Pros:
A pleasant, simple 9-holer playing on the back portion of Macon Middle School.
- For students, this is an excellent course. Mid-ranged layout, not a lot of obstacles, decent variety, and a great background here.
- Lots of mids and putters thrown here. Holes average 216 feet. Take away #3 at 406 feet, the other 8 holes average 193 feet.
- As a result, lots of birdie and ace runs.
- #1 is a nice little uphill shot. #9 turns around and goes right back down the hill, with its basket back close to the first tee.
- #7 is a fun little shot, with the basket barely sticking out above a slight ridge.
- #4 & 5 are both short, slightly downhill holes.
- Course is easy to navigate. There isn't much else around, so the wooded tee stakes are easy to spot. Your must difficult navigation might be going from #6's basket to 7 tee. Obviously, with the online map, it's a piece of cake.
Cons:
Not much in terms of challenge. I had plenty of birdie putts, including more than a fair share of gimmie putts. The most difficult tee shot is on #6, due to being blind and throwing around a shed.
- Dirt tee pads. Only need a longer runup on #3, and maybe(-ish) on #8, being a slight uphill tee shot.
- Being on school property, only available during non-school hours. If cars are in the parking lot, #6 may be unplayable.
- Amenities are lacking. But you're a mile or less to a large shopping center, including restaurants.
Other Thoughts:
One of the best attributes of Macon Middle is that it's good for a quick round. Another good quality is that you can play quite nicely with only a putter or mid-range.
- Even with its flaws, or lack of strengths, it's the second-best maintained course in Franklin. After coming directly from Macon Early, it was night and day difference between that course's struggle with regular maintenance.
- #9 is fun because it's one most likely people are going to throw multiple discs on.
- The entire course is laid out in a rather compact space. With the area the designers had to work with, this is probably about as good as you could expect. Sure, a couple holes could be lengthen some. But does a 200-foot hole really play that much different from a 150-footer?
- Franklin has 4 total courses. Franklin's courses have a total of 33 baskets. Just saying.
- From the time I pulled into the parking lot to the time I left, it was just under 20 minutes. Call it 20 minutes well spent.