Disc Golf Course Review

Cumberland Ball Fields aka Islander Park is home to a pretty basic but straightforward nine hole disc golf course. The course plays almost exactly in a counter clockwise loop around the outskirts of the four baseball fields starting and ending by the parking lot just south of the indoor ice hockey building. The only exception to the loop is that hole 9 plays toward the woods going north after holing out on hole 8. Still ends very close to the lot and at least ends on a borderline interesting hole too.

The baskets are brand spanking new looking Discatchers. These have the classic yellow top bands and stand out great. Just some awesome targets honestly. These are all in great shape and catch fantastic. One basket and pin position per hole. Best part about this course.

The course is designed pretty nicely with the very limited space available here. Yes it plays around the ball fields pretty much exclusively but it's about as well as could be achieved here. There's a tiny bit of elevation in play and holes 6 and 7 at least the trees bordering the property add at least a small semblance of danger. Plus there's the ever present risk of actually throwing over the outfield fences. The area around here is mostly farm fields for miles around so the wind should be a factor more often than not which adds some challenge. Most of the challenge really.

Free to play, I'd assume permanent and the park itself was in great shape. Nice option for an area that's kind of lacking as far as disc golf goes.

The number one con, by far, is the tee pads. These are all nicely sized and framed in by 4x4's. Plenty long and wide enough. The problem is that they're filled in with rocks. Not gravel, golf ball sized rocks you'd use to landscape your garden. These might just be the worst tee pads I've ever played on. Almost indescribable how awful these were. I ended up teeing off to the side of these by hole three. Terrible and clearly made by someone who's never thrown a disc in their life.

Very repetitive feeling course for the most part. It's just a bunch of wide open shots that you don't want to go over a fence to your left the whole time. Always your left too.

The course doesn't drain too well. Lots of wet and muddy areas if it has rained recently.

There are tee signs wedged into the front left corner of each tee pad. These have the logo for the park and the hole number. Cute but useless for the most part.

This one was a tough one to rate. The baskets are great but the tee pads are some of the worst I've ever seen. The tees can be avoided by standing off to the side and not changing the hole at all though. The baskets are pretty vital and get the job done great. The golf is bland but better than nothing. If you happen to be near here it's not going to take too much time to play. I wouldn't bother but you can do worse too. Passable is about right here.

Stillwater Middle School DGC has been around for seven years now and has exactly one review on this site before this one. That kind of tells you all you need to know about the course right there. That said, it's not as bad as I was anticipating it to be, but just barely. The course plays mostly around the edges of the track and field area with holes 1,2,8 and 9 being in a tiny little area on the east side of that track area. The others play around the border of it.

The baskets are older Mach's. Decent condition on these but they're not the greatest catchers of the disc. Good enough though. One basket and pin placement per hole.

The course does have some obstacles in the form of random track equipment, a small set of bleachers and some fences. A tree line does run along the left side on all the holes that run alongside the track too.

Free to play and should be well mowed being on school grounds. There were also restrooms available if you need to drop a deuce after dropping some deuces on the course.

The baskets are older and don't catch the best. A few of them are starting to lean a bit, or a lot.

No tee signs or pads. Not a huge deal for the pads. The grass was plenty fine for teeing off from. The navigation is impossible without a map unless you just play safari golf. Even then it'd play similar to the "intended" layout I played today.

The fences around the edges of the track, inside the bordering fences are easy enough to manage. The outer fences would be a pain in the ass to get a disc out of. Try your best to not throw over these. It kind of feels like you're playing disc golf in a prison yard with all the fences around you. So that's kind of a pro actually if you're a con.

A few neighboring yards could come into play but you'd need to shank a shot and punch through the trees to find these.

Hole 8 is a super short filler hole. Basically a waste of a basket. That was the leaniest basket at least.

Not playable during school hours or if any events are going on.

Avoid this one if at all possible. If you need to play it you better have the Udisc available or it'll be a total nightmare. It's manageable and just a bad dream with the map. Good to get this one off my radar at least.

Dodson DGC is a pretty fun and varied 9 hole course. The course starts out pretty short but heavily wooded for the first six holes before opening up in both space and distance for the last three holes. The woods holes offer some nice ace runs, though you need to hit your line and weigh the risk/reward of missing long. These have a surprisingly good mix of left to right and right to left shapes for so such a small sliver of woods. The last three, well two really, let you open up and air it out. These two holes are both par 5's and measure in at 433' and 671'.

