Pros:
-Golden Grove is a great addition to the Upstate courses. Along with this one, you have many different options with different faces. Hurricane, the small abrasive hothead that's a lot like the redneck Glenn who made that one appearance in My Name is Earl, is Golden Grove's closest neighbor. There's Central, the wealthy entrepreneur that everyone loves. There's Foothills in Easley, the scruffy workaholic with four jobs that's been down on this luck for a while. Yet, makes it all bearable. Dacusville, the blunt school custodian with crooked teeth, drives an old camaro with missing hubcaps, and lives in that haunted shed nearby. Yet possesses a lot of grit, and assembles things extremely fast. Timmons, the retired home buyer that lives by the river. Shaver OG, the quiet southern landscaper with cigarette butts all over his patio. And Shaver Championship, Shaver's tall and quiet long haired son that plays the rhythm guitar and does the unclean vocals in his metalcore band.
-Golden Grove blends in with all the guys! He's tall, rugged, muscular, and intimidating! He's a WWE fanatic and takes steroids every now and then. Owns many guns that are illegal in the US, but only displays them for show. He's not active, he lives in that decrepit home that you drive past but never visit. This course from the longs is the hardest course in the Clemson area and probably in the entire upstate. The white pads are still pretty difficult but aren't as hard. About as challenging as Foothills in Easley. Even par on the longs is probably just over 980 rated. You'd have a good chance at an 1000 rated round if you score even or better on the front nine, yet you'd be at risk in shooting below 900 if you don't score under par on the front nine playing the shorts. It's nice to have a real pro level course in the upstate that offers a more forgiving layout.
-Water. There's a nice fishing pond on holes #2 and #3. #2 is an excellent hole down a hill approaching the pond. The pond isn't in play until you are closer to the green. #3 plays completely over the pond, whether you are playing from the long pad or short pad. You can hyzer left to eliminate risk in going in the water if you are unsure if you can make it over. There's also a creek running through the woods beside #3's green.
-The brewery is really good. My buddy and I each got a free cup of water. The beer options are pretty diverse as well and they have some food options too.
-Hole info. The holes on the front nine have tee signs and the back nine will have tee signs soon from what I heard.
-Great hole variety. You start off with three par threes (#1-3). All are very challenging from the long pads. Especially #1 with it's demanding straight fairway and dense woods. #2 and #3 have that higher risk in OB because of water. All of the holes are less difficult from the shorts. #4-6 are all extremely difficult par fours from the long pads with demanding fairways that bend. They are even difficult from the shorts.
-After holes #4-6, you have a few shorter par threes (all under 300') with less potential for trouble, but are still difficult to reach. #8 is a very narrow uphill ace run. Shortest hole from both layouts (210' from the long and about 170' from the short) but the fairway is no more than 10' wide and the rough is thick. #9 has a wider fairway that requires a right fade toward the end of your disc's flight. If it lands too short, you could well likely be in the rough. Even if you are close to the pin, a bogey could still await you. #11 and #12 are also shorter par threes with good birdie potential after playing a very difficult par four that is #10. #10 is more open, but the fairway plays as a double dogleg. I had to throw a right to left SIDEARM because it'd be very difficult to throw a nice flip up on a righty backhand. The approach is into the woods with two possible routes to the basket.
-Course has one par five. That is #14. This is the only hole with one tee pad. Instead of two tee pads, it has two baskets. An MVP basket for the short pin and an orange basket in the long. The long pin is an 810' par five while the short is only about 625'. This hole has a dead end fairway! A term I just invented! You have room to throw a driver and the hole is downhill, so you could very well throw a big drive even though it's pretty wooded. The left route is straight ahead of you and it closes after about 500'. Seems like the easier route but you actually have to switch lanes. There is a route to the right that is practically invisible from the tee, so it's risky to throw an anhyzer. The routes are separated by a long herd of trees. You could land short and try to throw a tomahawk over the herd of trees to get to the other side where the basket is (on the route to the right), or simply lay up just to avoid the rough. Chances are, you'll have to throw a tomahawk or thumber. The MVP basket (625' from the pad isn't too far ahead once you cross over. The orange basket is further down a trail into the woods. Extremely difficult for a par five that isn't entirely long for a challenging course. But this is the second hole I've played where a tomahawk or thumber is the most rational option after the tee shot (first being #11 at Ashe County).
-Orange disc catchers. Golden Grove has some of that Clemson Tiger pride! Gotta have that in this region of South Carolina. All jokes aside, very nice color. #18's basket is perched on a mound. Putting on this final hole is a bit intimidating but you still lay on the mound if you miss. It can be punishing but forgiving as well.
Cons:
-Carpet pads. I'm not really picky about carpet pads, but they can be a bit uneven sometimes. #7's pad I never found. I had a general sense of where the pad is supposed to be because of U disc. #7's alleged pad location is in a very muddy spot and you won't want to tee off of that. The mud wasn't much of an issue in any other spots of the course.
-Course needs tee diagrams and some new tee signs on the front nine. #4's tee sign was missing. The hole is a dogleg left with the landing zone being right where the deer stand is. I thought the fairway played back up the hill in the open that you throw down on #2. It's actually in the woods on the far left. Course is very unforgiving for starters as a result of this issue. You should probably walk the fairway and analyze the rough a little bit here.
-You are far in the country. The rough part of it. You'll likely see a rebel flag or two in this area, or someone wearing a rebel flag shirt. Something I don't like to see along with many others. Doesn't make this course worth skipping because it's a fun one! But that's worth noting because that kind of crap can be really irritating for you to see.
-Lots of lost disc potential as of now. Be very attentive.
Other Thoughts:
-Glad that there's is a course that better suits pros. It still has that casual atmosphere being at a brewery and having dense rough and carpet tee pads. Beginners will likely hate this course even from the shorts, while others may appreciate the challenge and want to get good at disc golf. The whites are more fun for casual play, but even is still probably near 930 rated. You'll have to do a lot of things right to score under par on the shorts. The longs really show the ruggedness of Golden Grove and you'll have to discern each fairway and consequence to missing because playing safe on a few holes and just getting par could save your score here. The rough is some of the roughest rough I have played. It's not unplayable like Jacob's Fork in Newton, NC but it is very hard to play out of. I've played some courses with very unforgiving rough such as Inverness in Hoover, AL, Renny Gold, Hornet's Nest, and Nevin in Charlotte, and Stumpy Creek in Mooresville, NC. Golden Grove's rough has about that much challenge to it. It's playable but you'll really have to pay if you land in there.
-If your accuracy is on point here, you'll gain some strokes on the field and have a much stronger chance in a lower score, even if your putting is a little off. None of the greens are entirely scary to putt from, but some have a little bit of rollaway potential. If you don't have trouble with #18's green, you probably won't have much trouble with any of the greens here. Hurricane Springs is nearby. It's much shorter in comparison to Golden Grove, but the fairways are still tight and the scoring spread per stroke is probably about twelve rating points, making putting more of an importance there than here at Golden Grove. A few missed birdies at Hurricane would hurt you more there than it would at Golden Grove since it is longer with more room for trouble.
-Playing Golden Grove will encourage you to really analyze your strengths and weaknesses. It's a serious test in disc golf at a casual brewery! It's a fun rugged course!