It doesn't seem possible, but The Rock at Stonewall might be the longest course I've ever played...*and* have the most elevation. Combine the two and it's without a doubt the most epic course I've ever played. This beast is not for the faint of heart. You *will* need a golf cart. I cannot imagine walking this course. I would guess it will take you 4 hours+ to play it if you walked it. Even driving the golf cart will make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. It's steep! But if you're in good shape and have taken your heart medicine, The Rock at Stonewall is one behemoth of a course that is not to be missed. If you're playing solo, give yourself *at least* 2 hours to play the course. (Yes, that's even with a golf cart.) Add more time if you're playing with someone else.

+ ELEVATION. It's truly unbelievable. This is disc golf in the foothills -- on a ball golf course with enormous downhill shots and panoramic vistas. You can watch the disc fly further than you've thrown it in your life. Not only are the downhill tee shots amazing, but there is elevation to contend with around the greens. Numerous hilly greens, elevated baskets, and death putts galore.

+ Risk/reward elements all over the course. Baskets by OB creeks, the elevated basket on a super steep hill and rock formation (giving the course its name), incredibly long downhill holes that will tempt you to bomb as far as you've ever thrown...but risk going wildly off-course.

+ I've heard of a few courses where golf carts are offered. I've never seen anything like this where carts are all but mandatory. You literally have to be insane to try playing this course without a cart. Not only is it worth the extra $10 or so to drive a cart versus walking, it will likely save you at least 2 hours. I played extremely fast as I was trying to fit playing into a very tight window. It took me 1 hour and 45 minutes to play solo. And I was booking it. If you're playing at a leisurely pace, plan on about 2.5 hours. If you skip the cart, plan on 4 hours and a trip to the hospital!

+ While this is an open, ball golf course, the holes are still laid out with numerous obstacles to contend with. And since most holes are so long, many with extreme elevation, "wide open" is relative, especially when the wind is 15+ MPH like it was when I played. It is very easy to flip a disc and go into the trees or rough on what looks like a wide open hole. These aren't just straight (or straight forward) holes. There are doglegs, blind shots, left-to-right, and right-to-left holes.

+ CHALLENGING technically and physically.

+ Too many signature holes to count with all of the epic downhill tee shots. I think my personal favorite is #9, which the owner and designer credits as the inspiration for the name of the course. It's an uphill par 4 with woods on the right side of the fairway. The basket is perched on a steep hill and elevated on top of that on the rock formation. It's at a 45 degree angle up the hill from the landing zone area of a good tee shot. Great risk/reward hole where it matters a great deal how softly you land the disc.

+ Pay-to-play country club style disc golf is the future of the sport. There's a pro shop complete with drinks and food where you can fuel up before the round or cool off afterwards. It reminded me of the pro shop at Trophy Lakes in Charleston, SC. This is a great concept that all pay-to-play courses should consider. If I lived nearby, I could see myself buying an annual membership and chilling here after playing disc golf.

+ SCENIC. The course is beautiful, with sweeping views all over the place, and the grass is manicured and well-maintained.

+ FUN. While kicking your butt, the course is fun too. My noodle arm was humbled like it's never been humbled before, but I still had a blast.

+ Long and longER tees to choose from (Blue/advanced and Gold/pro).

+ Nice, new baskets with flags on many of them for better visibility from far away tees or approach shots.

+ Good use of other obstacles on the course, other than just the intense elevation: a barn on one hole, a creek on a couple of holes, a pond with a water carry from one of the Gold tees, etc.

There really isn't much to list here other than personal preferences. This is a must-play destination course, truly one of the best in North Carolina.

- This course isn't for everyone. If you're not OK with driving a golf cart up and down a very steep cart path, sometimes feeling like you could roll it over if you take a turn too sharply, don't play here. Also, for noodle arms (like me), you may get frustrated by the number of long holes, even if many are downhill. This is really designed with advanced to pro players in mind. Rec-level players likely won't have a good experience.

- There are a couple of really long golf cart drives in between holes, in particular in the holes 7-10 section of the course.