The baskets are Mach III's. All are in good shape and catch pretty well. They're all painted orange except for one that's purple. Not sure why one's purple exactly but they all stand out nicely and the paint doesn't affect their catching ability. One basket and pin position per hole.

Concrete tee pads on each hole. These are all nicely done and of good size. There's even short pads on five of the nine holes which is great to have, especially on the much longer open holes.

Great design here. I'd played this one about four years ago and really enjoyed it. Liked it just as much my second time around. You'll need to be pretty decent to score well out here. Even the short holes are tough. I loved the different amount of shots available out here off the tee.

The flow is pretty easy to follow to. You won't need a map out here. You'll have to backtrack to the next tee in a few spots but it's pretty simple to figure out, plus there's little yellow plastic arrows on the top of the cage that point toward the next tee as well as a next tee arrow on the signs. Very straightforward.

Speaking of the tee signs, these are nice too. There's actually two on each hole. There's what I'm assuming are the originals which are just a yellow sign with a large number for the hole and the par and distance in smaller font below. Then there's the newer, more detailed ones below which have all that same info along with a pretty nice little hole map and the next tee arrows I mentioned above. Very well done here.

Free to play, clean and in kind of the middle of nowhere. very relaxing place to throw a round at.

A couple of the wooded holes are a little too tight for most players. If you're accurate with both a BH and FH you'll fair OK. But opening these up a little wouldn't be a bad idea. Not much, just a tad.

Not sure where the property line ends or anything but it'd be cool if they were able to expand this one to a full 18 at some point. There's space for sure north of the current course in the open prairie type area to potentially fit 9 more in. Not a con it'd probably get this place more visits.

Pretty far away from any major highways or cities. You'll need to be passing by or staying near here for this one to be practical to play.

The bugs are brutal. It's the middle of nowhere WI so that's to be expected though. Just be sure to bring bug spray.

One of the better courses, variety wise, in the state in my opinion. Absolutely worth a visit if you find yourself out this way. There's a very basic 9er just a few minutes away now too that should be available when schools out to make this one more tempting to bag. Pretty awesome 9 as a standalone course though anyway. Really like this one.

2 baskets per hole
longs are Marksmen
Shorts are regular DD Vet baskets
Good variety of shots even though the course is mostly open.

Most of the holes are pitch and putt for any seasoned player
Oh man, at least the day I played was super windy and there is nothing on the top of that hill to cut down the wind.

So, I was thinking I was just doing to play a quick little short course real fast. NOPE, This course is located on top of a hill and it uses the elevation very well.

Up and down, up and down. But it was a GREAT use of the hills. Over shot or miss your putt on some of the holes are you looking at a long come back.

Oh, I should mention there are 2 baskets on each hole. A short DD Vet basket, and a Long Marksmen just to piss you off.

I will say this, there are tree's in the park, but they tend to be few and far between. I think the designer did a decent job on the course design. If he had tree's, he used them. If there were not a lot of trees, you had the elevation to deal with .

I must also say not every hole is just up and down, you do have some that are almost on level ground, but it may have a drop off or OB that will come into play.

One hole even has an OB area marked off between the short and long basket.

So, this course is kind of a pitch and putt, but with plenty of elevation or using baskets you got to be dead on to finish the hole.

Would I play here again? yea, I think I would. it was so windy when I played it and I had already played 5 courses before this including 2 that could be considered championship or pro courses. I was tired. I would like another shot at this and might even venture to play the marksmen baskets instead of the Vet baskets.

I will preface this by saying a couple of holes and the usually recommended parking area are currently under construction for non disc golf related things.

I played this course once years ago when it was still Southern Poly, but didn't remember it well enough to review it. I think the course as it currently stands is slightly better than the original version.

There are now tee signs and pavers for tee pads that are quite nice. Though it's generally pretty short there is a good use of the trees such as they are and a little bit of elevation. Baskets are in good shape and number three is slightly elevated which is fun for a change.

I feel like you need a good roughly backhand and some sort of relatively straight shot to score here but for the target market of students after class and newer players it's a good intro to disc golf.

