Oakboro District Park DGC is one of the best, more advanced beginner friendly courses. A short course that has characteristics similar to courses with more distance and higher pars.
-The dual tee pads work exceptionally well. The red (short) tees offer a great layout for beginners who are looking to be challenged. The white (long) tees add a little more distance and spice up the hole a bit, great for the intermediate/advanced player.
-Great flow of holes. #1-5 begin your round with some forgiving wooded holes, giving off a Dry Creek vibe (but shorter, obviously). #6 & 8 transition into the open, with the downhill gauntlet #7 splitting the two. #9 is partially open, and the whole back nine plays through a standard Charlotte woods.
-Great variety. There is every hole type here; dogleg, tight, wide, open, split, gauntlet.....you name it. The course has a little bit of everything.
-Just because it's short, doesn't mean it's not challenging. Although the front nine is forgiving, the back nine requires well placed tee shots. Errant throws have the possibility to result into bogeys, maybe even a double...
-There are a handful of holes that I think would fit well on a more advanced course, despite their short lengths. The two gauntlets (#7 & 17) are awesome and tense, #11 is a great test of power and accuracy, #15 & 16 have great tee shots, and #18 is a nice, longer hole.
-The course is very picturesque and aesthetically pleasing. The park is very nice and well maintained, and the back nine woods is unique and different from a visual standpoint.
-All tee pads are very nice and the perfect size, DISCatchers are easy to see and mounted strongly. Everything seems to be in good shape.

-Navigation could have been a little better, only because the course is laid out kinda wonky. There are many questionable transitions from basket to tee, whether it was long, confusing, or both.
-Tee signs are pretty poor. The only good thing about them is that they give the distance of every hole (which I expect from every tee sign). My biggest pet peeve is that they have no indication whether it was the long tee, or short tee. This was incredibly frustrating on the holes where you couldn't see both tees in plain sight. Also, the maps seemed inaccurate, however, not much of an issue.
-Not much elevation here. The only two holes that use somewhat drastic elevation changes are #7 and #15. #7 is straight downhill, and #15 has an elevated green/basket. Everything else is extremely flat.
-The pond was not used. This pond could have produced an incredibly fun, water carry ace run, but unfortunately that is not the case.
-Multiple holes can be in the way of other park users. There is a playground by #6, and a walking trail that runs through the course, causing interaction on #8 & 18. Just keep a heads up while playing.
-I think the tee pads on #7, especially the long, can cause damage to cars in the parking lot. Since the hole is tight, a kick off of a tree is likely, and could possibly ricochet and hit a car. Park at your own risk!
-Most holes could do with a longer pin location. Many holes I found myself saying "man, if only the pin were a little further back." Point being, I think the look on some holes would be better and more fun with the basket being pushed back.

Overall, Oakboro is a lovely course. Some fun layouts on a unique terrain is the key to some fun disc golf. Unfortunately, I can't seem to rate this course higher than a 3.0 because of its short length, however, this course would be at least a 4.0 if it were a more advanced course with layouts similar to Hornets Nest, Nevin, etc. The park itself is beautiful, with some nice ball fields and activities for the whole family to do. A great test of accuracy and short/mid game can be achieved with a trip down to Oakboro!

This course tests your accuracy on shots in the 200 to 300 foot range.

I really liked the short tight gauntlet holes on #7 and #17. It was a great opportunity to test driving putter accuracy.

Every hole seem to have a different flavor, which I really enjoyed.

As a railfan, I appreciated the view on holes 13 and 14. Too bad the ACWRR sees very little daylight traffic.....

As much as I enjoyed playing this course, there were a couple things that hindered my review.

Signage should be much improved on some of the long walks. This did not affect my rating for this 'new' course; however, the long walk from 7 to 8 in particular seemed quite odd. I realize the designer was limited on space, so there probably weren't too many alternatives. One option, you could throw from the opposite angle on the field for hole #8 and the walk is almost gone. However, this would remove the water shot from the long teepad. Speaking of field and water, this area is the central 'meeting place' in the park for park goers. I played on a weekend with few visitors, but I foresee a safety hazard when this area gets busy around the picnic shelter. The said area was designed for large parties, family reunions, athletic banquets, etc.

The walk from 17 to 18 most definitely could have been entirely avoided. Simply move 17 closer to the middle between 16 and 18 and lengthen the hole. I did mention earlier in the pros each hole has its own flavor, but 17 is similar to hole #7 in that it's a gauntlet, just flatter and narrower.

(Update on Hole #18)

The Mando sign is missing which nullifies my previous review for the hole making this a legit Par 4 with risk/reward.



Finally, this course is located where it probably will not receive a lot of traffic. I know it's new, but look at Fox Chase for example. The current technicality of this course from the long teepads is rewarding, fun, and challenging for the experienced player; however, I feel the short layout is not 'beginner friendly.' With that said, I feel this course benefits us disc golfers who travel just to play a new course or it's on the way to/from a prior arrangement.

