On a two day, 1,000+ mile, 209 hole, 18 stop trip, there were several unexpected surprises. Driving through Roanoke Rapids, I was starting to think this would be a negative experience. Instead, it turned into a fun, scaled down version of some of my favorite courses.
- The park is great. You have outstanding views of Roanoke Rapids Lake. Any course with a lake as a backdrop somehow seems more peaceful and relaxing.
- This is a pleasant, wooded layout. Every hole has a generous, tree lined fairway on both sides. Throw straight and this is a birdie fest.
- Outstanding course for beginners / casual players. Nothing longer than 280 feet, with an average length of 233. Obstacles are relatively minimal - doglegs, slight elevation variances, baskets gently tucked behind trees, etc.
- #1 is one of the tougher layouts. Uphill and dogleg right. Plays longer and tougher than everything else here.
- #2 & 3 are ace runs. I hit chains on #2 and had a 10 foot birdie putt on #3.
- Course is easy to navigate. Caveat: I did not notice any signage pointing to the start of the course. I used the UDisc app to find the first hole. From there, it's easy going from one hole to the next. And, with shorter layouts, you can pretty much see the baskets from most tees.
- Very little wasted walking. #1 starts on one side of the parking lot. #9's basket is along the other side of the same small lot. Good for a quick round or two.
- #8 & 9 are a fun back-to-back. #9 is a slight dogleg right, 255-foot layout. The basket is tucked right along the edge. Unless you're hole high, you have a better angle landing on the other side of the fairway. #9 is a 245 foot, dogleg left layout. There's plenty of room to carve out a shot on this hole.
- Course is well maintained. The park as a whole is in excellent shape. I think P&R knows what park is getting the most traffic.

Contradicting the very last pro, it almost seems as if the park is an afterthought in town. I didn't see a single sign for the park driving through town. My broad opinion of driving through the town is that there isn't much else to do here.
- Getting here, it was down one small street after another. I had no idea what to expect. I was surprised how nice the park is. It's almost like you would want people to know about this place. But, that's just me.
- Then, once here, no obvious signage, if any signage at all for the course. Nothing directing disc golfers to the parking lot. Nothing on the kiosk indicating the course. Your first clue may be the basket for #9.
- Course crosses over walking trails several times. No holes play over the trails. The bigger concern would be walkers making detours off the trails to see what these other 'trails' are.
- Course is pretty simple. It's a nice layout, but it is rather simple.
- I didn't notice any bathrooms near the course. You'd have to go to another section of the park to find one.
- Course can be played, and played well, with only a disc or two. That'll be a negative for some.

I did enjoy Lake Park's simple layout. It was a good change of pace after having just played longer layouts at Ahoskie and Halifax County.
- Adding to this park's lack of signage or attention, you essentially just arrive at the park without any notice. You're driving down a neighborhood street, passing dozens of houses. Without fanfare, you're suddenly in the park. No signage. No entrance. Nothing. It's just a different way to feature your town's signature destination.
- The course is a 2/3s scaled down version of some other Carolina courses. 2100 foot, 9 hole layout equals 4200 feet for 18 holes. Lengthen that by 50% and you're at a 6300 foot layout. With that caveat, it reminded a lot of Kilborne (Charlotte) and Crooked Creek (Chapin, SC). Those tree lined fairways are a signature Carolina feel.
- This was a fun 30 minute stop for me. It's a short drive from Halifax County. So one can bag both courses pretty easily.
- What also helped my perception of what course I played next - the dreadful, unimaginative, open field Hayley-Haywood Park.
- Lots of simple fun here. Don't expect greatness. Expect a decent layout and you're set.

-A wooded course with mostly wide fairways, with upslope and down slope holes.

-Hole 3 one of my favorites I've played at its distance for the fun factor.

-A great course for beginners and recreational players. A course for intermediate and advanced players to work on short game and approaches from the tee.

-Tee boxes have a toe board on holes 1-5, and 9. Hole 6 solid and even with gravel. Tee signs have hole number, par, and distance.

-Good and easy navigation clockwise. Course map not necessary even for a first-time visit. Hole 1 from the parking lot is thru the left gate and stay on left trail for a short walk to tee.

-Ace Runs!

-Skip bounce is good, and grass is sparse. It's likely mowing is not needed much.

-Lost disc potential is small, except for No. 3.

-Its repetitive short, wooded holes either going upslope or downslope and mostly wide fairways. Not going to be challenging enough for intermediate or advanced players.

-The tee boxes are dirt and rutted in, except hole 6 with smooth gravel.

-Hole 9 tee sign is missing, but the pole is still there, and toe board is just a few feet away.

-Any type of heavy rain, fairways are likely to turn to goo.

