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New Hope, AL

New Hope DGC

2.885(based on 4 reviews)
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11 0
PastorofMuppets
Silver level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 4.9 years 163 played 124 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Help me Obi Wan Kenobi You're my only hope

Reviewed: Played on:May 24, 2024 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

WHAT TO EXPECT: A sparsely wooded, open park style course in an out of the way, quiet area roughly 25 minutes south of downtown. Well manicured park, low risk of losing discs, and a quick playthrough.

AMENITIES: Multi-use park with baseball fields, paved walking trail, multiple benches, massive neat looking playground obstacle course style in the center, pavilions, modern bathrooms and a large parking lot area.

TEES/SIGNAGE/BASKETS: Concrete Tees that are small in width but not really noticeable as the hole distances do not require many long run ups. Very few are actually level however with a few slanted downhill making some throws awkward. Simple yet new looking tee signs with hole number and distance (all par 3's). Aging yellow Discatchers that are still easy to make out in the open course design, one basket had a single broken string of chains on the left side.

DESIGN: Catered to the MA3 and lower player, this course is going to be a quick, fun, but still challenging test of your angle control and allows newer players to work on building distance. The course rides the line between being very easy and frustratingly hard for the MA3 player. Multiple mandos (to protect the bunched together fairways) force shot shapes that prevent a player from throwing the same shot over and over again. There is quite a lot of sub 250 one angle Par 3's mixed in with some top level MA3, low level MA2 distances on a handful of holes. Hole 18 as mentioned by others could very well be argued to be the only Par 4 on the course (for MA3 and lower skill players) as it requires both a ton of distance and angle control due to it's shape and large guardian trees off the tee.

EXTRAS: While very lengthy for the true beginner, this course is one a player can grow into and see their distance increase, disc control improve, and their scores lower over time. All without much if any risk of losing a disc or getting the bad beats fluky luck feeling some woods courses give. As mentioned earlier, this course is an extremely quick play. Took us about 45 minutes start to finish. As mentioned by other reviewers, the land for the disc golf course is very below average and it would have been easy to make a very below average course on it (or even a 9 holer and call it a day). The designer did a great job of maximizing the space available to make a fun and mildly challenging layout. I don't think they could have squeezed any more out of this lemon.

Cons:

WHY IS HOLE 14 NOT HOLE 1?: There's a walk between (13) and (14). The hole style even changes dramatically as 14, 16-18 are all much longer in distance than the rest of the course. If you aren't using the map or some GPS Hole 14 can be very difficult to locate your first time out as 13 ends right next to the parking lot with no clear indication where to go next. The flow of changing Hole 14 to 1 would make much more sense, although there would still remain a small hike from the parking lot to 14 tee regardless.

UNEVEN TEE PADS: One of my biggest pet peeves are concrete tee pads that are woefully unlevel, especially ones that are elevated several inches above the rest of the ground. Hole #12 is a fine example of such a travesty where you have a pretty long downhill shot with a pretty slanted downhill concrete pad that is probably 4 or 5 inches above the ground. I can see this being an issue when conditions are wet.

HOLE VARIETY: Not a major knock because of the park property limitations, but a lot of the holes and shapes feel repetitive. While there are a couple unique holes, there are others that feel like exact clones of another hole on the course with a slightly different distance.

LACK OF WOW FACTOR: Lacking aesthetically with the sparse trees, limited elevation, with no Par 4's or Par 5's, and no water features to speak of, this course has a difficult time being visually stunning or memorable. No alternate tee pads or basket locations to offer a change of pace either.

SPACING - The park is very small to house an 18 hole course along with other park amenities on top of it. This could have been a tough 9 holer but somehow shoehorned a decent 18 holer in to this tiny space. That said, the fairways are stack on top of each other almost entirely throughout. You will be throwing at or near players in other fairways most of the time. Players need to keep their heads on a swivel and do everyone a favor and yell fore when your throw goes errant.