Biggest issue is if you play any time during class hours people are everywhere. I played after 5 on a summer weekday and it was basically fine but still a lot of cars around.

A bit of a one note course, which is fine for a beginner course but overall not much of a challenge. If you have a 300ft righty hyzer you should be able to score on most holes.

Navigation is tricky the first time and you can easily get turned around.

As we are generally not students we are not exactly the target market and registering a car/finding a visitor spot and the hassle that it is makes it question of its super worth it unless you have a local guide.

For it's intended purpose it's quite good and not a bad course for a campus, not on par with the best I've played at schools but far from the worst.

The property has enormous potential.

The pads are good.

The baskets are new.

The fairways are clear.

There's probably ghosts on the property.

The layout leaves the imagination wondering what it could be.

Have you ever thought to yourself, "wouldn't it be fun to chuck a disc right at someone else at the disc golf course?" Or, "wouldn't it be fun to have a disc thrown at me while I'm putting?"

No? Well what if I told you it's probably haunted and there's a filthy pond with an island that you don't get to play over and most holes are 300 or shorter? Sounds better already I know.

I won't spoil which holes put you in danger that's part of the fun of the thunderdome.

The property is beautiful and seems to be cut out of the former glory of a sprawling hospital complex that was abandoned featuring a large pond with an island that should have a basket on it and a tiny pond and some rolling hills through the woods.

Couple typical disc golf hole types including the classic power line easement, throwing over road, throwing over a valley instead of through it, down a hill, up a hill, edge of a hill. Some of the mature trees are massive and beautiful. Some of the cleared fairways are through what used to be thick undergrowth so if you like to shank drives don't do it on those holes. There's big gaps to hit if there are gaps it's very forgiving off the tee for novice players.

Hole 12 had evidence of a recent sanitary sewer overflow on one of the recently installed pvc lamp hole riser stacks leading to a manhole next to the pond and my friends disc landed in some of the mystery. Obviously the disc golf course can't do anything about what happens to the underground infastructure but it is there and does pose a slight health risk if it persists, if you play it and it's capped you're good to go, if it's uncapped, might want to decontaminate your disc before you throw it if it lands downstream of it.

The ground around the basket on hole 12 A position seems to be comprised of 1/3rd broken glass. Don't slip on the rock outcrop.

Several of the holes seem like filler material to get to other pieces of the property.

Lots of potential here for something amazing. As it sits it's leaving more to be desired from the land.

Had a good time will play again.

Brewed to be better! As long as it ain't Virgil's Root Beer (insert barf emoji)

-Highland is a real gem and its own unique genre of disc golf. The course is very much "out there" in terms of its individuality. It's pretty far from the North Carolina average. Some may say that it has some similarities to Richmond and it does have a few similarities. Some may some it's a Richmond 2.0. That would be debatable. While it is heavily wooded and hilly like Richmond, the whole design concept is much different. There are reasons to think that Highland is an improved version of Richmond and reasons to think that Highland has its own individuality.

-First of all, the obvious, Highland seems to have been a much larger investment. When I lived in Asheville a few years ago, I saw Highland while it was still in its planning phase and before the back nine was even designed. When it was only nine holes, I saw either a second basket or a marker indicating while a second pin location would be. There were also dual pads either installed or marked out and they followed through completely. You have short pads and long pads and each pin position serves some sort of purpose. To add to that, it's very nicely kept and polished. Especially the front nine.

-Brings me to say, anyone can play Highland and have a blast. The shortest layout is only 4300-4400 feet long. The front nine is under 2000' so it's beginner friendly. The longest available layout is over 6700' and incredibly difficult with the longer wooded fairways and the increased potential for punishment for missing. In spite of this, the shortest possible layout still has a few difficult holes. #17 and #18 are both hard par threes even from short to short and the longest possible layout still has a few easier holes (#8, #10, #11). There's a shift in difficulty regardless of what layout you play and even if you play a mixed layout.