Overall, I enjoyed this course. Oakboro appears to be a neat small town. I definitely will come back to play and check out the Railroad Museum right by the park.

I feel like the majority of courses being built in North Carolina are for experienced disc golfers. It's like building strictly high-income housing and pushing everyone else out of the way. I would be curious to know how many beginners give up after their first time, or couple of tries, at disc golf due to more time spent retrieving a disc then actually playing?

Oakboro Park is a great, beginner-friendly course. With two sets of tees, you get a mix of ace runs to tough, near evil tee shots.
- I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this course. Lots of great work and effort put in by parks department, Pat & Stan. A good mix of fun and challenge makes this a very solid course...for what it's intended to be.
- There's a fair amount of variety here. Yes, it's mainly a wooded course, but it still offers a little bit of everything - doglegs, tight & wider fairways, one tee shot over water (love this layout) and a little elevation that comes into play. The shortest hole on the course, #17 also has the tightest fairway, so prepare yourself for a gauntlet-light shot. The sparse amount of elevation is used nicely on #7 - slight downhill, short, narrow layout - and on #15 - basket on top of a mound, with a big drop-off behind,, bringing in a huge risk/reward element.
- The tee shot on #8 long is fun. It's a semi-narrow shot over the edge of the park's pond, over an open field, to a basket protected by trees. You shouldn't have an issue avoiding the trees and clearing the water. The challenge is avoiding the trees that are protecting the basket. This is the type of hole where you could be 25 feet from the basket, but have 3 trees in the way.
- There's a very nice flow to the course. The course, overall, gets tougher as it progresses. I appreciate that the toughest four hole stretch are the closing hole #15 - 18. It's easy to be on cruise control through #14, as I was, only to be slapped in the face by the jump in difficulty. The approach to the basket on #15, the intimidating tee shot over the rocks on #16, the gauntlet on #17 and tight tee shot that might actually require a driver on #18 can all go wrong, and suddenly bring bogeys onto an otherwise blemish-free scorecard. First time I played here, from the long tees, I was under par through 14, then played the last four holes 4 over par.
- Great, great, great course for beginners and casual players. The short layout avoids most of the potential pitfalls that you see on the long course, i.e., you're not throwing over water on #8, you avoid the crazy rocks and have a reduced dogleg tee shot on #16. Average hole length from the short tees is just under 200 feet, with only one hole longer than 300 feet - #18 - and only one other more than 250 feet - #16. Plenty of chances for birdies and a lack of blow-up holes and/or lost disc chances should also appeal to beginners and families.
- Great mid-range practice course for more experienced players. From the short tees, more experienced players probably will be throwing mid-range or putters almost exclusively. Even from the long tees, there are only three holes longer than 300 feet, so the driver won't be needed much. I only threw my Eagle on #6 & 18; other than that, mid-range discs for me off the tee on the other 16 holes.
- The long and short tees give a nice variety of looks. There weren't many holes where the long pad was directly behind the short. And even on some of those holes, as in #15, just 20 - 40 feet difference created a different look.
- Amazing all-around park. One of the best small town, community parks I've seen anywhere. Everything was immaculate, clean and well designed. The first thing that caught my eye was the pond, with its water fountain and great bridge. Add in walking trails that run throughout the park, various playgrounds, ball park, shelters and restrooms, park is wonderful throughout. I had to Google Oakboro's population (1,864 in 2012), and it seemed 10% of them were at the park on the Friday morning I was there.

Three main issues stood out to me as potential problems. They're all related and seem to be typical new-course problems. I hope that's the case and these get fixed in the near future. The three issues are navigation, lack of hole numbering and lack of tee signs.
- Navigation - it's very spotty at times. There are several long walks on this course, mainly going from #7 to #8 and from #17 to 18. These transitions make the walk at Hornets Nest in Charlotte, from #1 to #2 , seem like mere steps. Adding to that is lack of signage pointing you where to go. After each hole, there's an arrow on a tree pointing in the direction of the next hole. That's suitable for short transitions. For first time players, when you're walking from #7 to #8, or #17 to #18, you have no clue where to go until you spot a second, and final, arrow (as is the case for #8) or stumble upon the tee pad (as is the case for #18). More signage throughout these transitions, and others as well, or more clear identification when you arrive at the next hole would be a tremendous help. Add to that, at a couple of points, you'll finish a hole, see another tee pad close by, but be pointed in a different direction by the single arrow on a tree. These markers better not come down or navigation would be nearly impossible. If only there were a way to fix that.
- Hole numbering. As mentioned above, when standing on the tee, there's no signage of what hole you're on. It'd be very easy, especially on the back 9, to finish one hole, get onto the closest tee pad, and only discover you're on the wrong hole when you get to that basket. One glaring example is on hole #9 (front 9, I know). You're walking down the path, see an arrow up on a tree, and suddenly there's a tee pad. I rightly assumed this was the next hole. Others may not, or may just miss that tee pad entirely. Maybe having hole numbers on the tee pads would work. But an even better way to fix that problem would be...
- No tee signs. There's no indication of hole lengths anywhere on the course, so if you don't print out a scorecard in advance, you're having to eyeball distances. You don't want to be wasting birdie chances because your eyeball estimate was say 30 feet off. Along with that, tee signs would help let players know what hole they're on, and perhaps provide a map/better directions to the next hole.
- Those three issues could, and should, be fixed as the course ages. What won't change is the amount of times you're throwing over or next to the walking paths. I played two rounds on a Friday morning. That's not peak time for park use. Even then, I had to wait three times for walkers to get out of the way so I could throw. This could be a huge problem during peak times on nights and weekends.
- There seemed to be a little more room in the back that could be used. Hole expansion or different hole layouts perhaps? This could help alleviate the issues with holes coming into play with other aspects of the park. For the basket on #15, I'd have liked that layout a little more the basket was used for hole #9. It would add a little more distance, adding length and risk/reward challenge to the approach shot.

