Pete Henkel Park has a bathroom, a couple of softball/baseball fields, a basketball court, and this disc golf course that feels suitably designed for beginners and casual players. More experienced players will likely not need much more than a putter & maybe a midrange on a couple of holes.

The course offers decent variety, and makes good use of the available terrain/elevation. Hole 1 is an interesting hole with a fairway that slopes down to the left, in a bowl formation. There are a couple of flat holes, uphill holes, and downhill holes too. The course starts and ends with more open holes, but primarily plays through the woods in the back of the park.

The course has nice concrete tees for every hole, new Innova DISCatchers, and tee signs on the first three holes.

Hole 3 has a fun tee shot over a deep creek bed, but with shallow water, creating a memorable "water carry" that isn't going to punish newer players who end up in the creek. Hole 8 uses the same creek, and the most extreme downhill tee shot on the course, to create the most memorable putting green on the course.

In general, the course promotes the practice of multiple different shot shapes. If a player can throw accurately within 220', throwing with different angles, any hole is score-able.

Signage could be better. It was a bit of a blind journey to even find the course. As stated earlier only the first three holes have tee signs, and navigational signage would help with the flow of the course.

Maps on the tee signs don't feel necessary on eight of the holes, but it would have been nice to know Hole 3 was tucked off to the right. Not really a huge deal, just something to be aware of if/when you play this course the first time if trying to park every hole.

Hole 9 feels a bit shoved into a small nook of the park, and finishes far enough away from the start of the course that, despite enjoying the course enough that I was entertaining the idea, I decided against playing a second round to get in an 18 hole loop. At least it created a horseshoe-esque shape towards the parking lot.

Not much distance variation in the holes. For the space given, I think the course does a great job using all of it, but I would have enjoyed one hole a bit longer.

The only real place where disc loss could be a concern, would be at Hole 1 if a beginner yanks their drive off to the right and it flies over the barbed wire fence around the maintenance compound for the park. Again, not a huge issue.

Pete Henkel Park DGC is only the second course I've played designed by Pat Bowles (I believe), and it is the second time I have walked away confused why I haven't heard more about said course. I really enjoyed the design, and there wasn't a bad hole on the course. So I am giving the course a soft 2.0 rating, but would gladly play here again. That rating would be much more solid if tee signs were installed for every hole. Can be combined with nearby courses, Rob Wallace Park and Oakboro District Park, for a fun day of golf. Obviously if it were a full 18 hole course (which I don't believe there is room for) or if the signage were better I could see the course deserving a higher rating.


Favorite Holes: 3 & 8

Pete Henkel is a fun, midrange course. Good variety in a layout that doesn't appear to offer much variety.
- You're not in Charlotte here. It's 20 minutes to Mint Hill Park, and 30 minutes to both Reedy Creek and Scrapyard. But, the layout and vibe feels completely different from Charlotte (in a good way).
- Big fan of the opening hole. The only wide-open hole on the course. Throwing across a small valley, the basket is on the edge of a hill leading up to railroad tracks. The fairway slopes downhill to the left. Any shot that fades left is having a distinct uphill look. Overall, a good hole to loosen up your arm.
- Solid use of elevation. #3 & 5 are both uphill wooded holes. #8 is a fun downhill shot. #2 & 9 also offer good use of elevation.
- Holes #3 - 8 are the wooded portion of the course. #2 & 9 offer good use of trees as obstacles. #3 also tees off over a small creek, one more touch that makes this hole feel different.
- For a short course, there is enough variety from hole to hole that you're getting different looks throughout. That said, if you throw straight, you're going to see birdie putts on most, if not all, holes.
- Good course for beginners and casual players. The longest hole is 240 feet. Very few spots where you could seriously lose a disc. I think the biggest 'lost disc' spot would be on #9. If you smack a tree in front of the tee, and ricochet to the right, that rough looks really thick.

Course was a work-in-progress when I played, so there were some new course issues still being ironed out.
- Biggest issue was the lack of signage. Even once in the park, there's nothing indicating that there is a course here. Without the UDisc interactive map, I'd have had no clue a course was here.
- Signage/navigation between holes could be improved. After #4, I walked directly to #6 because that was the more defined pathway. It wasn't until finishing up #8, that I was certain I'd skipped a hole.
- Course as a whole doesn't have many amenities. There's a porta-jon near the first tee and a couple trash cans by #1 & 9. Real bathrooms are in the front of the park (not that this is a big park, rather an observation.)
- It's 1/10 of a mile walk from the parking lot to the first tee. It's a small parking lot. And if there are baseball/softball games, or other park activities, going on, parking may be an issue. I don't know if they let you park in the grass/along the road by the first tee. If so, that would solve issues.

It goes without saying that this course has a lot of similar vibes to Oakboro seeing how they were designed by the same person, they have the same terrain/landscape, and they're located so close together. At least Pete Henkel has more elevation.
- The course also has some Lake Corriher (China Grove) vibes going on. Again, same course designer.
- My concern with this course, and many small-town courses, is who's going to be responsible for its upkeep? Is it a local club? Parks department? Who's going to make sure the underbrush is kept knocked down, and things like that? Even when I played, the grass was tall on #1 and 2.
- For more experienced players, all holes have ace potential. That said, some will truly be more fun to ace than others. #9 might be the toughest to ace. It's only listed at 181 feet, but it's uphill and has woods/underbrush behind it. In a regular round, you're probably not risking going deep in the woods for an ace run. You're probably settling for a birdie putt. Now, if you're going for a cubby ace, you don't mind searching for discs in the woods.
- When I played here, the local police department was testing out a drone. And, when you're the only person in the park, guess what? You're the guinea pig of how well it can locate and follow people.
- A generally good mid-range, intermediate course. It's got a good flow and vibe to it. Not much challenge, but high on the fun factor. It'd be an enjoyable home course. Good for a quick stop on the way to Oakboro or Albemarle.