A very nice, small course in the pines.

-Amenities: Quite good for this kind of course. Tee signs with number, distance, and par. Two natural tees per hole, Red (easier) and Black (harder). Numbered, cherry red DISCatchers. Next tee signs on the only long transition, (8)-(9).

-Accessibility: As one would hope for a school course, this is a very easy-to-play course. From the blacks, holes are all between 100'-200' except for (8), and from the reds several holes are shorter than that. Additionally, there isn't bad rough or terrible hazards anywhere on the course to make newb hyzers miserable.

-Environment: "School course" evokes visions of a flat grassy schoolyard with baskets floating amongst islands of concrete driveway. Not the case here. The course plays through mostly flat pine forest around, but not too close to, the baseball diamonds. It's a very old-timey disc golf environment that feels much more like a neighborhood park.

-Dual Tees: Really nicely executed tee options. The reds are typically shorter than the blacks, but on several holes they're actually longer, but with a much more open look. I could definitely see a young player being excited to move to the harder tees.

-Shot Shaping/Gameplay: Fun ace race with one additional hole. Most of the early holes require a quarter-thrown upshot, but don't necessarily have the comfortable hyzer line available, substituting straight or slightly right-turning routes. The last three are harder - on (7) and (9), this is due to more complicated fairways, and on (8) it's due to the 300' length. These would be the "tester" holes for young arms, but still easily par-able.

-Branches: Just two holes were a little suspect. Hole (7) black is a very tricky shot through which all I could figure out was a touchy anhyzer putter. Hole (8) has a pretty low ceiling from the blacks and could benefit from chopping one of one set of limbs overhanging the red tee.

-Flow: There's a sizeable gap from (8)-(9), though this is better than throwing along the ballfield bleachers. Additionally, (9) ends near basket (2) rather than near the first tee. Neither of these are nuisances.

-Tee Markings: It would be great to have a beam or something marking the natural tees, as currently it's open to interpretation with the signs.

-Size: I don't consider this a par-2 course per se, but it's very close. Short, half-throws make up the majority of shots and some players could end up jump putting some holes. This is ultimately what keeps the rating low, as even the most interesting shapes are on a mini scale. Again, this isn't necessarily something I dislike, it's just an explanation for my rating - the course is a novelty. Just like with "novelty" in the food sense, a mini Drumstick isn't 5 stars when compared with a Michelin-starred meal.

Satchel Ford is easily the best of the grade school courses that I've played. The environment, infrastructure, and thoughtful design are well-noted by this bagger. On the downside, it's a major setback to have no tees, and there isn't that much space to make something interesting happen. Overall, I consider it a Reasonable course that could be worth visits from the ace hungry and young.

~Similar Courses: Fewell Park (Rock Hill, SC); The Hill (Orchard Hill, GA); shorter versions of wooded holes at Shannon Park (Rome, GA).