- It costs $15-$20 to play here with a cart, depending on the season and specials going on. I had no problem paying that much to play here and think it was totally worth it. Frankly, I wish there were more pay-to-play tracks like this -- and expect many will be developed in the future. But for newbies or people not looking to pay to play disc golf, try the free, much easier, and rec player-focused Horizons Park just down the road.

Simply a must-play destination course. Play Horizons Park as your old school (and easy) warm-up appetizer before the main course at The Rock. Make your plans today to experience this course.

-You're in the country in the middle of a neighborhood. And then, you see a golf course. And on that course, there's an epic disc golf course with wild elevation change and long holes guaranteed to exhaust anyone even though you ride a golf cart. They run well and aren't difficult to drive, even up and down those giant hills. That's why I love this course!

-I liked the owner. I didn't think he was off-putting at all and was fun to talk to. He was very helpful about navigation and told me the best way to drive the golf cart concerning safety hazards. The pro shop is really cool too. They have many new discraft and trilogy discs. And they have beers and sodas.

-The golds are pretty challenging for pros, but the extreme elevation changes make this place incredibly fun. The views are beautiful too since it's on a golf course. I had a near 800' drive on hole 2 from the gold pad because of the extreme downhill bomb. That's not the only one here. Hole 4 is in my opinion a harder hole because the woods are harder to avoid. And "360' holes are not ace runs"? Wrong! They are here! Hole 8 is 360' off a mountain. It almost plays as a drop shot. I barely tossed a putter and I went 30' long. #14 is a great balance between an epic downhill bomb and a serious challenge with the basket guarded by trees. There is a mando left, so if your drive is short or too left, you'll be fighting to save par.

-The par 5s are all incredible and each one of them deserves it's own pro. #7 is a 978' from the gold. It's very difficult, but probably the easiest of the three. The blue pad isn't much further up, so is still a hard hole. You have to throw up a hill. Not too high up (maybe 30'), but it's hard to reach the landing zone because it's probably 400' ahead from the gold and maybe 270' from the blue. The remainder of this hole is across a valley. I went too long on my third throw and was left with an uphill birdie putt because the green is a rollaway.

-#15 is, for pros, is try to basically throw as far as you can on your first two throws. 1050' from the long and 875' from the short. Hole effectively plays about 1150' since it's uphill. Go too hard, and you'll end up in the trees to the right.

#17. This is the hardest hole here, and the longest I've ever played. 1203' long! It's insane! Start off throwing extreme uphill with a driver. You'll want to be on top of the hill on the second throw. Then, geez. You're throwing downhill. I mean WAAAAAYYYY downhill to a fast green. Enjoy! If you ever had that Mario Golf game for the gamecube, then this hole may very well remind you of hole 4 at Peach's Castle Course. Long par 5, way uphill, and way downhill on an island by a waterwall.

-Dangerous pin placements? Yep. It has those too. Placement is key on many holes here. One hole I really loved (one of my favorites) was #16. It's a pretty straightforward par 4 for experienced players, and then you see the basket in the woods with a drop off. #9 up the steep hill and on the rock was awesome too. #12 was unique by the shed. #13 was frightening since the basket is a few feet past a creek.

-The ride on the golf cart alone is great. A little scary at times down the hills but fun while scary. It's a beautiful ride through the exotic woods and into the great wide open.

-Green Dynamic Veteran baskets. Don't know why, but those are perfect for a hybrid disc golf course. They are nice to look at and it fits well on a beautiful course.

-No tee-signs. The hole numbers on the disc golf course are the same as the golf course, but this course is VERY long. I love that it's long, but when it's long you can't always see the pin. On hole 12, the first basket you'll see is #13's by the creek. Hole 12 is past the pond and back uphill.

-The water runoff on #12 takes up a very small part. Maybe 25' in diameter. But it's in a probable spot, and it's somewhat deep. I lost a trespass in there.

-Not a con for me. I love long holes on ball golf courses. But if you're like my old roommate Curls 3.0 (also on this site) and like flat and inchoate pinball fairways in the woods, this place doesn't suit you. It's not for everyone. Play what you want, you love what you love about the game and that's great, but if you can't reach 400', some of your opportunities will be limited if you play the golds.

-One thing you should probably recognize is that you're teeing off on the same hole number for the golf course. What I mean is that hole 1 on the golf course is hole 1 on the disc golf course and so forth.

