-In terms of course layout and design, Saluda Shoals is a really good course. It's a well designed advanced to pro level course around a walking trail around the river for the first eleven holes. The setting changes for a little once you get to twelve as the course plays through a few hills closer to a playground. This is where elevation comes into play.

-Goes back to its roots on the last two holes, which consist of a lot more OB than the others, but one of those two has much more scoring separation potential. #17 is the short 240' over the pond. #18 is the 900+ par five along the gravel road on the left side. The fairway is very narrow, despite being an open hole, as the left side's rough is thick and punishing. The last two holes give a splendid overall summary. Few straightforward holes, several challenging holes, and a few incredibly difficult ones even for pros.

-Five par fours and two par fives. Three of the first four holes are all difficult par fours. All three of them are wooded doglegs that test for precision. They all have thick rough that's impossible to penetrate through. So there are different distances requirements to make each landing zone and depth perception is a must have. Think those three holes (#2-4) are hard? Wait until you see #11. This has my guess for being the hardest hole at Saluda. Not only is the landing zone further away from the tee pad, but the fairway connected to it is even tighter and the line to the pin is through many trees on the right hand side. You have to hit the sweet spot to even have a chance for birdie. That is maybe 300' straight ahead in the clear on the other side of the pipeline. You throw out of a tunnel, over a pipeline, and into a second tunnel.

#16 is probably the most attackable of all the par fours, and in my opinion the best one too. Dogleg right over a creek. Plenty of room in the fairway since the first half of it is open and the second half is up a tunnel in the woods. You want to bite off at least 250' of distance in order to have a straight look at the pin for an easy birdie. Beware of the drop off behind the pin. It's just a few feet past it. Intimidating but very gettable birdie. A birdie look could turn into an automatic bogey.

-Two par fives. One of them is pretty straightforward, the other one is far from that. #9 and #18. #9 is a winding 711' par five down a trail with the river a ways to the right side. #18 is the monster. It's a beast! It's more open than #9, but trouble is all around you. Left side is jail, right side is OB. Throw a shank hyzer, and you could either be struggling to pitch out from the left or throwing a penalty stroke not far from your previous lie. This probably isn't quite the hardest hole since #11 and #14 are incredibly difficult to reach and there are more ways to birdie #18. But it's without question the most capable of double digit scores.

-#15 is a sweet hole! Big downhill corridor out of the woods back toward the creek. Reminded me of #11 at Meeks Park in Blairsville, GA. Drops probably over 30 feet in elevation and really tests height control. Can't go high or you'll fall straight down and have a difficult approach to save par. Go low and have it hook slightly left. Throw a dependable overstable putter or mid. This one, along with #14 utilize the available elevation quite well. #14 is a monster of a par three. Sharply uphill out of a shoot and out in the open towards the playground. Basket is perched on the side of a hill in the open. This is a full rip. It says it's 377' and it has to be more than that. I think this hole is every bit of 420 and plays a good bit longer. Plays more than 450' for sure. It takes a good 225' to clear the woods and plays an additional 180-200' in the open. A real separator for a par three. I thought I made it out about 100' past the woods and I barely made it past the road.

-Views of the river on some of the greens. #1's basket is maybe 30-40' shy of the dropoff. #8 is a nice shorter hole. About 265' (definitely not 309') with the river in play on the right hand side. Going for the ace can lead to a difficult second shot back up the bank, since it drops steeply before it makes contact with the water. Right side is quite dangerous, even if you stay dry. Yet, the hole is pretty open with an easy backhand anhyzer route or sidearm route.

-#13's green is about 25-30' directly above a drop off. This is a big sweeping left hyzer. Hole is just under 250' but a good ways uphill and around a tree. I threw a truth to the right of the tree and it barely made it to the green. If you hyzer out too early, you'll be either throwing straight uphill for your second shot, or straight uphill for your third cause you went in the OB water. Right side is protected by the edge of the woods edged with pine trees. This hole has death written all over it. #17's water carry is a walk in the park compared to #13 as a whole.

-Just a few miles away from the great Columbiana Mall! Me personally, I was born in this area of Columbia so it brings back some of the earliest memories!