- Oakboro Park is a solid course throughout. For me, this course has two strong comp courses: Elon Eager Beaver and Wellspring in Burlington. Neither is a perfect comparison, but they're all of a similar design, flow and feel.
- There's not a huge risk/reward vibe at this course, at least through the first 14 holes. Up until then, on most holes, the trees are sparse enough, that you can recover from a bad throw or unfortunate bounce. The risk/reward factor is much higher at the end. Even then, smart, straight throws should lead to, at minimum, four pars to finish the round.
- My favorite hole is the long tee from #8. You get all the best parts of the park, plus a slight challenge over the water and around the trees. Add to that the slight creek in front of the trees and basket (is it considered OB?), and you've got the course's most diverse hole. It should be a simple three for most people. Well, people who want to play it safe an easy.
- This course will probably always get overlooked, and underplayed, because it's considered out of the way. It's relatively close to Charlotte, only 35 minutes from the Scrapyard and Reedy; but, for many, it's not good enough or close enough to justify making a trip just to play. It is, however, on the way to Fox Chase from Charlotte. In that case, it's worth the stop as an opening act, or cool down round. For others in the area, enjoy this course. It's a nice one.

A delightful, short, technical course carved out of nice pine woods. Two sets of masterfully poured concrete tees for I think every hole. Shorts are great for beginners and acerunners while the longs ratchet up the skill needed to park the basket without adding a tremendous amount of length.

The park is very nice and although you're mostly kept away from other park areas like playgrounds, you're never that far away from restrooms or water fountains which is nice for a change.

The course itself is a great example of a technical, park-style kind of NC course. The abundant pines are great and making spotting baskets a breeze. Most of the holes are pretty straightforward, literally, and the lack of tee signs wasn't that big of a deal as it was pretty easy to figure out where the basket would be if you couldn't see it from the tee. That being said, from the longs in particular the course does a good job of making you bend a disc left and right and the fairways are shaped well enough to make you debate "turnover or FH here?" off the tee occasionally. Makes good use of what elevation there is, including an interesting "hump hole" where the view of the fairway is obscured by an outcrop of large stones and ground right away. Also from the longs is a nice little water carry over a small pond on hole 8, not really a big threat to send any of your discs to Davey Jones' locker unless you completely spazz a drive somehow. The course flows quite well and intuitively and directional arrows illuminate the transitions superbly. Nice new Discatchers as you can expect.

Not many. Being really new, you can expect to see some broken ground in the fairway from stump removal, etc so footing isn't ideal. Briers and poison ivy are definitely a formidable foe for the maintenance people, I wish them luck with that. The briers were noticeably becoming bad but the poison ivy seemed well in check for the most part during my visit. Also noticed some remnants of a rusted barbwire fence here and there and on hole there is a pile of old, rusted pipes in the fairway.

Hole one has a fence running alongside the right side of the fairway. There's a good amount of trees on that side but I suggest throwing a mid or putter to reduce the chance of being kicked over that fence, just to be on the safe side. The only non-ideal design element on the course really.

Hole 7 could use a little limb lopping to remove those remaining pine branches creeping into the fairway, in my opinion.

The tees, while being really nice, need to be brushed off b/c most of them were covered in a fine layer of gravel dust, nothing major. No tee signs yet but I expect they're coming. You don't really need them too much anyway. Not much elevation available for use but the course used what it had well.

This is a really fun course. I definitely recommend a visit, makes a good pairing with Fox Chase nearby. Very appealing course for beginners and introducing people while being a fun challenge from the longs for intermediate level DG'ers. Advanced and above will likely find the course a deuce or die variety but still worthwhile.

It reminds me a little of Bradley Center in Gastonia or a scaled down, par 3 version of Castle Hayne. I aced hole 17 from the longs with an Ion, FWIW.