-You are going to have the urge to throw as hard as you can. I had that urge and it cost me quite a bit today. I would shank a few drives. You'll be reminded that a shank results in too much power (like putting more than 100%) into the throw. Try not to come to the rationalization that full power results in the longest drives. But if you do, you'll learn that your maximum power is a lack of control and this course requires more of it than some may say. Take control to throw far. I threw more carefully on #16 (a flat hole) and my sheriff went about 500'. Some of my drives went much shorter because of the lack of control I had on my drives.

-Few recommendations to have that perfect control would be to wear the most appropriate sized shoes for your feet. My parents and I went on a brief vacation to Winston Salem and I brought my new shoes that are a size too big. My run ups resulted in nasty slices to the right side and I couldn't get that appropriate spin from my run up. Once I got done with hole 5, I figured my best bet was to take off my shoes and just finish the round in my socks. I still felt the need to throw a little too hard, but my drives were a bit better. In my socks. Another recommendation would be to work out a little bit before. Do some pushups, or curls, that may give you a little extra distance and enhance your putting. That typically helps me.

-I'd be compelled to list the signature holes, but I don't want to give too much away. Don't want to bring down the value of the experience. There is a good balance between shorter holes and holes that are very long. And I will say that couple of the shorter holes are distance teases. #18 is the shortest hole here, but the steep huge hill makes it effectively play long. It's 189' from the short but probably plays 400'. You'll be throwing a driver on the shortest hole here. #8 is so steep downhill that the golf cart switched gears while going down it! So be careful.

-This area so desperately needed an epic course like Stonewall. Way to go Frank and Drew. Very well worth the $20. I think that's a good deal considering the course fee to maintain it and the golf cart fee. Ball golf is much more expensive than disc golf, so $20 to play disc golf on a ball golf course that runs as a business is generous.

- Gorgeous landscape
- Long, open drives
- Generally pretty empty
- Management is very nice

- Tough for beginners
- Pricey on weekends

If you're a regular player and are running through the area, absolutely make a point of stopping by. Also bring a large selection of drivers for hole #8.

Saying "Beautiful course" doesn't quite do it justice. Rolling elevation, scenic views, very long course with some fun shots to throw. Impeccably maintained. Natural course flow as it follows the golf course layout. We were behind a group of ball golfers and our play kept us moving without ever catching them. While it is long, I didn't feel it was repetitive. You can't just bomb, you have to be somewhat accurate to avoid losing strokes.

Cart path is rough in a few spots, but thats nit picking.

At $20 a person on the weekend, it is still easily worth it. Easily the best course I have ever played. I'm an hour away and will definitely make this a regular trip.

+ Some of the most interesting elevation I have ever thrown, starting from the first hole and continuing as a theme to the final hole. I loved watching my discs glide for an unreal amount of time before fading and touching the ground. It was a very unique experience throwing from such elevated tees so frequently. Nearly every single hole features drastic elevation changes, whether it's the long, downhill bombers like #2 and #12, the short but incredibly steep downhill #8, or the steep uphill finishing hole #18.

+ Tricky pin placements. Most pins were situated on some sort of hill or tucked in a corner of trees. This adds a lot to the risk / reward of the design and helped keep things interesting. In particular I recall throwing a massive rip on #2, then flicking my upshot too high. The result was a missed birdie due to the elevation in play on my putt, which would have been simple were the basket on flat ground. #5 and #10 also has a very nice pin placement, placed on the right side of the fairway hidden behind some trees on sloped ground. I had no issues with roll-aways.

+ Shorter holes help balance The Rock's offerings. Five out of 18 holes are shorter, more typical disc golf length holes. #3, #6, #8, #13 and #18 help add diversity to the course. Sprinkling shorter holes between the multiple 1000'+ holes was a wise design choice that gives the player a chance to relax between max distance rips.

+ Accurate pars. I had to work for birdies, but they never felt out of my reach. If I messed up an approach, I was not rewarded with a birdie, but rather had to shoot for par.

+ Navigation is an absolute breeze with the provided maps and scorecards. No way to get lost with the clearly marked tees and golf cart track running through the course. The Maps provided at the club house accurately depicted each hole's fairway and pin placement, and I was never left wondering where to throw on blind doglegs.

