Pros:
(1.911 Rating) An MA3 level course with 2 distinct parts to it.
- BASKETS - It's never a good sign when I pro the baskets first in a review. Pro 28 DISCatchers. Woot Woot.
- COUNTS AS A COURSE PLAYED - Yep it's a course. 18 Baskets, 18 tees, 18 tee signs. This concludes the Pros.
Cons:
Nearly every possible disc golf attribute is sub-par.
- AMENITIES - Nebo Crossing is still a fairly young course. About a year old as of this review post. It's still not decked out with the niceties that the many older established courses have. The baskets, as noted, are excellent, but all the other amenity aspects are below average or non-existent. For example, natural tees with no tee line. My guess is that players are supposed to throw near the hole number and distance only tee signs. Some holes had obvious natural tee ground scars, but others did not. That's actually it for the amenities package. There is lots of growth available here on this aspect.
- NAVIGATIONAL GAP - After (4), there's an arrow directing players down a rocky path and into the woods. It's like a 5-minute hike. Not so bad going down, but this same path needs to be taken back up after (13). That's where they get ya. I was exhausted standing on (14). I kind of wish the first bench of the day would be waiting for me there, but no such luck.
- HOLE VARIETY - The play variety is average, at best. There is an even mix of wooded and open. There is some modest elevation change at times. (13) is a nice twisting up shot and (18) has a tricky green with a suspended basket on the edge of a drop off. I think I counted two par 4s, but both were soft 4s to this MA2 level player. Although there are some nice variety aspects here, it's also very blah at times.
- LACK OF CHALLENG - As an MA2 I threw 8 down on first attempt. It seemed perfect for players between an 800 to perhaps an 875 rating. MA1s will murder the course. I only felt challenged a few times, and a couple of the tougher shots were a little too luck based, like on (12).
- NATURAL BEAUTY - I'd score the woods portion around a 3.0 for beauty and the open portion a 1.75. (1) thru (3) are completely featureless and will fail to appease the mind for nearly everyone.
- WEAR ORANGE - I likely looked like a complete goof walking around with an orange disc above my head while in the woods. I didn't want to get shot though. In the woods are dozens of animal hunting targets. I felt like I was in a horror movie at times. Perhaps this is a temp thing. It was hunting season when I threw it.
- TIME PLAY - Over an hour, bag out to bag back into the car. Basket (18) and tee (1) are 750 feet apart, which wasn't a fun walk after tapping out. Time play never influences my course rating, but gaps this far in flow do.
Other Thoughts:
Just two pros for this 2.0 course. I realize that I put down a lot of cons on this one, but it was not all bad. It felt like disc golf. I had some mirage aces and I piled up the birdies. So, I had my fun at times here. I got it at about a half peg behind the average course. Nebo definitely has some growth potential, especially on the amenities portion. I could easily see it achieving a 2.5 on my ledger with some love and investment, maybe even a 3.0 with some tweeks. As is, a week to mid 2.0 level course to me. It reminds me of places like Southside in Huntsville Alabama, Grassy Creek south of Indianapolis and Hurricane Alley south of Mobile.