Pros:
(1.782 Rating) A park style 9 basket course with 18 tees.
- BLACK BERRIES - I must be off my rocker to start off a review this silly way. For the first time in my disc golf travels, I picked berries along the side of the fairway and ate them. I was routinely told as a young child to never eat wild berries in a forest. Well, I am still alive to write this. Seems like a pro to me. Man they tasted good!
- SIGNATURE HOLE - If this were a 8 hole course and hole (6) didn't exist, I think I would have scored this one more than a quarter point lower. Hole (6) is the longest hole on the course and it's the lone par 4. It requires a well placed monster bomb for anyone trying to deuce it. Rec players will need two good shots to secure a birdie. It doesn't really fit in with this course, but it is a fantastic hole none-the-less. I liked hole (2) as well, which required a slight RHBH turn-over and then having it fade back to the left a touch.
- CHALLENGING - This is without question the most challenging course I've ever played on elementary school property. It felt like a solid Rec level course or around average difficultly among all the courses I've played as of this review. There are a couple gimme birdies to skilled players, but there are also five holes over 300 feet when playing both sets of tees.
- CHAINS - DISCatchers
Cons:
Playgrounds near baskets.
- SAFETY HAZARDS AND SPACING - The ultimate reason I scored this one a 1.75 over a mid to high 2.0 was due to the safety hazards. Hole (3's) and (12's) basket have a playground inside the circle. On the next two holes, (4/13) and (5/14), playground hazards are present again. That's a full 3rd of the course with major spacing issues. A few other times the required gameplay puts other tees and baskets in play from an adjacent hole. Park access roads are also in play several times.
- NOT 18 - This is one of those courses that uses 18 tees with 9 baskets to claim to be an 18 hole course. Yes, the tee signs and the community board indicate 18 holes, but there are only 9 fairways. When a course has at least 18 baskets, I can see more of an argument to claim 18 holes. When it's 18 tees and 9 baskets, it almost never feels like an 18 holer to me. At Dandridge, the extra tee sometimes offer a different look, but there are just as many times it felt nearly the same, compared to its single digit numbered counterpart. It is what it is.
- AMENITIES AND EXTRAS - The pure basics are good and bad. As noted, the Chains are DISCatcher baskets, my favorite. The tees however are terrible. Just a tee sign to indicate the approximate location to tee off from. There is no defined line from what I was able to observe. On top of this, many of the supposed locations to tee, had no level surface to launch from. Beyond these noted basics, there are no other course related amenities or extras.
- NAVIGATION AND SIGNAGE - I thought the navigation was decent. One tee sign was missing, so I had to rely on my nav app to tell me where the supposed sign was. The transitions are generally short, so I think most first time players will sort-of figure it out without any aid. The signage was sub-par in my opinion. The tee signs are just a number and distance. I had to run down the fairway a bit to figure out holes (2) and (8).
- NOT BEGINNER FRIENDLY - One would naturally think this is a beginners course with the word elementary in the course name. Nope, they'd be wrong. I'm sure beginners have been brought here before, but there are just too many areas to get into to trouble in my opinion for this to be an ideal course for new players. Holes (2), (5), (6), (7) and (8) all have sun bleached edge thicket along at least one fairway edge. Please note, I don't take off rating points when a course is not beginner friendly.
- NATURAL BEAUTY - As noted, I thought (6) was a neat hole. Holes (2) and (9) have some nice appeal as well. The remaining holes look no better than average, and often much worse. A fairway with playground equipment flanking a side is not a way to add course charm. The maintenance of the park was also suspect when I showed up in early July. Overall, I scored this aspect 25 percentile.
Other Thoughts:
Dandridge felt like a 1.75 ratings tweener to me. It's definitely got some intriguing gameplay elements, but it's also got a hoard a layout issues impacting the experience. For those in Dandridge itself, it'll work as a nearby disc golf addiction fix, but I would surmise that the addicts are routinely leaving the area to find better courses. For those traveling along I40 and I81, I would say skip it, unless the player is looking to add to their bagger totals like I was. I haven't played too many courses in the wider region, but I have played nearby courses Kiwanis and Panther Creek. Out of town players looking for something more destination worthy should consider one of these two courses instead of here. Kiwanis I'd recommend to Rec players who like technical woods courses and I'd recommend Panther Creek to those at the Advanced level.
- TIME PLAY - The time play here is a bit longer than the average 9 holer as this one has some decent length to it. It took this quick solo player 25 minutes to throw early in the morning in an empty park setting.