A 9er with some interesting holes.

-Amenities: Concrete tees, single chain baskets, good tee signs including hole maps.

-Opening: Dude, probably the best one-two opener I've seen on a nine-hole course. The first plays downhill through hardwoods and over a creek that could easily gobble ricochets. The second is a slight uphill theme on the same variation - there are multiple possible lines, all narrow, with a scenic green and OB punishment.

-"Friendly": Easy to play, easy to navigate, hard to lose discs. Great difficulty for newer players.

-Shot Shaping/Gameplay: A phenomenal start with a weaker finish. The first two are great, and (3) is also a cool shot with the river and dam in view. Then, (4) is the best chance to throw a longer drive. From there, (5) and (6) are moderately interesting stock shots, and (7)-(8) are pretty boring and wide open. (9) is a great finish, a big downhill drive with the basket in a cluster of bushes. Although the lengths don't vary much, the type of shot changes up consistently and it's fun to go for the birdies.

Next to nothing, except that it's a 9er.

-Shortness: Only two holes over 300'. There just isn't much room in the park to stretch out, in addition to a lack of usable obstacles. As noted, though, this is a decent length for newer players to enjoy.

-Variety: (7) and (8) are wide open and windy, with only a hill adding challenge. The middle section, while acceptable, doesn't present anything out of the ordinary either.

-Construction: There was ongoing construction on hole (7). Other than being an eyesore, it has yet to be determined what impact this has on the course.

For a park of this size, this is a great course. It uses the park features excellently and doesn't try to be bigger than it is. I loved the first three holes along the creek, and though it loses some momentum, Pepper Branch remains a good example of a 9er. In the scope of all courses, it's solidly Typical, a fun birdie hunt with no issues.

(2.059 Rating) (RE-EVALUATED) A park style course with lots of recent improvements.
- UPGRADE - Although I've not been back since last year, I felt the need to overhaul this review due to all the upgrades. Pepper branch is no longer a 1.030 rating that I originally gave it. 4 holes were modified and 3 holes were added to now make nine holes. Concrete tees have been added. Appealing signage has been installed and there are numbered posts for alternate tees.
- NAVIGATION - This was really bad when I played here last year as the numbered posts were falling apart. There is a new course map and new tee signage as noted above. Unfortunately no next tee direction on the tee signs. I generally don't like double back conditions like what happens between (8) and (9).
- QUICK PLAY - Based on prior experience, the new layout is likely a 25 minute bag for quick solos.
- LOCATION - Pepper Branch fills a substantial gap in the disc golf course coverage. The next closest course is over a half hour away.

I removed several cons to pros in this revision and all but one listed below is improved.
- SAFETY HAZARDS - From looking at the new photos, this aspect is still not ideal, but it's gotten better. Hole (2) still plays around some picnic tables. I could see some park patron interaction on holes (1), (3) and (4) as well. The course however is spaced out much better now.
- BASKETS - The single chain baskets appear to still be present. I'm not sure what they picked for the new holes.
- UNIQUENESS - Improved, but still below average IMO. It's rare to find good variety at a course with this small of footprint. Original holes (1) and (2) are still both similar tricky throws across a 15 foot wide creek. (4), (5) and (7) are mostly open. (8) is obstacle free. Completely revised holes (3) and (6) are both nice adds. The holes are short in general, and the one long hole is downhill. Higher skilled bombers may not need a driver.
- NATURAL BEAUTY - I bumped the score up a bunch here too. The new holes add some nice flavor and it spaces the course out much better. Too park style and too open for me to rate the course above average, but it appears to be getting close to that notion. It's also not surprising to read bjreagh's review that there's abundance of trash along the railroad tracks. That's been the case every time in my experience.