Other Thoughts:

This was probably my most "meh" course in my visit to Huntsville. New Hope DGC was neither the best nor the worst. It just didn't inspire me to want to come back and play again in the future. This is not my style of course, but I enjoyed it for what tries to be. For those that live in the Huntsville area, regardless of skill level, I'd recommend playing this course at least once. For everyone else, especially those making long trips through the area, this course is passable. There just isn't enough wow to this course to justify choosing it over other local options. There is neither anything super grand about this course nor anything egregiously wrong with it either.
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13 0
edfaits
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 13.7 years 91 played 42 reviews
2.50 star(s)

From the Rec Player Perspective 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Feb 25, 2022 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

-Nice town park, with picnic shelters, restrooms, plenty of parking. Has a nice family-friendly feel.

-Interesting 18 hole layout. This is a mostly wide-open and flat park, but the design takes advantage of existing trees, whatever elevation changes exist, and using the walking paths as "rivers" to create some challenge. The holes have a variety of distances and shapes.

-Recently installed cement tee boxes provide solid footing. They are not huge but are adequate for the length of the holes. No large drop-offs, so you can get a bit of a run-up and follow-through.

-Baskets are solid, well mounted DiscCatchers. Yellow color stands out nicely. Greens are straight-forward and not gimmicky, though on a couple of holes the "out-of-bounds" walking paths were a bit close.

-The park is well-maintained. Fairly low risk of losing discs. Not a bad place to expose beginners to the game of disc golf.

-Hole signs are accurate, and course navigation mostly good

Cons:

-Only one tee box and basket per hole. The course is probably a blast for someone who throws 350', it will generate birdie opportunities all around. Advanced players and Pros will find it a bit too easy, and those of use that struggle to throw 200' will find a few holes frustratingly difficult. The course measures in right at right about a mile (5,163') and has all par 3's. I played in a tournament here and the TD did flag some short tees from the grassy fairways for some of the am divisions, nice touch.

-A bit of a walk from hole 13 to the 14th tee, around the big baseball field. UDisc map helped the first time I played here.

-A bench here and there would be nice.

-It's a public park: walkers, joggers, moms pushing baby carriages will be using the same area of the park. There aren't any "blind throws" that would cause huge safety risks, but it's the responsibility of the players to throw safely. There's not much separation between some of the fairways, be aware and courteous to other groups out there.

Other Thoughts:

My first round here was on a chilly gray winter morning and initial impressions of this course weren't great. The more I played it and got to understand the risk/rewards of the walking path OBs, the more I respected what the designer had achieved. As a rag arm 'old guy', sure I'd like to see some short cement tees on some of the longer holes, but it's still a fun place for a quick round if you are in the area.
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8 1
jstower
Experience: 10.3 years 13 played 3 reviews
3.50 star(s)

!st time playing the course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Oct 31, 2021 Played the course:once

Pros:

>The grounds are well kept. It had been raining the 2 days prior but the course drained well making play enjoyable.
> The hole layout was easy to understand except when going from 13 to 14, it was hard to find.
> Hole distances were for the novice and all holes played as par 3s.
> Holes are well marked and also the mando's
> Great course to teach up and coming players

Cons:

> This was my first time playing the course and the only con I can say is there needs to be a course layout put on the information board.
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22 0
wellsbranch250
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 10.3 years 662 played 641 reviews
2.50 star(s)

The Perfect Everyday MA3 Level Course

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Mar 11, 2023 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

