-The park and campground has to be one of the biggest attractions in the entire state of Georgia. There's a biking trail, a swimming beach, golf course, campground, twenty cottages, and the lake is accessible for swimming. The disc golf course here is pretty well designed with some solid elevation changes, and a good mix between the woods and the open field. The walkthrough is quite nice too! The $5 day pass fee is more than generous!

-The staff was friendly at the check in. There's also a vending machine outside the hut where you check in.

-Onto the disc golf course, it's a pretty good one! It said in the description that it was mostly flat, but many holes have elevation changes past the ten foot mark and a few are past the twenty foot mark. There are some nicely downhill shots (#1, #7, #10) and some nice uphill shots with a couple of them being steep (#12, #15). #15 had the most elevation change being just over 25' up in elevation. Come to think of it, possibly right at 30'.

-The downhill holes were very pleasant holes. #1 actually has three pin positions. It was in the open when I played and was an appealing start. It was gorgeous and gave an instant indication that you are on a back side region beside a lake. Almost seems coastal, but is in the Chattahoochee Oconee Forest. The hole is over 300' and was in the straight pin when I played. One of the pin positions is to the right side in the woods. #7 was my favorite hole here. Gentle sweeping left down an open path with some trees in play. Basket is behind a tree. #10 is a more classic open downhill bomb in the open.

-Many holes have different pin positions, not all of them do, but the majority of them do. Even a few of the shorter holes in the woods (16A-16I). #16C has a 170' position and a 210' position.

-It's forgiving. Main obstacle would be the wind. None of the holes are that difficult. I didn't bogey any of them. Holes 16A-16I are all short and wooded, while the other eighteen are more open and aren't much longer. There were two par fours when I played. Holes fifteen and sixteen. Both are under 450'. #16 is very reachable for pros. #15 is tougher being uphill through some trees, still isn't difficult of a par if you are cautious of the woods on both sides.

-Nice teesigns and teepads. Navigation is made simple too. No long walks.

-Fairways are different and will have you throwing different shots. I threw a flex forehand on #2 and was 15'. I enjoyed throwing that shot. #17 is a unique uphill turnover ace run. You won't see anything "far out" or extreme with the fairways, but they do require a good amount of control, even on the holes that are open.

-A couple of holes that were fillers. A few others that I wasn't too fond of because of their lack of distinctiveness. The main two I didn't really enjoy were #11 and #18. #11 is open, straight, and maybe 270' long. Pretty meaningless and could be better with it's used space. #18 is boring too and too close to the parking area. Flat, open, and bland. On #18's green, you'll see the woods with some appealing elevation changes. Those holes you will see down that hill are the short holes after #16.

-I thought the nine holes in the woods got repetitive and too similar, and the elevation isn't used to it's full potential. Some of it is used and other parts are not. I mean yes, there is an upside to this. It's a nice accuracy check point after being comfortable in the more open area. Honestly though, I think this course has star potential and isn't quite there. I wish there were some longer holes and more holes with more of a "wow factor." There are some holes here that I enjoyed but I think if this course were to hypothetically be redesigned by a competitive and passionate player, they would capitalize more on the space available and do something a little more interesting. I like Lake Russell, but it's not one the best courses I've played in Georgia based on my personal opinion.

-To all lake swimmers and canoers. Just wear a lifejacket or something. And don't go far underwater. The average depth of Lake Russell is 38 feet deep and hits a max of 167'. If you have adolescent kids, don't let them do anything foolish. I will get personal here even though this is a disc golf review. As a teenager, I've done some foolish things at my friend's birthday parties in NC. I would, along with a few others, see how far I can go underwater in a lake. I never thought about what could be at the bottom of the lake but a kid in my hometown passed away because he did the same thing that me and my friends did. From what I heard, he got his foot stuck in some dead branches and didn't make it up to the surface on time. Lakes are fun to swim in and all, but deep water can be a real concern. Please, wear a lifejacket if you go for a swim.

-Lake Russell feels like a slice of Heaven when you take everything into account. You can lodge here, play golf, do some water activities, etc. The prices are more than reasonable.

-It's a nice course with it's unique atmosphere on a grassy backland. The stroll through the woods is nice too. You'll have a least a couple of opportunities to rip a driver and some opportunities to make an ace. It's a pleasant course overall that I recommend. It's isn't as great as some of the courses I have played judging from what I think, but as far as its rating on this site, it is one of the most enjoyable courses in Georgia. I can see why a lot of people love this course.

