Robert L Smith was gone for awhile. It's back again, with what appears to be basically the same layout, which is a good thing. There's lots to like here. I'll preface this review by stating that I've never played the OG layout. That being said, the current layout is well done.

The baskets are Innova Discatchers. One basket/pin position per hole from what I could gather. These are older, but catch great. No complaints with these. All were mounted level and caught fine.

The tees, currently, are a mix of concrete and turf. Hole 1 was just gravel along the edge of the park fence. That looks to be what the original was judging by pictures on here. No issues with these. Not the best you'll see, certainly not the worst.

Lots of elevation here. Good mix of up and downhill holes throughout. Pretty evenly balanced. The balance of left, right and straight shots was pretty evenly mixed it seemed too. Just a solid balance in the design. There's some shorter holes here, though most involve some elevation change making them play trickier than the distances would indicate. There's a few longer par 4's that play along the dirt road that runs thru the lower section of the hill. The back nine plays entirely wooded along the hill.

There's a couple creeks that meander through the property and come into play at various points. Shot shaping and gap hitting are at a premium here.

There were tee signs on most of the holes. Not all however. The ones that were present are of the same design as many other Charlotte area courses. These are very well done. Basic hole overview, hole #, par, next tee arrow, distance and any applicable OB shown. No complaints with these.

There's 2 holes, 9 and 12 I believe with awesome looking pin locations on rock outcroppings. These looked fantastic as well as added a bit of startegy when deciding if to run it or even how to go about laying up.

There are numerous creek crossings here. All of these places had some kind of bridge/walkway to traverse over. There were a few brand new bridges too, which goes to show that improvements are still being done.

The course is permanent, free to play and likely not going to be too busy due to the rugged terrain and golf itself.

The course is still pretty raw since the reinstall. Not the easiest course to navigate without a map, but still doable. Map recommended.

The turf tees were fine in the few spots they had them. It was a warm, dry day when I played here. We had no issues, not sure how these would perform when wet though.

The tee signs weren't present for numerous holes. Again the course is still in the early stages of reinstallation, so that most likely will change. As it was currently, it made it a bit tricky to diagnose where you were supposed to throw or where the basket was located. Tee signs would go a long here. My wife ended up throwing into a pretty substantial creek that was blind from the pin. I almost did the same on a different hole. The places that did have signs were a tremendous help. This will probably be addressed soon. It's a con as it stands now though.

There's a few lengthy walks between holes here. The course itself is not for thoe faint of heart or those not used to lots of hiking. The course does not loop back toward the parking lot at any point so all food/water should be accounted for pre round. The last hole doesn't end real close to the lot either. Pack what you need for the full round.

The course is not cart friendly. Not even in the slightest. It's not even going to be large bag friendly for most. Lots of roots, rocks and hills. Not a con, just a warning really.

I didn't really know what to expect when arriving here. As a caveat, this was the 40th course I'd played in 8 days so I was pretty spent before stepping foot here. That being said, I really enjoyed my round here and would gladly play it again.

The great thing about Charlotte disc golf is that they have courses that cater to every level of skill. This course is up there with the Nevin's and Hornet's Nest's of the area. Not to be taken lightly. I enjoyed this course more than Hornet's Nest but slightly less than Nevin. One guys opinion, but that's my take. Is it a must play? Not really, but it shouldn't be overlooked either.

It's a beautiful place to play. There are a lot of cool holes around the creek and it's a really challenging course if you're wanting to really test your skill.

There are lots of places to lose discs if you're not an extremely accurate thrower. I lost my favorite disc on the second hole. The first 4 holes have some big areas that are really overgrown, so be super careful. The course does open up some after that though. Then your game becomes more about not putting your disc in the creek.

If you're not a beginner, this course might be cool. I loved walking around the course. Lots of cool stuff all around and this is a great place to challenge yourself if you think you're good enough.

There are some solid holes here. In particular some of the holes that utilize elevation changes like the steeply uphill 2. Or the holes that parallel creeks like 5. There's a ton of variation. Most of the hole give different looks and require different shots.

There's also a lot of challenge, like the gap you have to hit off the tee on 8. And there are some memorable holes, like 12, where the tee backs up to an edge, and the pin is located in a rock garden.

Buuut, there's a lot here that isn't great, and in in an area like Charlotte, there are several courses that are much better than this one.

First, some of the holes feature some of the worst underbrush I've ever seen. I'm all for risk/reward, but on holes like 1, the risk is way too high for a minimal reward. In several locations, the deep woods is just unnecessarily deep.

Perhaps there are seasons where it is not as bad, but RL Smith is home to the worst bugs I have ever experienced on a course. I don't care how good the design is, I'm simply not enjoying it if mosquitoes are constantly flying directly into my eyeballs. (because everywhere else is coated with bugspray.) There is definitely a point where the amount of spider webs and skeeters on the fairways has to weigh in.

Some of these factors could be made up for if the holes were on the caliber of Nevin, Hornets Nest or Renny. But they just aren't. There's good holes and decent holes, but no signature holes.

If I was a Charlotte native, I'd give it another shot. But as a visitor. there are just too many other options, to try this one again.