A true test of accuracy, Squirrel Lake Park DGC is a very tight course. This course is a walk-in-the-park, with mild elevation changes and heavily wooded.

The course is equipped with concrete tees. Tee signs at every tee shows par and distance. Baskets in excellent condition, bright targets which are really necessary. Makeshift signs point to next tee.

All holes are in the woods, except for #6, which drives over a semi-open area, then turns left back into the woods before reaching the basket. Course cannot be played well without accurate drives.

Holes have a variation in distance, but no "air it out" holes.

There are some cons to the course(not all are cons to me, but I'm sure they are to some).

-There is one trash can within the course located at the #4 and #6 tee pad, which is an "L" shaped pad used for both holes.
-Dense trees require as much luck as it does skill.
-A few holes lack a "fairway" or "landing zones". If unable to make it to the vacinity of the basket on these holes you will be shooting an out shot.
-Not at all a technical course, requiring few types of shots to score a decent round, but have your thumber or tomahawk ready...you will be using it
-12 holes leave me with an incomplete feeling that I don't get with an 18 holer...or a 9 holer for that matter. (Rumors of Squrrel Lake expanding to 18 holes, but this is not in the near future)
-Park lacks proper restrooms, Port-O-John on site.
-No practice basket to warm up on putts before a round, no open area to throw some warm up drives, or get some practice in with a new disc
-Tee signs do not depict a map of the hole and baskets are tough to see from tees, which is extremely troublesome if you are playing the course for the first time.

Definately not the best course in the Charlotte area, but offers a round unlike any others around. Located a few minutes off of I-485 in Matthews, Squirrel Lake is easily accessable from all areas. Little foot traffic, allows a faster moving pair to play 12 in under 45 minutes. I'm not sure if its worth driving from a distance to play, but sufficient if you are a local.

great challenging 12 hole course. one of the tougher courses in the charlotte area. holes#3,#4,#9, are TIGHT. if you play here alot your accuracy will improve. because you need accuracy to score well here.4 holes are par 4, which is cool for a `12 hole course. only takes 30- 40 minutes to play around,with little to no traffic

some tee pads are small, but not horrible, they need a couple trash cans on some of the holes, but for the most part it is pretty clean. its only 12 holes....if it were a 18 hole course you would hear alot more about it.

this place will challenge anyone, i play here on my way home from work. par is a good score here.

Great terrain and scenery, wooded canopy makes this enjoyable on hot summer days. This course defiantly has a variety of shots. My favorite hole is hole 12 you can really let the disc fly. Another plus about this park is that nice it's not as busy as the rest of the charlotte courses. Unlike Reedy you don't have people on top of you. This course will challenge you wont be disappointed unless you hit some trees. Like I always say you will get some tree love at the lake. If anything this course will help you be more accurate due the amount of trees.

I wish that this one was 18 hole. But the city of Matthews has shot that idea down.

Great layout, challenging terrain, not crowded, fun little course.

No H2O facilities, somewhat confusing at first, could do with map signs and clearer next tee signs.

I like this little course a lot. It's a good place to work on your fundamentals, as the fairways are thin and you'll need to use a variety of shots to keep yourself in play. It's not very long, so if you are distance-challenged like I am, you'll have a good chance at beating some of your higher-ranked friends. I especially like the downed trees with big root balls that act as fairway bunkers. It's also a good place to get some exercise, what with all the up and down. And it's close to my house, so I have found my new home course.

Great terrain for a course. Lots of elevation to play up and down. Great natural beauty. Accuracy is key to playing this course. If you get off the fairways, you can get into some trouble. Luckily, the underbrush is not so thick so losing discs doesn't seem likely. There are simple signs which give the par and distance. A map type sign would be helpful because of the amount of trees. The pads are a little small for my liking. Easily my favorite hole was # 9. It's a downhill S curve and like almost every hole on this course could be birdied with a great throw or just as easily, you could end up with a bogie or double-bogie if you're not accurate with your drive. But really, that describes most holes on this course.