-For example, #17 is an intimidating par three even from short to short. It's about 365' over a massive valley sloping downward on the left. This is a pro par three on an easy layout. #10 is a severe downhill putter with the creek past the basket. It's 300' but 60' down in elevation, so anyone can reach it if they throw their straightest putter. And the first hole short to short is a very simple putter toss down the hill. I aced #1 short to short when I first arrived here. It can be played as a jump putt. Then you see holes like #17 in the long pin. This is a vicious par four with horns for teeth. 680' with death written all over it. Creek on the far-left side. Catch a bad roll on the sleep sloping fairway and you could end up double penalized. Left with a penalty stroke and with a daunting uphill approach full of guardian trees lined up toward the green. The challenge availability ranges from valleys to peaks.

-There's a putting course by the parking lot. Don't see this type of thing often but there's a reason why it's there. Being able to putt will help you score well especially at a course like Highland. There are some tough greens here where if your putting is on point, you'll be gaining strokes on other players. A few platform greens (#1, #18), elevated basket on a stump (#12 long). And a few general rollaway greens.

-Elevation is taken very seriously. Some holes consist of extreme elevation. The first seven holes have light to moderate elevation change. Once you get to #8, you start to see some bigger elevation changes as you tee off on that elevated deck. #9 from the long pad is a major uphill pro par three. #10-#13 (at least in the long pins) all exceed 40' in elevation change. #13 may have the greatest use of elevation in the Asheville area. You throw of the top of the hill to the very bottom. You literally throw from the highest point to the lowest point of the entire course. A truly outstanding hole. I recorded the elevation changes with my rangefinder and I previously mentioned that #10 is 60' down. #13 is more than that. I won't give the exact number because I don't want to spoil it, but if you want to know, PM me!

-Being at a brewery, there are alcoholic beverages available for purchase.

-Being a huge trilogy golfer and a fan of their dynamic baskets, I enjoy the dynamic veteran pins here! There are two pins in place on holes #1, #5, #6, #9, #14, #16, #17, and #18. All of the other holes except #10 and #15 have alt pin locations that appear to change regularly.

-A few of the long pads are just not as fun. #5 is weird flex tweener from the long pad. #16 is fair and all, but I feel like the short pad on #16 serves more of a purpose. It's a short touch shot on the terrace. Both pin positions are on the edge of the terrace, one is just higher up. It's a neat ace run but the long pad seems to be more of an afterthought. And the parking lot is a little more likely to hit on a 350' bomb.

#18 long I REALLY don't like at all. I've played Waid Park in Ferrum, VA (possibly the hardest course in the world) and #18 at Waid Park from long to long is more tame than #18 long to long at Highland. There are three sets of pads on #18. The middle pad is a legit pro par four with a clear line. The long pad is further back on the trail. Straight ahead is the narrow path that bends a good bit to the right side. You can't see the turning point from the back pad and it's a good 350' before the path breaks off right. It's too tight of tee shot and any effort to go for it will likely have you kicking right into the OB creek. It's just sadistic without giving a clear view of how to throw it. I REALLY don't like the long pad. It's my main beef.

The medium pad on #18 is excellent. It's an anhyzer flex down the trail (which you can clearly see the landing zone) and you can clearly see the short pin on the edge of the trail by the OB creek. The approach on #18 is excellent. Requires a power hyzer up a large hill being on top of a huge platform green. Hole is 500' long from the medium pad and has a 51' elevation rise. It's strange how a 120' difference can have you loving a hole to hating it. It's just that the tee shot from the middle is perfectly logical and still very hard.

I want to add this, I HATE the short pin on #18. It's a very dumb crapshoot hyzer over the river and up on a mound. You could very well get double penalized on what's already a dumb design by missing a putt and rolling down a hill into the OB creek. Just an infuriating pin position. Should be placed elsewhere or simply be left as a tough and grueling par four where you throw over the creek and up a huge hill onto a flat surface. Not to mention, you could really go for the ace, kick a retention tree and go OB simply cause of how close the trees are to the water. Just too fickle. If I had 100 tries on this one, I think I'd get about 25 birdies and several doubles and triples, and maybe even an 8 just due to the lack base of the short pin and the crazy potential consequences to missing a putt. I love the long pin and hate the short with a burning passion.

#17 is a very intimidating par four, but it's a true one to the long pin. It seems like they were trying to top #17 and make #18 even harder, but #18 a little less monstrous than #17 from the mid pad. But it's still an excellent hole from there. They should embrace that #18 is a little less grueling than #17. I probably sound like Simon right now, and I often find myself strangely disagreeing with him when it comes to how courses should be designed, but I think we'd both agree that #18 long is just ridiculous. I think they need to abort the long pad idea on #18 entirely. Maybe leave it as an option, but never for tournament play.

