyzer RHBH, I moved to where I could see the basket and realized it was actually to the left, so my shot ended up 100 feet off the fairway from where I should have been. Since I couldn't see the basket from the tee pad, I was relying on the sign and it was misleading, at best. Most holes did not have this issue.

Multiple tee pads/baskets- There is an "alternate" route, but not every hole had 2 tee pads, and there was only one basket at each location. I like a course that has multiple baskets and/or multiple tee pads on every hole to make each round more customizable. This course doesn't really have that option.

Bathrooms- I may have missed them, but I looked around and couldn't find any bathrooms anywhere at the park. Make sure you take care of that before you arrive.

Elevation- This course is super flat. There are technical holes, long holes, short holes, which are all great, but the last bit of variation is elevation change, and this course doesn't have any elevation change at all.

This course plays fast- I played 18 in an hour and 20 minutes, which included getting a little bit lost at one point (more my fault than the course's) and throwing multiple drives and approach shots on a few holes since nobody was behind me. What the course lacks in combinations of baskets and tee pads, it makes up for in distance variation and open and technical shots, and a unique floor unlike any course I've ever played. As an out of towner here for vacation, I loved this course and had a great time playing it. I hope to be back soon!

Good DISCatchers, nice tee signs, benches on every hole (a little thin but OK). Lots of the low, scrub beach trees, so it was good to be able to spot the yellow bands.
Course had a surprising amount of distance, was not expecting that. A couple of Par 4s early on, then the back nine has three Par 4s and a Par 5.
Has a mix of right and left holes, seemed like more left to right, and also some S holes.
DG only section of the park, restrooms available, nice location down the coast, especially if you are staying that far down.

Rubber mat tee pads were a little short and some were coming up. Often covered with sand, but on this course, sand is everywhere.
A couple of tees had "No overhead Shots" signs, maybe they've had problems in the past, if not, if you can throw it, throw it!
Fair amount of trash on the course, a few trash cans, but not used a lot.

This is a mostly fun, beach course. Just about every fairway was sand, and the small, scrub trees. You definitely know you aren't at your home course. I got a little worn down with the tightness of some fairways, but I think that was on me.
#4 was a cool, short Ace run, through an odd shaped tree.
#10 was a fun, S shaped Par 4, left then right to the basket.
#15 was a tough, long hole, finishing at a tightly guarded basket.
#18 is a fun, low ceiling drive to a sand covered green. A nice challenge if you can't go over the trees.
I can tell this course gets some play and it should. It makes you throw all types of shots. If we are staying down this way, I'll play it again, but if we are staying up in Wilmington, I'll go back to Castle Hayne.

-My favorite feature is that almost every hole requires thought.
-Most holes are completely different
-Benches on every hole I can remember.
-Trash cans were recently emptied
-Some of the best signage I've ever seen. A huge course map sign right near tee 1, great signs to start each hole, and small signs near the end of many holes pointing to the next.

-biggest con is that some tees start too close to the previous pin. In other words, be careful if someone is ahead of you or behind you.
-all flat. There are three holes with elevation that comes into play, and the largest change is maybe +5.
-some holes invite you to throw over the short trees, but those same trees will catch your disc with an iron grip if you miss the fairway. I spent probably 20 minutes knocking my discs out of three trees, and I only threw high off the fairway 5 times.
-5/6 and 7/8 are similar holes. This happens on courses, but I didn't like them being back-to-back.
-sand everywhere. impossible to avoid it.
-par is not accurate at all for advanced/pros. I shouldn't throw two below average shots, then a good 60' approach and be rewarded with a drop-in par or birdie. This happened four times in my second round.

Like I said in the pros section, almost every holes requires a good decision. There are options on many holes, and you have to make the best choice for your abilities. Few courses require you to think on more than 9 holes, and this one makes you think on about 15. You can play the short safe shot down the fairway or put it on a rope. You can go over the trees or between them. You can take the left route or the right one. This course asks you to use the mental side of your game unlike most courses.

Conclusion: The negatives aren't design flaws, they are simply the lay of the land. The course designers did a good job with what they had (aside from the par issue, which is easily ignorable if you don't like it). Really smart hole design with many different options. Grab some water and a snack at the Sunoco if you don't have any, cause this course is hot!

Good signage
Benches
Good fun challenge
Par 61
Well maintained
Decent direction from hole to hole

Nitpicking, but I'm not a fan of mandos unless they are totally necessary. A couple of the mandos were a little unnecessary in my opinion.

This was a fun and challenging par 61 course. The designers made good use of the beachy scrubby terrain they were dealt with. The par 4 and 5 holes really made me use hole management which I really like to see on a course. Overall I had a great experience playing this course and I highly recommend it to anyone that is visiting the beaches of southeastern North Carolina.

