-The park is in a very nice area
-The course is different than most courses in the Greensboro/Burlington area (it is similar to the long positions at Cedarock, but not as open).
-There are a variety of shots you will need.
-The designers thought out the holes, and there are a variety of ways to play many holes.
-Nice park in a nice area
-All fairways (except part of hole 8) are very well-groomed.

-Requires waiting on/watching out for others on some holes (3, 4, and 13 come to mind)
-Drainage issues on some holes (the rough on 8-13 and parts of the fairway on each of those holes)
-OB and mandos are unclear. I realize they are for safety, and I usually dislike any OB/Mandos. I like these boundaries, but they should be clearer on the hole signs. I assume they would be marked for a tourney.
-Fairway on 8 isn't kept well on the hill running through the middle of the fairway.

-Not a course for beginners (this is neither a pro nor a con. However, if a beginner plays this course it will probably turn them off from disc golf or they will hurt someone and turn that person off from disc golf).
-I asked a lady what she thought about disc golf in the park, and she said that everyone has to share any public park, this one included.
-This course demands accuracy. If you don't throw accurate shots, you'll lose a disc (like me), end up OB, or get in the way of others. If you cannot throw accurate shots, or if you choose not to throw accurate shots, this isn't a course for you.
-If you're mentally prepared to throw shorter shots for the sake of accuracy, then come play the course.

-Championship lay out.
-Par ranges from a 2 to a 6
-Good workout from walking
-Cement pads and great tee signs

-Championship lay out unplayable most of the year.
-Just cus you call the short holes a par 2 or a long hole a par 6 doesnt change how people score on them
- lots and lots and lots of walking
-some tee pads seem to be pointed slightly off direction
-some holes are repeats back to back and are virtually the same holes 9 and 10 and holes 16 and 17
-Throwing booming shots into, at and around large groups of other park users

If you ever wanted to play a championship style course and have no consideration what so ever for the safety of the other park users look no further.

We showed up close to dusk, had the course to ourselves and finished the last three holes in the dark. We saw a woman walking two dogs, near hole four, but other than that, the park was completely empty. I threw some bombs, failed to locate the majority of the mandos and in general had a blast.

There are some really fun holes here. Two in particular is a really nice design from the blue tee. Straight and narrow and actually very aesthetically pleasing inside the tunnel of trees. The transition from that to three was also nice. Of all the long holes, three was my favorite. Partially because this was the first rip-it hole I'd played in a while(the destroyer was also glad to be out of the bag for once), but mostly because of the slightly elevated tee and the way it opens up from the trees.

My favorite hole by far was fifteen. I've always had a thing for holes that start in the trees and play out onto an open area, or holes that are mostly open but finish in dense forest. This one fits the bill. I loved throwing out of there.

The greatest feature of Springwood is not any one hole. It's variety of lengths. I've never seen a course that has such extremes. The short holes are short. The long holes are long. I liked the short holes that sat the basket behind a thick tree, giving the player opportunity to come in from either side for a chance at the basket. I also like the sheer tenacity of hole eight. That one was a journey.

Some of the lines may be intended for expert players. But with the park empty, more lines are available, and intermediate throwers may find Springwood to be a nice play.

As I said before, when I played the park was empty. If it was not empty, there are a ton of dangerous spots to throw. Roads and fields are adjacent to fairways in numerous spots. I can imagine someone with expert placement will never have a problem, but that's not me and it's probably not most of the people that will use this course.

This is a course that forces you to emphasize landing zone rather than flight path. I've played other courses that did that. It's not necessarily a bad thing. But here, the possible flight paths that will give a good landing spot include long curves over roads and parking lots. If there had been any cars in either, I would have enjoyed my game a lot less.

There are also a number of holes that I do not care for. Eleven and twelve are probably the worst offenders. I realize that a tree line could offer the same effect that the fence does in terms of constricting shots, but when it's a fence, it just feels artificial. In particular the placement on twelve is frustrating.

Sixteen and seventeen typify the road issue better than any others. Short porch basket with trees to the immediate right. There is no way that I and many other are not going to throw a forehand over the road trying for the ace on those two short holes.

Another major factor preventing this course from joining the elite is the flow. From the first basket, the second basket is closer than the second tee. From the fourth basket, the fifth basket is just across the street. I understand the various fields, roads and parking lots prevent the flow from being improved, but there is a lot of superfluous walking between holes. The gaps between sixteen and seventeen, and then seventeen and eighteen are immense. I don't mind a lengthy walk, if it's along a path that leads to a fantastic hole location. That's not what's happening here.

While this can be seen as a challenging course, almost all of the difficulty comes from length and artificial mandos and ob. The former is great when coupled with other challenging elements. The latter is just not my cup of tee.

I understand there is some controversy about this course. What it is, what it isn't and what it was supposed to be. I feel like some will find my rating overly generous. Others will think it is far too low. To me, I found Springwood to be a fun course that I liked playing a lot. At the same time, I realize that even a little bit of traffic to the park's other amenities would damage the playability of at least a few holes. I can easily imagine a scenario where the majority of the holes are unplayable. It may just remain one of those courses where you have to be careful when you play it.

