I was in Lexington for a couple days and had time to play two courses. I chose two on the south end of town, both ranked in Kentucky's top 25 courses. As of this review, Jacobson was ranked 8th and Veterans was ranked 25th. You can read my review of Jacobson, but overall, I was very happy with the decision to play that course. Veterans was fun, but there were enough cons to make it just an average course, in my book. As of this review, I've played 16 courses that are ranked in the top 25 of their respective states (10 in NC and 6 elsewhere). Veterans gets the lowest rating, from me, out of those 16.

+ The course layout is actually quite good. There are some challenging holes, with a variety of wooded (almost all holes), with a couple of open holes mixed in, some fun downhill holes, some uphills, hyzers, anhyzers, and straight. I liked the use of the creek on a few holes. That was a fun challenge.

+ My favorite hole ended up being #6. When I first got to it, I walked the fairway to try to figure out where in the heck to throw it. The fairway is very tight, with a creek bordering the entire left-hand side and a steep hill on the right-hand side. Seems like it would be pretty easy to hit the slope and roll to the creek. There are also trees dotting the fairway. It's somewhat of a blind tee shot playing downhill to a basket on a flat area, with water to the right. I chose an anhyzer route. From the tee, it looked like I hit the edge of the slope and landed there. When I got to where the disc hit, I saw that my disc had cleared the slope, just barely, and glided down to the basket, within 10 feet. I'll take it!

+ Veterans Park, itself, seems like a big, destination park. There was a competitive softball game going on at the stadium when I was there. Lots of fans cheering. The walking paths and jogging trails were packed with park-goers. Despite the park crowd, I did not see any other disc golfers and never felt like the walkers/joggers got in the way of my lines on the holes close(r) to the paths.

+ Drainage on the course seemed pretty good. It had just rained the day before and I didn't encounter any standing water or mud patches.

+ The tees were ok.

+ Take away my negatives (below), and this would be a stand-out course. The fun factor is high and the holes have a good variety and are adequately challenging. BUT, there are negatives...

- First and foremost, when I played -- in the summer -- the underbrush was out of control, not only off the fairways, but on some fairways. I came across a guy weed-whacking a fairway, so I don't want to bash the people maintaining the course. It's situated in a forest...and it is the South...and it was summer. It must be a nightmare to try to keep this course maintained. But, like I said, the underbrush was really bad. Grass and weeds were high in many of the fairways. The risk of disc loss was high.

- The other big drawback for me, a newcomer to the course, was navigation. There were no Next Tee signs. I relied on my DGCR Course Map, but even that couldn't keep me out of trouble. There are numerous trails cris-crossing the course. I followed one by mistake after hole 15 and darn near got lost in the forest. It probably took me 20 minutes or more to finally find hole 16. This course desperately needs some Next Tee signs and trail markers.

- Old baskets, hard to spot in the woods.

If you have one day and the choice is Jacobson or Veterans (the only two courses I've played in Lexington), go with Jacobson. Veterans is probably a lot more enjoyable in the fall or winter. And even with the cons, it's worth playing. Just bring a map.

The course plays through a large and mostly wooded park with a few more open grassy areas. The majority of the holes are in tight woods, with narrow but fair lanes and harsh punishment from trees and brush if an errant shot leaves the fairway. There is some elevation here, and it's used well to add some challenge and variety to the course.

There are a couple holes that are ace runs with an accurate shot through the trees, and some that are longer and require a good drive and upshot for most players to look at a 3. The design does a good job of forcing a variety of shots, with a fairly balanced set of left/right/straight holes.

This course never feels repetitive, with lots of different kinds of holes, and even a few slightly more open holes sprinkled in to give you a break from the tough woods. I enjoyed the challenge of this course a lot, and thought the designers did an excellent job of using this property.

The course is nearly impossible to navigate without a good map or local guide, or perhaps both. I understand the local club is working hard on fixing this issue, and when it is corrected I can give this course a significantly higher rating, but for now there are some long walks that are not at all obvious, and I spent a good chunk of time wandering around the park trying to follow the course.

The tee pads are good concrete pads, but they are very small, even on the longer holes. The baskets are older, and a few didn't seem to catch as well any more. The tee signs didn't have much information about the current hole or how to get to the next one.

Based just on the holes and the design, this could be a 4 disc rated course, but with the navigation issues and lack of signage, I have to rate this course the same way I rate every other course which is from the perspective of a traveling player. If you can meet up with a local to show you around the course, this is a must play if you like challenging wooded golf, if not you may want to bring a map and some patience.

Beginners will probably find this course frustrating, with lots of tight lanes and punishing rough. More experienced players will find lots of good and different challenges here to test many parts of their game.

This is a challenging course for just about any skill level. The course is very technical, requires many different shots, and engages your brain, something many courses fail to do. It has a decent amount of variety, although most of the course is in the woods. The large creek provides some elevation changes on a few holes as well as bringing water into play on at least 3 holes.

The course had passable, concrete tee pads (too short for many tastes, however) and DGA baskets.

The course seems generally sad and somewhat neglected. Much maintenance is needed on many of the fairways (although the ones that have been mowed and trimmed look great; maintenance is pretty much done entirely by the local club with little help from the Parks department). The course is starting to show some age with substandard tee pads (sometimes cracked and crumbling); missing, broken, or bare bones signs; and chain assemblies that are missing pieces.

Perhaps worse and definitely more dangerous is the erosion problems all over the course. Many holes run parallel to a large creek that is steadily eroding fairways and paths (Hole 6). If you play in the snow or rain, or right after, many spots are dangerously slippery, and this includes many of the tee pads. The steep climb up from hole 6 to 7 is especially treacherous when wet.

Another major issuse with this course is the nearly complete lack of any directional signage between holes. For new players without a local guide or map, this course would be a nightmare to try to navigate. Hole 2's tee pad is very difficult to find. The walk between 9 and 10 is long and bound to make some lose their way. Quite similarly, trying to find hole 16 without any guidance would be very difficult.

This course does not flow well, it is not exactly designed in a double loop, and many of the holes have long walks between them.

The course is also a bit of a luck course. While defenders can say it is technical, detractors point out that the only place more needles need to be threaded is at a seamstress convention. Several holes feature no apparent fairway. In addition, much of the schule is thick along the edges of the fairway.

Many also charge this course with being a lefty or sidearm course.

For many locals (and regular out-of-town players) this course is their favorite in Lexington due to its challenge. Once one knows the course, the navigational issues are pretty much ignored, as are the extremely tight fairways (for the most part).

Currently, Hole 18 is using the practice basket since its actual basket was stolen. Plans are underway for a new basket as well as new signs for the course.

In the big picture, the course is an excellent complement to Shillito Park and Riney B, giving almost every golfer a little bit of something that fits their particular tastes.