Durham, NC

Valley Springs Park

3.745(based on 39 reviews)
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5 4
KniceZ
Experience: 13.2 years 104 played 15 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Old & Repetitive 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Apr 1, 2012 Played the course:once

Pros:

Very good signs
- Best part is was the distance information
- Basic info on other tee pads

Multiple tee pad locations
- We played the intermediates but it was obvious that the different pad locations would provide tremendous completely different course

Multiple lanes from tee pads to pin on many holes.

Cons:

Nothing but wooded holes.
- the Fairways are very narrow and if you don't stay in them you'll be in another holes fairway and often have no hope of recovering for par or sometimes even bogey.

The basket are very hard to spot.
- Not a problem for someone familar with the course but since it was our first time I sometimes just threw down the fairway and figured I find the basket once I got closer.
- Get some bright paint for the top marker or pole.

Some commented on good variety but I got tired of the narrow straight and left doglegs. Maybe it's because I'm very RHBH dominant but it seems like on most of the holes any drive that faded at all was out of the fairway.

I don't think I've ever seen a course with so little grass.

While the multiple tee pads are a plus I found them to be very small.
- basically only usefull for straight run up.
- I ended up doing standing drives a lot just because of the danger of stepping off the pads.

It would really help if some of the smaller underbrush was cut from the edges of the fairways and around a couple of the pins.
- This would allow for more possiblity to recover from the slightly off fairway drive.
- It seemed like I either scored par or two over or most holes.

Other Thoughts:

While the more advanced players may find this challenging, I ended up bored and frustrated by the repetitive wooded tunnel shots.

My wife (rec level player) basically gave up and started laughing about hitting every tree.

Overall the course is showing it's age - old baskets, small pads, limited opportunity to use anything longer than a speed 7/8 (from the whites).

We picked this course because we were passing through, it was just off I-85, and it was fairly highly rated. Maybe I'm a little over critical but after playing it I certainly couldn't give it a 3.5+.

This may be a great place to some but not one to bring Rec or lower Intermediates.
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4 2
Anger Monsoon
Experience: 5 played 5 reviews
2.50 star(s)

The problem isn't that it's short 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Apr 15, 2010 Played the course:once

Pros:

Nice signage; a pretty, leafy course; multiple tees; good grooming; plenty of ace runs for shorter arms; often tight shots and good difficulty from the long tees. The designers packed a lot of course into a very small area. The newer holes (19-22) and 18 are excellent additions: necessary in fact. You won't lose a disc on this course. It plays quickly, so you can get a couple rounds in.

Hole 18 from the long tee is excellent, and the extra 4 are pretty good, hole 21 probably being the best (because it's the least typical in terms of this course).

Cons:

Very repetitive. My issue with the course isn't its length (it's not a long course until you get to 18-22, though a couple of the long tees add significant difficulty), but there are only three kinds of holes, and they're repeated pretty often (with a couple happy exceptions): there's a 180-270' dogleg left, a 180-270' dogleg right, and a 180-270' straight ahead. And these more or less repeat in that order. Many of the holes are beautiful, but expect to throw the same hole and the same shot over and over. The elevation plays about the same: most of the time you're throwing from a slightly elevated tee across a depression to an elevated green. Sometimes that changes. But there's not going to be a lot of variety for better players.

Don't get me wrong: some of the holes are hard, with very small gaps between trees that you have to hit, especially if you play the long tees, but I really wish they'd have found a way to vary the challenges more to provide a more rewarding experience.

Even when you get to 19, you're excited to see a 450' bomb hole with a big ole dogleg left. That's an excellent hole with a little stream before the green. But then you get to hole 20, and guess what? It's ANOTHER 450' dogleg left. Really? At least you can air a few long shots out, but disappointing. I don't know what land was available, but it seems to me there's probably a way to make a much better and more various 18-hole course given the land available and cleared out. Also the holes are so tightly packed together that it's easy to throw on the next teepad or onto the previous fairway if you're not careful. They have nets up in a few places to protect the tees, which is a good idea.

Other Thoughts:

As one of only the two (at the time) 4-star-rated courses in the triangle area, I played this one, but it's hard to buy this as a four-star course. Probably should have played the UNC course which looks more various and challenging, which is what I'd recommend if you're in town and want more variety. Still, it's a good enough course. If I lived here, I'd play it. Probably fun to play doubles and ace run holes here.
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