Sontag Disc Golf Course is approx. 22 miles south of Roanoke. The course sits in the Franklin County Agricultural Park. The course's semi-isolated location probably doesn't help it's reputation as I think it gets overlooked.

The course starts next to a very large picnic pavilion, excellent for staging tournies. There is a kiosk at the beginning with map and some old tournament info. The course shows so much promise from this vista.

There are no concrete tee pads, only grass in the open areas and gravel in the woods. Although not the best, most were in fairly good condition and were oversized and didn't pose much of a problem. The signs are small and handwritten. Again, something more professional would be a welcome addition. The baskets are the Discatchers with the yellow band and numbers.

The course features three tee pads on each hole. The reds are the shorter, the whites, which are intermediate level tough and the Blues, which are probably flat out scary difficult. I played from the Whites and was mostly, overmatched.

# 1 was a nice starting hole, 320' down to a basket which is protected by about 20 small saplings. # 2 was a 560' shot into the woods. The course has a great variety of tight, wooded technical holes, some wide open downhill bomber types, excellent us of elevation, both up and down, and holes where an exacting shot in needed to get through a small window, like on # 17.

You want to be challenged? Try # 13 and it's maybe 600' and gets progressively tighter as you near the basket. Or # 17. It's 500 from the Whites and plays uphill through scattered tree before you reach a small hill with a window maybe 25' wide. You really want to hit this window in order to reach the open field and the last 150' to the basket.

The course loops back to the start after 9. A good time to refill and restock. Also excellent for tourney play.

# 10 is great fun, even for us distance challenged players. Playing either 500 or 700, you're throwing down a long, mostly open sloping section of park lawn aiming for the window in the trees. The basket then sits about 250' farther back in the woods.

Navigation could be so improved. Playing alone, it's too easy to miss one small directional arrow and spend time wondering about, trying to find the next tee pad. The tee signs are small, some are missing or illegible, and are not easy to spot through the thickets and then are marked with a wood plank for the front board.

The wooded sections of the course do feel like you're playing through virgin forest. There is a lot of debris and fallen logs to play over and around.

As others have commented on, # 18, is a disappointed end to this course. A 270' straight, uphill throws to a wide open basket lacks pizazz.

This course is a nice challenge for player intermediate and above. Recreational players will be frustrated and overmatched, at times, and beginners should serve as caddies here.

I think if this course was closer to civilization, it would, 1) Have a reputation befitting it's terrain and challenge and 2) Have a larger population base to help address the concerns of tee pads and signage.

-The landscape is beautiful
-A few holes that go from open to wooded, wooded to open.
-Good mix of right, left, straight shots
-Very few 'gimme' holes.
-Decent layout

-The fairways were a mess. Most of the courses I have played have been wooded and were substantially more clean than this course. There were broken logs, branches, fallen trees etc. Even the underbrush off the fairways at the other wooded courses I have played was cleaner than the fairways at Sontag.
-Very difficult to navigate. The hand written signs certainly helped to a degree.
-This is personal, but I particularly don't like holes under 200 feet that are a 75' straight, 125' dogleg. I think they are doable but at Sontag, the fairways are so tight it is nearly impossible to get the height, and width needed to have an OS disc fade towards the basket.
-Segway from the last con, i thought almost all the fairways were ridiculously tight in the woods. I love tight fairways but there were several holes where i was throwing a disc while playing.
-Many have said 18 was a let down..I would tend to agree. Wide open, 270'. Maybe put the basket further away for more of a challenge.

I really like the layout and the location and feel this course could be a great course. I am definitely at an off period in my disc golf game so this course was particularly challenging for me. That being said, If the course could be cleaned up and proper signage put in, that would instantly make it a 3.5 to 4.0 for me. Then if just a few trees were removed in key places to make birdies actually a possibility based on skill and not luck then I say 4.5.

This course has three tee pads for each hole. It definitely made me pull out every type of shot I had in the bag. This course has a very good flow to it. It also has good facilities in the bathrooms and pavilion. Some nice open holes that allow for some big pulls.

VERY tight fairways. Some of the trees should be removed. Fairways are congested with undergrowth and debis.

This course was VERY challenging and fun. With a little clean up it could be very good. This course term your control. Took about three hours to play, so plan for long rounds. Lots of bugs in the woods so be prepared. Overall I enjoyed this course and will definitely come back when I'm in the area.