-Eight holes with two pin locations still only have one pin in play, while the other eight have both in play. I think #12 needs to have its second pin in play. It's for sure the most grueling green at Highland, but it's truly a neat one. I really wanted to play it in that pin. #12 in the long pin is one of those par fours (399' long and 375' short) that seems easy because of it being short for a par four, but it's actually quite terrifying without being unbearable.

-Huge drag pile on #18 on the left side of the fairway. It's a disc eater. Beware of the OB electric fence on #13 as well. It's a real obstacle.

-Highland Brewing Company is electric! It's Asheville's comeback after it's breakthough at Jackson Park five years prior! Highland was also designed by Jay. He is largely responsible for making Asheville the disc golf attraction that it is becoming. If you were mad about how un-accessible Wintersun is like I was? Now you don't have to be! Or at least as much as you used to be!

-I feel like Jay is the Johnny Sias of NC when it comes to course designers. I was signed up for the Seth Burton Memorial tournament in WV (both courses designed by Johnny) and had to drop out unfortunately. Highland looks to have some similarities to Orange Crush in Fairmont WV. Haven't played it, but I've seen footage of it. I feel like this is going to be the main attraction for out of towners. It has the potential to be even better than Jackson Park. With time, I'm sure it will become better. I believe that a lot of pros in different states would sign up for an A tier at Highland without hesitation. It's an awesome course! You have many different shaped fairways, unique greens, extreme elevation, wide variety of distance, and wide variety of challenge.

-My thoughts on whether or not it's like Richmond:

I would say no for the most part. There are tons of valley shots at Richmond and many odd shaped fairways. While Highland is definitely harder than Richmond at least from the longs, it's much more defined and clear when it comes to shot shaping requirements and there's less roller potential on the fairways. It's not as fickle. Still there may be a few similarities here and there. #18's green at Highland in the long pin is quite similar to the long pin on #17 at Richmond. #13 at Highland is like a more extreme version of #15 at Richmond having more elevation, OB, and more length to it.

-Highland is a true gem. So glad Asheville golf is evolving the way that it is! Well done to Jay and the WNC volunteers. This is what we wanted to see here in the Asheville area!

-Something my 10th grade Biology teacher always said. "Patience is a virtue!" With a big enormous smile nearly as wide as the diameter of her face with her head tilting back and forth.

-When I played Garden Grove in the summer of 2019, I hated it. It was freshly installed and covered in briars and main of the fairways were so skinny that you'd without question run into a tree if you rode a bike down them and potentially be on a trip to the hospital. It was hands down the most brutal course I had ever played five years ago. But an hour after playing, I was like "Wait a minute. I've read many of BrotherDave's reviews! He doesn't like bike trail fairways either! Surely it's just not beat in yet." Nearly five years later, I come back and see nothing but excellent changes. Dave said in his review that many of the fairways were John Houck inspired, and coming back the second time, I truly see the John Houck inspiration behind the course's design with the fairway design.

-The fairway diversity is top notch, the lines are so much clearer and defined, and there are some serious risk/reward opportunities with the different available routes on many holes. Over half of the holes have multiple options on what to throw. #11 and #12 stick out the most. #11 is a 219' ace run with two lanes. The left lane is a sidearm/putter anhyzer that curves right. The right lane is slightly less accommodating since there are a few trees straight ahead of the tee, but if you were to hit that initial gap on a small hyzer, you've got a good chance in being inside the circle for a birdie. #12 was a feral monster when I first came. Now that it's beaten in, it's a fantastic par five! Right off the tee, you have the option to try and bomb a driver down the left side, or bomb a midrange down the right side and be left with (hopefully) two sidearm approaches. Hole is almost shaped like the letter F, with the top of it stretching out. It's tough to get to the landing zone on the left side since it's much further than the landing zone on the right side.

-Not only do you see split fairways with their own designated routes, but the variety is excellent. Some straight holes are in the mix. Even a couple of the par fours are more on the straighter side (#7, #13). Course is over 90% wooded, but there are some open areas like the tee shot on the first hole, the right-side spike hyzer option on #7 gives big arms a chance to possibly show off, #13's approach in the meadow is very pretty too.