This is not a beginner course. It would frustrate the new player and certainly can (and did) frustrate someone who been playing for 31 years. It's tight as can be. At this time, the park only has a sani-can. It's a very one-dimensional type (wooded technical) course now. I'm kind of nervous about # 6 throwing down the park road into oncoming traffic. Be careful here.

Like Reedy Creek, it's just a real pretty walk in the park. Maybe over time, it'll get cleared out a bit and won't be so tight. As others have mentioned, the L shaped teepad for #''s 4 and 6 is pretty clever and different. Hopefully, they'll find a place for six more holes in the future.

What I personally like and how this course stacks up:
1) Holes with good risk/reward -- A
2) Holes that have rewarding birdie opportunities -- B
3) More wooded than open - lots of variety of shots required caused by hole shape and topography -- B+
4) Natural beauty (Appalachian beauty preferred) and seclusion -- B+
5) Bonus amount for multi-shot holes with defined landing zones, good risk/reward and multiple options to play them -- C

It's all about feeding the addiction, so I ranked this course subjectively based on my own "personal addiction factor". The grades above tell how well the course will draw me back to itself again and again and again. Since I have played a decent number of courses (115 18-hole, 50 9-hole as of early 2009), my hope is that players/explorers who have similar addiction tastes will find my ratings list helpful as they choose courses to play and explore.

Over time, I expect to fill some of my reviews in with more descriptive verbiage...if what I can add anything to what has already been written. For now, my list is more important to me than the verbiage of my reviews.

I fully expect others with different tastes/philosophies to disagree with me....that's the fun of things here. See my profile for my rating philosophy.

Very challenging. Tight fairways, great use of elevation. Holes were very easy to navigate. The woods are not brushy, so you won't lose your disc.

Fairways are VERY tight. Don't play this course unless you're up for a challenge. Requires long, controlled shots.

I generally liked the course, but my game was not up for the challenge. It got very frustrating before I finished. I'm sure it fits a niche, but not mine.

Located in a wildlife habitat park this course offers a variety of right turning, left turning and straight holes. All but #6 are in the woods and #6 has woods on the left before turning left into the woods. Elevation changes abound. Signs at all tee pads with the #4 and #6 sharing an L-shaped pad. Distances are listed on the signs. Very technical with a premium on accuracy, this course was designed to minimize the impact on the wildlife habitat.

Even though the park offers a playground, fishing lake, and picnic pavilion, the only rest room is a Porta-John. Course maps are not available and the tee pad signs don't offer hole diagrams. Sometimes, there is a map posted next to the first tee but it is usually missing. Since this is a wildlife habitat, there are no trash cans in the woods. There is a trash can and bench at the #4,6 tee pad.

There are approved plans to expand this course to 18 holes after the park finishes expansion of the greenway. Also, permanent toilets are planned. If you use Google Maps for directions, the park entrance is NOT Privette Rd. It is about 500' south of Privette Rd. and there is a sign directing you into Squirrel Lake Park. Course maps are available on-line at the Charlotte Disc Golf Club website. Since this is a new course, this review will be updated as improvements are made.

I really enjoyed my round here. Tight fairways but not much underbrush, you have to try to lose a disc.
-Nice tee signs, though would be nice to have a hole map.
-Secluded feel if there aren't many people on the course.
-New baskets.
-Easy to navigate, and really easy to find the first hole.
-Nice use of available elevation.
-A beautiful walk through the woods.

-12 holes here leave me wanting more, this isn't a slam on the course, just wish there were 6 more.
-Hole 6 has the road in play(for my wild wide sidearm shot), not sure how often this is a problem but during my round someone was parked on the road. That caused me to pull up on my drive.
--If you play late in the day the sunlight on 2 and 3 is brutal to focus on the basket for your 2nd shot.
-For me personally I like a little wider tee pad, but it only took me 2 holes to adjust.

