Pros:
+ Splendid welcome area and plenty of quality of life features throughout.
+ Guiding signage in all the right places.
+ Tees are all long, flat and wide concrete. Three on nearly every link.
+ Durable metal tee signs are colorful and informative with all the right info.
+ Impressive landscaping and upkeep both on and off the fairways, but...
Cons:
- ...The course has somewhat dull terrain and obstacles.
- After a while, the player begins to get déjà vu with the similar fairways.
Other Thoughts:
Every once in a while, you play at a course that leaves its mark on you. This happens more for some people than for others, but it typically occurs when a course does something so well and/or is so well-presented, that it is burned into your memory. This is not to say that it is a perfect course but rather a course that impressed or influenced you to make you never forget it.
For me, Flying Armadillo is one such course.
A player can't help but appreciate the welcome area. Windchimes. Statues. Yard ornaments. Lounge chairs. Metal decorations. Multiple info boards. A lot of effort has gone into making this place comfortable and welcoming. There is a sense of exciteable calm all around you. An old train car (or was it a bus?) has been repurposed as a shop where you can buy gear, souvenirs and pay for your round. On the other side of the shop there are three practice baskets, a driving net, foosball, tables & chairs for your comfort, a food truck and a pyramid of baskets that someone can aim at from the tippy-top of a three story wooden tower! You can see for miles up there. I took five or six shots from the top. My last throw skipped off the top of the highest basket, which caused a bunch of witnesses to applaud...?! That's a special feature that no other course I've played has come close to replicating.
A good welcome area is nice, but how is the disc golfing?
Pretty good. But let me start with the negatives first. This review is from the perspective of the white tees.
The course can feel repetitive. The topography doesn't vary too much from 1 to 18. You've got your bumps, dips and slopes, but we can all agree that this course is mostly flat. Link9 was my least favorite because it was so straight, flat and wide open. Link11 is the same way but three-quarters the distance. The dusty rocky fairways from start to finish don't add much to the experience, either. Link16 may be the biggest offender. The rocky fairway chews up discs. Watch your step there. All of the trees are pretty short. Link12 is an example of this. The fairway is shaped to be a tunnel... but... you can just throw over everything and be fine. I realize that most of my criticisms are landscape-based. It isn't Flying Armadillo's fault that it is so close to the 98th meridian (look it up).
On the upside, I can say that those same short trees are spindly and grabby. It is impossible to hope to throw through them, which demands better throws from players. On the fairways where the trees cannot be ignored, they add a lot to the challenge. Link8 forces a player to deal with a narrow tunnel before opening up to a wider fairway. Link14 is even more narrow and barely opens up. Link15 might be the most sadistic of them all with a triple mando to start followed by a maze of grabby trees to slink through. It's only 150 feet to the basket, but you'll be holding your breath every second the disc is in flight near those trees. I enjoyed the optics of that fairway the most. A noticeable downhill and shadowy trees make for a nice view. For playing, I need to mention link10. The first seventy percent of the fairway is open and harmless, but then you need to deal with a man-made wooden cage that keeps out ace runs and approach shots. Sure, it's kind of gimmicky and benefits from beforehand knowledge. But what a fun feature to experience. Honorable mention to link17. It balances fairway width and tree rough in a pleasing way. You can try throwing over everything, but keep and eye on it...!
This was my first encounter with cactus on a disc golf course. I live in New Jersey. Cactus doesn't really exist up by me. So that's one big reason why Flying Armadillo sticks out in my mind. It felt like some sort of natural version of 'culture shock.' Combine that with its short sprawly trees and a welcome area that has few rivals to get an experience that is burned into my memory. I strongly recommend Flying Armadillo. Tacticians will like it more than power throwers, but I think it is worth adding to anyone's wishlist. There is a much smaller putting course on the same property that I'm kicking myself for not playing. I guess I'll have to visit Flying Armadillo again in the future. When you visit, stay for a few hours and experience it to the fullest. Throw from the tower. Buy a sticker. Get something from the food truck. This place feels like a small disc golfing resort. Come check it out and see for yourself.