From Orlando to north VA for a week & back

[DiscGolfCraig]

7/12 Tom Triplett Park - Savannah, GA - 53 from blue tees (in the rain) - rating: 3.75
7/13 New Quarter Park - Williamsburg, VA - 59 from longs - rating: 4.5
7/14 Bryan Park - Richmond, VA - 56 from longs - rating 3.5
7/15 Signal View DGC - Maurerton, VA - 29 from longs - rating 4.0
7/16 Walnut Creek - North Garden, VA - 63 from longs - rating 4.66
7/19 Hornet's Nest - Charlotte, NC - 61 HN layout (in the rain) - rating 4.25
7/19 Nevin Park - Charlotte, NC - 73 from longs - rating 4.33
7/20 RL Smith Park - Charlotte, NC - 61 - rating 4.33
7/20 Renaissance Park - Charlotte, NC - 83 gold - rating 4.5
7/20 The Sarge, Hardeeville, SC - 55 blue tees - rating 3.5

That's an awesome list for one trip. Good luck topping that trip. NQP is an amazing course, probably my favorite on that entire list, including all the Charlotte courses.

I see that you're giving Nevin a 4.33 rating on here, but ended up giving it only a 4.0 rating in your review? Did your thoughts on the course change, or are rating down .33, instead of rating up .17?

 

[chainedwraith]

That's an awesome list for one trip. Good luck topping that trip. NQP is an amazing course, probably my favorite on that entire list, including all the Charlotte courses.

I see that you're giving Nevin a 4.33 rating on here, but ended up giving it only a 4.0 rating in your review? Did your thoughts on the course change, or are rating down .33, instead of rating up .17?

yeah, it was a tough call for a favorite between NQP and Walnut Creek but all the Charlotte courses I played were right up there as well making it even harder.

My last year's summer trip included BlackJack and Ashe County Park and I think those 2 courses still beat any of this years courses, but 10 is my new vacation record and I'm glad I was able to get to some great ones.

In regards to the Nevin review rating.. really its just a matter of not being able to choose those "tweener" ratings when reviewing. Nevin is not quite a 4.5 IMHO, even though your rounding logic makes sense... but Renaissance might be. It's close and tough to gauge honestly. I used tweener ratings in my previous post because it sorta illustrates where I may have liked one a little more than another. Now that I've played so many higher rated courses outside of Florida, I've tried to be a little pickier about which ones I give a 4.5 or 5.0. Nevin, while great, was just shy of that mark so I didnt' quite feel justified in giving it the full 4.5. If there was at least a 4.25 option allowed in the rating system I would have given it such. In a rigid 1.0 based point system, I'm going to round down in most cases.

 

[chainedwraith]

Hornet's Nest I rated 4.25 in my post and would review it as a 4.0, but I'm probably not going to write a review for it at all because it was the first course I arrived at in Charlotte and it was raining the ENTIRE round. I didn't have an umbrella so I toughed it out and played anyway even though I was soaking wet and couldn't help but feel like I was rushing through it just to get out of the rain. Perhaps if the weather would have been ideal I may have enjoyed the course a lot more. I saw the course for what it was.. a great park course and I tried not to let the rain damper my spirits but when you're on vacation and your course expectations are running high, the rain can really screw up a great experience. Once I finished my round and got back in my car, the rain stopped instantly and I made my way to Nevin and played rain-free. Go figure!

 

[sidewinder22]

Hornet's Nest I rated 4.25 in my post and would review it as a 4.0, but I'm probably not going to write a review for it at all because it was the first course I arrived at in Charlotte and it was raining the ENTIRE round. I didn't have an umbrella so I toughed it out and played anyway even though I was soaking wet and couldn't help but feel like I was rushing through it just to get out of the rain. Perhaps if the weather would have been ideal I may have enjoyed the course a lot more. I saw the course for what it was.. a great park course and I tried not to let the rain damper my spirits but when you're on vacation and your course expectations are running high, the rain can really screw up a great experience. Once I finished my round and got back in my car, the rain stopped instantly and I made my way to Nevin and played rain-free. Go figure!

