Walters State. That was a lot of walking for some mediocre disc golf.
- If you want a tour of the Walters State campus, play a round of disc golf. If you want disc golf, you're not that far from lots of other options.
- 9 open holes. So, no chances for lost discs or obstacles? Again, well...
- Holes 1 – 3 are all in the same wide open plot of land. The only obstacles I had to deal with was wind gusts up to 40 mph. Just came from Gatlinburg where trees had been blown over and you had to lean forward to walk. So these weren't light winds. I took an 8 on hole #1, including five strokes from within 80 feet. Winds mostly died down by #4.
- #5 is the only fun/good hole on the course. There are a couple trees in play. The basket is up on a mound. An enjoyable hole anywhere. Here, you're better off playing this hole over and over than playing the other 8 holes.
- Holes #7 & 8 are fine. Holes #6 – 8 all have woods playing on the right side of the fairway. All had tall grass when I played. On #6, especially, you better line up with your disc with a tree in the background, and walk a straight line to it. The grass was tall enough (in February nonetheless), that it was hard to spot a disc from more than 25 feet away.
- The appeal of #7 is the chance to bomb some big tee shots and approaches. The basket is just past a small rock basin, so that gives a different look from the other holes.
- The appeal of #8 is that there are several trees you have to throw around on the left side of the fairway. Then the basket has a brick-wall backdrop. Again, I'm stretching for positives.

Course length does not equal quality.
- When your hole length averages 465 feet – 5 holes longer than 440 feet, none shorter than 300 – but, you're a boring layout, something should change.
- When a majority of holes have zero obstacles between you and the basket, you're not a good course.
- Even on a simple layout, there are still times you're not sure what basket you're throwing to. On #1, are you sure you're throwing to the first basket or #3's? On #4, are you possibly throwing to the basket on the hill?
- Almost a ¼ walk from #5's basket to 6's tee. Just under ¼ mile walk from #9 basket back to the first tee.
- A 4.0 rated review on UDisc said, "better than nothing while on vacation." Actually, nothing would be better here. Unless you're that desperate to get away from your family.

I thought Crookston in Fletcher, NC was the worst open layout I've played. Not even close Walters State is far worse.
- 6 simple, uninspiring holes, 2 decent ones, and a lone enjoyable hole = horrible course.
- There really is no need for a course here. There just isn't a way to create a quality layout. Maybe make it a shorter course in the fields where #6 – 9 are located and find a way to incorporate some of the woods just beyond 6 – 8.
- The best part of this course really is the scenic backdrop of the mountains. Very nice views.
- I had zero problem playing the course while classes were in sessions. So, there's a positive?
- If you had more variety, I'd have enjoyed 7 & 8 more. After having already played 5 open layouts, my reaction was tepid.
- If you're from the area, go to Knoxville. If you're in the area for vacation, play here on the way to Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge so you have plenty of time to redeem yourself with an annoyed spouse or kids. If you're here with co-workers on the way to a business conference, and you force them to play, I'd say it's time to update your resume.
- If you were living in the South in the '90s, you understand the reference my review title.

I appreciate the time, effort, and cost it takes to plan, design, build, and maintain every course, so I never want my reviews to come across as whiny, complaining, or bad-mouthing. (I hear enough of that from my kids!) Every designer is restrained by the property and what he/she is able to do with it under the constraints of whatever jurisdiction the land is under. So, don't take my review of Walters State as derogatory towards the campus or anyone associated with the course! I took the time to play it, I'm glad I did, and were it not for the course, I wouldn't have played disc golf that day. That said, the pro's of this course are few...

+ If you are in the area and want to work on totally opening up and ripping drives, this is the place. Each hole is 300+, with five holes of over 400 feet (440', 515', 545', 615', and 705') and every single one completely wide open with limited or zero obstacles whatsoever. If you're a noodle arm, you'll be humbled.

+ This is a great spot for an evening walk to look at the surrounding mountains.

+ The tee signs mark the throwing areas and give accurate yardage info.

Now on to the cons...

There's not much to this course, as you can likely gather from my review so far and others before mine. Come out and play it if you want to bag the course or work on your distance throws.

Hole 1: Wide open and straight across a field, 440 feet. No obstacles, no elevation.

Hole 2: Wide open and straight across a field, 365 feet. No obstacles, no elevation.

Hole 3: Wide open and straight across a field, 370 feet. No obstacles, no elevation.

Hole 4: Wide open and straight across a field, 335 feet. No obstacles, no elevation

Hole 5: Some trees! This hole is still mostly wide open, but there are guardian trees and the basket is on a little hill, so putting is more interesting here than on the other 8 holes. This is literally the only hole on the course with any elevation and a few trees obstructing the drive to the basket.

