Pros:
(3.284 Rating) A moderately wooded intermediate level course that will entertain almost every player.
- NATURAL BEAUTY - Hole (1) is awful. A nearly obstacle free shot with torn grasses and exposed earth. Naturally my first thought was, "Well this course is way overrated" Then upon arriving and standing on tee (2) I thought I was in paradise. Although the beauty of (2) is not matched again, the rest of the layout is really appealing. The middle chunk of the layout is on a hill side and runs thru a moderately wooded canopy of mixed species. The Cahaba River is viewable from several holes and plays a central role on hole (10). There are a couple mini spring creeks that dice through the layout that make a couple tee shots really pop. In totality I scored the course a 3.5 out of 5 which is roughly in my top 60 (260 coursed played as of this review.)
- CHALLENGING - The back tees to me read as intermediate level. Several 300 foot plus plays that require a mild amount of shot shaping. Holes (2), (3), (17) and (18) are all heavily wooded tunnel shots that will require the disc maneuver along a 10 to 15 wide lane. Although I didn't putt well, I see intermediate level players like me ultimately throwing around even to a couple down. 850 rated Rec players throwing the front tees should also be able to go a few down. Advanced players will be underwhelmed on most holes but it won't be a boring affair.
- TEES - For the most part, really nice tees. trapezoid shaped, 5 feet wide at front and expanding to 6 feet wide and they are 10 feet long. Unfortunately some park construction had a couple tees as natural with temporary flags on my play. There is a second set of shorter tees as well and it seemed like a majority of those were natural or in a few cases omitted.
- BASKET PLACEMENTS - Among the most basket placements I've ever seen on a course. There had to have been at least 50 of them, but who knows, many were not marked on the signage as they appeared new. Local players will be entertained with a constantly changing course. For those of us out of town, It will really temp us to make a return visit. There is one issue with all the basket locations is it will cause lots of odd transitions and backtracking between holes and it will require a constant upkeep on the course's movable navigational cues.
- CHARACTER - In addition to the tees and basket placements, there are a few other nice extras and amenities. Seating on a majority of the holes and most tees were shaded. New bag hangers on a few holes as well. A practice basket and a completely blank well built community board by tee (1).
- UNIQUENESS - A nice mix of changing elevation and tree coverage. Up shots, down shots, across slope shots and a couple flat ones as well. The max elevation on any hole was perhaps 30 feet, but a majority of the shots had at least 10 feet of play in it. The open to wooded mix was great as well. A couple fully wooded plays, a bunch of moderately wooded shots, but yet also a few light to openish shots as well. Most holes played fairly straight, but there were back to back opposite benders on my play with (3) being a sweep to the left and then (4) being a sweep to the right. There are also three par 4s and water comes into play as a major factor on (10) with Cahaba River running down the entire right side. As for missing items, no par 5s, no doglegs, no forced overtop plays and no water carries.
- SKILL LEVEL FRIENDLY - This course should be able to appeal to a wide swath of players as there are two tees on a majority of the holes. The back tees are more than long enough for intermediate level players and they will keep advanced players entertained. The short tees are perfect for newer and rec players looking to subtract some distance.
Cons:
Other than a few navigational gripes there really aren't any issues with this course, its solid.
- NAVIGATION - So so. I was very fortunate to have a guide for this. No course map on site and the one online is almost useless. The layout hops around a lot between holes (4 and 16). If it weren't for all the movable navigational cues below all the baskets and bunch of others as well, navigating this course would be extremely frustrating. Spotting the next tee was difficult on my play because a couple of the tees did not have posts or tee sign markings at all. This was all in part to recent park construction alterations.
- DISCONTINUITY - One major gap in the layout between (1) and (2) it's around a 400 to 450 heading east.
- PARKING - Unfortunately located a ways from the start and finish of the course. When I entered the park, I noticed tee (1) and (18) basket flanking the entrance on both sides. After parking it was a good 400 foot hike to the tee (1).
- SPACING - About average. If the course were full, there would be a few tees that could be reached by an errant throw because of moderate tree protection. A few fairways also feel partially shared.
- TIME WAITING - There are a few walking paths and roads that run along this layout. Players really need to be cognizant of their surrounding before throwing. At least one basket placement required a play across a path, but there may be others considering all the basket placements.
Other Thoughts:
On hole (2) I ran into locals Greg and Chris. They were kind enough to invite me along as they stated that this course has a lot of tricky transitions on the first play. I very much enjoyed their tour of the course and had an absolute blast despite not making any putts outside of 15 feet. As for the course, I was pleasantly surprised. I've played just about every course in the Birmingham area now and I'd rank this one as 4th best in the metro after Inverness, Clay and George Ward. Really the only disappointing hole is (1), the rest of the course is consistently entertaining. Considering all the basket placements and the fact that my guide informed me that they move then regularity, I've marked this course for a return visit.
- TIME PLAY - My group of three fast players played the course in just under 90 minutes. I figure that the average foursome should be in at 2 hours. A solo first timer will likely need at least an hour considering all the navigational adventure possibilities. Please note that my guides informed me that this course gets quite crowed during prime times.