A nice city park with good variety and imaginative use of the space.

-Terrain Variety: A lot of different sections of this park are used. Heavily wooded sections for technical holes, pretty wide open fields next to ball parks, and the in-between biome of sparse hardwoods à la old courses like Brahan or Henry Horton. McWilliams has a little bit of everything.

-Hole Variety: Whoever designed the course did a good job of mirroring the diversity of terrain in the shaping. A nice mix of holes turning different ways, going up or downhill, and varying in length. Also a smattering of par-4s that are on the shorter side but still entertaining.

-Shot Shaping/Gameplay: It's pretty interesting, with a combination of shot shape choices that that has you slightly surprised all the time. I'd pin it at an intermediate level, as some holes are long enough or tight enough to be out of range for most rec players. Very few holes are unfair. On the whole, I enjoyed it and I think it presented a tasteful if quirky course. A couple of holes are especially notable--(1) is a super cool downhill shot playing into the woods and then turning right on the approach, (3) is a gentle downhill ace run, (14) is a straight to right fade blind shot with more ace potential, and the concluding (18) is a short two-shot hole that may prove remarkably difficult to birdie without great placement.

-Flow: I wouldn't consider McWilliams to be easy to navigate, but it actually has good flow. In other words, the paths aren't obvious but on a second playthrough it would be efficient.

-Bad Lines: Some of the holes out here have suspect lines. (1) is a wonderful hole, but the tunnel of the approach has a very particular starting point that is extremely narrow and difficult to get to, especially for a first-timer. (16) is a straight shot over a deep ditch that is supposed to break left at the end, but the angle that the trees are cut out in doesn't make sense. I can't remember any other specific holes, but a couple of them had me doubting whether there was an ace line at all.

-Lack of Direction: This is a mix of it not being clear where the course starts and failing to provide a course map to aid in getting around once you do begin. More of an issue is that a lot of shots are blind and require guesswork off the tee since there aren't hole maps. There's a substantial element of figuring out the course involved.

-Non-Cohesive: The variety at McWilliams is so great that it barely feels like the same course. Playing it is a bit like taking 2-3 holes from 7 different courses and putting them all back to back. This isn't a big strike on ratings.

-Missing Basket: Basket (3) was gone when I played, but hopefully that has already been remedied.

McWilliams is quirky, and I can understand why some people hate it. I find myself saying many of the things about it that I say about my 3.5-4.0 courses, though, and I think it's fundamentally a Good course that has some issues of infrastructure and line. Its personality isn't the most convincing, but I would call it a solid mid-level course in terms of both enjoyment and difficulty.

-Amenities: Half-decent baskets, navigational cues on each basket, concrete tees. There are some issues (like not having good maps, and the baskets present look really old), but it's not too bad.

-Believe me; I'm going to try. In life, all you can do though is your best. That being said, I might very well get mad while writing this review. I was wildly irritated with the design of this course but the rest of the reviewers seemed to like it okay. That being said, there was some thought into the design of this course and a few holes were okay. #4 was an okay dogleg left par four out of the woods with a fair gap. #14 could be a good hole if the basket was straight ahead on the mound instead of to the right side of it. #17 was the best hole being uphill perched on a little mound, didn't love it but it wasn't a bad hole. #18 wasn't a terrible finish either. Double dogleg par four with the basket being on a drop off.

-Most of the hole numbers are labeled correctly.

-I think the ugly duckling comment in one of the previous reviews was spot on. I'll say that there is some fairway diversity but they typically look very weird by having trees in the optimal line to reach the pin. Well executed shots won't regularly be rewarded here.

-Simple thought comes to my mind. The more you paint over something, more paint will be chipped off. I don't have a clue on whose idea it is to repaint the baskets, or who is involved in repainting the baskets, or who is smoking what or feeling lost somewhere over the rainbow but the baskets are different colors and they look terrible with chipped off paint. I also don't know who's eating the leftover paint chips but if anyone is, they are not for eating. Neither are tide pods.

-#9 and #10 are both in the category of some of the worst holes that I've ever played. There are safety hazards that I'll get to more, but these two are notorious bad. #9 has you teeing off with the playground in your sight. The hole favors a slightly left fade and the playground is just a notch to the right side and less than 100' from the tee box. Meaning if you throw right to left, chances are that your disc will fly over or dangerously close to the playground. Stupid! Oh yeah, the basket is close to the busy road too! WTF?! #10 has you throwing over the median that separates the park entrance and exit right off the tee. No reason why the pad can't be pushed maybe 100' closer to the pin so that you won't have the roads to avoid.

-More safety concerns such as being too close to the busy road, or too close to ballfields, or even both.

-A few elevated baskets with no meaning to them at all. I mean, one or two of them only for the sake of height isn't a bad idea, or if a unique engineering approach (such as #18 at Camp Canaan) is present, but several elevated baskets with no unique placement (such as on a boulder, staircase, or edge of a large hill) just makes the game frustrating.

