If you're road-tripping to Wilkes County for disc golf and haven't played Rolling Pines, that should be your #1 destination. However, if you have time for more than one round -- or if you've played Rolling Pines and want the next-best thing -- Ft. Hamby is the one. (Highland Hills is the very extreme, not for the faint of heart, third option, in my opinion.) Ft. Hamby is also just one of many options at this beautiful park. You could easily turn Ft. Hamby into an all day or all weekend adventure, complete with fun woods golf, fishing, swimming, boating, hiking, and camping. I didn't check out the whole park, but I understand it has a basketball court, horseshoe pit, and outdoor amphitheater too. This is a beautiful, well-maintained, multi-activity, destination park.
+ See above: beautiful destination park with multiple activities, including disc golf. (And the disc golf course is absolutely *not* an after-thought; it's a well-designed and executed track.)
+ This is a heavily wooded, technical course that will challenge all skill levels. With white (intermediate) and blue (advanced) sets of tees, there's something for everyone. I am an intermediate level player and only had time for one round, so I played the whites. Going in to the round, I didn't have super-high expectations because at only 4,095 feet from the whites, I thought this layout might be an easy, borderline red (rec) level track. Wrong. Don't let the short lengths fool you. The 5,538-foot (also pretty short for an advanced course) blues looked very challenging to me. Also, the blues are not simply longer versions of the same layout. On numerous holes, the blue tee approaches are not only longer, but from different angles or just entirely different layouts altogether. There is only one truly open hole (#5) -- probably the weakest hole on the course. Everything else is very technical, requiring lots of touch and accuracy. This course hits the two most important marks, in my book: challenging and fun.
+ This is the most physically demanding 4,095-foot course I've ever played. Granted, I played on a hot summer day and I could probably stand to lose 20 pounds, but I was absolutely gassed by the final 4-5 holes. There is a lot of elevation on this course: one of the biggest pluses, for me. But there's also a lot of elevation in between holes as you walk the course. This thing is a hike!
+ Going back to elevation for a minute, because it deserves repeating and is my favorite unique aspect of this course: the Ft. Hamby designers went out of their way to fit in numerous fun and challenging downhill holes. Sometimes the walks between holes are a little bit longer -- but the payoff greater -- to get to downhill holes. There are also some uphill holes, of course, but as with most tracks, the downhill ones are the most fun and memorable. The standout to me is the second-shortest hole on the course at only 150 feet from the whites: hole #13. It's a steep downhill tunnel shot to a small green surrounded by water. I threw a soft putter shot dead straight. It went over the basket by about 2 feet -- 2 feet! -- and skipped right into the water. This is a great risk/reward hold requiring all kinds of touch. And the lake is so clean, clear, and beautiful, I had no problem wading into the water to get my disc back.
+ Speaking of risk/reward, there are several fast greens that challenge you to confidently hit your putts...or timidly miss and endure a roll-away. I know some people aren't fans of placing baskets on hills and ridges (or on islands surrounded by water, as mentioned above), but I love this aspect of course design and think it's the best way to make putting more exciting, interesting, and challenging.
+ Navigation was simple and there are arrows for both the blue and white layouts. Many times there are separate goat paths for the two sets of tees, as the holes are laid out quite differently for white vs. blue.
+ Nice parking area with course bulletin board, scorecards, and a couple of practice baskets.
+ Beautiful piece of property and well-maintained. I didn't see any trash at all on the course.
+ While I didn't throw too many drivers off the tee (a negative), I was forced to use a lot of different types of shots: hyzer, flex, anhyzer, and flick.