Best NC courses not Charlotte Area

[1978]

Stumpy Creek Ashe County, but come in the spring/summer so you get the full punishment, You could come down 81 and hit the blue ridge then do Sugaree, Ashe County, work across RT40 courses to Glenn C Hilton then Stumpy Creek. Then the same old boring Charlotte courses Then head up 85 to Raleigh and go home up along the coast.

 

[Mando]

It really depends on what time of year that you are coming. The mountains have some good courses, but who wants to deal with cold and snow when other parts of the state are 15-20 degrees warmer.

IMO, the best course down here this time of year is just across the state line in Tenn, down out of the mountains & easily accessible from 1-81. Harmon Hills.
Massive golf...your kind of place...with Fossil Hill right next door.

Then hit Mars Hill & Richmond Hill crossing into NC on 26.

 

[badsmurph]

It really depends on what time of year that you are coming. The mountains have some good courses, but who wants to deal with cold and snow when other parts of the state are 15-20 degrees warmer.

IMO, the best course down here this time of year is just across the state line in Tenn, down out of the mountains & easily accessible from 1-81. Harmon Hills.
Massive golf...your kind of place...with Fossil Hill right next door.

Then hit Mars Hill & Richmond Hill crossing into NC on 26.

^ THis
then head east on 40 and hit Morganton, hickory then 77n and try Yadkinville they have one public and 4 PRIVATE

 

[Agricolae]

Best courses in Eastern NC (since you are going to be there)
Castle Hayne
Glenburnie in New Bern (PDGA event there this weekend, so sure to be in top shape - IMHO, this is the most underated course in NC).
Barnet Park in Kinston
West Meadowbrook in Greenville

Zebulon is a great course and is on the eastern tip of the central part of the state.

Good call, Robert.

Those would be my choices, as well, for eastern NC, and in nearly the same order. I'd go Castle Hayne > Glenburnie > Zebulon* > West Meadowbrook** > Barnet Park***.

* I'd say Zebulon is on the western tip of the eastern part of the state.

** There is currently some construction (underground pipeline) going on a The Meadow. It's playable but torn up in places. Should be ok in a month or so.

*** Barnet front nine is excellent! Back nine is "not too shabby".

 

[pkbeast]

Hidden Gem, Village of Pinehurst DGC...off of Chickenplant Rd. Stan McDaniel designed. concrete pads, long and short.

 

[Dave242]

I know its sacrilege and alienates 90% of the dgcr members from NC but I'd like to know what are the best/top courses not in the Queen City Region. A top 10 would be nice maybe include some homegrowns....anything but the same old Charlotte Drivel we always hear.....I'm heading down to NC again and will hit Charlotte (I'm curious bout RL Smith and Bradford and want another crack at the biggies but would like to hit the less talked about gems from coast to mountains.

Let me prerube you here......use the map. Set if for courses rated >4.0 and 125 mile radius.

Click on the east side of the state (centered around Raleigh) and you come up with:
Castle Hayne
Farm Life
Buckhorn
Fox Chase

Click on the west side (Asheville) and come up with:
Glenn C Hilton
Ashe County
Sugaree
Elk Mountain
Richmond Hill

Go to 3.5 rated and up and you'll add 20 or so additional courses.

My personal recommendations:
One place you want to make sure you hit is Well Spring & Cedarock in Burlington, NC - beautiful and secluded courses in the same park.
I also have Yadkinville rated at A+/5.0 for my tastes - it gets hammered in the ratings for navigation/signage and tee pads, but it is an amazingly good and varied course that hits the sweet spot of fun and challenge for a medium power Blue level player.

IMO, Zebulon & Stumpy Creek are not overly enjoyable courses as around half the holes on each of them are pretty bleh. Legit courses, but not worth going out of your way for.

 

[mx23ang]

I would check with Robert Leonard aka _MTL_
He's apparently pretty much the expert on disc golf in NC, and from what he says, he himself designed the best course in NC, a temporary called Forest Hills.

haha surely he did not say that about forest hills?!? I mean yea its a solid WIDE open course but has NO elevation change, scenic factor (unless you like watching thug nastys drive by bumbing in their hummers) and its a temp course! Hybrid Hills is THE only temp course that comes halfway close to the likes of Sugaree and Ashe.. I like Simple Pleasures MUCH more than forest hills, and you know Im not biased

 

[mx23ang]

links please

Simple Pleasures!!

 

[Plankeye]

Let me prerube you here......use the map. Set if for courses rated >4.0 and 125 mile radius.

Click on the east side of the state (centered around Raleigh) and you come up with:
Castle Hayne
Farm Life
Buckhorn
Fox Chase

Click on the west side (Asheville) and come up with:
Glenn C Hilton
Ashe County
Sugaree
Elk Mountain
Richmond Hill

Go to 3.5 rated and up and you'll add 20 or so additional courses.

My personal recommendations:
One place you want to make sure you hit is Well Spring & Cedarock in Burlington, NC - beautiful and secluded courses in the same park.
I also have Yadkinville rated at A+/5.0 for my tastes - it gets hammered in the ratings for navigation/signage and tee pads, but it is an amazingly good and varied course that hits the sweet spot of fun and challenge for a medium power Blue level player.

IMO, Zebulon & Stumpy Creek are not overly enjoyable courses as around half the holes on each of them are pretty bleh. Legit courses, but not worth going out of your way for.

Yadkinville's pads and tee signs are way adequate now. People need to focus on more recent reviews than older ones.