+ Flags on top of the baskets help the player gauge the wind. This is a feature I wish more disc golf courses adopted.

+ Absolutely gorgeous property. It was a beautiful Saturday morning when I played, and the sun shining on the water while I overlooked #2's massive fairway is a sight I will not soon forget. The level of maintenance here far surpasses your typical city course, much less your average private course.

+ The most positive experience I've had at a private course to date. The owners were incredibly friendly, very informative, and exceptionally accommodating. Frank's passion for what he's doing with his course was obvious to me through my conversations with him before and after my round. He provided me with maps, discussed things to look out for on the course, and even offered me a couple of cold water bottles to take on the road to the next course I played. I have never felt more welcome at a private disc golf course, and this alone motivates me to return.

+ Getting to use golf carts was a unique experience that increased my enjoyment of the round. It was my first time using carts for disc golf. Normally I'm the type that enjoys a good, rugged hike while I play, but that wouldn't work on a shared use facility with ball golfers using carts. The benefit is that after my round my legs were as fresh as they are after playing a pitch and putt 9 hole course, despite The Rock being over 12,000' long from the tees I played.

+ Beer is available at the pro shop. It's not very often you get to drive around in a golf cart and legally drink beer during a round of disc golf. I stuck to water myself since I planned to throw different courses until sunset, but it's a nice option to have.

+ The best interactions I've seen between disc golf and ball golf. There were numerous golf groups out on the course, and two or three other disc golf groups. Everyone got along and at no point did I feel second class. We all shared the same tees and fairways, with the greens for each golf type ending in different areas of each hole. My first experience throwing discs on a shared use golf course was at Mulligan Springs in Kent, Ohio. It was made very clear to me at that course that I was to let any ball golfers take priority over my experience, and they've since removed disc golf from their property completely. At The Rock there were times I offered to let a ball golf group play a head of me since I was filming my round and taking my time, and more often than not they'd decline. Everyone was very relaxed and out to enjoy their weekend, and I never got the slightest hint of elitism.

- Too long for beginner level players in my opinion. I think someone who throws under 350' would find the course less enjoyable than someone who can throw further. That being said, I think they could still enjoy the huge downhill rips, but they might feel a little overwhelmed. At 12,476' from the longs and over 10,000' from the shorts, The Rock is a beast of a course.

- There is little in the way of technical, wooded gaps to hit. The challenge comes from managing elevation & wind primarily, as well as understanding how to setup your second shot with drive placement from the tee. That's not to say it's completely wide open...if you turn your drive over off one of the elevated tees or throw with too much hyzer your disc could easily fly straight into the tree line...but there are very few obstacles in the center of the fairways.

- The stone tee signs, as beautiful as they are, relate to the ball golf course only. There are maps provided that provide all the necessary information a disc golfer needs, it's just a shame the the most attractive tee signs I've seen to date did not apply to my style of golf.

The Rock is a beautiful, unique experience that left me completely satisfied. I think as long as you know what to expect, i.e. long drives on ball golf style terrain, you'll feel the same. If you want 250-350' technical wooded holes, North Carolina has that in spades. What The Rock offers is something you won't find at many other courses.

Between the epic holes, gorgeous views and remarkable hospitality, I have zero hesitation recommending this as a destination to anyone interested in this style of course.

Frank mentioned another layout he'd like to use for tournament play, one that is more difficult than the layout I played. I would love to try it out someday!

The gold tees at The Rock were easily one of my most memorable disc golfing experiences, and I look forward to playing it again some day soon.

Beautiful rolling terrain, with fairly extreme elevation changes present on several holes. Highly manicured grounds. Long, sweeping fairways. Gas powered golf carts to ride throughout the course. Completely fair fee to play, cheap for the overall experience!

Go off the fairway and you may very well lose a disc. Or two. Or three. There are one or two holes where ball golfers might not be easily seen by disc golfers, due to the lay of the land.

I have played some drop dead gorgeous courses, some of the best courses in the entire state of North Carolina, the likes of Black Jack, Sugaree, Inn at Wintersun, etc., and this course is right up there in the upper echelon, with these other courses. It's my current favorite, and I highly recommend it.