-More about the weird lines, you'll see it immediately. #1 looks fun when you first see the pad. You know! Downhill into the woods, except there is no real gap. There's no real line to get to the basket. All you see are trees and a cotton candy colored basket with pink duct tape around it. #5 is a weird left to right fade in the woods very close to the ball field. #15 has some bad trees at it's left turn. I could go on. Believe me, there are more.

-Atmosphere. Not very pleasing. Because again, it's next to a lot of fields, the road, and some of the wooded holes look very trashy. #16 had a valid line playing nearly as a dogleg left but it's in a more eroded spot along a rill the entire way. This hole, along with a few others on the back nine felt like playing on the back side property of a one star motel or on the wooded property of a sketchy apartment complex.

-Some baskets are not labeled correctly. #10's basket has the #8 on it and some of the baskets on the back nine are not labeled correctly either.

-Not the place for disc golf. Lake Russell is in the same town and is a whole lot better than McWilliams. This course to me is downright garbage. The best holes on the course are no better than okay and most of the holes here I did not enjoy at all. Some people will probably think it's an okay course but to me, it just sucked. None of the holes were considerably "fun". A few of them have a good thought process but they aren't holes you'll feel the urge to come back and play again.

-You probably have nothing to look forward to if you play here. I don't recommend at all. I do realize that my 1 rating seems very extreme and unfair but this course had many of the same problems that Ellis Park in Salisbury, NC. Ellis has a few well designed holes and I gave Ellis a 1 because of its flawed design and safety concerns. A couple of holes at Ellis cross each other. While none of the holes at McWilliams cross each other, Nothing here at McWilliams is particularly that good and the constant tee shots next to fields got old very quickly.

-Sorry, but I despise this course. I thought it was awful. Every hole either left a bitter taste or a bland taste.

McWilliams is a decent sized typical multi use park that you would find in a smaller town, with baseball, football and soccer fields, a rec center, tennis courts and a couple of playgrounds.

It also features an 18 hole disc golf course that if you are in the area is worth playing.

The baskets are all older disc catchers which is a positive overall and it looks like some have had recent repairs or new chains put in.

The variety here is the main thing that I enjoyed, you start with a hole that begins in the open and ends deep in the woods, and number two is the opposite. From then on you throw a couple more wooded holes, several park style slight more open ones along the road and then after 12 you dive back into the woods for a technical and line hitting finish.

Most of the holes have nice achievable lines, where you can see more or less what the designer intended and if you have the shots achieve it.

Another pro is other than the course at Russell Park which is pay to play(possibly a turn off for locals playing often) its the only course for a pretty good distance.

I had a fun time here, I really did, but the course has some issues. Granted it looks as though someone is trying to address some of the issues but they are still present.

It doesn't drain well in some spots, leading a few of the wooded holes to be very soggy after only a moderate rain, holes 1 and 18 were the worst.

The baskets have been repainted many different colors on the band, cage and sometimes the chains, but not all of them recently, so you rarely know what color you are looking for through the woods. And though some baskets look recently repaired several still have broken or rusted chains or bent cages. We might be part way through a refurb here.

The navigation is a bit wonky, and the signs are just laminated paper on planks with the hole number, par and distance.

One thing that I docked it for that some may not is a few of the holes are not as safe for pedestrians and vehicles as they should be. One throws over the main entrance, many bring you into contact with the walking path and several are close enough to busy roads that a better route IMO could be devised.

Very few benches, no trash cans.

Is it perfect? No. Would I play it again? Yes.

And would be relatively happy to do so if I were in the area again.

Probably wouldn't drive out of my way at all to play it as a destination, but if your close by playing Lake Russell(as I was) it's a nice tack on to your trip.

McWilliams Park seems like it either overachieves or underachieves. I'm glad my round got progressively better and ended on a high note.
- There are some solid holes here. If you can get through some of the dreadful parts of the front nine, the course does get significantly better on the back nine.
- Nice stretch of wooded holes. They aren't challenging in that rec level and above should be making a lot of easy 3s. They are challenging in that it will take some quality tee shots to see a lot of birdie putts.
- Course winds around the outskirts of the entire park. Starting in the back of the parking lot behind the rec center, the front nine ends up playing along Calhoun Falls Highway and Mobley Hill Road.
- Course offers some decent variety. Front nine offers the longer and more open holes, with #1 (420 feet), #4 (485 feet), and #8 (515 feet) & 4, 6, and 7 being the most open of the lot.
- In terms of creative layouts, #2 (with an island green) & #16 with a mini ravine/dry creek bed running through the fairway offer two of the better looks. #4, as a longer, par 4, dogleg left and #18, as a station-to-station par 4, offer two more enjoyable layouts.
- The course doesn't have any true easy holes. Even the shorter holes - #2, 3, 9, 13, & 14 still require a quality shot for a birdie opportunity. You can tell there was some thinking involved with this layout.