The course is nestled in the back of a small little sports park with a few amenities like portable bathrooms, but you'll need to go a few blocks over to find anything substantial.

The course itself utilizes the existing land fairly well, however it appears there is some underutilized areas near the back of the course. I'm not sure who owns that area and if it would even be available for use so I can't unjustly fault the designers, if fact I'll merely make the suggestion to expand to 27 holes!

For a beach course, this one doesn't hold water hardly at all, unlike many including Castle Hayne in nearby Wilmington. This means that even on those typical summer days at the beach that involves a light shower, you'll still be able to play without tromping around in galoshes.

As for the layout of the course, I'll venture to say it is fairly extensive, however that may be a bit of a stretch seeing as most of the holes have a low canopy to prevent you from really opening up. Big arm players could do really well here by going up and over the canopy to avoid having to be tight and technical. There is a nice variety of short/long, left/right holes but almost zero elevation change (you are at the beach after all!) and surprisingly no water hazards either. Apart from that, however, the shot variety is pretty well planned out.

The course has ample seating as well as tee signs that are well made, however some appeared to have old/misleading hole layouts on them. Perhaps the locals should take a look at re-making those.

Navigation between holes is not hard at all, and in the few instances that signs are needed, they are present. It's always nice knowing you don't have to worry about navigation when playing a course for the first time, and you shouldn't here.

The front nine and back nine both play back to the starting pavilion/practice basket area, which always is a pro in my book. Often times you'll need to play the back 9 first and this allows you to do that.

I've already briefly touched on some of the cons in the above, but to be thorough I'll mention them here.

There aren't any holes that require traversing a water hazard. Additionally, there is little to no elevation change on the course, which is to be expected at a course located so close to the ocean.

Several of the signs have hole layouts depicting something slightly different than the actual hole. Perhaps they made the signs before finalizing the design? In any case, a slight negative.

The shrubs/canopy is extremely thick in some places. The fact that you can go out and over this canopy lends itself to discs becoming stuck/lost amongst the trees. Be aware of this, especially on the many holes that require a blind shot, and if you have a spotter, use them!

The Difficulty of the course is diminished for big arm players who can muscle the disc up and over the canopy for big hyzer shots. Casual players shouldn't notice. I have a feeling that a pro could come in and tear up the course after playing/walking it over.

This course lends itself to being played. If you're going to be in the area, don't hesitate to play it, even if it recently rained. It's a fun and semi-challenging course and I'm glad the Carolina Beach community is beginning to show support for disc golf! Take some speakers out there and put on some Buffett and lose yourself in some golf!

Using DG Course Review made it easy to find this course and where to start. By the parking lot where the first hole begins is a large course map! This course is very fun to play. It has narrow, but not impossible fairways. I only needed to throw long on a few holes. I really liked how the course designers used the lay of the land to make this an interesting course. You'll probably want to play this course once or walk it before you really try to attack it. There are many holes where you cannot see the basket from the tee. I really liked how I was challenged to really think about each shot and not just throw as hard as I can to get to the next basket. The course is well signed to make it easy to find the next hole. I love courses that can end the 9th hole at the parking lot so if you only have time for 9 holes you can! I definitely plan to play this course again. I must have been lucky today, I did not find a single tick!

I met a friendly dog walker on the course. There is a dog park near the 18th hole. There are tennis courts and a playground. The course is very close to Kure Beach which is a great place to cool off after a hot round.

One of the trickiest parts of constructing a course review is separating personal enjoyment of a course from a more objective take on its quality. So many things can make a course better for a person than it will necessarily be for everyone else. And I don't mean things like the weather, or the group you play with. I mean things about the course that appeal more to you than they probably do to the average player. I mention this now because Joe Eakes is one of those courses that hits all my sweet spots. The beachy vibe. The multiple turns on fairways. Just how unique the atmosphere is. I loved it all and I definitely got at least a 4.0 experience. But this is one of those times where I think I can be more objective than that.

That said, Joe Eakes is still a very good course and one that I think could grow on people with multiple plays. The trees are mostly low, in many cases begging to be thrown over. Familiarity with the course would allow a player to take advantage of that. It's tough to do that the first time as with these bending fairways, a new player does not know where he wants to actually land if he takes the high road. He is thus restricted to the low road, and I mean the low road, since these low branches take away several options to throw at head-level or higher.

That leaves a player with throwing down the dead center of the fairway. Considering that many throws are blind from the tee, this can be difficult. In a good way, that is. The fairways aren't overly narrow and they are well shaped to be able to throw a disc down them and hit the appropriate curve. It's really a nicely designed course aimed at intermediate players. There is a solid flow from hole to hole and a series of nicely distinguishable holes can be played by all ability-levels.