-Course access from I-95 is slow with a clutter of traffic lights. The course is on the other side of Roanoke Rapids.

Lake Park is kind of just there. Nothing bad about it, and not exceptional, except for hole 3 which I really liked for the fun factor. Wooded courses are my favorite, but with the wider fairways just not challenging, except for a few holes that had a slight squeeze. The course is setup for the Beginner and the Recreational player who is having a day at the park or learning the game. If I lived in the area, I would bring my putters and mids to work on my short game and approaches. The rutted tee boxes are always a downer, and after about 6 holes I started to think about what I'm going to munch on during my 2-hour ride back home. It was my second course of the morning, and Lake Park had my mind wandering elsewhere except for Hole 3. The excitement level was missing for the most part, but still fun.

With the wooded layout, a great starting course for the new player, and Hole 3 my overall rating is at a 3.5. The time to play was at 20 minutes.

Notable Squeeze Fairways:

Holes 7-9 fairways shorten up a bit. Mostly designed for the Recreation/Beginner player to give a challenge, but could provide a problem for Intermediate and Advance on a wayward tee shot.

No. 7 is narrow at about 25 feet wide all the way to the basket, but manageable and reminded me of fairways I have played at other courses.

No. 8 has a 20-foot gap just off the tee box about 50 feet, and then opens.

No. 9 also has 20-foot gap about 100 feet out, and again opens to the basket.

Notable Ace Run:

No. 2. Par 3 at 120 feet out is a straight away tee shot with the basket sitting in a 15-foot gap between pine trees. If you are like me and waiting for your first ace, you are licking your chops. I hit the pines on the left.

Signature/Trouble Hole:

No. 3. Par 3 at 185 feet is a border line downslope elevated tee shot with a lazy dogleg left. This is only the second time I have picked a hole that has served as both my Signature and Trouble Hole. There is a direct line thru a gap, but its so small at about 10 feet between the tree line and two pine trees that it would not be worth it. The two pines are about 60 feet where the dogleg left begins. The tree line straight away on the right is only 145 feet away from tee, so you need to make your right to left turn before then, and at that point is when the fairway starts dropping. The basket sits leveled out in a 5 to 15- foot circle. It's what is behind the basket where the trouble begins if you overthrow. From the tee you see a line of pines just 5 feet behind the basket, behind the pines there's heavy canopy and pitch black from the tee. At the pines is a sharp drop of about 25 feet downhill and a fence about 8 feet tall. A hot disc could find itself hitting the fence or even going over it and goodbye. You are going to want to go for it and you should. I threw a mid and my second stellar shot of the day (the first at Halifax) that had the right to left line thinking this could be my first ace, and then I watch my disc fly right over the basket by a few feet, hit a pine and flopped down. Fun hole, and now a favorite!

Nice open shots would be fun for beginners. Baskets are in good shape. Decent mix of shots required.

Runs right through the park so if there were other people there it would be dangerous. Pretty short, so you're not able to really open up. Tee pads are patches of dirt.

It's pretty fun. Would be a nice local course to work on your midrange shots. Otherwise, not really worth the trip out.

-great course for first time players
-easy to get around
-requires players to learn different shot methods

-only 9 holes
-terrible T pads
-only open during certain parts of the year

This was the first course I ever played and it's what got me hooked to disc golf. This course holds a special place in the heart for all local players.

Lake Park has a few things going for it.

It has a few holes that play long for beginners (250-280ft) and lots of birdie attempts for those same players.

Nearly all the holes are pretty open, which is a plus for fun factor for a beginner. Not too much here to frustrate a casual player. Hole 7's "tunnel shot" is still wider than most wooded holes on a typical North Carolina course.

Holes 1 and 8 are right hand turns, while 3, 5, and 9 are left. Since this type of course is often just a bunch of 200 foot straight pitches or dumpy hyzers, this is nice.

There is restrooms and water fountains near the course, which is a nice bonus.

Only 9 holes.

The teeboxes are nonexistant. They were once neat piles of gravel, but have turned into spread out piles of dirt. A few of them have roots, and 9 even had some broken glass last time I was there. It's best to be very careful in order to avoid tripping or pulling any muscles.

Holes 2 and 3 are so short and simple that they feel like "par 2s".

There are no real obstacles, so players will quickly find the course to be a yawnfest as they improve, or if they're already skilled.

The course's condition is sometimes kept up, but most of the time there are rocks, branches, etc all in the middle of the fairway, particularly in the fall. Usually the solution would be for us (the locals) to organize a workday, but it isn't a public course. It's owned by our local power company, and the employees do not clean the disc golf course with any regularity.

One other unfortunate aspect is that the course is open somewhat limited hours for much of the year, or even not at all for the winter. The schedule is available on the Course Info. page.

