Pros:
-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.
Cons:
-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.
Other Thoughts:
-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!