-Plenty of amenities like trash cans, bathrooms, and benches. As a result, the course is very clean. There was even a local emptying out the trash cans during the tournament! As a result of this, Garden Grove was very clean. I didn't see any litter at all.

-Friendly park atmosphere. Gorgeous setting of mostly pine trees in a forest. I feel like the Greensboro really displays the entire state of North Carolina very well with constant changes in appearance depending on what part of the town you are in. This part of town feels a lot like the Pinehurst/Southern Pines area. There is a walking path, a playground, and the ball fields on the opposite side where you park further down the path are perfect for throwing some practice drives in.

-I strongly favor courses with elevation. Garden Grove doesn't have much elevation, it's pretty light. But the walk in the forest and the consistent variety of hole lengths and challenges will leave people like me engaged despite the lack of hills. There are a few, and I do enjoy those holes (the valley hole #16 was one of the few holes I liked when I first played) and I can say I like just about all of them. There's no real repetition. It keeps throwing curveballs at you! Some short ace runs (#3, #6, #10, #11), several doglegs (#1, #12, #15, #17, &18), two of which are par fives.

-Tightness ranges from fairways less than 10' wide like #6. This is the tightest hole on the course. There is a right lane that's a little wider than the straight one, but it's tougher to navigate when the line is as tight as it is and where the turning point occurs it's likely more difficult to attack rather than the straight gap being tighter but much more bound to birdie from if you pure the gap and stay straight.

-Another example of tightness with options is #17. #17 is an intimidating tee shot down a small hill. Like #6, there are two routes. The straight one is a little tighter but likely more rewarding. The right gap is a little wider, but it's harder to have a straightforward upshot due to the left curve versus the left gap giving you a straight and clear view of the landing zone, which you don't see how to navigate from the right side. This is a par 4 that is under 450' but a three feels spectacular!

Then you see fairways that offer more room. #18 is an excellent finish. It's a double dogleg that really encourages you to throw a driver. The first curve to the left is over 300' and the fairway while it's in the woods, its more than 30' wide and offers plenty of room to give yourself a possible birdie look if you stay clean off the tee. It goes back a bit downhill and curves to the right side at the approach out into the open. There are a couple of lines to get to the pin. The outside line is probably more accommodating but it favors a big sidearm. I threw a midrange out of the inside gap on the right side (the back door route) and barely made it out and was left with a 50' putt for eagle. I love how the treacherous green is incorporated here on this par five. It sums up Garden Grove perfectly! So many different options and there's not just one right answer, but there are still wrong answers. Basket for #18 is perched on a hill and I had a death putt for eagle that I missed on camera footage.

-Great tee signs. They were installed almost immediately when the course was put in. Being a true trilogy fan, I like the dynamic veteran pins too.

-While I appreciate the fact that the tee pads are not raised and prohibit longer run ups, they are a bit small. Some holes here (especially the doglegs) favor powerful drives with putters or mids since they are slower and have less turn and distance. Still, in order for them to go a little further, you have to have a little aggression. So you'll probably be starting you run up at least a couple feet behind the tee pads.

-Some parts of the rough (the edge of #5's green) can get extremely dense. Now most of the rough here is exculpable if you have a decent scramble game. The right side of #5 by the green is VERY dense though and I was not comfortable putting for there because of potential snakes. Some high grass on the holes on the edge of the open creating some lost disc potential. The right side on #13 is very unpleasant to play from too. This being said, Garden Grove can be tough on first timers. I have to say though, I didn't think it would ever be this tame. Rough spots that are hard to spot, but I'm amazing with how polished the course is now.

-Could use some alternate pads. There is only one hole with a second pin location. That is #2. There are only one set of tee pads. I think holes like #12 really need a short pad just because of the complexity of this hole. As much as I like it personally and wouldn't change anything about the design of it, I do believe there should be an easier option for others. Take it or leave it idea, there could be an alternate pin on #15 straight ahead since there is route that leads to a clearing. Just a thought.

