Crystal River, FL

The Red Hawk

Permanent course
3.835(based on 3 reviews)
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bazkitcase5
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 20 years 136 played 58 reviews
4.50 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Nov 23, 2008 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

This is a beautiful championship level course. Located adjacent of a golf course and the surrounding land, this course is fun, yet challenging. There are 3 sets of tees on every hole; red, blue, and gold, which makes the course fun and challenging for all levels of players. The tees are a mix of concrete tees and the use of a concrete walking path, with hole #1's pro tee using a mat. Every hole has a tee sign, with the distance, but does not tell you where the pin is, so get a course map. In most weather conditions, shooting PAR from the gold/regular tees is the equivalent of shooting a 1000 rated round, so its safe to say that SSA=PAR.

The design is excellent, using 3 par 5s, 6 par 4s, and 9 par 3s. The golf course tees, greens, and the driving range that is along side hole #1 all play as OB. Also as would be expected, all water and some walking paths are also played as OB. If you plan to play the course with proper OB rules, then you can get a course map, OB list, and scorecard all stapled together, inside the clubhouse. The mix of all this OB, as well as the well placed pin locations and tee locations, utilizing the landscape and all the trees that force a large variety of shots off the tee, as well as from different landing zones. Although having a lot of distance helps on several holes, it is not necessary to play this course well, especially if you do not have accuracy to get along with it.

Also, there is the clubhouse, with a bar & grill (the food is good), vending machines, bathrooms, water fountains, lots of tables, chairs, comfortable couches, and several TVs. You can also rent golf carts while you play.

Cons:

This course is pay to play, $5 to play all day or $15 to play with a cart. I only list this as a con because people are used to be able to play this game for free, but I can tell you now, it is totally worth paying to play this course. If all courses looked this good, I would support pay to play courses everywhere.

Being such a long course, that does not loop around at the half way point and does not have any benches; I would also suggest paying the extra fee to rent a golf cart, as it is a lot of walking. There are long walks between holes 6/7, 16/17, and a very long walk back to the clubhouse after hole 18. Also, thanks to being such a large course, navigation can be a bit tricky if you do not know your way around, so get a course map while in the club house. If you plan on playing the shorter tees, they do not have tee signs, so you will have to look for the tees, that are spray painted on the cart paths.

Other Thoughts:

Home of the Players Cup (a PDGA Major), this Plantation Inn is a golf resort, that is home to an 18 hole championship golf course, as well as a 9 hole practice golf course (which is disc golf course is near). I spent several days down there, practicing the course and playing in this tournament and I only wish I could go back already. I have not played the shorter tees, but I saw many of them while playing the course and believe they are also well placed to force challenging par 4 and 5s for amateur level players. Even then, this course is so good that I believe amateur level players would enjoy playing the regular/pro tees, as they try to see how they match up against the scores of the world's best players.

I want to give this course a 5 star rating badly, but there are a few key flaws, such as no tee signs for the shorter tees, that prevent this course from being in the "best of the best" category. This course is definitely a must play if you are ever in the area. I can only hope that the beauty of this course, as well as the legit par 4s and 5s are in the near future for disc golf.
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