-Owens isn't my style of golf. But it's kept up well, has nice signs and pads, and I found some of the holes to be quite interesting.

-#2 is my favorite hole. You throw into a wooded tunnel guarded by mature trees. #5 is a neat par four starting off in the open and cutting hard to the left up the hill. The tee shot starts off beside the gravel road on the right side, and there's a mando pointing left, so you have to throw straight instead of trying to reach the landing zone on a wide hyzer.

-#7 offers a hanging basket. #14 in the par four position is elevated on a cylinder shaped concrete stand. Few other greens tucked into the woods that influence the shape of the ideal shot.

-Nice concrete pads, nice tee signs, baskets catch well too.

-Multiple pin positions on most of the holes and alternate pads in case of fairways that might be too close in proximity (see cons below).

-Good variety of challenge. #6 is a well designed pro par three. Slightly uphill in the woods straight ahead. The fairway gently slopes downward on the right side. It's wooded, but the fairway is more than 30' wide. #13 reminded me of #5 at WR Jackson. Not quite as great but still is a nice pro par three. Very tight, almost as tight as it gets at Owens. Many holes are around the 300' range and give multiple options on how to tame them. The tightest hole however, was only 205' from the long and 160' from the short. That is #20. Fairway is no more than 15' wide the whole way. Throw your straightest putter or mid. Very rewarding hole and was definitely one of the highlights.

-There's an orchard on the first hole. Sounds like it's there for special events.

-It's not my cup of tea. Personally don't find it fun, aside from some of the holes on the front nine. It's quite flat aside from a few holes with minor elevation change. You'll find some serious elevation in Columbia if you play CIU DGC or Earlewood. Owens does not have that appeal. It felt quite insipid once I got to #11. After #16 the blandness stops, but not for good reason.

-#17 is awful. It's a putrid sharp dogleg left. No problem right? Just throw a big skip shot? Nope. Full of logs and other debris all over the fairway. Roller? Nope. Won't do either. The woods are dense on this hole. It's incredibly bad. Luckily, #18 is interesting enough. But #19, nope. Just a bland open shot across an old field. I liked #20 a lot. Not sure how I felt about #21. It's a dogleg around a ball field.

-Serious issue with #8's green and #9's long pad. #8's green is directly in #9's fairway. The basket for #8 is about 40' straight ahead of #9's long pad. The alternate pads can back up for it in some ways but honestly, I think #8's long pin is unnecessary. Neither of the holes are particular fun for me either.

-There's a long walk across the field and road to get to #17. #18 was a little bit tough for me to find. It's adjacent to hole #2. Just walk toward the fence that you'll see once you cross #2's fairway. You'll then see #18. It's shorter hole by the fence.

-I usually rate courses based on how I feel. That wouldn't be fair for Owens. It's clear that the locals really care about it and do what they can to keep it in good shape. The fairways make sense and are well polished. Some of the greens are very interesting. It's just not my style of disc golf, but I can say for certainty that it is a well designed course and great for what it is for. If you prefer elevation and holes with appearances that are a little more distinctive, then this course might not be for you. It's worth checking out still. If you are like me and love elevation, there's a pretty solid chance that you'll will forget that you are in Columbia. It feels like the South Carolina coast. It's funny how Columbia's terrain changes.

-Of the Columbia courses, I'd say Owens is the most traditional along with Crooked Creek. Earlewood is the oldest course in the area, but it has quick elevation and different style par threes that require a variety of throws and with very distinctive appearances. Southeast is longer, mostly wooded with several trees probably hundreds of years old, and consisting of a few open bombs that come unexpectedly. The new CIU is easily the most "out there" with its serious elevation change, water hazards, par fives, and basket positions near ravines, rocks, and drop offs.

-Goals in great shape
-Tee boxes were fine
-Navigation tricky at times
-Needed phone to find first tee
-Bathroom near first tee.

-Park felt kind of shady. Probably due to the heat, but it was mostly empty.
-At least 3 holes are super tight. (Con for me, but some may like that sort of thing.)
-Gamecock country (big thumbs down) Go Tigers!

I pre-played this course to have an idea of what I was walking into for the "Oh Yeah" tourney coming up in a couple weeks. I joined up with a couple of locals with very good forehands. They showed me the course as we played from the black tees.

Based on rating, this is a middle-of-the-pack course for me. The only wow factor I took away was how tight some of the holes are. (3, 8, and 13 specifically)

I was also impressed by the new "hard sand" tee boxes. I only got to play on one, but they felt awesome. If they hold up, they could be a great option for future courses.

There was really only two holes where I could rip a drive, and that is my favorite thing to do. On a positive note, this would make a great course to practice hitting tight lines.