(2.294 Rating) (REVISED - replayed March 2023) A lightly wooded park style course where newer players can work on developing length off the tee without worrying about losing discs.
- SKILL LEVEL FRIENDLY - This course is going to work well for a wide variety of skill levels, as it's the perfect middle ground between too easy and too hard. The challenges are generally a mix of MA4 and MA3 level game-play, but there is some MA2 level distance on a handful of holes. Hole (18) to finish, I could argue is most ideal for MA1 level players. It's one of only three holes I haven't birdied over the ten rounds I've thrown out here. For reference, I am a MA2 level player.
- BEGINNER FRIENDLY - Although not perfect for beginners due to the length, most new players won't be scared away. The odds of losing a disc here is extremely low. Heavy overgrowth is limited to just a couple of spots. Errant discs are likely going to land in an adjacent fairway more than anywhere else. So, although it may be a bit too long for new players, it's friendly enough to encourage them to develop a more powerful throw and a timed release.
- CHAINS, TEES AND SIGNAGE - Pro 28 DISCatcher baskets. The pads were converted to concrete in January 2022. They are about average in size. A couple of the longer holes have bigger pads than the others. Also, adequate large conspicuous tee signs. It's just a distance and large number on them, but that's all that's needed for this type of layout.
- QUICK PLAY - I've done solo rounds out here in under 45 minutes and two person rounds in under an hour.
- MAINTENANCE - I've been here numerous times now over the first 2 years and never saw the park in bad shape. Grass has never been longer than ankle length and the one wooded pocket shot on hole (11) has always been cleaned up too.
- DESIGN - The amount of available land and the quality of it is below average. An average designer would have likely produced a 2.0 course here. The main reason this one is scoring above that rating threshold, is because the layout maximizes what was achievable. Recently unfortunately, the park's department trimmed up several design features and succeeded in shaving off about one tenth of a point on my updated rating score.

Cons:

A little young yet and a layout without epic land to work with.
- THE QUEST TO 14 - There's a huge flow gap between (13) and (14). Players are going to need to pull out the map the first time to seamlessly make it there. A few locals have argued that (14) should be (1), but I like it that (18) and (1) are next to each other. I don't see how the space over by (14) could have been utilized without making this one long journey. It is what it is.
- HOLE VARIETY - It's great when considering the site limitations. The course is mostly lightly wooded with 250 to 350 foot shots. There are a couple short mild technical throws and a few plus 350-foot bomber holes. Not much in the way of elevation, although (8) is a solid 25-foot down shot and (11) plays up about that amount. Generally no water other than casual areas during the wet season or after a big rain. No par 4s and no monster benders. Overall, I would rate the hole variety a touch below average due to the limitations.
- AMENITIES AND EXTRAS - Other than nice tees and baskets, the amenities and extras are not here. There are no benches by the tees and shading is spotty. No multi-tees, no practice basket and no alternate basket placements yet. There is one picnic table next to tee (6) and (9). Off the course there are shelters with picnic tables, restrooms and a water fountain. There is also an awesome playground fortress.
- SPACING - The park is not much more than 20 acres and there is other stuff in the park, such as a baseball diamond and huge playground area. Kind-of shocking to see this long of a layout in the remaining left-over space. Anyways, the fairways stack next to each other numerous times. Players will be in other fairways from time to time. Players need to be aware of their surroundings.
- TIME WAITING - Walking paths flank fairways on many holes. Players will need to wait at the tees on occasion. This is only a minor con due to the fact that the layout is mostly open and walkers can be seen well before it becomes an issue.

Other Thoughts:

This is the second closest course to my house and thus I've had the opportunity to play this one several times now. New Hope DGC is the complete opposite of my backyard course, and thus its nice to play here for me to experience a little change of pace. This is typically not my style of course, but for what it is, it was really done well considering all the limitations that Lavone had to consider to be able to deliver 18 holes. For those that live in Huntsville, I recommend checking it out at least once. It reminds me mostly of local course Southside, but with a skew towards a more openish and dryer element to it. For those outside the area, this is not a destination course. I recommend Kudzu to the south or Indian Creek, Sharon Johnston, Redstone or Monte Sano all to the north in Huntsville.
- NAVIGATION - No posted course map on site as of this review. The one on DGCR is accurate though. I've played New Hope too many times now to comment on whether it's easy or hard to follow. I don't recall it being hard, other than the transition to (14) as noted above. Baskets and preceding tees are generally close by. I can't imagine anyone getting lost more than a couple of minutes out here other than on the quest to (14).
- NATURAL BEAUTY - I scored this aspect 40 percentile. The best aspect is the general maintenance of the place. There are also some monster plus 100 year old oaks sprinkled in the park. No creeks and tranquil ponds. Manmade objects are in view the entire time. It's a nice park, just nothing extra special.
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