A beast lurks in the shadows of quiet RL Smith Park. A wooded monster that twists and turns every which way, up and down steep hills and studded with boulders. Stay on the fairway or become prey to its many minions of briers, creeks, and valleys.

Okay, enough of that. It's a tough, mini Nevin cross-bred with Stumpy Creek kind of course, which, if you like your DG rump handed to you by the rough, grizzled hands of nature, you should be excited about now. It's meaner than a bag full of rattlesnakes, not b/c it's downright hard or unfair (definitely not unfair) but b/c it teases you into thinking that you might have a good round. There aren't really any holes that an Intermediate ranked player shouldn't be able to hit the line he wants but it'll wear you down with the elevation and heaven forbid long disc retrieval efforts that are bound to happen.

Most of these holes are squarely in the woods, playing along creeks and gulleys, ridges and hills. The first 4 holes play in and out of the trees, fun holes where elevation (mostly throwing downhill) comes into play big time. Then it's into the trees for some classic Charlotte golf, a little flatter but plenty of terrain and line variety to make you think out each shot carefully. The easiest or shorter holes even have a little spice to them, typical of Stan courses, in the form of elevated baskets (natural, no poles this time) or perched upon picturesque boulders. Oh yeah, this is the kind of nature we disc golfers pine for, big time.

Not many holes really favor the big arm golfer in the classic sense, noodle arms are welcome b/c it favors a precision game. As long as you can throw downhill, the longer holes aren't much of a problem. All the holes have very defined fairways that will become even more so with use. Great variety, and I believe some legit par 4's might be here.

The course is easy to navigate thanks to all the orange tape denoting the paths.

Well, it's new. So the tees are natural, only present thanks to pink flags in the ground. The transitions from tee to basket on some holes, especially the first 4 or so, are pretty steep and rough with just little goat paths weaving through the tremendous amount of weeds, tall grass and briers accompanying these holes. There's still some fallen branches that need to be tossed aside and some baskets could use some nearby saplings cut away to create more of a putting green.

The rough can be extremely so, if you toss your disc in the brier filled mess on holes 1-4 you can almost kiss it goodbye. I hope they clear a bit of this out, if anything just to give you less areas to look for your disc.

There's a painfully long walk from hole 12-13. Also, 18 doesn't really dump you near the parking lot either.

My rating will only go up as this course matures. It's a definite contender for 4 disc category. It's Stumpy meets Nevin, a Reedy Creek on 'roid rage, a Barber Park except designed well. A lot of the holes around the creek remind me of Barber Park's back 9 except better scenery and better hole variety.

Hole 18 is one of the best finishing holes in the state. Holes 9 and 12 have gorgeous pin placements (rocky outcrops). Hole 9 will probably have a mando, it's meant to be played kind of like a long fishhook, but you can cut half of the fairway out by tossing a thumber through a window in the treeline on the left. If I could putt I would have 3'd it rather easily.

Another quality course in the Queen City, you've got to be kidding me.