When I first played here, it became one of my least enjoyable disc golf experiences and I couldn't see how the course could appeal to anyone. Fast forward 18 months later and reading about the upgrades noted in bjreagh's updated review, I was impressed. My original review quote from April 2018 is as follows <span class="italic">"I think this course should be re-laid out with a looping layout and have a few holes in the 200 to 250 foot range to make it more novice and recreational friendly." </span> Well it was re-laid out in a loop, and its more Novice/Recreational friendly with seven holes between 180 and 280 feet. Well done McMinnville parks department.
- CHALLENGING - From looking at the pictures and hole data distance, the difficulty was dialed back a touch. Not ideal for me, but much better for locals IMO. I'd estimate that even par would net an 880 rated round.

I was thrilled to see that this course (formerly 6 holes) had been upgraded and slightly redesigned to have 9 holes. This is now a much better course as it is a now a pretty standard 9 hole beginner/intermediate city park course.

The course now offers a bit of everything:
1/2 wooded park style over a creek
3/6 tunnel like shots
4/5 mostly open field
7 steep uphill
8 short downhill touch shot
9 long downhill bomb
Plus scenic views of the river and dam.

Baskets are easily visible and catch just fine. Signs are good. Navigation is easy, course map available.
2 practice baskets (one plays as the long alt. basket for #9)
Plenty of parking. Port-a-pottie near hole 1.

Tees- there are 9 concrete tees #1-9, then 9 natural tees marked #10-18. The "back 9" tees play to the same baskets but offer a different look and distance from the concrete tee.

Only course in town and surrounding areas. Good place for people to learn about the game and how to play it. I had a guy come up while I was playing to get some info and I was more than happy to explain how to play and gave him a quick lesson on disc types.

Hole 3 will sometimes be flooded or have stagnant standing water. It looked swampy and smelled like dead fish. I did not see an alt. tee for this hole either.

Hole 6 behind the trees along the RR tracks had a lot of trash on it.

It is almost as if somebody read my previous review and suggestions, and then made them happen. Probably not, as my ideas seemed pretty logical and were just common sense. But whether I had anything to do with it or not doesn't matter, I am just glad to see a course with potential reach that potential!!!

The course went from one I would have never played again, to one I would play again if passing through town. However, there is no reason for out-of-towners to go out of their way to play here as there are much better courses all over Middle TN.

My rating from 3 years ago was 1.0 (poor) but is now changed to 2.0 (reasonable).

The designers have used this small piece of land about as effectively as possible. There are no completely wide open holes because the course uses a small line of trees effectively on one section of the course and another section uses a small wooded creek to force players to throw accurate shots. Holes are of a decent length and because of the aforementioned use of trees, the course provides a a decent challenge even to intermediate players. There is a course map by the first tee that shows the layout of the course,and the tee posts and corresponding baskets are color coded for easier identification.

The natural tee pads are marked simply by a post with no distances. Some of the tee pads were not exactly level and it was difficult to find a comfortable spot on the tee. Due to the small piece of land that is located on, three of the six baskets played across the same strip of trees. If the course were to ever get crowded, I could foresee some safety issues with the overlapping fairways and close proximity of some tees and baskets. The biggest con would probably have to be that's it's only 6 holes but I honestly don't see where they could have put any more baskets. The pars are listed in the course map and three holes are listed as par 4 but this course is definitely all par 3s to any moderately experienced player.

Overall, I enjoyed this small course. I would consider myself an intermediate player and I shot +2 because of an errant tee shot on 1 that hit a tree (and my poor putting). Every tee shot requires some kind of placement and accuracy. The first hole plays through a tight gap over a creek. The second hole requires a fairly lengthy hyzer shot around a large tree and through a gap and over the creek. The third shot has a fairly small gap about 30 feet from the tree that then opens up into a field. The next shot then comes back to that same strip of trees but you can go over them if you have any kind of distance. Fifth hole is on the opposite side of a patch of trees but you can pretty much just go around them. The last hole plays over the same thin strip as 3 and 4 but requires a high hyzer. I have visited Mcminneville quite often recently and am glad there is an option for disc golf. I just wish it was a longer course but because of the layout of the last four holes, you could easily play a safari 9 holes. If you are in Mcminnevile, you should check it out. It's definitely not a destination course or worth a long drive but I felt like the holes were well thought out and provided a nice introduction to this great sport.