Pros:
(3.932 Rating) A large sprawling city park course with a few fully wooded holes
- DESIGN - I've commented on design on less than 10 percent of my reviews because it is a very subjective category. The overall execution of this course is remarkable. This is not a top tier exotic piece of land like the IDGC, Lake Claiborne or Inverness. It's just a big city park with some rolling elevation changes, a small creek and a few heavily wooded areas. I was impressed by the developed greens, especially on (10), and (16). A great mix of shots are required and balanced play is rewarded. My only complaint would be not using the large pond, which I'm sure the designers wanted to use, but were told they couldn't.
- CHALLENGING - The course will challenge players to use power, finesse, shot shaping and risk reward analysis. That stated, this is not quite a Championship level course as billed on the DGCR course page. It's actually very similar to an Olympic gold medal, which is in fact gold plated for presentation and silver on the inside. I played the Gold tees and shot under par as an Intermediate level player. I played so so. Perhaps if all the baskets were in the far position, an even par could net a 940 to 950 rated round. 1000 rated pros will throw 10 down out here. The course does have a second set of tees to tone back the difficulty. The Red tees are perfect for Recreational level players.
- UNIQUENESS - Solid variety. A few par 4s and a par 5. Highly technical holes and bomber opportunities. Right hooks, left hooks, up shots and down. As alluded to in the design pro, I wish a water clear shot was included.
- CHARACTER - The basics are solid and there are a bunch of extras. DISCatcher baskets and large concrete tees for both front and back throwing surfaces. The signage is great (see pros Navigation) and there is seating at every hole. Just about every hole has an alternate basket placement and the tee signage have basket placement indicators. There are two locations that have lost disc drop boxes. That's a first. As for things I didn't see, I did not see a practice basket, but perhaps I missed it in my haste.
- NAVIGATION - Course map located on the route between the parking and tee (1). Tee signs are well built and fairly attractive. No next tee direction on the tee signs, but there are several navigational cues between holes and most baskets have a colored basket spoke pointing the way.
- RAW BEAUTY - Not exceptional beauty, but a really nice looking layout. Hole (10) is killer looking down fairway and seeing the island green carved out by a small creek that splits just prior to the green. I liked the open down shot on (11) as well. (14) is a photogenic long carved fairway through 75 foot tall pines. In addition, the whole park just seems well cared for and I don't recall seeing much trash at all. All the fairways were mowed and large branches were few and far between. I scored the course as a 3.5 for beauty, roughly top 90 out of 345 courses played as of this review.
Cons:
Like looking for a needle in a haystack.
- MISSED OPPORTUNITY - As stated twice above, No lake shot. (18) was an anticlimactic way to end the layout seeing the pond just off to left and way out of play.
- SAFETY HAZARDS - I was not a fan of Hole (7) being a blind landing shot around the tree edge corner and up against a park road. In addition, there are a couple walking paths in play.
- ONE TEE SIGN - Two tees on every hole but only one tee sign. On many holes the sign was located between the two tees. Again, just a minor issue that's a small inconvenience.
- TIME PLAY - Not the quickest play being over 6,700 feet from the gold layout. Figure 90 minutes solo on the Gold layout. A foursome should be able to tackle the red tees in 150 minutes.
Other Thoughts:
A well rounded course with no weak spots. Unfortunately at the same time, there are no "best of the best" qualities here either. The best quality at Tyus, IMO, is the amenities and extras. This aspect I find to be borderline phenomenal, something that a good portion of the players out there hold in less regard than other qualities. I've played 10 of the top 13 Georgia courses listed on DGCR and currently would rank it 7th among those 10 courses. I'm sure Tyus gets lots of praise from those in the Atlanta area, but with so many great courses in the region and horrible traffic, I'd be willing to bet that many seasoned metro area players have yet to get out here. Players that have already ventured to regional courses Hobbs, Mulberry and Perkerson, should consider this one, among others, to hit next.
- PARK NAME - The park is named in honor of local athlete Wyomia Tyus, a three time Olympic Gold Medalist back in the 60s. What an awesome honor.