Unless pitch and putt courses are your favorite, I would never make a special trip to play here. It's less than 10 minutes off the interstate, so that's a plus for course baggers.

For locals to Roanoke Rapids and Halifax County, there's only one other option within a half hour and it's about 15 minutes out of town. So this place is a decent option to keep loose and have a little fun.

It could use a couple of trash cans on the actual course, but most of the locals clean up decently after themselves.

At one time probably around 2009, a Dominion Power representative had mentioned to a couple of our most frequent players that they had plans to potentially expand the Lake Park and possibly include 9 more holes and lay concrete tee pads. Those improvements would be huge, but I don't see them coming to pass at this point.

Very short, and impossible to get lost on. GREAT for begginers or a quick 9 hole round. VERY OPEN. No real hazards.

Too short for big arm throwers and not technical enough for advanced players. The holes provide no real challenge after about 6 months of playing as they are all open with very few trees between you and the basket in the fairways. Teeboxes are sand, and poorly kept by the staff on site, though one worker did take me to get extra sand with a cart so that I could fill in some of the more dangerous boxes.
The course is situated on the edge of a family lake park and walking trails, and the local high school cross country team practices here and has meets here so watch for runners trying to cheat a few yards by cutting through the holes during these times.
It is only open from February 28th-November 10th from 11a-6pm. The staff will close early to get home a few minutes early on a regular basis and one of the staff there is a total JERK to the DG players.

Trash is a HUGE problem since this ark was originally a hang out for teen drinkers and party-ers looking to hide from cops as recently as a few years ago, and a few of the local players here can be rude to new comers, and disrespectful to the staff and others using the other park amenities.
There's room for 9 more holes, but the owner (Dominion Power Company) doesn't seem inclined to add onto the course anytime soon due to the handful of rude players.
There are only 2 trash cans, and neither of those are on the course, they are outside the fence by the exit from hole 9 and the other by the entrance to hole 1.
Hole 1 can pose a problem for lost discs if your shot gets high and left over a tall chain fence that separates the course from some very over grown field areas. Hole 3 and 8 offers the same if you shoot long past the basket and high, though 8 is somewhat retrievable by going around the park and into another parking lot to the field it will land in.

Seeing as this course is in my hometown, I hate to rate it so low, but it deserves not much more than this. Its great to go play to waste some time and keep your arm loose, but not worth a drive for anyone more than 5 minutes out of town. If you are in Roanoke Rapids, are a disc golf player, and have absolutely nothing else to do... its worth it... but if you have something else you could do.. like wash your hair or re-lace your tennis shoes, you'd be better off to do those things instead.

I play it regularly when it is open just to stay loose and keep my game up somewhat. Other than that, I wouldn't play it.

*It's mostly a woods course with 2 somewhat more open, mixed terrain holes.
*The Chainstar baskets are good and a personal favorite of mine.
*The course is easy to navigate, and the amount of rough is just right.

-Closed in the winter from Nov 9 to March 1! And during the rest of the year it's also only open from Wed - Sun 11:00 to 6:00. There's a tall locked fence that keeps you out.
-The tee pads aren't long enough and made of uneven gravel
-The length variety is low. 2<199/ 7 of 200-280.
-There are almost no Amenities: no map, score cards, or warm up basket. No benches or trash cans either.

Course Level: White (most suited for Intermediate players rated 900.) Or possibly a somewhat difficult Red level. White level players will make mostly humdrum pars, but Red level players may find it a little more challenging.

Hole 2, at 119 ft., has the distinctive of getting on the list of "Shortest Holes in NC". If you don't take a 2 you feel like you've dropped a stroke.

This course is like the ordinary kid in high school-- there's nothing that bad about it, but there's not much that really stands out either. Everything is just so average. The fairway shapes are average, but could use a little more variety (5 St/ 2 Lt/ 2 R). There's average elevation variety with 3 Flat/ 2 Up/ 4 Down, but the greatest elevation change is only +8 ft. The tee signs are adequate but very basic. The greens, beauty, and overall quality have no glaring flaws but nothing stellar either; they're all just average. Since it's only 9 holes that pushed my rating down a little. I wouldn't make a special trip to play here.

You can read more of my reviews at the Yahoo group "DG Course Reviews", http://sports.groups.yahoo.co...urseReviews/. Look in the Files section there for my Overall Rating notes and Hole-by-hole ratings too.

This course is very new. All the holes are pretty short. They have signs on all the holes and the course is easy to navigate.

They need concrete tee boxes and a back 9. Hopefully they will eventually add a back 9 and put in some long holes to balance out the front 9. Needs to stay open year round.

This is my hometown and everytime I am there I try to get a round in. Very fun and easy 9 holes.