-a difficult, challenging course
-new baskets and tees
-easy to get to and close to the highway
-excellent upkeep

-unforgiving, brier-infested rough on a lot of holes that eats discs
-far too many mandos and OB's
-not much fun for beginners, and in fact designed for very skilled players.
-still waiting on the tee signs
-designed around other park activities and properties, so misplaced throws could threaten other park-goers or end up in private property or the street

As I stated in the title, this review is for the casual golfers, not the pros and experts. There will be no talk of "must deuce" holes except for holes 5 & 17, which are par 2's to begin with. There will still be ace runs though, because quite a few holes are in reach for the average golfer from either tee. However, many golfers will probably find the mix of length and skill needed to play from the gold tees too much for a few of the holes.

Springwood was designed primarily for very skilled golfers, so first and foremost let me say, it's a tough course. There is a six hole rookie run for beginners, but frankly 6 holes doesn't seem like worth the time. I play from the blues primarily, mostly because I don't have the arm to par the few very long holes on the course (3, 8, 11, 13, 18) from the gold tees. There is quite a good length to these holes, blue or gold, so be forewarned. Emphasis is placed on shot placement, and missing the fairways often leads to penalties, both actual, and physical. The rough here is absolutely unforgiving- expect to either lose plastic, or blood, or both. It's thick and full of briers, spiders, and mosquitos, and some of it is physically both OB and private property. Additionally, some of the fairways border backyards, a cow pasture, walking paths, roads, and ball fields, and they can be quite narrow. For the most part, you need to have controlled distance and accuracy to score well. There are a few easier holes that mix up the difficulty, in addition to some really nice, interesting holes that make good use of the available land. But the course was built around the rest of the park, and as a result, it can sometimes feel like an afterthought. Holes are often placed between other activities, and when the park is busy the people engaged in those other activities occasionally get in your way, or vice versa. Holes 3 & 4 are going to give average players trouble when baseball/softball games and tourneys are ongoing (weekends mostly), and the same for holes 11-14 when the soccer fields are in heavy use (weeknights and occasional weekends). Vehicular traffic through the park can be heavy during those times as well, which can influence shots on holes bordering the roads, which many do. But play has shown that a round can still be played if one takes these into consideration. If you want to play the course with very little chance of dealing with other influences, I highly recommend Mon-Fri from morning until about 5pm.

The course itself is a decent mix of throws, mixed in with minor elevation changes. It's fairly open, with only a few wooded holes, but though the course has been wedged in, it was designed so as to turn these limitations into strengths. For the most part this has worked, though on a few holes (3, 13, 17), it has not. Hole 3, which wraps around the baseball fields, has a number of things working against it, especially if you're not on your game. The fairway narrows, even more so thanks to mando light towers, trees, the OB fields and walking path to either side, and an angled hillside, which all add up to plenty of ways to miss your target and add strokes to your score. It's one of the toughest holes on the course and one of the most likely to endanger folks on the ballfields and walking path. 13 is narrow, long, and straight, with ball fields to the left and backyards, some fenced-in, on the right, which at certain times can also be trouble. 17 is short and narrow, bordered by the road and thick rough which is also OB and private property. Its a short and dull par 2 that feels like filler, and could have been replaced by splitting either 3 or 8 into two holes.

Speaking of 8- it could really be great, but currently its a long meandering and snaking hole with unimaginable rough on the right and, well, some more on the left. It's a work in progress, but its very slow going. The fairway down the middle is narrow and not enough, at the moment, to compensate for the walls of trouble to either side. Someday it will be a nice little hole, but for now its something you may want to avoid, or at least play it with a spotter.

As for the rest of the course, it has a few nice holes to keep you intrigued. 2 is a really nice tunnel hole that takes advantage of the rows of pines along the baseball fields. 11 is a terrific risk/reward hole where making par is often a function of avoiding the dense rough and having the courage to really go for it. 12 is a tricky shot with a steep angled hill on the left ending in a 90 degree turn. And 15 is a great par 4 that starts in the woods and ends in a field surrounded by trees with OB's to either side. The course finishes with a par 5 uphill hole with an elevated basket and a much-debated tee shot from either tee.

All in all it's a decent course to test your arm and accuracy, and it will keep you thinking. So why only a 3? Too much OB and too much danger to the public. On nearly every hole, the rest of the park comes into play, and when that's constantly in the back of your head, it influences your play. Sometimes, it forces you to skip holes due to other park patrons' proximity. Other times there are throws that just don't seem possible. Most of the time the park is fairly empty, but when it's crowded, you have to be careful. My other problem is that this course was specifically designed to NOT be played by the majority of the public, but resides in a public park. I feel it should have been designed as 18 holes for everybody, and I definitely think there could be red, blue, and gold tees on every hole so everyone was included. But specifically excluding so many is a concern for me since this is not private land, especially since more beginners are going to drive to the closer Springwood Park instead of driving way out to Cedarock. And that, I think, is why the score is so low.