7/22/2020 Update:
Out of the 65 courses I have reviewed, this is where this course ranks along with similarly rated courses:
Rank-Course, Location
26-Boyd Pond Park, Beech Island, SC
27-Golden Grove Farm & Brew DGC, Piedmont, SC
28-Riverview Park, North Augusta, SC
29-Granbury City DGC, Granbury, TX
30-Owens Field Park, Columbia, SC
31-Hampton Park Baptist Church DGC, Greenville, SC
32-Pecan Grove West, Sherman TX
33-Weatherford DGC, Weatherford, TX
34-Timmons Park, Greenville, SC
35-Crooked Creek Park, Chapin, SC

Owens Field was a surprisingly good course. IMO, it's the best course in Columbia, offering a mix of length, challenge and a variety of layouts. And yet, there's still work to be done to make it as good as it could/should be.
- There's a great variety of holes - solid range of holes from tight-tight, quasi-tight to open; longer holes, several short ones (under 200 feet), some holes have sharp doglegs (#3, 5, 8) to straight. Course has several holes with slight elevation - #4 is a solid, tight, slight downhill hole; #5 has a decent uphill second (or third) shot to the basket - but still lacks the elevation of Earlewood.
- Good flow of hole layouts. For the most part, you get a good variety from one hole to the next; whether it's a tight layout followed by a (more) open; short followed long; dogleg followed by straight (or dogleg left followed by dogleg right on 11 & 12). I never felt I was playing the same shot two holes in a row. As a general rule, the holes on the right side of the park (#8 - 16) were more open than the holes on the left side of the park (#1 -7, 17 -18).
- Course offers a good fun factor. Sure, there are some frustrating holes and more clean-up is needed (see below), but I was quite surprised how enjoyable most of the holes were. #1 is a good starting hole. Among the highlights: I really liked #4 (listed above); #5 & 7 are good, tight layouts; #14 was an enjoyable par 4. If you can throw accurately, you can shoot a low score. There's a huge risk/reward factor here.
- Most holes offer a long and short layout, which should appeal to most DGers.
- Very good course map. Course map and scorecard have been updated as of 2011. First timers will need a map to navigate their way through the course.
- Interesting park location. I like having the park/course right across the street from an airport. I didn't see or hear any planes land while I played. I don't know how often the airport is used, so I'm sure at time if there's a lot of plane traffic, it might be a negative. Otherwise, it's just a cool visual.

The biggest, most pressing need at the park is that it needs a serious dose of some major TLC. The rough/weeds/underbrush/woods need to be trimmed back/cleared/removed in a major way on some parts of the course. The problem was most obvious on three holes - #2, 5 & 18. #2 felt trashy, and more like a path through the woods than a disc golf hole. #5 needs to have a more defined fairway on the transition from the grass to the woods. #18 needs more of a clearing, both to the sides and above for the tee shot, plus a major cleaning along the left side - both the underbrush and the homeless camp/trash area. Other holes could use some work on as well. One or two workdays for the local club should essentially fix this problem, so I'm surprised it hasn't been done yet.
- Some people are going to have a problem with the course layout. As stated above, the course is broken up into two different nine hole layouts on two sides of a large field. That means you have two long walks crossing the field - from #7 to 8 and #16 to 17.
- Signage could be improved. Between the online map and signage on course, I'll give that a B+. There are a lot of extra walking paths that weave throughout the course, they do a relatively good job. However, on some hole, the signage showing long and short tees could be better, plus the arrows pointing to the next holes could be improved. For example, I saw an arrow on a tree pointing me towards #11, so I started walking that direction. After finding the tee for #15, then the basket for #11, I realized the tee was right there, and not off to the right. More consistent signage would help, as would...
- Course needs tee signs. Part of the beauty of the course is the amount of blind tee shots. For first timers, you tire of walking holes in advance to scout the basket. Tee signs help, plus they show alternative fairways/routes you may not see during a quick walk through.
- I mentioned the problems above, but I thought #18 was the worst hole on the course, and a bad way to end the round. You're throwing in the woods, to an extremely narrow fairway. Once you clear the woods, the rough is ridiculously thick on the left-hand side (to the point you're lucky if you can throw a shot 10 feet). Finally, the basket is to the left, in a clearing past that thick rough. You could easily score anywhere from a birdie to triple-bogey here, and lot has to do with luck.

This is Columbia's best course, but it should be better. Simple, general maintenance would go a long ways to improving it.
- Based on other reviews and ratings, I was surprised how much others didn't like Owens and how much I did.
- There are still other ways to make this course better. It'd be nice to see a couple longer holes, especially in some of the tight, wooded layouts. There's a thin line between tough, but fair (a la Nevin) and just unfair. There close to being on the wrong side on several holes, especially if they aren't cleaned up.
- As said, there is a lot to like here. This isn't a place for a quick round, it's more of a grind. If you want a quick, easy round, then play Earlewood. If you want to challenge yourself, you need to play Owens.

Challenging layout. Short & long holes. Six par 4 holes. Five holes over 500' & two over 600'. These are holes where you have to plan each shot out. I love it! Dual tees. Innova Discatcher baskets. Lots of long tree lined 'tunnel' shots. Lefts & rights. Open to wooded & vice-versa. Practice basket by hole #1. Creatively designed wood tee (& next tee) signs. Mando's. No water in play! Plenty of parking. Favorite hole: #8 the 'snake hole'.

Navigation is a problem. They need a few more 'Next Tee' signs to help with flow. The course map seems inaccurate. We were unable to find hole #15 & #16. Play with a local the first time if you can. There is heavy trash & hobo camps in the woods. The tee pads are dirt. Pretty flat course, not much elevation change.

We played this course after Earlewood. It is longer & much more of a workout. I enjoyed the challenging long shots. This course has not been rated very highly & I never could figure out why. It has a lot of potential. The neighborhood is not that bad. Personally I'd rate the course higher if they had the full 18 holes installed.
They have a new skate park here, soccer & baseball fields & other activities for kids.