I really liked this course. It's tight, lots of trees, and well laid out. I would like to see a hole layout on the tee signs, but this is only an issue the first time you play. Otherwise they are great signs. I only hope they find enough room for 6 more holes here. The poisen ivy that was mentioned before is not an issue anymore, I assume they sprayed. I'm a big fan of Killborne for the secluded feel and I get this here with tighter fairways. The holes aren't as secluded, but the park and the feel of the course is. Kudos to the designers of this beautiful course.

- Not crowded at all. I don't know if it's that people don't know about this course - or park - but it hardly ever has much traffic.

- Very tightly-packed course. You never get too far away from the main road/parking area. I always consider that a plus because if the course ever DID get crowded, it's easy to skip holes or start off on a different hole. For instance, if there's a wait at #1, you could always walk to #4/#6 and start there. Or, you could play 11 and 12, or 10-12, etc.

- The wooded holes are tight and challenge you to keep it in the fairway on most drives. It's a very punishing course if you get deep into the woods.

- Yellow baskets are a major plus on a wooded course like this. I can think of a number of wooded courses where it was tough to pick out the basket among all the trees.

- I saw a family of deer running through the course on one occasion. The official name of this park is "Squirrel Lake Wildlife Habitat," and it definitely stays true to its name.

- Most tees are easy to find, but two in particular are a bit confusing:

1) When you finish #6, you are actually right near the tees for #9 and #10. You have to walk backward a bit to get to #7. There are signs that point you backward to the next tee, but they could conceivably be pointing you to #9 as well.

2) When you finish #9, you have to walk back up that fairway to find the tee for #10. There is no tee anywhere near the basket for #9, so without knowing what to do there, you could walk around aimlessly for a good while and not find anything.

- Some tee pads don't give you much room to maneuver. They are a bit too short for taller players that need more room.

- On a few occasions, mosquitoes and gnats have been an issue. They were particularly bothersome around the tee pads, for some reason.

- A few holes - 9-11 in particular - come up close to the edge of the park near the housing development behind it. With the trees around the basket, you shouldn't have a problem sailing a disc into someone's yard, but it takes away from the secluded feel of the park a bit to see the houses back there.

-12 holes is an odd number for a course, and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. On one hand, it feels a little incomplete; but, on the other hand, it's nice to have something a bit longer than 9 but not quite a full 18. Ultimately, I think I appreciate that the designers realized that 12 holes was the best fit for this park.

- One small quirk: #4 and #6 share the same tee pad at a 90° angle.

Very fun, challenging course. For local comparison, it's a tougher, better version of Reedy Creek.
- Good variety of holes. A couple of major doglegs really challenge your game. The course seems to have more LHBH-esque holes than many courses. Not a bad thing, just an extra challenge for most throwers.
- My favorite hole is #10. Sharp dogleg to the right. It takes 2 good shots to get to the hole.
- Quiet, small neighborhood park. Lack of park traffic means course isn't crowded. I'm impressed how you can get such an "out in nature" feel in such a small park.
- Holes are close to each other. Signs point to next hole.

Poision ivy all over the course. Needs some serious spraying. This is hopefully a temporary problem. NOTE: As of August '09, it's still a problem. Pay attention when playing the course.
- Course map or diagram on holes would be helpful for first timers.
- On several holes you have to walk up the fairway to the tee pad. For example, after finishing #7, the path leads you to the fairway for #8, where you then walk up the fairway to the tee pad. You'll need to pay attention to make sure you don't walk in front of someone teeing off.

The course looks like it'll be staying 12-hole course. Local board has voted against adding an extra 6 holes for the sake of the nature preserve.
- If the course were 18 holes, it'd deserve a 3.5 rating. I only gave it a 3 because it's only 12 holes.
- Course is actually more wide open than I would have thought. Very little underbrush, trees are usually your only obstacle. You do have a chance to redeem yourself if you get off the fairway.
- No restrooms (porta jon only) or water fountains at the course.

The course is new so signage and a markers from hole to next tee are great. The course makes you throw a variety of shots because of tree placement. This challenge makes it a fun place to play.

Heavily wooded making some of the holes very diffcult. The holes are also longer than you would think.

As I was playing I saw a family of deer within 30 feet of me. Wildlife is abundant.