If the course got more TLC, it would be significantly better. I picture this course in the hands of a more engaged local DGC, say here in Charlotte for example, and the look and feel of this would be shockingly improved.
- The first, and biggest, issue is that signage is atrocious. Pulling into the back of the parking lot, I see a basket in a field. There's no signage on it, so I (wrongly) assume it's a practice basket. I do a see a next hole sign, follow that and see I'm on hole #3. Hmmmm.
- The transition from #4 to 5 makes you feel like you're sneaking around and/or trespassing on someone's property. You're skirting around the outfield fence of a baseball field, with little room to maneuver. And to your left, past the rough, are people's backyards.
- Several other times throughout the round, the lack of signage made it difficult to find a tee pad.
- Multiple hole distances don't seem correct. #8, for example seems significantly shorter than 515 feet. #1 seems like the longest hole on the course, but it's only listed as the third longest.
- I mention this last point hesitantly because it seemed more of a depressing/sad state than a true negative. There are four different basket types throughout the course. Very few of the baskets seemed in good condition. Most are passable. Seeing this gave me caution to be overly critical of some of the other flaws.

McWilliams is the ugly duckling. I like the design of many of the holes, it's just the execution isn't completely there. With a little work, there is potential.
- Course seems a little too tough & rough around the edges for a beginner. It's a little too simple & easy for more experienced players. It's just there.
- Man, the stretch from #5 - 9 is brutal. There is a ton of walking and not a lot of quality disc golf in this stretch.
- I really liked the way I played this course. Starting on #3 and ending on #2, the island hole. Doing it this way my final three holes were two long par 4s (both 400 feet+) and ending with a fun par 3. I'd say make this the actual course layout. It's not like #9 weaves back to the beginning anyway.
- There isn't a big open hole on the back nine. Of the open holes, the longest is 345 feet. Prepare for a lot of technical shots.
- Based on the lack of reviews, course updates, or scores, this course doesn't get a lot of play and/or attention on DGCR. I guess if there isn't a heavy disc golf scene here the course isn't going to get a lot of needed upkeep.
- I'm giving it a 2.5 rating. With proper attention and maintenance, I see this course meriting a higher rating. If you're playing Lake Russell, it's not a bad idea to drive another 15-20 minutes to this course.

1. Layout was pretty good with a mix of long and short holes.

2. Good wooded course with narrow lanes.

3. Course was easy to follow even though direction signs were very basic.

4. Elevated baskets increase the challenge even on short holes.

5. Good mix of par 3 and 4 with one par 5.

1. Dirt tee pads. Some of the teepads were worn and didn't allow for a safe run up.

2. No true hole maps. Someone drew the hole layout on a pole, but had to use UDisc app to determine the hole layout for some holes.

This was my first time playing the course, and although the course has some upkeep issues, I will be playing it again. The course offers a nice challenge and offers a variety of hole placements. With a little more maintenance, concrete teepads, and proper course maps, the course could easily rate a 4 out of 5. Definitely worth playing if you are in the area.

1.Good mix of holes; short and tight with long and open.
2.Well placed mandos.
3.Good mix of right and left doglegs.
4.Elevated baskets on several holes. Do I go for it, or not?
5.Challenging basket positions bringing slopes, rock features, roll aways and OB into play.
6.Island mando on hole 2 that adds challenge to an otherwise easy birdie hole (more on that later)
7.Conveniently located in a city park, with most holes sufficiently out of the way of other park users.
8.Good directional arrows.
9.Woods are nice.
10.Several interesting rock and berm features.
11.Reversing the front and back nine was a needed improvement and helps with the flow, and parking.

1.Course needs permanent tee pads. Several are unsafe for run ups.
2.Approach line on Hole 16 needs to be reconsidered.

Coming in at just over 6,000 feet, this city park style course has everything needed to challenge all aspects of one's game. At the 2016 Mayday Mayhem (Tier C), the course designer stated that he did not want a course that the pros could shoot easily in the 40s. Well, the pro division "hot round" that day was 50. For the rest of us, there were plenty of 60s plus shot that day, so I'll say the designer got his wish. I was plagued by several rollaway puts, but that's on me. This course gets your attention and if you lose focus, you will pay for it. So, to the course designer, well done! I enjoyed the day and I enjoyed playing this course.

I would offer only two suggestions. The island mando on 2 is a great idea and I enjoyed the challenge, though I failed to make it in both rounds. The drop zone is fair. But in consideration of senior players and beginners, perhaps stretching the mando towards the tee would be suggested. Not much, maybe 10 feet.

