I played this one at the recommendation of Wellsbranch250, had been planning on dropping into UAH but I'm very glad my path was diverted.

As you drive in this doesn't feel like a disc golf course and for good reason. It's a repurposed golf course with manicured walking and cross country paths winding over the large property.

The first thing you notice is that the first hole is very long at a 650ft par 4 and that sets the tone for the day because you will be throwing full send all day. Most of the holes are 450-700ft and it even has a 950ish ft par 4 that getting a par on felt like a birdie in the heavy wind I played in.

Tee pads are really odd in that they are like a black running track material but I liked it and they grip pretty well. There are short and long on I think every hole but even from the shorts it's fairly long. The tee signs are nice and descriptive, but a few on the later holes were missing.

The terrain is rolling and has enough elevation change to bring in a new element. There are several holes where it may begin up or downhill, but then either rise or drop off before your best drive has completed its flight, so you have to be aware how the short cropped grass may play.

It's not wooded really being mostly open on a golf course but there are young trees planted on some holes and many have brought in large old trees from the former perimeter and made them a prominent feature on greens or mid fairway.

You also have two really legit long water carry's on 12 and 18. These are intimidating even to a longer thrower as even the easier plays require a 350 ft shot to have a shot at the green on your second.

The design isn't flawless but uses the terrain really well and every hole is legit. No filler to speak of on this daunting track.

It's long enough that if you can't throw 300 with control just don't play this one, it's not at all accessible to newer players or low powered ones unless they don't mind playing over par a lot. Intermediate and better even from the shorts would have a better time.

The navigation on the front half is pretty good, but it seems like they ran out of next tee signs after 10. I kept getting turned around and with no map and a dead phone the lack of next tee signs on the back half stuck out.

There is an argument to be made that you could shift some holes around and make a slightly more interesting 27 hole course on this property by cutting the average hole from 600+ to about 450, but it's very busy with walkers and cross country kids so it could be hard to manage.

The lake is also so deep on 12 I doubt you could recover a disc from it unless it gets drained seasonally.

A few missing signs and the many pedestrians and mountain bikers that will cross your path detract from this one a bit. It's no fun to wait around on a course this long.

I'm not sure if this review will convey my feelings perfectly but I really like this course and almost gave it a 4. I would love to see a big event here and think it could be a great challenge even for pro level players.

The intense wind, dead phone, difficult navigation on the back half and the fact that I had already played 36 holes on this particular Monday made it slightly less enjoyable that it may have been on the best possible day. I still had a great time though and would love to try it again and maybe tweak the review just a bit.

(3.613 Rating) A ball golf conversion course with big length.
- CHALLENGING - This course is one of the longest 18s I've ever stepped foot on. Almost 11,000 feet from the back tees. Lots of lurking OB on shots well off-line. The scores from mortals like me are going to jump. MA1s are going to be challenged to break par. Sure MA1s will card birdies, but they'll likely bogey a similar amount. Most Pros should like the blend of length and shot placement on the many par 4s. The short layout is no joke either, and should appeal to MA2s and MA3s that prefer lightly wooded long courses.
- NATURAL BEAUTY - For a lightly wooded course I was surprised on how nice it looks. Rolling meadows with elevation change maxing out at about 35 feet on hole (6). 3 ponds come into play, and they make a few holes pop a bit more. Hole (12) back tee is especially awesome with the basket in a pocket surrounded by trees and it's almost 500 feet of water clear when looking dead on at the basket. The play on this one, for those smart enough, is to play to the left onto a 20 foot high mound. Anyways, a really nice looking course overall. Not 90 percentile looks, but perhaps at a healthy 85 percentile. The biggest detractor to me was the lack of trees and a closeness of the landfill. The course also looks much blander during the winter.
- MAINTENANCE - They are constantly mowing the grass here. The locals that enjoy Indian Creek might be heading here more often now as that place has a history of getting shaggy during the summer months.
- AMENITIES - DISCatchers baskets, Yay! The tees are big too, 5 by 12. They used a surface I've never thrown on before. Which is some sort of granular rubber track surface. I was super suspect of this surface originally, but now that I've thrown on them, I don't have an issue with the material. Purchased and on the way items include; a practice basket, a few benches and a course map.
- DUAL TEES - As alluded too, there are two tee layouts here. A Blue layout, Longs and a White layout, Shorts. 36 tees in all, thus 18 dedicated tees to each layout. This aspect allows John Hunt to appeal to far more skill levels than if the city only sprung for the one set. I wish more courses did this.
- SIGNAGE - 36 tees signs for the 36 pads. They are color coded and have all the typical required info like distance, par, next tee direction and an artistic description of the hole. A few holes even include distance markers to important water features.
- HOLE VARIETY - Despite the common theme of bomb, bomb, bomb off the tee, there are some really nice elements in the play variety. The most explored feature here is the multi-play hole. The ideal way to approach the baskets and many landing zones varies drastically. Sometimes it is best to layup, or fade in left, or fade in right or to error long. Water and OB placements dictate a lot of shot selections. Also, several placements are perched on modest slopes with false fronts or runaway backsides. The use of elevation features helped several holes that had few trees to use. Last I'll note that there are soft par 3s, hard par 3s, soft par 4s, hard par 4s, extra hard par 4s and even a soft par 5 for the short layout.

