Well maintained course on a beautiful piece of land. Well built tee pads (that unfortunately don't always point in the right direction). Tons of elevation change and thankfully, they have steps on some of the steeper hills. Red and blue tee pads on most holes give a little more variety in shot type, and provide a challenge for a variety of skill levels. Great course to work on some longer technical throws. I think that this course has the potential to be a top class course with a few changes. If you're in the area, play Glenn Hilton first, but this is definitely a course worth visiting as well.

BIG PRO: they have added a short 9 hole course that is great for beginners or children. I'm glad they did this because this was previously a course I would recommend beginners steer clear of.

The first and most obvious con here is that this course is a lhbh, or rhfh paradise. There's just not a lot of variety of shots here. When i heard they were taking out 4 of the holes and replacing them with 4 new holes, I thought surely they would alleviate this. Instead, they took out 3 right to left holes and replaced them with right to left holes.

Another thing that has always annoyed me about this course is that it is obvious some people put a lot of time, energy, and money into building this course, but they screwed up 4 or 5 of the tee pads by not pointing them towards the fairway.

A common complaint is that this is a pinball course. There may be some truth to that, but typically if you find yourself hitting 5-10 trees on the same hole, you probably just need to throw better. However, occasionally you will be punished for throwing a good shot and some fairways could definitely be made more obvious.

I would recommend wearing a sturdier shoe (i.e. hiking shoe) as there can be some muddy places, slippery hillsides, loose rocks, streams, and roots/stumps sticking up. You will literally be hiking. Overall this a solid course with a few design flaws, but has the potential to be great. Maybe one day they will get it right.

-Nice park in a secluded area. Course still has plenty of potential and the capacity to be as good as Glenn Hilton. I enjoyed most of the holes because they are unique and some really stand out.
-Love the tee pads and tee signs. Very accurate and well marked. Signs are accurate and there are two next tee signs on every transition. Navigation is a breeze.
-Dual sets of tees on most holes. The reds looked fun and forgiving but the blues sure were not for me. Some are really good challenges on the blues. For instance #16 is a great uphill shot that goes into the woods and slightly left up the hill.
-#5 and #15 were really fun valley shots! Also scenic! I also liked #7. The long par 3 that plays off the deck and out into the open.
-Practice basket close to #1. There is also a kiosk close to #1.
-Good use of amenities. Bathrooms, benches, some trash cans.
-Elevation is a huge factor here and that never gets old for me! There are a few great valley shots, multiple downhills (one extreme!) and also many uphills!
-Front 9 is really fun! It provides a good challenge from the longs. I enjoyed some holes on the back 9. I loved #15-17! Also liked #10. #10 is an uphill par 4? Really short for a par 4 but plays really steep uphill! It is a dogleg left that demands a clean shot and clear the hill to set up for an easy second shot. I missed a 20' birdie putt!
-Stairs on the steep parts of the course. I can't imagine how rough it would be if it didn't have any!
-Some really cool greens on the course. Several baskets are on hills and have roller potential but not a whole lot. Which I like.

-If you play the blues. You will struggle and stumble! I guarantee you! I don't agree with every fairway on the course! Some are kind of silly and great shots will be sabotaged. Many holes here from the longs provide a real challenge but a few (particularly on the back 9) are challenging but not in the way many people would like. Some are way too narrow, some have too many trees in the way and force weird trick shots.
-#14!! Really?!?! The hole with the greatest use of elevation by maybe 20 feet is the most "poke and pray" on the course? How on Earth do you play this hole?!?! I can't find a legit fairway from the long. The short isn't as goofy but if you can't tomahawk, you won't be happy. This could easily be the greatest hole on the course if it was just wider. It's unique but it's plinko gimmickiness!
-If the walking path is OB on #18, you will be pissed. The fairway is not wide at ALL! If you think the OB on #18 at Stumpy isn't reasonable, wait until you see this! This is ridiculous. It said on the sign "Walking path and beyond is OB." Kind of a letdown after playing #15-17 which are all very fun holes!
-#7 and #16 are way too close to each other. My drive on #7 was terrible and I landed on #16's pad! Loved both holes but keep an eye out. I didn't care really but most people do. Especially in the annual tournament they have here in July.

-As tricky as this course can get, I'm a fan of Sawmills and I will be back for sure. It's very majestic and provides a good challenge from the longs and a fun friendly and forgiving round on the reds. It seems completed on the shorts but still needs a little work on the longs. I'm looking forward to seeing improvement at Sawmills. Like the course now but I don't think it is at its best yet.

Favorite hole: 16. Great uphill par 3 that goes into the mouth of the woods.

Least favorite: 18. This hole is a hindrance to walkers and drivers on the road. It's sandwiched in between!

Fun course. Find time to play it!

