The Outback is probably the most unique disc golf experience I have ever had. This course really makes you think outside of the box. A lot of traditional disc golf knowledge isn't going to be terribly helpful here. This course is a supreme test of how well you know your putters/mids/and utility discs.

The course starts off innocently enough (especially if you have already played the front 9 of the normal course on site). A simple shot straight up the hill in a fairly open field, hole 1 can lull the player into thinking this is going to be an easy 9 hole trek. It isn't.

The fun starts on hole 2 which is a dead straight tunnel shot that gives ample room to make it towards the basket, but is tough on misses.

3 is a straight downhill "dogleg" left, which is a really fun and unique throw. There is certainly no way to cut this dogleg, and it is almost 90 degrees left. This short hole is definitely a 2 shotter.

4 is pretty straightforward...throw it straight, but the steep uphill angle and narrow gap keeps it interesting.

5 is probably the hardest short hole I have ever played. It seemed about 150 feet, but it is dead straight and only 5 feet wide the whole way. Off to either side are new growth trees that usually only have about a foot between them. It literally looks like jailbars, and it is darned near impossible to get out of them.

6 is a fun snap-dogleg down the hill and to the right. Nothing special, but another good test of short finesse approaches.

7 and 8 are both more straightforward holes...but again the theme is throw it very straight down a narrow path, or pay the price.

9 may be one of the prettiest holes in the area. Starting on a brick teeing ground over and above a creekbed, the hole plays down and up a steep valley to a tone pole at the top of a ridge. Really nice piece of design work.

This mini course also has nice navigation. It is clear the budget here was small, but little white signs, laid out trails lined with downed trees, and pink flags in the tree mark the way to the next hole and largely make navigation easy.

This course has some of the little things too - basket hooks on most tees, a few nice benches, and a few trash cans scattered throughout. Plus you have the 18 hole original course on site and all the other amenities throughout the park.

It was a good piece of design to have the first hole here start at the 9th tee of the original course and finish in the same spot, so if golfers want to take on this additional loop, they finish right where they started and prepared to take on the back 9 of the original course.

I was fully prepared to be disappointed in the tone poles, but I was not. They are properly sized to be roughly the size of the "strike zone" of a true basket. It really didn't take any adjusting and seemed like a make on a normal basket would have been a make on the tone poles, and misses would still be misses.

Only 9 holes. It would probably be nicer to have baskets instead of the tone poles but the course made it clear from the begining that this was target golf.

The teeing areas are a bit of a problem. A few have old tree stumps in them, but they are nicely marked with red paint. Most of the tees are marked by nice boards, but 4 and 8 are more loosely marked with signs and fallen sticks which made recognizing them slightly more difficult. 9 tee is much nicer and is in bricks, but it is very short and has a steep dropoff, and a good clean runup would have been nice on this one.

Navigation was largely very good as above but I had a hard time finding the second hole. The teebox actually seems to sit behind a bench on the nature trail which I walked past the first time.

I played this course in late fall, I could imagine it could get overgrown and quite difficult to navigate without a lot of TLC in the summer.

Unfortunately reaching this course is not easy. It is a long walk from the parking lot. It is best reached after playing the first 9 of the original course, which makes it difficult to simply show up to the park to play just The Outback.

I really had a lot of fun on this course. It is a very different experience, and for purpose of rating is very difficult because I don't really know how to compare it to other courses. I know I had a lot of fun and was presented with a very unique set of challenges that made me think about and use shots that I don't encounter often in a round.

Next time you go play Yadkin County Park, stop by The Outback. It is a fun addition to an already good disc golf facility.