-I was overwhelmed. I didn't think it would end up being as great as it is. It's a great blend of John Houck inspiration with a wide variety of lines to pick with several of them being good choices while still being a long and challenging course. It has some similarities to Nevin and Hornet's Nest with its multi shot doglegs and strongly favoring accuracy opposed to distance. I like Nevin just a little better, but I like Garden Grove better than Hornet's Nest strongly because of its higher predictability. While Hornet's Nest may be a well-polished course with some spectacular hole designs. Many of the fairways have enormous trees either in the middle or around the edges and they can result into some unpredictably bad outcomes and kick you into the rough where your only option is to pitch out and pray you save par just because you barely knicked a huge tree and it kicked you far away from the fairway. Garden Grove has a lot less opacity, and part of that is the difference of trees. The consequences to hitting a tree seem to be a lot more foreseeable and usually, it's a little more forgiving because there are many spots in the rough that are escapable without penalty if you find some sort of line to hit from there.

-The mando on #10. There was a mando on #10 when I played the tournament. I'm not sure if it was added by the TD but it's very redundant and if missed, unnecessarily taxing. If you read BrotherDave's Ashe County review, I think it was him that had some negative comments about the mando on #7 at Ashe and that mando was installed to create a low ceiling down the leftside and protect the people fishing by the pond on the right. I'd be shocked if this was Dave's idea. #10 is a nice flick hole from left to right. The mando pointing right on a tree to the left is just senseless to me when it's a given that you are trying to go right. If you didn't, you'd be in the woods on the left or would luckily scrape through and possibly be left with a long putt. My guess: Dave would hate this on his course.

-While I am a big fan of DiscgolfCraig and his reviews (and him being one of my best friends on the site), I have to say I don't particularly agree with this statement on repetition. I don't think Garden Grove is repetitive at all. This is probably more debatable.
#15 is a dogleg left just like #17, yes. But the tee shot on #15 is a lot more "roomy". #15 is a hard par three (one of the hardest ones for sure) being 342' and a sharp left sweeping hyzer. I threw an overstable driver hoping to skip as far left as I could. There are two landing zones at the turning point. In other words the fairway becomes a split at the landing zone. The first one is maybe 30' short of the second one and it creates a more obvious line to the pin.

#16 is not a dogleg. It's barely to the left side. You wouldn't want to throw an overstable disc on this hole. It's mostly straight and down and back up a valley. One of the more picturesque holes on the course and doesn't really look like any of the other holes (maybe except for 8).

#17, while it's a dogleg left like #15. This is a true stationing par four that you couldn't pay me to throw a driver on. In the video that will be posted on the disc golf galaxy channel, you will see me and Robert Bohinski throw putters down the left gap. This is not a hole you get greedy on like #15. You want to be maybe 200' straight ahead of the pad and have a straight approach to the pin. There isn't a lot of room for error off the tee, since the landing zone is smaller and the line to get to it is a lot tighter than #15. A big hyzer on this one and you are toast.

#18 is the wooded hole that allows for more distance to reach the landing zone, something #15 and #17 don't require in regards to reaching the landing zone. #15 requires a big powerful hyzer, so it does require power and distance. #18, you have to bite off a lot more distance straight ahead, since the fairway doesn't really turn until the 300' mark. You aren't looking to throw a big hyzer on #18. You want to throw a long way and fade a bit left and have some sort of look for eagle. If you have limited distance, you want to throw as far as you can accuracy and then throw a big hyzer while you have less distance to carry on the second shot and hopefully have a long approach to make a birdie on this par five. It's one of the easier holes, but it still has some teeth to it. I missed my eagle putt and luckily saved birdie after sliding down the hill a little.

-#7 is probably my favorite hole. It's on the edge of the woods, so it's a little more out in the open. It's very gorgeous. I love the straight tunnel shot into the woods gently downhill. Hole gets tighter toward the end, and the green is pretty well guarded. I love the entire course though. Seeing how much it had evolved, it really demonstrates how raw courses can really evolve into something different and how you can't truly see the full potential or how much it has when it's first installed. I didn't think it would ever get this good, but it really did. If you played here in 2019 or 2020 and haven't returned, come back and see it and you will be stunned. It truly is a great course! Kudos to BrotherDave!

Stafford Woods is located southeast of Philadelphia in suburban New Jersey. There is a walking trail on site, but the park generally appears to be dedicated to disc golf only.