The vibe is also enhanced by all the little touches on the course, like the stone-lined pathways. It's one of the courses that sticks in the head. It's memorable. It's memorable and good. It's really one that if you're in the area, you'll want to play. Especially considering how it is unlike pretty much everything else in the state.

My experience was good enough that makes it tough to find things wrong, but obviously, it is perfectly flat and without water. I don't think that every course needs those, but I've yet to play a course that I thought of as elite that didn't include at least one of them. Partly for that reason, and partly because of what I mentioned about being able to go over the top if you know the course, I think elite players would eat this up if they knew the layout. At the same time, it doesn't stroke me as entirely beginner-friendly, though I saw groups of younglings playing, so perhaps that notion is incorrect.

I've played courses close to the beach before. I've never played a course this good close to the beach, though. It's a pretty unique experience and for those accustomed to Carolina golf, this is something different that needs to be played.

....to Castle Hayne.

- Very challenging, great layout, and extremely well taken care of.

- Wide variety of holes. Some you can air it out on, but many are extremely technical. There are even a few holes with signs that say, "No overhead throws from tee." This adds another degree of difficulties as the holes that sport these signs seem ideal for a hammer or a tomahawk.

- Some tight fairways, but quite a few that allow you to open up and let 'er rip. Definitely a course worth checking out if you're looking to improve your accuracy.

- Solid baskets and tee boxes. Benches on every tee and the baskets still have the price tag on them.

- Exceptional layout. Whomever designed this course was obviously determined to challenge the players.

- Trees like to "eat" discs. Have had to shake my disc out of a treetop on more than one occasion. (But that's more my fault than the trees.) Errant shots can be punished very severely.

- If you've never played the course before, the maps on the tee boxes can be a bit misleading.

- No topless Hooters girls frolicking along the #8 fairway.

Having played all the courses in Wilmington, I have to put Joe Eakes at a close second to The Castle. It's a challenge and the area is very nice. If you're heading to the beach, do yourself a favor and remember your discs. You'll be glad you played this course.

-Longer drives than Arrowhead park(other course in Wilmington)
-Great use of space
-Away from other public utilities
-Lots of challenging throws
-good signage

-Not as friendly for beginners because of a lot of trees.
-sandy
-bugs

This is a great course. Arrowhead park is home course for me, but this would be second. One big thing unfortunately is that there are a lot of bugs. My buddy and I went and both had bad cases of the chiggers. So when yall want to play this course, bring bugspray and reapply constantly to prevent. Overall, good change of scenery and good course.

Well Maintained course.

Unique course with beach sand and maritime forest. Also, unique for the area since most courses here are wooded with huge trees you can not throw over. This course gives you the chance to throw hyzer bombs and over hands quite a bit.

Nice little park, convenient parking, and course is pretty easy to find.

Has a practice basket

Fun Course that is not too long for recreational players.

Not my main course but I really have fun every time I come here to play.

Make it a beach and DG day and you will not regret it.

Completely different course if you choose to follow the fairway lanes under the trees rather than playing this course high which I think is kind of cool.

Very few trash cans.

Tee diagrams are very misleading. Walk ahead and find the basket before you throw or you will make some really bad shot choices

The double mando on 10? is really aweful. Overhead and to the right away from the left facing fairway is ridiculous. Also the bushes are growing over onto that tee pad making the tee pad really hard to play and reducing the space you have to make throws. As a lefty I end arm trough the bushes almost every time. Most annoying tee I have ever played.

The par rating on some of the holes is too forgiving for experienced players. Makes this course really easy sometimes. I shot 3 under last I played here. At the other longer course in town that I play everyday I shoot more like 8-10 over.

Bring bug spray the ticks can be really bad.

Sand on the tee pads makes some of the tees really slick. I almost went down twice. Not sure how they would even fix that since it is the beach but it is worth a mention.

This course has holes facing many different directions which means when the wind is up you will have holes with headwinds, tailwinds, hyzer facing crosswinds, hyzer against crosswinds all in the same round. Bring your wind discs or play the fairway lanes when it is windy.

If you cannot find a disc it is certainly stuck in a tree. These trees eat plastic. Do not give up on your discs keep looking up you will find them. I find discs every time I play here. Found three yesterday and now I gotta figure out how to get them all back to people.

I love throwing hyzer bombs and this course lets you throw a lot of them. I really enjoy playing here.

Nice looking course centered around a small town park. Overall I'd say the course is on the shorter side and fairly technical. Lots of short-medium distance holes with a good variety of lefts and right, lots of trees, and some pretty tight fairways. All of the trees are fairly low and can be thrown over. A fun course to play as you don't need to be a power thrower to par, but you do need to be pretty accurate.

