Pros:
+ Big, colorful and informative tee signs.
+ Tees are long, wide and flat concrete.
+ New and numbered white DD Veteran baskets complete with flags on top and orange 'next' arrows attached.
+ The venue is a quiet and cozy municipal park in a sleepy pleasant town, but...
Cons:
- ...The park is jam-packed with walking paths, sports fields, a playground, pavilions and civic structures.
- The course itself plays open and breezy or cramped and clustered.
-/+ Mostly brief distances are (boring/beneficial) for (experienced/new) players.
Other Thoughts:
This review is based on the long layout.
The disc golf course at Henagar Park is an unassuming and peaceful time when there aren't people walking around and/or sporting events happening. I played here at noon on a Monday, which meant there was basically nobody around. I can imagine just how active this place gets after work hours or on weekends. The course feels like it's trying its very best to avoid the other park structures, but disc golfing takes up a lot of space. So the course is forced into awkward corners and has no choice but to accept the land given to it. The point that I'm failing to make is that this is a close-quarters course with several links that may have to be skipped depending on the other parkgoers' activities.
A few examples.
Link7 throws alongside an outfield fence. If there were a baseball game happening, I would skip that one regardless of how confident I felt in my throw.
Link8 has the player throw in the direction of a swingset and playground. Sure, there is a mando to direct the disc in the opposite direction, but most disc golfers probably wouldn't want to tempt fate like that even there were just one child present.
Link14 might be one of the more unique fairways I've encountered. The player tees of on the floor of a cabin of historical significance and down over a walking path towards a raised basket tightly nestled between a baseball diamond, a basketball court and a tennis court. Even with nobody else around and despite it being only 175 feet, I felt very uneasy throwing on that one. I get that there wasn't too much open space to fit an 18-link course, but some of these fairways felt crowbarred in just to reach that number.
On that note, my least favorite was link13! A skinny fairway is all you get in between a walking path left and the park road right, both OB. In addition, there are two monuments for you to accidentally hit nearby the tee. Up near the basket is the aformentioned cabin that you could easily hit with an errant or reckless throw. I was very hesistant to throw on this one as well. If there are any course designers reading this, I'd like to offer the following perspective: Keep us as far away from civic, historical, memorial and recreational structures as you can unless said structures are abandoned and not looked after.
That's enough negativity for now. On the upside, I was pleasantly surprised by how many of the links met or exceeded 300 feet. There are also a few ace/birdie runs of less than 200 feet. I can imagine that this course on the short tees transforms into a birdie fest and a good training ground for new players. Some fairways are wide open in fields behind the park. Most are half-open park-style fairways. Others are surprising tree puzzles that require some planning and forethought. Link11 is a nice short fairway with some trees to dodge and a surprise creek to avoid. Link2 has a fun man-made triple mando in a wide-open breezey field. To my mind, links4 and 5 are the best of the course. Link4 is a tree maze that requires a skilled touch, or you could take the outer left route and try to poke into the woods from the outside. And link5, my favorite of the course, is a 200-foot flat tree-dodger with the densest tree cover. Can you outsmart the bark and branches to earn your birdie? Special mention to tiny link6's 138-foot fairway with the narrowest of double mandos right in front of the basket.
Beyond all of that, I can't think of anything else to say. The course is just fine. It averages out to an experience that doesn't delight or disgust. Can I recommend it? Definitely to baggers by default. Certainly to newbies. To serious players I would give it a non-commital 'meh.' I don't think it will blow away anybody, but you could always see for yourself. You'll probably decide very quickly whether or not you like it.
Finally, if you have an allergy to bee stings, bring along your epipen. I didn't dare get close enough to identify which type they were, but there were plenty of angry wasps buzzing around the course- especially on the back nine. That's about as tense as this place gets. Still, it's worth a look as an example (for better or worse) of doing a lot with a little.