Pros:
-Of the courses in the Spaulding County area, Tyus is the most normal. It's challenging but without anything too difficult. The challenge is very persistent. There are a few easier holes that the open division scored around half a stroke below par on, while many of them averaged right around par in the Hotlanta tournament. I played in the tournament as an out of town player and instantly realized that Tyus is pretty opaque. It's hard to figure out the right shot the first time you play it, but it's considerably forgiving. I had some errant tee shots and was still able to save par on many holes and shoot -2 on the long pads. If you miss the designated fairway, there's a chance that you won't be in serious trouble because many of the wooded holes consist of trees that are a bit more spaced out. The rough is more difficult on some holes such as #1, #5, #7, or #12 but I landed in the rough on #9, the par 5 on my second shot and was still able to birdie it.
-Most holes have dual pin positions and dual sets of tee pads. The long pads are relatively difficult but offer many good opportunities for birdies. The short pads offer well, a shorter layout with the same par on every hole while still requiring accuracy and the same consequences for missing the lines but possibly better rewards if you hit them properly since it's easier to birdie on the shorts than it is on the longs.
-The signature holes here are also the most challenging. #10 was my favorite. This hole creates a slight change in the appearance of Tyus. The elevation is very light on the front nine and this hole, the starting hole on the back 9, is significantly downhill and is more difficult than any of the holes on the front nine. It's about 440' and very gently fades left. The woods are very punishing on both sides but it's one of those downhill holes where you really want to go for it with a straight and reliable driver. #11 may or may not be harder. This is a matter of opinion here. Same premise: long, but more open. Basket was in the long pin, which was about 460' from the long pad so this is a very long par three. You have more options on how to reach this hole because it's mostly open until the last 70-80' or so, but the woods are even more dense than they are on #10. Great two hole stretch here.
-There are some nice challenging par fours, and one par five. None of the par fours are easy on the longs, as they are all at least 500' and have difficult lines to hit. They are less lengthy on the shorts and less demanding, but still have designated lines for you to hit. #14 was my favorite of the four of them. Long and relatively straight most of the way with just enough room to throw a driver in the woods, but can still be birdied if you play it safer. I threw a driver off the long pad and landed a bit right of the fairway. The rough is tougher to throw out of, but the green is still reachable from some parts of the rough. I missed my birdie putt and rolled away left and made a 20' putt for par. If I threw a straight mid range, I maybe would've had a better chance for birdie. I could've been left with a clear 250' second shot from the fairway if I played it safer, but I wanted to go big and have the possibility of being left with a short upshot but I missed the fairway. #15 was interesting too being significantly uphill down a winding fairway. The approach shot consists of two lanes divided by trees. The outside lane is more difficult since it is not straight while the inside lane is straight and slightly tighter. #9 is the only par five on the course and is very possible to eagle from the short pad since the hole is less than 700' to both pin positions from the short and the fairway does not turn much at all. The long pad requires a right to left low hyzer to a landing zone that is maybe 350' ahead. If you make it down there, you could be looking straight ahead at the short basket maybe another 350-375' away. The long pad is further down the trail slightly to the right and is more of a legit par five but is still a pretty forgiving one.
-Concrete pads. Nice tee signs with good hole diagrams.
-There's a practice basket by the parking lot right before the kiosk on #1. Tyus has all the basic necessities for a disc golf course.
-Some nicely created rock greens on holes #3, and #16. They are a part of the high presentation of Tyus. It's well groomed too with cut grass.
-Has two loops. #1 and #9 are right beside each other and #10 is not far from #18. If you play the full #18, you end right by the parking lot. So the course is easy to find and easy to navigate. Plenty of "next tee" arrows too.
Cons:
-Some of the trees have extremely long limbspans. #6 and #7 are relatively open par fours. #6 is straight, but it's extremely hard to have a lengthy drive from the long pad. There are a couple of trees straight ahead with low limbs with wide spans, making it incredibly difficult to even pass those trees when the object of this par four is to unleash a big drive while avoiding the OB sidewalk on the right side. #7 isn't as much of an issue since distance is not important on this dogleg par four, but the wide limbs do eliminate some options. Could be taken either way. Could be thought of as an interesting challenge where you have to reach the landing zone with a very low height or could be aggravating. I didn't really have much of an opinion on this hole but the limbs on #6 to me, were a detriment. 600+ straight par four in an open area but distance is seemingly forbidden. Seems illogical like those bathroom towels my mother once purchased. They were just for show and not supposed to be used for drying off after showering. Like WTF?
-Some of the tee pads are angled in a direction where you don't want to throw. #15's long pad is not angled directly to the fairway you want to throw on. Neither is #18. The fairway on #18 is to the left side while the tee pad is angled to the right side almost convincing you to throw a wide skip hyzer that doesn't follow the lane to the basket.
-Tee signs are nice, yes. But there's only one on each hole and most of them have two sets of pads. Many of the tee signs are in between the long pads and the short pads, making them play almost as obstacle trees from the long pads.
-Nothing to do with the course or rating, but it's on the edge of the rough part of town. I stayed in a motel a couple blocks away and at the nearest gas station, there was some possible drug activity by some people hanging around in the parking lot. Worst part, a man in a truck asked me to walk over to his side of his vehicle because he wanted to "talk to me on his side". Not sure if he wanted to offer me drugs or wanted money, or possibly to mug me but luckily he left me alone when I told him I had to leave because I was "in a big hurry".
Other Thoughts:
-Tyus is a great course that is very presentable. I don't know if it was coincidental that the trees had hanging limbs or if the locals prefer to keep the limbs due to increased challenge. I would've preferred less tree limbs in play on #6 just because it's a long par four in the open. This is probably the course that most people would favor in the area because it's diverse without anything too unusual and ultimately, it's a very traditional course that is difficult enough for advanced players and forgiving enough for newer players since there are dual tee pads.
-There aren't any gimmes on the long pads, but every hole is still attackable. The challenge doesn't change much. Same goes for the shorts. Advanced players will be able to shoot under par from the shorts without much trouble at all. Intermediates could shoot under par on the shorts too.
-There's a big pond that is visible but only comes into play on #17. You tee off right beside it on #11. The locals seem to enjoy walking around the pond as a leisurely stroll. This park is for both athletics and for peace and quiet.