The openness and Pro length, isn't going to translate to greatness for everyone.
- YOUTH - As noted in the Pros, a couple items aren't in yet. The Course Map is printed and awaiting install any day. Benches are ordered, but I don't know how many and don't know when. This course needs a lot of benches due to the amount of walking. The rumor was 6 of them, which is not enough. Practice basket is also ordered, but that has an unknown install date as well. I gave the course credit for these noted items for now, 0.145 rating points.
- MULTI USE HAZARDS - The course layout was required to be weaved around other park amenities that got first dibs after the ball golf course closed. Which is unfortunately why the woods couldn't be used as the mountain bikers got it before course construction started. There are walking paths, cross country trails and bike trails that slash thru on a bunch of holes. Thankfully these are not high use, but they will force pauses from time to time, unless there's an event. I don't recall any blind conflicts, which is good.
- BEGINNER FRIENDLY - I don't think the course is beginner friendly. Just too long IMO. Hole (18) is going to be murderous to new players and MA4s. When reaching the water on (18), it's still another 300 feet to clear the water and 320 feet total to the basket on the other side. There is some marginal bail-out space on the left, but newer players will struggle keeping dry along the thin sliver of hope. The disc loss odds are not epic bad here, but it's going to occur more often here than the average course.
- TRANSITIONS - There are some big gaps between holes on what is already a long course. I saw a post on the local facebook page noting 11,000 steps. Wooah! Not exactly sure what that translates to, but I'd guess 3 to 4 miles of walking.
- TIME PLAY - I'm a quick player and I don't think I could do this one in under 90 minutes. Groups of 4 are going to be here over 3 hours.
- LACK OF WOODS PLAY - Those that only love the wooded golf scene are not going to like this course. Very few holes have a wooded element to it. The sun is going to be brutal mid summer. It is what it is.

John Hunt Park is officially the new beast in town. Its length is going to test the best players around and allow the locals the opportunity to train on distance and placement. Pros and MA1s are going to like John Hunt the most, but there will be appeal to others as well, as long as the lack of woods is not a deal breaker. In town, it reminds me most of UAH. Cypress in Northwest Alabama also comes to mind, although that one is much more hillier than this one. Ratings wise, I would put John Hunt exactly in the middle between the two noted courses. Due to personal preferences, I could see trusted reviewers rating this one anywhere from a 4.5, to perhaps as low as a 2.5. To me, a solid 3.5 "Very Good" course. For those coming to town the first time, I would highly recommend checking it out if big distance and challenge is what they are looking for.
- THANK YOU - A big thanks to course designer Kiefer McMillan for showing me the course during its development phase and also introducing me to the City's parks and rec team. With his introduction, I was able to secure the signage contract for the course.