Robert L. Smith Park reviews
9
0
Good course, great elevation, needs some maintenance 2+ years
Reviewed:
Updated:
Played on:Oct 5, 2018
Played the course:once
Pros:
Good baskets, good tees and great tee signs.
Good course map at the start, you need to folow the walking path around the RR building and look for the board. The first tee is behind the board.
Good use of the elevation, up and downhill holes with several fast greens.
Good use of the rocks for pin positions on 9 and 12.
Also, a good mix of left and right holes, pretty much an even mix, plus two holes with double fairways, pick your favorite. Sadly, only a couple of Par 4s.
#18 has a pretty cool Top of the World tee shot.
Good course map at the start, you need to folow the walking path around the RR building and look for the board. The first tee is behind the board.
Good use of the elevation, up and downhill holes with several fast greens.
Good use of the rocks for pin positions on 9 and 12.
Also, a good mix of left and right holes, pretty much an even mix, plus two holes with double fairways, pick your favorite. Sadly, only a couple of Par 4s.
#18 has a pretty cool Top of the World tee shot.
Cons:
The first 4 holes are very overgrown. Not a huge issue on #1, a 75-100 foot carry, #2 hillside is very tough to climb, #3 has a longer carry to cleared ground and a tough path down, #4 has a shorter carry to cleared ground. If you miss the fairway with an errant drive or tree kick on these, that disc is probably gone.
Doesn't appear to get a lot of play as the other 4 + rated courses, so some of the tees needed cleared off and the fairways were a little rough.
#18 had a tough downhill path, have heard there is an easier path, but it wasn't obvious when I was there.
Doesn't appear to get a lot of play as the other 4 + rated courses, so some of the tees needed cleared off and the fairways were a little rough.
#18 had a tough downhill path, have heard there is an easier path, but it wasn't obvious when I was there.
Other Thoughts:
As I mentioned in the Cons, the overgrowth on the first 4 holes is the main reason I am rating this course so low. As I was leaving Charlotte that day, I was filling the gas tank and noticed a guy at the next pump with a DG cart. We got to talking and I told him where I had played, his response?, "How overgrown was it?" So it doesn't seem like I caught it on a bad day.
I wondered why this 4.2 rated course was not used for the 2018 Am Worlds, and that was answered on the first four holes. After climbing #2 and looking at the tee shot for #3, I seriously considered leaving and hitting another course. But after checking the course map again and seeing that the course followed a creek, I figured there had to be some flat land down there and not overgrown like the hillside at the beginning. Glad I did.
There are some fun holes here, #7 - along the creek to a very fast green, #9 - a J-hook hole uphill to a basket in the rocks, kind of gimmickry, but fun, #12 - uphill to another basket on the rocks, #16 - a short downhill that I couldn't find the gap on and #18 - elevated tee, steep down then uphill to the basket, a very fun throw.
Looking at the hole pictures here on the site, I think a clear cut of the #2 hillside would make it real tough to land a shot on that hill, but any cutting short of that would be an improvement. After reading the reviews on here, I had the time and was ready for a physically demanding course. But, when that is combined with bushwacking and walking overgrowth paths, it takes on a whole new challenge. After the first 4, the hills were manageable.
Good course, just needs some upkeep.
COURSE UPDATE: I've heard from a couple of the CLT guys and there is a 2-year sewer project planned to go right through this course. So everyone is just waiting for that to get underway and complete before spending any more time on course maintenance.
I wondered why this 4.2 rated course was not used for the 2018 Am Worlds, and that was answered on the first four holes. After climbing #2 and looking at the tee shot for #3, I seriously considered leaving and hitting another course. But after checking the course map again and seeing that the course followed a creek, I figured there had to be some flat land down there and not overgrown like the hillside at the beginning. Glad I did.
There are some fun holes here, #7 - along the creek to a very fast green, #9 - a J-hook hole uphill to a basket in the rocks, kind of gimmickry, but fun, #12 - uphill to another basket on the rocks, #16 - a short downhill that I couldn't find the gap on and #18 - elevated tee, steep down then uphill to the basket, a very fun throw.
Looking at the hole pictures here on the site, I think a clear cut of the #2 hillside would make it real tough to land a shot on that hill, but any cutting short of that would be an improvement. After reading the reviews on here, I had the time and was ready for a physically demanding course. But, when that is combined with bushwacking and walking overgrowth paths, it takes on a whole new challenge. After the first 4, the hills were manageable.
Good course, just needs some upkeep.
COURSE UPDATE: I've heard from a couple of the CLT guys and there is a 2-year sewer project planned to go right through this course. So everyone is just waiting for that to get underway and complete before spending any more time on course maintenance.
