I'm downgrading this course a notch b/c as I've gotten older and wiser with my course knowledge I had this course a bit overrated. It's still a very solid play and worth hitting up if you're remotely in the area but it has some flaws that I'll get into later.

Great concrete tees and nice signs, defined fairways (mostly) and really picturesque NC nature and terrain to deal with. Fairways move every which way and there's enough length to justify carrying your drivers. Carry all your trick shot/utility discs too b/c between corkscrewing fairways and elevation change you'll probably need them.

It's nice having the park store right there at hole 1/18 with drinks and a few racks of Innova/Discmania to check out. They've got complementary scorecards and golf pencils too, suh-weet.

The front nine is a very solid and fun section. Hole 1 is a great starter hole with it's scenic, valley, tunnel shot. Hole 2 and 3 are quality, fun par 3's as well. 5 might be my favorite on the course but I'm partial to longish, lazy turnovers through the woods. Hole 9 is a nice open to wooded blend with an appropriate sized gap to hit. The back nine is more of a mixed bag but has some highlights such as hole 11 that is wide open and long enough to grip and rip. 13 is another challenging but fair wooded turnover/flick. 16 is a nice water carry that is not too scary (there's a water-less tee available if you disagree).

The biggest problem with this course is that the par is really inflated. Par 3's seem mostly correct but the 4's and 5's are really soft except for one tiny issue: The fairways are often so awkwardly angled and undefined that you need that extra stroke. Lots of these holes would be better if the fairways weren't shaped like a crazy straw where you have to play it in monotonous, 100' segments of placement shots. There's also a distinct lack of appropriate landing zones on some holes, like hole 4 for example. 420' par 5 with significant elevation change. The problem is that the significant elevation change is the landing zone which is also rife with obstacle trees. So placing your drive accurately to set up for your next shot is almost wholly dependent on not hitting anything and not rolling down the hill into crap. So basically: Luck. I'd prefer a well defined fairway and landing zone and one less stroke to the par instead of pinball plus a stroke but that's me. Hole 18 is basically the same exact problem except it's a shorter par "4." Poke and pray with inflated par to sooth your ego versus properly defined fairways with accurate par.

The other big cons are basically classic Russell Schwarz-isms. His patented L-shaped hole with awkward length is hole 7 which even features a mando because the bend in the L is due to a fenced in maintenance area. This hole is really a poorly designed par 3 but throw a mando on there in addition to the odd length/angle and boom! Par 4 baby!

Hole 10 is a bizarre hole all to its own. The first problem with hole 10 is you can easily get hit at the tee from someone driving on hole 9. That's the least of it's problems though b/c playing the hole itself means playing Frogger from fairway to fairway. You start with a normal, wooded fairway then you exit stage left through a gap before you can continue down the next wooded fairway. This next wooded fairway is literally a gravel road. You don't merely cross the road, that would be bad enough, you have to USE THE ROAD AS THE FAIRWAY. This road is busy enough I wouldn't have done this, especially since I'm pretty sure it was completely avoidable.

Holes 12-18 is where the course loses it's edge. 12 is another hole where the FW zig zags like a schizophrenic on a bender which is a shame b/c the land is superb. 14 and 15 reek of filler hole shame, they're shoehorned in to bring you back around the lake. 14 is just one of the stupidest angled fairways I've played, there's no other way to say it. 15 doesn't have much of an approach to the green but the lake is cool. Strangely, playing 14's FW backward to 15's basket would actually be a decent hole. 17 has a bit of a pinched bottleneck in the FW but it's alright. 18 basically doesn't have a FW nor a landing zone for it's dogleg left that goes steeply uphill. But there is a creek acting a FW for you to throw your disc into so there's that I guess. This is a weird filler hole jammed in to finish the course near the start basically.

So I filled up the cons section pretty good but don't let that stop you from checking this course out. In the grand scheme of things it's fairly overrated and unlike most locals I scrutinize my courses without rose tinted glasses. But it's very rarely crowded, has nice vistas and if you can unsee any design snafus I brought up you'll enjoy your round of golf. It's not the best Schwarz design but it ain't the worst either.