I had a similar experience at Hornets Nest which was the second Charlotte course I played. I played the Web layout in a tropical storm with just a Firebird and Banger GT, didn't bother with a towel, and kind of why I haven't reviewed it as well. I'm pretty sure there aren't supposed to be ponds down the fairways. I had the course to myself which I'm guessing is rare and RLS. I played RL Smith first and the rain wasn't as bad but there was inches of standing water around some of the tees and fairways and the creeks were raging. What made this even worse was that I played Black Jack in only a light mist before rain at RLS and Web. I was going to play Renny after RLS but with the rain I thought otherwise and I think I made the right choice to play Renny the next day no rain, but it was a bit muddy in places. As if I didn't do enough hiking and driving the previous two days(day 1 drove 400+ miles and played Harmon Hills), Day 3 I played Renny gold, Nevin longs, Bradford long, and then Bracketts. Day 4 drove 400+ miles and played Mt. Lake Resort on way home. I was hoping to play Walnut Creek that day, but my legs were done.

 

[Peter_LG]

I'm proud and lucky that Walnut Creek is my local course. Sounds like an awesome trip!

 

[chainedwraith]

I'm proud and lucky that Walnut Creek is my local course. Sounds like an awesome trip!

Man, that course is out there, beyond cell phone reception.. Very neat park though.

I could have used a local guide. I decided I could attempt to play the hardest layout possible without any issues and of course as an experienced player I figured "I don't need no stinkin' map!" but the dual baskets kept messing with me at first and I was barely paying attention to the tee signs. After I played hole 2 (lost a tyedye leopard in the right side shule somewhere), I went over to the hole 3 tee pad and threw up the hill and all the way to the road some 900 feet away thinking that was the long basket. I got all excited after crushing two nice uphill shots and nearly making the 70 footer for 3 and took a 4 only to walk over to what I thought was the next teepad and noticed the numbering was all screwed up. :doh: I ended up walking all the way back to the tee and finding the baskets tucked into the woods. *sigh

So I played my own safari hole and threw from the wrong tee to the wrong basket a couple of times in the beginning but by hole 6 I learned my lesson and started paying close attention to the tee signs and walked most of the holes until I was sure I was throwing to the correct basket and I was fine after that. It took me 2hrs to play the first 9 holes and only 1 hr to play the back. If it were'nt for that awesome lake that my wife and kid loved swimming in, I would have been in the doghouse on the ride back to the cabin! lol

My other lost disc was on 17. Man, what a downhill bomb!! Gorgeous hole! My favorite red boss is stuck way up in the tops of one of those trees. I threw it like a typical Florida boy and had my LHFH shot hyzering in way early and into the tree tops. :doh: Made up for it with a tap-in 3 on hole 18 which had 2 water carries from long pads. Nice finishing hole!

Note to visitors at Walnut Creek: READ THE DAMN TEE SIGNS AND WALK THE HOLES IF YA GOTTA!

 

[chainedwraith]

I had a similar experience at Hornets Nest which was the second Charlotte course I played. I played the Web layout in a tropical storm with just a Firebird and Banger GT, didn't bother with a towel, and kind of why I haven't reviewed it as well. I'm pretty sure there aren't supposed to be ponds down the fairways. I had the course to myself which I'm guessing is rare and RLS. I played RL Smith first and the rain wasn't as bad but there was inches of standing water around some of the tees and fairways and the creeks were raging. What made this even worse was that I played Black Jack in only a light mist before rain at RLS and Web. I was going to play Renny after RLS but with the rain I thought otherwise and I think I made the right choice to play Renny the next day no rain, but it was a bit muddy in places. As if I didn't do enough hiking and driving the previous two days(day 1 drove 400+ miles and played Harmon Hills), Day 3 I played Renny gold, Nevin longs, Bradford long, and then Bracketts. Day 4 drove 400+ miles and played Mt. Lake Resort on way home. I was hoping to play Walnut Creek that day, but my legs were done.

I was very close to staying on I-81 and going all the way to Harmon Hills instead of down to Charlotte and then playing the Asheville courses on Sunday before driving all the way to Florida but I've already played the Asheville courses and I was afraid the extra driving would limit my DG time too much. Harmon Hills will have to wait for another trip. I was literally coming up to the I-77/I-81 inter-change thinking "do I flip a coin?, keep going?" lol