The sand makes for a different playing surface than most courses, preventing much of a skip and not providing very firm footing. Although the trees are very low, they are extremely thick and discs often get stuck in them, so don't forget to look up. On a windy day, it's hard to play this course as you have to stay pretty low to the fairway.

Tee pads aren't concrete, but that probably helps since it's so sandy. I do like that they have signs for each hole and most of them are great, but I feel that some of the signs slightly misrepresent the fairway or basket location. There's not much elevation change and no water hazards, but you can't really expect much of that when playing a course so close to the coast. As the signs on course suggest, watch out for ticks in warm months; I have found a few after playing this course.

Loved the idea for the rubber tee-pads with holes because i would imagine sliding on concrete pads due to sand may have been a problem.

The landscaping between holes and teepads made for a nice look for the course. if you are a backhand forehand only player and the wind is up the lines can be really tight and hard to hit making it a tough course(however not always the case, See below).

Nice signage from hole to hole and a course map Hole 1 the beginning.

#9 comes back to the parking lot

The Bugs/ticks were not a problem when I went.

Benches on every hole

Your at the Beach how can you complain too much!

On the day i went there was NO wind ,as a thumber thrower, I was able to just launch shots over the short trees and brush and not have to worry. I could imagine better players throwing huge hyzers over everything making this course really easy for them.

While the tee signs were nice I think they were kind of general and didn't really represent the hole well

The Brush on the sides can be thick and they eat discs. When you can't seem to find your disc......Look up!

reading other reviews and seeing a sign at hole 1 saying "beware of ticks" I would imagine that it is a major issue. However in the late fall/winter they are not as much of a problem.

This course was really interesting due to the fact that you are playing right next to the beach and all of the footing is pretty much loose sand. There are almost no skips and some of the shots you want to throw it low and see it skip but it won't happen. It was really fun to play and if you got off the fairway you had a job ahead getting out of the thick brush. had lots of fun playing this course!

My experience may be different than others who played this course in other conditions that had a much worse time but the day I played it was a PERFECT day for disc thus my experience at the course was not hindered by small issues.

I would suggest this time of year to play this course(if you can)

18 new baskets tucked into a cool little city park. Playground, fields, dog park etc.

Very well maintained course. Good signs that show distance and hole layout. Plastic pads at every hole. They work pretty well, but not perfectly.

Well defined fairways. There are a couple very tight areas around the course, but mostly the fairways are what the signs show, and lead you to the basket. Basket positions are set up pretty well considering there is ZERO elevation or water to add risk. They are mostly tucked in or behind the oaks to add some challenge.

Decent variety of left and right shots. A couple short shots are mixed in too. There is some decent length, but no real open holes. You'll want to carve this course up as opposed to bombarding it with power.

Disc golf near the beach. If you like the beach it is an added bonus. If you're like me and want to avoid the crowds at the beach then this course is for you. Either way it's nice to have around.

No open holes to really let loose. There are trees everywhere, and trouble if you are off the fairway.

Pads are probably good for a sandy location, but a few of them were pretty slick. Probably just the sand, and nothing can be done about that.

No elevation. No water. No overwhelming or memorable holes.

Wind. Sometimes nature sucks. This course is near the ocean and was damn windy when I played. I suspect that is normal. I tried to look on the bright side, and try to learn to play in the wind better. But it will change your game if you are not used to it. This could be considered a positive for some I guess.

Overall this is a nice little course. It looks like a great amount of time and effort has gone into it. It has very well made signs and is easy to navigate. Given the flatness of the land and the trees there the designed did a nice job adding some interesting twists and turns to the course. Even on the 150' #4 there was a very cool tree blocking the ace run to the basket. Nice for a 150 hole. Hole 15 with it's long fairway, listed at 480', was also a favorite of mine. There are several fairways that twist and turn rather than have one line to the basket. Disc control and line shaping are key here.

Others mentioned using thumbers and tomahawks here, but often the basket is tucked under the trees making an overhand approach a little risky. I found out how good those trees are at catching. Better than most baskets.

All in all this is a solid course. And since it is so different than almost all the North Carolina courses I've played I'd call it a must play if you're anywhere close.

The score cards were readily available. Holes are well marked. Good use of natural oaks and beach scrubs to create a need for finesse. The course will give right handers a chance to throw some anhyzers. The sand fairways are a nice change from all the other surfaces for the occasional game. Locals I met were very friendly.

For a player of my age, almost 67, and the terrain of the coast being utilized there were no cons.

This course makes being able to control your point of curve instead of just being able to bang it out. A good control player can compete with a long tosser almost equal. Also the use of the trees to,limit the type of approach you make to some of the baskets rewards a good approach game and putting. Note: on a 90 degree day the sand will be hot if you play in flops or beach type shoes.