Hole 6: After a very long walk from hole 5, across a field with knee-high weeds, we're back to the long, open holes. The back half of the course does have trees lining the right side of the fairway, but that's it. You do NOT want to go right on any of these holes as you will find yourself in thick, impenetrable underbrush. On the left is the unappealing, knee-high weeds field. This is the first of the multi-throw holes. The back 4 are just longer and still wide open.

Hole 7: Basically a repeat of the previous hole, except 100 feet longer. Still a par 4.

Hole 8: This is the longest hole and a par 5. The second half of the hole has some planted trees lining the middle to left side of the fairway. This is the only hole on the course with some trees to obstruct your approach to the basket, depending on where your drive and upshots land.

Hole 9: Wide open and straight across a field, 545 feet. No elevation, no obstructions.

That's it! There are a few other cons:

- The ground was completely saturated and muddy when I played. I don't know if the area had a lot of rain in the days prior. There was standing water everywhere.

- No tee pads, so you have to drive from the grass. On short 9-hole courses, I wouldn't mind not having tee pads, but when you're trying to go for max distance, it's not ideal.

- Very long walk in between hole 5 and 6 -- and if you follow the course map and walk on the road around the construction area, you then have to cross the field with knee-high weeds. I did this in the soggy conditions too, so imagine what my shoes, socks, and legs looked like after that trek.

There aren't too many courses in this area, unfortunately, so if you're with the family in Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge, this is one of two public course options (the other being Mills Park). Neither is great, but Mills Park is better in that it fits the bill of a standard track with some elevation, trees, different types of shots, etc. But if the weather has been dry and you want to let 'em fly, head to Walters State!

There is plenty of space for the 9 baskets. 9 tee signs, each with the course map, so navigation is a breeze. The tee signs face the previous basket which makes it easy to spot from the previous hole, but then don't point you in the right direction (though the sign/map shows you).

Good place to work on driving distance (I guess) as the holes are plenty long and very wide open.

Hole 5 plays to a basket in some trees on a mound- the highlight of the course.
Hole 8 is decent at 700' feet, from the tee you have to negotiate the road and a single row of tallish trees to get to the basket (really reaching for positives here...)

This is one of the most boring/uninteresting courses I have ever played. Only two holes really have any obstacles, and those are not more than just a few trees.

Most holes are nothing more than an wide open field from tee to basket of varying (long) lengths.
And the first 5 just get shorter and shorter, thus making each hole just an easier version of the previous one.

Holes 6 and 7 have a dense tree line on one side and a tall field on the other (hooray, not a wide open field!), but the fairways are only about 20' wide even though the holes are 500-600' long. Why not mow more? The other 7 holes were in large fields that are 100% mowed.

Super long walk to from hole 5 to 6 and then from 9 to 1 (each walk being almost 1/4 mile). If I were to play here again (which I wouldn't), a better option might be to practice holes 1-5 a couple times , then just forget about walking to and from 6-9. It takes as much time to get to these 4 holes as it does to actually play them.

No specific tee area, just a tee sign in the grass.

Despite basket 5 being the best location of the 9, #5 tee is the worst, literally behind/beside/under a tree- I have never seen such a thing!

Really this "course" is bordering on being more of a practice area. I have played worse, but in those cases there are major issues like no tees, missing baskets, overgrown fairways, etc. There is nothing wrong here, per se, it is just about the most basic boring course one could have, made worse since it is divided in half by a super long walk.

As you prepare to tee off on Hole #1, take a minute to look toward the horizon for beautiful views of the Smoky Mountains. That view might be the best part of your disc golf experience at Walters State DGC as the course features nine baskets sprinkled about a few different fields.

There's unlikely to be any traffic on the course, so it's an ideal location to work on your drives.

Each tee sign includes a small map of the course, which definitely alleviates any unfounded fears of getting lost.

Very little variety. The first four holes are wide open in a field. In fact, only two holes feature any significant obstacles - a few trees guard the basket on Hole #5, and a long line of medium-sized trees provide a challenge on Hole #8. Due to its wide-open and flat nature, score variance is likely to be extremely low. Hole #6 and #7 feature a field with foot-high weeds on the left side, but the foliage isn't dense currently, so it's walkable and you should be able to find errant discs easily.

No teepads, but the grassy areas near the tee signs were well-mowed.

Long walks. There's a couple-minute hike from the Hole #5 basket to the tee sign for Hole #6. And then Hole #9 finishes a long way from where the course started. Those walks might not seem noteworthy; at some point, this undertaking might feel more like exercise than disc golf.

While the Sevier County campus offers educational opportunities, the main lesson for disc golf enthusiasts is that this course provides little more than driving range practice, as the previous reviewers stated. You might feel like you've walked the entire 67-acre campus by the end of your round.

Just beyond the basket for Hole #6 is a short path in the woods that leads to a lovely, serene creek.

Got work on my driving skills...

Every hole is wide open. Most holes were driver putter holes or driver driver putter. Walked up to number seven and it is a 705ft par 5. Just had to laugh and ask why. There is no elevation change at all on this course. Literally none