Richlands-Steed Park reviews
8
0
Ball golfish 2+ years drive by
Reviewed:
Played on:Aug 30, 2013
Played the course:once
Pros:
Layout - Overall Richlands has a ball golf type feel. It is more open and the fairways where the trees come in to play are mostly wide with some pines and shule defining the path.
Going in to this course I was under the impression by looking at the pictures that shule/non mowed grass areas that define some fairways are OB. However there seems to be no mention of the course playing as such at the course and the individual tee signs have no map or mention of OB. I will still review the course as those areas playing OB.
The parts I liked about the course were some holes that made you work the disc a bit through the gaps while keeping your placement in mind.
It mixes up some long and short holes and in that sense gives you some balance.
If you like to let some discs fly and not worry about obstructions this course gives you a fair share of that. A few real bomber holes are mixed in but you still have to worry about the OB.
The back 9 is much better than the front and gives you more of a challenge overall.
With the shule OB in play and OB created by roads/farm also in mind this course gives you more of a disc placement challenge than a lot of NC courses where hitting gaps is the main concern.
A few of the greens are on knolls and the longer holes have some OB placement that makes you think twice about running at it off the tee. Good risk/reward in that aspect.
Equipment - Large concrete pads that are level with the ground. The teesigns give you the distance. Baskets in good condition.
Atmosphere - It's a pretty nice park and the area where the course is located is kept away from other park areas. The course is well kept and does give you a ball golf type feel a tad bit like I mentioned.
The park has a playground and bathrooms and the way the course is setup I think it's a good place to bring your family.
Going in to this course I was under the impression by looking at the pictures that shule/non mowed grass areas that define some fairways are OB. However there seems to be no mention of the course playing as such at the course and the individual tee signs have no map or mention of OB. I will still review the course as those areas playing OB.
The parts I liked about the course were some holes that made you work the disc a bit through the gaps while keeping your placement in mind.
It mixes up some long and short holes and in that sense gives you some balance.
If you like to let some discs fly and not worry about obstructions this course gives you a fair share of that. A few real bomber holes are mixed in but you still have to worry about the OB.
The back 9 is much better than the front and gives you more of a challenge overall.
With the shule OB in play and OB created by roads/farm also in mind this course gives you more of a disc placement challenge than a lot of NC courses where hitting gaps is the main concern.
A few of the greens are on knolls and the longer holes have some OB placement that makes you think twice about running at it off the tee. Good risk/reward in that aspect.
Equipment - Large concrete pads that are level with the ground. The teesigns give you the distance. Baskets in good condition.
Atmosphere - It's a pretty nice park and the area where the course is located is kept away from other park areas. The course is well kept and does give you a ball golf type feel a tad bit like I mentioned.
The park has a playground and bathrooms and the way the course is setup I think it's a good place to bring your family.
Cons:
Layout - If you know anything about Schwarz courses this is a classic example. It gives you some good solid holes mixed in with a bunch of head scratchers that really throw off the entire thing.
You start off with 3 boring mostly wide open holes on one side of the road that are to short to be interesting. Then #4 continues that trend across the street.
7 is a weird hole and I don't really know what to think about it but my first impression was bad. There are two holly bushes offset vertically right in front of the pad. The gap between them is maybe 3' at most however you can easily thumber over the entire thing and make the hole pretty boring. I threw a BH second through the gap and hit my hand on the holly bush and my hand didn't appreciate that.
10 is the only legit par 4 on the course and it's pretty much wide open, the only challenge is the road and shule lining the fairway but it's so wide it doesn't really matter. If you have decent length this hole is an easy 3.
Now this course was my 111th course played so when I say #11 may be the absolute dumbest hole I've ever seen it's not from a lack of sample size. 87 feet is all I need to say.
The rest of the course is decent but as with a majority of the course most shots are pretty much straight on with a pretty wide gap to hit. There are some good holes on the back 9 but it all kind of runs together.
Now as I said I played this course as the shule being OB. However the course seemed to make no mention of that and if played as those areas not being OB this course would be even more boring.
To me this is a course that would of benefited greatly from being designed as a 9 holer with a long and short pad. That would of cut out all the terrible boring holes and still given the possibility of playing 18 holes by playing both pads.
It's not a confusing layout but there are places where you have to stop and think a bit due to some places where multiple baskets and pads are visible.
The pars listed on the signs are in my opinion way off. 10 is the only true par 4 and only hole not a par 3.
Equipment - Teesigns are basic with hole distance listed and no map. Normally I wouldn't really make that a con but if this course is intended to be played with shule OB a map of the hole would be beneficial.
Atmosphere - The course doesn't give you a secluded feeling at all if that's what you like. You play near some roads on a few holes.
You start off with 3 boring mostly wide open holes on one side of the road that are to short to be interesting. Then #4 continues that trend across the street.
7 is a weird hole and I don't really know what to think about it but my first impression was bad. There are two holly bushes offset vertically right in front of the pad. The gap between them is maybe 3' at most however you can easily thumber over the entire thing and make the hole pretty boring. I threw a BH second through the gap and hit my hand on the holly bush and my hand didn't appreciate that.
10 is the only legit par 4 on the course and it's pretty much wide open, the only challenge is the road and shule lining the fairway but it's so wide it doesn't really matter. If you have decent length this hole is an easy 3.
Now this course was my 111th course played so when I say #11 may be the absolute dumbest hole I've ever seen it's not from a lack of sample size. 87 feet is all I need to say.
The rest of the course is decent but as with a majority of the course most shots are pretty much straight on with a pretty wide gap to hit. There are some good holes on the back 9 but it all kind of runs together.
Now as I said I played this course as the shule being OB. However the course seemed to make no mention of that and if played as those areas not being OB this course would be even more boring.
To me this is a course that would of benefited greatly from being designed as a 9 holer with a long and short pad. That would of cut out all the terrible boring holes and still given the possibility of playing 18 holes by playing both pads.
It's not a confusing layout but there are places where you have to stop and think a bit due to some places where multiple baskets and pads are visible.
The pars listed on the signs are in my opinion way off. 10 is the only true par 4 and only hole not a par 3.
Equipment - Teesigns are basic with hole distance listed and no map. Normally I wouldn't really make that a con but if this course is intended to be played with shule OB a map of the hole would be beneficial.
Atmosphere - The course doesn't give you a secluded feeling at all if that's what you like. You play near some roads on a few holes.
Other Thoughts:
The course is a nice change of pace from most NC courses however it's another case of a Schwarz course where I'm left completely unfilfilled. So much more could of been done with it than was. There's to many forced holes where an overall solid design was sacrificed for some good longer holes with challenge.
Again I think this course would of been much better served with 9 holes and multiple pads but it is what it is. There is some fun factor to it but overall I don't recommend this course and see it as highly over rated at present.
Again I think this course would of been much better served with 9 holes and multiple pads but it is what it is. There is some fun factor to it but overall I don't recommend this course and see it as highly over rated at present.
2
4
willhoit
Experience:
32.9 years
5 played
3 reviews
Steed Park 2+ years drive by
Reviewed:
Played on:May 10, 2013
Played the course:2-4 times
Pros:
Not very busy- Easy to navigate
Cons:
Not too challenging- If you know how to manipulate the wind this course gets boring.. With such other challenging courses in the area I can see why this one is never very crowded. I would choose NE creek or White Oak River over Richlands, unless I was trying to teach a newbie the game.
Other Thoughts:
Very clean and well maintained- Bugs are bad in the summer.