-Floodplains are present after rainfalls. These floodplains are very persistent too. I played this course twice on two consecutive days. #10 is often borderline unplayable due to it's flooding tendencies. Lots of standing water and a few inches of mud sticking to your shoes. Other parts of the course will have you walking through puddles. While I'm at it, I don't like the tee pad placement for #12 at all since it's on a flat lot of mud. No grass, just a big flat lot of mud near the walking track. Can't get much of an accurate run up on this pad.

-Natural tee pads. Like I said, they get very slick because of the mud. I slipped on my side on #3. Course is in serious need of concrete pads. Not to mention, most of the natural pads are edged with a facade of four slabs of woods. If you slip closer to the wood, you could easily get hurt.

-No stairs or bridges. You'll see this issue from the get go on #1 when you attempt to cross the creek. The drop from the fairway to creek is a good 12' at least. So once you cross the creek, you have to somehow manage to get over the hill that separates the creek and the fairway. The fairway from the edge of the water is about 12' high and the hill to get back up is steep and slick. #16 has you going a ways away from the fairway just to make it around the creek. Not as rigorous as the first hole though.

-Needs better upkeep. #14's fairway has tall grass well above the ankles. The rough on several holes is unbearable. Holes #2 and #3 on the left side offer little to no room to safely pitch out of. Same with #11. There are probably many others that I'm missing. Unwarranted trouble is practically guaranteed.

-Saluda is a very fun course with tons of potential. It's rugged and jagged and messy in places. The lack of drainage is what you mostly need to look out for because it can be a swamp. The course seriously needs concrete tee pads and some limbs and thorns to be burned since it's difficult to pitch out in places. This is very fixable and if it gets fixed, then Saluda will more than live up to its purpose. I'm glad that Columbia has a new public course with a lot of teeth to it. Aside from private course Stoney Hill, Saluda Shoals is clearly the hardest course in the Columbia area. Even probably rates 965 on a clearer day.

-Many interesting shot shaping requirements. #5 is the main corridor "keyhole" type. Throw through the small gap and fade right. Strongly favors a sidearm. I threw a backhand with a fuse and managed to make it inside the circle for a birdie. #6 is the perfect hole to practice a flex sidearm. I threw a saint pro and landed maybe 20' from the pin while my disc followed the line the whole way through. I very seldomly sidearm, much less so on a right to left fairway. A backhand wouldn't do any favors here. #12 (I just don't like the tee pad) is a sweet right to left low hyzer downhill at the landing zone over the ditch connecting to a creek. Since the hill declines at the base of the woods, you have to keep your disc low to even have a chance for birdie. #18 is the long and more open finish, but you don't want to unleash a big drive with a high speed driver. You can't throw a big right to left hyzer because of the woods on the right side of the road. You could land in there before your disc hooks back left. Throw nothing more than maybe a speed 11 and give it no more than 80% of power. You want to get a serviceable distance without playing with fire.

