Staunton River was the surprise of my two-day, 15 course, 216-hole trip. Came here to bag one and ended up pleasantly surprised how good, and how fun, this layout is.
- A very nice 9-hole course with a little bit of everything. Elevation, doglegs, short, longs, heavily wooded, lightly wooded. Oh, and a water hole with a view that few can match.
- #2 is a fun uphill, wooded hole. It reminded me of Lake Marshall Lair with the water serving as a great backdrop, and only slightly coming into play.
- #3 is the signature hole because of the view. 520+ courses played and I can only think of a couple holes having a view like this. (Think a Raven's Ridge in WV with a view of the New River Gorge in terms of non-descript course having an outstanding view). The hole itself should be very non-descript - uphill, only 197 feet, playing away from the water. HOWEVER, if your disc sails left, skips left, or rolls left near the basket, the hill slopes back down towards the water, and you may end up on the beach. You tee off 5 feet from the water, throw away from the water, and the water can still be in play. In summer, this is a great excuse to throw a bad shot.
- #4 was an excellent hole. Tight, wooded, par 4, dogleg left. Three is easily in play here if you throw a solid tee shot, but par 4 is still a good score. Fun, multi shot layout.
- Course ends with two long, legitimate holes: #8 being a 688-foot par 4 and #9 being a 830-foot par 5. I enjoyed the scenery of feel of #8 a lot more. It's also a wider, more forgiving fairway. It's also straighter so it's easier to follow your disc's flight path.
- This is the rarest of rare courses: a quality, advanced level disc golf course. Considering it probably gets a lot of foot traffic from casuals/beginners ('we're already here, so let's try out this frisbee golf thing' types) but is aimed at a higher skill level.
- Wonderful state park as a whole, as least from the little I saw.

Course could use a little more TLC. Being out of the way, probably not getting a lot of help from a local club (unless there's one in South Boston).
- Some long transitions between holes. Close to a ¼ walk from #9's basket back to the tee. Throw in long walks from #1 to 2, from #3 to 4 and #6 to 7, lots of extra walking.
- Being a state park, and playing alongside a lake, I'd suspect when the park is busy there may be people using fairways as trails. Considering you walk on/across trails throughout your round, easy for someone to want to stroll down fairways instead.
- A higher-than-normal lost disc factor. Blind shots (especially on #4 & 9), elevation changes, leaves everywhere, thick underbrush in spots, and a lake all contribute to this.
- More next tee signs on the longer transitions. The navigation back to the parking lot from #9 led me to walking #1 backwards. Not sure if there was a better path than this.
- Park is $5 to enter. It may be steep for a single round. Play twice or do something else while here.
- Nothing close by on the way to the park. It was 25 minutes from South Boston to here. Once you left town, you're not passing gas stations or convenience stores. So, pack your drinks and food.

Overall, I really liked Staunton River. If a 9-hole course can be an out of the way hidden gem, this might get consideration.
- Put it this way: I'd rather play through twice than playing Elk Creek Park in Appomattox (1:15 away) or Kraken in Senora, NC (55 minutes away) once.
- Course didn't have any bad holes. Holes #1, 6, & 7 were all non-descript. The other six holes were quality and/or memorable. Pretty good ratio.
- A state park + lots of land + a quality 9-hole layout already in the ground = thinking about this being an 18-hole course. An 18-hole version of this could be really good.
- When all's said and done, #2 is my favorite hole. Love this simple, but challenging tee shot. Hole can easily be parked, but getting slightly off line and you're smacking a tree. Throw in the backdrop of the lake and its quality through and through. Runner up is #4.
- South Boston is already out of the way. Anyone driving north from NC to VA is typically going up 29. Then, this course is out of the way from South Boston. So, you really want to come here to play.
- If you are playing the Roxboro triumvirate, drive a little further to play Edmunds and Staunton River. With all five of those courses, you are getting a great mix of everything. Great day of disc golf playing all 5.
- With better signage (long transitions), and regular upkeep, it would rank as one of the best 9-hole courses I've ever played. Overall, it still ranks highly for me. Glad I stopped by.

Variety of distances, elevation and terrain.
Generally good signage to next hole.
Unlikely to be crowded.

Large walks between most holes.
Most fairways had one or two trees in the middle that are likely to prevent a well thrown shot from scoring well.

The effort to put in this course is obvious, with tee signs, directional signs and the cutting of many trees. I assume that the long walks were to avoid walking and horse trails, and to only include holes that the designers really liked.
As a whole, it is unlike any of the hundreds of courses that I have played. This is a deeply wooded course that is too difficult for most recreational or beginner players. Experienced players might enjoy the technical challenge, but it is only 9 holes and there are no other courses, or much else, close by. The fluke factor of the odd random tree left in the fairway would make trying to master the course frustrating. The park entry fee and the distance required to get here may cause even course baggers to not make the effort.