The 18 holes here are well designed. There is a great mix - from wide open fairways, to moderately wooded, to tightly wooded. The wooded fairways have a variety of shapes to challenge players with different throws. If you get off the fairway, the rough is mostly old growth tree trunks meaning that scrambling may be possible and that disc loss is very unlikely. The open grassy fairways are nice and wide, and the grass off them didn't seem too thick.

Regardless of chosen layout, there is a really nice mix of distances. The long layout is par 64 and has three holes over 700'. The shorter layout is a par 61 and still has six holes over 400', capped by #11's 616' par 5 challenge. Both layouts also have short holes down to 200' or so to change it up. I think that any level of player could have a good time here, besides maybe absolute newbies to the sport.

The highlight holes here for me were #3 and #7. Both of these ask players for a short water carry of 200' or so across a pond, with a couple of trees threatening to swat down an otherwise strong enough throw. The long tees bring more trees and longer water carry distance into play. Players nervous about the water will be able to lay up off to the left and avoid it.

Each hole has a primary basket which is a red banded DISCatcher. Some holes also had secondary baskets that I believe were DGA Mach III's. The DGA pin locations were sometimes longer/tougher, and sometimes shorter/easier than the main baskets. One basket is hanging, and several are elevated on landscaped platforms.

The tee pads are well-laid arrays of patio pavers. Most holes have a long Gold pad and a short White one. The tee signs at the long tees are great - they are large and have all of the required info. The signs are the short tees are decent - they are clearly older, but still better than nothing for the most part. A couple of holes have only one combined tee location that is used for both layouts, and this is clearly indicated. There are benches at most tees, including the short ones. I threw mainly from the short tees to the main DISCatcher baskets. There were a couple of holes where I threw at the DGA basket instead because the position looked more interesting.

There are small yellow "Next Tee" arrows where needed. There is a kiosk near the parking lot, complete with a large course map. Near this are three practice baskets and two porta potties.

It's convenient to play only the front nine or back nine if short on time.

I think the designers did a fantastic job with the land available here, but large sections of this course are pretty much flat. The only real hills on the course are some small slopes at the pond, and a ridge in the back area where holes 12-15ish are located. The holes away from the water, while solid, did not really stand out as particularly memorable for me.

It seemed like the info didn't always line up between the long pad tee signs and short pad ones. It wasn't terrible, but the short pad signage could probably use a refresh to bring it fully up to date.

Although navigation is good overall, there is a longish walk back to the parking lot after #18 that could use a couple more signs.

It's a very minor thing, but as others have said turning into the parking lot is not ideal. The road is very busy, the course sign is small, and the entrance driveway is smaller - and there's a big bump when you turn off the road.

The only trash cans here are at the parking lot. Pack out what you pack in. This is more of a note than a Con.

On a personal note, Stafford Woods was my 250th course played! It was also my first course played in New Jersey, which was my 18th state overall. I chose it due to both the strong ratings and reviews here, and the fact that the future of this course is currently in question. I don't understand all of the details (check UDisc, FB, etc to read for yourself) - but its possible that this course will be dramatically altered, or even closed, in the near future. I wanted to seize my opportunity to check it out while I could!

I think this course is accurately valued at its current ~4.25 average. I decided to give it a high 4.0, but if there were two baskets on every hole and new tee signs at the short tees I definitely would have gone with a 4.5. Stafford Woods was a lot of fun, and a worthy choice for my 250th especially with the possible closure. As a course bagger with tons of other options available, I won't personally make a point of driving 2+ hours to play here again - but travelling disc golfers should definitely check this place out at least once!

Fun layout, utilizes the landscape well, variety of obstacles and hole lengths (especially for a local 9-hole). Includes some elevation and water to make it interesting.

The course has fallen into general disrepair. The fact that they mow the fairways is the only simple maintenance performed here. A basket on hole 5 is missing, no bridge between holes 4/5, the walkways are overgrown, there is poison ivy all over the place. Additionally, there are dirt teepads, the distances on the signs is off, one of the signs is missing, and there are pedestrians walking around the course from the apartment complex. The complex that owns the land obviously doesn't care about the course, and I only expect it to get worse.

What was originally a hidden gem of a course is now falling into disrepair. Considering how many nice courses there are in the area, I would not currently recommend this course.