Columbia's disc golf scene has offered a variety of layouts. The city has some nice courses. Now it seems that it finally has a signature course, at least for the time being.
- The existing layout is considered temporary as of February '22. A pipeline project will start in the near future disrupting part of the course. It's not know how much of the course will be impacted. Once the project is done, a permanent layout is will be installed.
- As such, there are some frustrations you won't see on most courses of this caliber. The first one for me is that I started on hole #6 because that was the first hole I spotted. It took me a couple holes, and a lot of walking around after #7, to figure out the signage. Things got much easier from there.
- This is a longer, tougher layout than the other Columbia courses. Six holes are listed as longer than 500 feet. Listed because #3 is probably 200 feet shorter than its listed 571 length. In addition to that, the fairways on holes #4, 5, and part of 11 are tight. Compared to the fairways at Diavolo, which seem like they're 6 lane interstate, these are closer to two, maybe 3, lane highways.
- The back 9 has some excellent variety. The front nine offers the most scenic hole - #2 with the basket along the banks of the Saluda River - and a couple other nice holes. But not much else. On the back 9, holes #11 - 18 all look and play differently from each other. Technically, #10 is different from them as well, by default. HOT TAKE ALERT!!! So yes, I'll make the claim all nine holes on the back nine play different from each other.
- My favorites are #12, 13, 16 & 17. #12 starts in the open, to a wooded final 1/3 that dips down then back up to a dogleg left basket. And, there's a drop-off to a creek just beyond the basket.
- #13 is an excellent, short risk/reward hole. Listed at 208 feet, it's an uphill layout with plenty of room to the right and thick rough to the left. If you didn't notice while standing on the tee, there is a steep, big drop-off down to the creek. Next to the basket, it's 20 - 30 feet down meaning you're probably not getting that disc back unless you get creative. You can play it safe, aim 30 feet right and guarantee your par. Or you make a run for the basket and risk going 20 feet left and losing your frisbee.
- #17 is the pond hole. It's 240 feet throwing over the pond. Thickish rough long. It's an easy 3, but it's a water hole. And we like those.
- #16 is the best designed hole on the course. 411 footer that starts out doglegging it left, only for the fairway to break back and up to the right. Land right in the middle of the fairway at the bend, and you should be having an easy 3. Land a little too long, short, right, or too far left, and it's a much more challenging hole. This second shot reminds me of #12 at Hornets Nest where you need to judge the distance to hit the gap in the woods.
- Overall, an excellent park. Miles of running trails along the river. Two different boat ramps, ball fields, playgrounds, picnic shelters. This is a well-laid out park. And yet my hometown of Charlotte STILL doesn't understand why river-front property should be used for parks/green spaces.

The biggest issues all center around the temporary aspect of the course - signage and tee areas.
- Tees are marked by two pink flags. One has the hole number, the other the distance. Don't think the pinks flags are just for tees. Rather, the pink flags are also marking lines throughout the park, for the construction work perhaps?
- Navigation between holes is indicated by wooden posts with blue paint on top. At first I thought those were trail markers. Once I figured out what they were, it did help tremendously. That said, there's no consistency of how far apart they are, how many are between holes, or how close they are to the tee. Plus, you cross transitions more than once, so just be aware.
- Just finding the first tee can be a challenge. I started on #6 because I didn't know the blue-topped posts were directing me into the woods to the first tee.
- Tees are dirt. Most are relatively flat. Some are not.
- No amenities on the course itself. Restrooms, water fountains, trash cans are in other parts of the park, just not on the course.
- There are a couple of longer transitions. I only got lost between #13 and 14 simply due to construction work being done on the playground. I ran into the course designer who helped point me in the right direction. At least I got the satisfaction my navigational skills were initially correct.
- There is a decent amount of lost disc aspects on the course. Between steep drop-offs and true water factors (river on #2 & 9, pond on #17 and I guess far right on #11) and some extremely thick underbrush on certain portions, just come prepared.

Let's say this current layout became permanent. Let's say that means proper tee signs, tee pads, navigational signs, and benches were added and a few more fairways were cleared out better. This would be an excellent course. It would easily be the best in Columbia, and top 10 - 15 in the state.
- Alas, we must wait and see what becomes of this layout.
- #2 is a sneaky great hole. It looks pretty straight forward from the tee. It is one of the state's most picturesque baskets with the river in the background. However, a tee shot that's a little too aggressive or a putt that sails a little too far, and you're in the river. How pleasant is the hole now?
- There were a couple of 'eh' holes on the front side. #3 & 4 were repetitive, and in turn take away from the excellence that is #5. I wasn't a far of the sharp 90 degree turn on #8. #9 is pretty, but man is it a long, straight, tight fairway.
- One small 'issue' I noticed. With people walking the trails, they quickly interpret anything cleared as a new trail. I had to wait several times for people to get off fairways before throwing. Other than that, the course is pretty much removed from the rest of the park activities.
- I'm a fan of the $5 entry fee. It removes most of the casual, one-disc carrying players. They can hack away at Earlewood or Owens.
- Based on the current conditions, I'm giving the course a 3.5. It's an easy 4.0 with tee signs and better pads. Time will tell what becomes of this course. As it was, I had a blast playing this layout.