Sun Valley Middle is a short, quick course. Six holes and a quick walk through a field. Yet it was...decent.
- Good intro course for students. Six holes averaging just under 173 feet means even kids and newbies can be throwing to the baskets. Can be played with only one disc, another positive for first timers.
- There is a touch of variety in holes. #1 is an uphill shot with the basket protected by trees and branches. #2 is a downhill open shot. Great ace run, and that's not only because my disc slammed into the cage and landed underneath the basket.
- #3 is the 'challenging' hole on the course. Uphill 231-foot shot with the basket protected by 4-foot tall field grass. Give the basket a little room to breath (3 feet) and this is a fun/interesting layout in the Mint Hill Park ilk.
- Course is easy to navigate. Once I found the first tee, followed the loop and was done in 10 minutes. Only took that long because I stopped to snap pictures for the website.
- Good place to practice. There's a large, open field beyond holes #2 & 3 where even the big arms can be unleashing 500-foot drives. Come here, unload the bag throwing drives and practice upshots and putting too.

Testing to see if this is the only way to update my review......

And in doing so, I lost 2/3s of my review. Thanks DGCR!

There are 4 baskets and 2 tee signs.

Baskets #2 & #3 are gone, lost to construction.
Tee signs are all gone for 2, 3, 4 & 5.

This is no longer a course, it is pretty much a 4 basket practice area which includes 2 holes at this point.
Sorry I did not get to this a couple of years ago when I could have at least played 6 holes and seen the course as it was meant to be.
After looking unsuccessfully for baskets and tees for #2 & #3 I teed off to the right of basket #1 as a tee for #4, and to the right of basket #4 as a tee for #5. Very unsatisfying.

Sun Valley Middle boasts a simple, six hole layout in order to provide middle school kids an introduction into the sport. Most school courses I've played, tend to be short courses with fairly open shots. While Sun Valley Middle is no real exception to this, I think they did a good job varying things up in order to provide new players an actual, worthwhile introduction to the game. Course is easy enough to navigate, and uses natural tees, by playing next to a tee sign.

Hole 1's basket is nestled in between some guardian trees, that made the putting green more interesting. Hole 2 is a 200' shot that actually plays downhill, which will introduce them to elevation changes. But my favorite hole, Hole 3, is a hyzer shot around a grassy knoll to a basket that is right next to a cedar tree that will gladly gobble your disc out of the sky. Hole 6's basket was on a slope that led to a decent sized hill, teaching students about "death putts".

For a course designed for kids, the variety of shots available in this open course actually surpasses some of the 9 hole park courses I've played. Which was a pleasant surprise!

At the end of the day, this is still a course designed for and hosted by a middle school. The holes are going to be short holes that most players, outside of complete beginners, are going to make short work of. Even the average red player should probably be able to score below par here with only a single putter with them. Outside of ace runs, the only reason most players would likely visit this course is to check it off a list.

When I played this course I could not find a tee sign for Hole 3 or Hole 5. It looked like there was a new practice field that had been built around where Hole 3's tee used to be located. Also, it appeared as if someone had backed a truck into Hole 2's basket. The basket was completely misshapen (barely usable from certain angles), overgrown (it looked like a bush), and the area surrounding it appeared to have trouble draining water.

Remember that this is a school course, there are no real amenities to be had. There aren't any benches, trashcans, or water fountains - though I doubt you'll really need any of this. Also, it shouldn't be played during school hours.

Realistically, this course is what it is, and it doesn't try to be anything else. It is a course designed for young, completely novice players, who don't understand the basics of the game - but gives them a safe place to learn these things. However, this is a six hole course that is missing two tee signs (on a course where the tee sign is used as the indicated tee box), and has a basket that is almost halfway destroyed, and only barely usable. So I am going to rate this course at a 0.5 for now, just because it still is technically all playable, and the grass seems to be maintained.

If I lived in the area, and had a kid I was trying to get into disc golf, this might be a place that we go while we learned the ropes - before moving onto nearby beginner friendly courses such as Creekside DGC and Crooked Creek Crossing. Because at Sun Valley, I wouldn't have to worry about my kid throwing a disc off in the rough/creek or somewhere to potentially lose it.

For everyone else, this course can offer a fun lightning fast round, with multiple ace opportunities, but likely won't enter your standard rotation.