 

[Mando]

IMO, Zebulon & Stumpy Creek are not overly enjoyable courses as around half the holes on each of them are pretty bleh. Legit courses, but not worth going out of your way for.

Everyone has their own opinion, but I loved Stumpy Creek and it's close to I-77.
Definitely in my NC top ten that you have not played.

 

[mx23ang]

^ THis
then head east on 40 and hit Morganton, hickory then 77n and try Yadkinville they have one public and 4 PRIVATE

Agreed, Harmon is easily 5 degrees warmer than Simple Pleasures/Sugaree/Etc while still offering my favorite 9 holes in disc golf across the road in the 'death' 9. Just mentioning that place and im getting that harmonious feeling again :thmbup:

 

[Dave242]

Everyone has their own opinion, but I loved Stumpy Creek and it's close to I-77.
Definitely in my NC top ten that you have not played.

Nevin has it right for challenging yet fair length-to-width ratios for a long and difficult course....that combined with fairway shape, terrain, and shule density. Stumpy is approaching ridiculous on all these fronts in my opinion. On top of that, it has almost no natural beauty, and the open holes are boring. For me, it simply provides a very low experience in almost all areas that are important to me. I guess if you like throwing lots of 200' & 100' throws and choppin' wood, Stumpy would be a treat.

Maybe our differing opinions might make a visit there more intriguing for Optidiscic....

I'll need to make it out to Sugaree one of these days.....from all I see and read, it will be in my top 1-2% of courses played.

 

[BraveThrower43]

Farm Life is an overrated course in my opinion. I would play many of the others mentioned

 

[Stan McDaniel]

IMO, Zebulon & Stumpy Creek are not overly enjoyable courses as around half the holes on each of them are pretty bleh. Legit courses, but not worth going out of your way for.

agree to disagree, on both.

 

[New013]

Yeah Zeb is great, my only problem with Zeb is those field holes that are all lumped together. Aside from those it's a really good course.

 

[1978]

Nevin has it right for challenging yet fair length-to-width ratios for a long and difficult course....that combined with fairway shape, terrain, and shule density. Stumpy is approaching ridiculous on all these fronts in my opinion. On top of that, it has almost no natural beauty, and the open holes are boring. For me, it simply provides a very low experience in almost all areas that are important to me. I guess if you like throwing lots of 200' & 100' throws and choppin' wood, Stumpy would be a treat.

Maybe our differing opinions might make a visit there more intriguing for Optidiscic....

I'll need to make it out to Sugaree one of these days.....from all I see and read, it will be in my top 1-2% of courses played.

Have you played Stumpy since you reviewed it in 2009, 4 years ago, about 1 month after the second set of baskets were installed? I love Hornets, but I think the open shots there are similar if not less challenging than the ones at Stumpy Creek. Guess the only thing to do for the OP is to swing by and make his own judgement.

Most of the course is unique to anything in Charlotte. The elevation usage is even different than RL Smith. The fairways are plenty wide for the required shot, very similar to Nevin. Im probably the expert to compare the 2 (and the most biased when talking about them The open holes have changed a bit and they are challenging with the OB that confine them.

 

[Tpro]

I love Stumpy. I wish I could get out there to play it more. Def one for the Underrated courses in NC. Although if you want to learn what real NC Golf is About go toward Yadkin and play some Private courses. RamKAt, the Disco, Borrowed Time etc etc.

 

[tallpaul]

This thread delivers.

 

[Mando]

If anyone feels a need to mention an unlisted course to Opti, how about doing it in a private message ? I know for a fact that some of the course owners do not want the exposure.

 

[Dave242]

Have you played Stumpy since you reviewed it in 2009, 4 years ago, about 1 month after the second set of baskets were installed? I love Hornets, but I think the open shots there are similar if not less challenging than the ones at Stumpy Creek. Guess the only thing to do for the OP is to swing by and make his own judgement.

Most of the course is unique to anything in Charlotte. The elevation usage is even different than RL Smith. The fairways are plenty wide for the required shot, very similar to Nevin. Im probably the expert to compare the 2 (and the most biased when talking about them The open holes have changed a bit and they are challenging with the OB that confine them.

Good point there.....I have not been there since 2009 (I left Stumpy and when to Brackett's Bluff where I met you for the first time). Things certainly could have been softened up or broken in a little since then. The pictures on this site however look very similar to what I remember in regards to fairway width, shape and shule density (brutal....much moreso than Nevin).

These are holes that most clearly knock down the playing experience for me:
<snip snip>
......I spent 20 minutes detailing my beef with holes 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12 along with pictures....and then I gave up and deleted it since the pictures are from even before I played and maybe improvements have been made. And then there are holes 14-18 that are just not pretty and are just not my cup of tee in the challenge factor (they range from interesting/OK to boring).

I am not down on the course at all.....other than setting the expectation that the course is not an A-grade course in my book. I have it rated at 87 - the low end of B+ (3.5). In the 85- 89 range I have these courses that offer a similar level of "addiction factor" (how often I would play if equidistant):

Buckhorn, Cedar Hills, Cliff Stephens, Davidson, De Laveaga, Eastway Park, Elon - Angry Beaver, Elon Park - Mule Trail, Glenn Hilton, Idlewild - KY, Johnson Street , Lake Russell, Lakeview, Lemon Lake - Blue, Maple Hill, Mars Hill College, Pendleton King, Rankin Lake Park, Reedy Creek, Riverview, Sugaw Creek - 18, Timmons, Valley Springs, Victor Ashe, Winged Deer, WR Jackson Memorial