Really nice park, really nice scenery with good elevation. The course flows really well and the hole variety is very good. I played from the reds due to time constraints but the blues looked fun as well and thankfully often offered a different line other than just a little longer. The tee signage is excellent and next tee signs do a great job.

For a short round, you can play a loop of 1-7 and then 17-18.

The course is mostly a technical wooded style but there are some open and downhill ones to air it out. Hole #8 for example is a sweet downhill bomb. Also really like the separate fairways for hole 12. Some of the holes are pretty tight but for the most part I think are fair.

This course isn't without its flaws but they're mostly minor and a reflection of being new.

Lots of rutted, gravel tees. I really hate this when the hole requires a very precise BH line where sure footing is crucial. Put concrete tees everywhere and this course magically jumps to a 4 rating for me.

#5 has a steep downhill portion that could use some steps or something cut into it for safe passage. Quite a few holes could have some erosion concerns in the future if the course becomes popular, similar to nearby Glenn C.

#8 is awesome but noob hyzers could take out people teeing from #16 or walking to it.

#9-10 could have some swampy issues. #11's blue tee does not look like fun at all.

#15 needs some limb lopping to improve the ceiling. Fun hole though.

#17's tee is on the sidewalk beside the parking lot. The blue tee in particular is a grip slip away from a busted windshield. The basket is on an island green made by the road, a park road, and a ball field. Not a great hole but just be wary of other park users and you'll be fine.

#18 is another sidewalk tee with the road directly on your left. Fun hole though.

Bottom line is this is a really fun course that I will definitely being playing again in the future. It makes a great pairing with Glenn C. Hilton if 24 holes isn't enough for you. The club is doing a bang up job with this one and I look forward to seeing it progress. It's fun, it's challenging, it's a nice walk through nature mostly. It reminds me a little of Scrapyard or maybe a baby RL Smith in CLT. Some basic improvements that should come in time will bump this to a 3.5 at least for me.

1) The course provides many different type of holes/shots. This is not a typical straight/dogleg left or right course. Very technical course!

2) Great use of elevation and some natural/man-made features. Actually since I play more mountainous courses regularly, the Sawmills course is a nice change of pace. All the while not being flat or boring. The terrain will be a challenge for someone who is used to flat courses. Good locations for OBs and Mandos throughout the course. Adds some risk and reward to a few holes.

3) Multiple tee pads! All but 2 holes have a Blue (long) and Red (short) tee pad. If I remember its #4 and #8 that only have one pad placement. However that may change for #8 (looks like they are working on something for it).

4) Even though this course is very new, all tee pads have distance markers and diagrams for each hole. Also the use of "next tee" signs and markers make for a reasonable easy navigation.

4.5) The course flows well and thus can be played in a short amount of time. I played the first time solo and took multiple shots on occasion and it took about 1 hour and 15 mins to play. Second time I played with someone else and we both took multiple shots time to time and it took us 1 hour and 35 mins to complete a round.

5) The course has a practice basket, and it's in a good location for other (non-golfers) park goers to see it. Also a few of the holes play near the soccer field, main road, and playground, all of which are in a non-dangerous way. I believe this will be good for the locals to see disc golf and could bring some new people to the course/sport.

6) Very nice DISCatcher baskets that are quite visible! Maybe a few flags for a few of the holes future improvements. Could make some of the wooded placements more visible and would give a wind gauge for the longer/wide open holes.

Just as a note these cons are not deal breakers in my opinion, but are cons to certain degree.

1) Drainage! I see that a few holes will have issues if it's not addressed or changed. Big rains or runoff from the soccer field could prove to be problematic when there is more course traffic. Especially #8, #9, and #16. On a positive note I believe they are already addressing #16.

2) Only 2-3 holes where you can really rip into a long drive. #2 (still wooded though and not that long) #8 (around 440') and #17 Blue tee (around 350' but uphill too). Most holes are in the 200-300' range with a few really short ones (as most courses are). There are no par 4 holes on the course and no par 3s that I believe should be a par 4. This may not be a huge con, but for some people I can see it being a bit of a downer.

3) Gravel tee pads for 15 of the 18 holes. Some of these are not quite level due to player use and could be problematic in wet conditions. Not a huge con but it could be improved upon, and it very well may be on the list of future items to do.

First off, I would really like to give this course a 3.25! In fact I will quickly adjust this initial rating to a 3.5 or 4 depending on the improvements made to the course as time goes on. I'm not sure if it would ever be a 4.5+ caliber course. But I could be wrong.

One nice, clean, public toilet accessible from the main parking area and holes #1, #3, #4, and #18.

Practice basket is located near the main parking area.

The designer/building crew used a lot of the downed trees to make pathways and water crossing (nice in my opinion).

Plenty of parking, at least for now.

And a thanks goes out to whomever helped in the process of putting in this new course. I can tell a lot of time and effort has been spent! Good design Dan Mitchell!