The Lake Russell course, as other have mentioned is a state park course that while all being on a large peninsula, doesn't actually play on the water hardly at all.

My family stayed in one of the rental cabins over thanksgiving(these are very nice and affordable as well) and played the course in some capacity every day.

When entering, the course is about a half mile into the park on the right and you see the practice basket and the 18th basket from the road.

The course begins with a downhill hole with woods in each side and that sets the tone for the course. Tree lined and wooded, though other than the optional wooded 9 holes between 16/17 I wouldn't say any hole is intensely wooded.

Any water here is casual, though if you look behind you on the 8 and 12 tees you can get a peak at the backwater of the lake.

Elevation features in most holes, as do a couple of mandos and blind baskets. Variety is solid though as you have some holes(especially in the wooded 9) that fail to crack 200ft and a couple of par 4s that allow you to air one out.

I probably threw slightly more forehands than backhands off the tee, and even did a roller on 16 to get up the hill, though the many roots and trees cut it off early.

Bring you bag of tricks, this one is just tight enough and with enough variety that throwing backhand hyzers over and over will only get you bogeys.

Baskets are Innova disc catchers and mainly in pretty good shape.

Pads on the main 18 are standard sized concrete pads that were perfectly acceptable and other than a couple that hold water nearby were quite good.

There were also benches on almost every hole.

Not a ton of cons, the main one is navigation. The course crosses itself a lot and it's pretty easy to go to 9 from 6 instead of 7, head to 12 instead of 8 and fail to find the W3 pad if you haven't played it before.

The wooded 9 is all plank and pea gravel pads that are often leaf covered and not in super great shape, and the bridge over the deep creek bed on w7 is out and looks like it probably has been for a while.

A couple more clear next tee signs and the baskets being a touch further per could possibly push this to a 4 for me.

This course is well designed, fairly well maintained and a pleasure to play. The park is beautiful and the hiking trails are all really nice as well.

We played in between 9 and 36 holes every day we stayed, so obviously it kept us coming back.

If I find my way over here again, I'll likely find myself back on this course.

Park entry is $5, $4 to play and they have a few discs for sale in the park office if you forgot to bring yours.

There are already a lot of good detailed reviews for this course, so I'm just going to add a few things:

The majority of the holes play to the right. So a LHBH or RHFH player would likely think this course is easier than someone who only throws RHBH. Even a lot of the relatively straight holes finish right or have dense trees really close on the right fairway and will make throwing "S" curves impossible. So just make sure you don't strictly throw RHBH when you visit this course, or be able to have your shots fade right the whole flight on 300ft+ holes. This isn't a con by any means, this is a great course and it's very fun. Just be on top of your game and be able to throw 300ft+ shots that fade and finish right and land softly.

Looking back, at least 11 holes curved or finished to the right. And a lot of the tee signs showed the pin being straight or left, were in fact to the right. Again, I don't think this is a con. In my particular situation (getting back into disc golf after years of not playing, and my forehand is crap) it did make the course less fun for me at this time. But it didn't take away from my rating at all.

Elevation, cut fairways, challenges all over.

The holes have been designed in such a way that you need to be on your game to score well.

The extra 9 is tightly wooded. You can pick up some birdies in there but there are plenty of bogies and dbl bogies if you aren't careful.

You get a private feel here. No back ups on tees or loud noises.

None except it will wear you out!

Pay to play.

Wish it was closer.

Bring lunch.

Watch out for ants.

What I personally like and how this course stacks up:
1) Holes with good risk/reward -- B
2) Holes that have rewarding birdie opportunities -- A
3) More wooded than open - lots of variety of shots required caused by hole shape and topography -- A
4) Natural beauty (Appalachian beauty preferred) and seclusion -- A
5) Multi-shot holes with defined landing zones, good risk/reward and multiple options to play them -- NA

I ranked this course subjectively based on my own personal enjoyment factor...more accurately my "personal addiction factor". Since I have played a decent number of courses (115 18-hole, 50 9-hole as of early 2009), my hope is that players/explorers who have similar tastes will find my ratings list helpful as they chose courses to play and explore.

Over time, I expect to fill some of my reviews in with more descriptive verbiage...if what I say adds anything to what has already been written. For now, my list is more important to me than the verbiage of my reviews.

I fully expect others with different tastes/philosophies to disagree with me. See my profile for my rating philosophy.