The second suggestion would be to reconsider the final approach line on the horseshoe hole 16. This is a very challenging hole (not a bad thing), with woods, and OB in play. The final leg is basically jail, no matter where you may choose to throw to set up the approach shot. This means there is no real landing area to set up the approach. Right now as it stands, the shot to get to the approach is of equal result; jail! This can probably be accomplished with removing no more than 3 or 4 of the smaller trees.

Ok, so a third suggestion. The designer stated he wanted to make sure that there would be no other changes to the course before setting permanent tee pads. I don't think the layout can be improved, and the teeing areas are unsafe now. I would move to concrete; or some otherwise more permanent and safer tee pads ASAP.

Again; good, solid course. Play it. It's worth it.

Current layout is more challenging then last time I played.

Few of the dud holes have been replaced with better pin placements and flow.

flow from one hole to the next is easily navigated by large wooden arrows on bottom of baskets.

Local club has taken a big push forward on making a challenging par 60 layout with what they have.

trying to be nice because this is a labor of love for the locals.

1- tee signs (currently working on having a tourney for funding)

2- benches - would love to see a couple added here and there. Even a random stump to sit on would be nice

3- tee pads- tee boxes sit above the ground with large gravel. watch couple of players almost wipe out when hitting end of tee box.

4- Safety of kids around the park- this was a concern the last time I played it. with the reversing of the holes only one hole stands out as a danger to park goers. better then it was but could use a little tweaking.

5- couple of the current tee pads don't have any kind of marking so better hope a local will mark a box in the dirt.

6- really not a big fan of the large number of elevated baskets. (just not my thing)

Really having a hard time not trying to rip the course apart. Its far from done and both Jim and Gabe are great guys that put lot of hard work into the course. As time goes on this course will grow into something completely different and be a short travel for people outside an hour.

If your in the area playing lake russel I would stop in and give this a try. Lots of hard work has been put in with more to come.

18 holes
Well done natural tees
Numerous next tee signs, although a couple more would be beneficial
Elevated baskets on a couple holes
There are some really fun holes
Fun woods golf
Makes a complete loop back to the same spot
Good mix of open and wooded holes
Some holes play from the open to the woods, while a few others play woods to open

The first issue is SAFETY. Several holes play along a walking path, including a tee shot that you want to finish left with that sets up blind for a shot fading left.
The rough is somewhat unforgiving; some woods holes have recovery lanes if you hit an early tree, while others you're pretty much just pitching back to the open
Layout can be confusing at times
No benches or tee signs; just a post with hole number and distance, which is better than nothing.
Natural tees, for those who don't like them
Some baskets have loose chains
A few too many elevated baskets
Favors right handers a bit too much

McWilliams park is a fun course to play. You mostly play around the edges of athletic fields in both the open and the woods. While it might not be the prettiest or most challenging course ever, it does the best it can with what it has. You can tell that there are some folks who really care about the course, as the natural tees are framed and there are some next tee signs, as well as most holes having a post with the hole number, footage, and occasionally par. Most of the baskets are painted different colors, and a few have some loose chains, although they still catch well. Several holes, especially the first 6, and holes 13-16. Some others are also fun. A couple of the holes play along a walking path, but the only really bad hole is hole 7. It's a U turn par 4/5 according to the tee post, and your tee shot has to travel straight and then fade hard left, right along a walking path which you can't see any of the left portion of it from the tee. It's a fun hole, but I don't really care for the safety issue. The wooded holes are a mixed bag; the gaps are tight but fair, and you can recover from the rough on some holes. However, on others, there isn't really a chance to get up the fairway and you just have to pitch out. My favorite hole was probably hole 15; this is a 345' par 3 with a couple different routes to the basket, which is set beside tennis courts. I threw a flex shot and was circles edge for a putt, which I missed. Overall, McWilliams park is a fun course, and, with a set of tee signs, would be a good course. Really, the tee posts are fine, I'd just like to see the addition of hole maps and par on all of them like on the post for hole 7. I will eventually be back here to play again!

Property has minor elevation and lots of trees which they "place" nicely. The course flows well around a senior center and ends up close to where you start. There are a handful of elevated baskets, which in my opinion spice up the course. Has a good mix of semi open and wooded holes along with a couple that play from the open into the woods and some that play out of the woods into the open. You could play the walking path o b and that increases the challenge. Some of the holes have different choices for routes which is nice. Off of the beaten path so probably a good chance to have the place to yourself. Also lake russell state park is 7.5 miles away with 27 more holes so that makes this course a bonus play.

Brand new so rough is rough. Elevated baskets may be tough for beginners. Hole 18 plays too close to a playground. But if theres kids in it just play the left route and youd be fine.

Definitely worth playing if youre in the area or came to play lake russell as we did. Definitely not a pitch and putt course you have to play golf. At least one or two holes had a long teepad for pros that are good. Overall i really like the mix of holes and shot shapes.