Pros:
Patriot DGC is one of the best scenic, ready-made courses, and pieces of land, I have played. Located in Triad Park, this is a solid course...but, oh, how it could be so much more.
- In terms of ease of navigation, this is one of the best courses I've ever played. There's a big kiosk with a course map at the first hole. Each hole has two tee pads with tremendous tee signs from each pad. Add to that the transitional signs between holes are great. Even on the long walks between holes you have no problem making your way through the round. Great job by the course designers and the park for making this course as player-friendly as you're going to find.
- Solid variety in terms of layout. There are some true challenging holes, especially from the long (blue) tees. Hole #6, for example, is a beast of a hole. This is a love it or hate it-type of hole where most players are probably going to have a strong feel about the design one way or the other. I'm not sure if it's a great layout, a poor layout, or a dumb-luck turned solid layout. From the long (blue) tee, it's a 438-foot, blind downhill layout to an open area, setting up the approach shot to a basket to the woods on the right side of the fairway. I really enjoy the challenge of the strategically placed tee shot (as long as the grass is well-maintained), but I'm not sure if I'm a fan of the narrow opening in the woods approaching the basket. Seems like if you don't put the tee shot in a perfect spot, you're probably looking at a 4 here, as I shot.
- There's plenty of other variety here, from challenging wooded holes - #7 & 13; less-challenging wooded holes - #18; longer and/or challenging open holes - #10 & 12; to the easier layouts - #1 & 9. Throw in some good elevation factors, doglegs, and wooded/open combo layouts - and you've got the makings of some good variety.
- I enjoyed the challenge/design of hole #12. It's an open, 480-foot hole (from the longs) that has a row of trees halfway down the fairway. You're supposed to hit the gap to the left of the trees to set up your approach shot. Or, if you're like me, your tee shot lands behind the trees, and you have to waste a stroke getting through them. It's a good example of putting emphasis on accurate shot making while punishing people who don't make an accurate tee shot.
- This course can appeal to multiple skill levels - from beginners to intermediate/advanced players. From the long (blue) tees, the average hole length is 398 feet, with none shorter than 261. From the shorts, the average hole length is 278 feet, with all holes ranging from 165 - 357 feet. Add to that, the shorts offer much easier layouts, especially on the tougher holes, that casual players won't be overwhelmed.
- This is a great overall park. It's a huge park with anything and everything you could think of - playground, ball fields, walking trails, picnic areas and the war memorial - which you and the family could spend lots of time here. It's great seeing a large park that's so well maintained. And with so much space here, I love that the course doesn't overlap with other park activities. Add to that, there's a lot of unused space in and around the disc golf course. Hmmm, maybe a chance to add a second 18-hole layout someday?
Cons:
The biggest con here is the course's untapped potential. Too many times you walk by lots of wooded areas to play open holes. If the course didn't have those wooded areas, I wouldn't be critical of the layout. But, seeing how you play a couple of boring open holes -#5 being the worst offender - you'd like to see a little more creativity. Take a look at the course map on here. This course could be brought up a level if the existing #4 & 5 were removed and you added two holes in the wooded area behind #4's tee. Using more of the woods would also reduce the amount of space the course uses, cutting down on some of the long walks.
- Two holes border on being tough to being poor layouts - #6 & 13. I've already mentioned #6 above. I think that stays on the solid layout side; although, making the opening into the woods wider wouldn't be a bad choice. On the flip side, the layout for #13 needs help. You tee off in a field, throwing to a basket in the woods. The problem is that the fairway opening in the woods is way too narrow to expect most players to be able to hit that gap. If you miss the gap - hit a tree or stay in the open field portion of the hole - there's little room to recover and salvage par. This hole tilts too far on the luck side, in my opinion.
- As great as some portions of the course are - tee & navigation signs, tee pads - I didn't notice many, if any, benches or trashcans throughout the course. Also didn't notice any restrooms near the course, so that means you would have to drive to another part of the park for them. I'll also throw out the idea that because this park is so big and the park is in the very back of the park, it's a long, slow ride, over many speed humps, to actually get to the course.
Other Thoughts:
Patriot is a good disc golf course. Yes, some improvements could be made - as could be said for most courses. As it is, I enjoyed my round here with the exception of one boring hole -#5 - and one poorly designed one - #13.
- Course isn't broken up into two 9-hole loops, so no easy way to bail out if you're looking for a quick nine without a long walk back to the car. The 'best' option for a quick nine would be to play #1 - 6, make a semi-long walk up to #16 and play the final three holes.
- To its credit, for being so open, there was a good amount of variety for the longer hole layouts. I've already described #6 & 12 above. #10 is a good dogleg layout; #11 is a downhill basket, especially on your approach shot; #16 has trees running along the entire right side of the fairway; and #18 is a good risk/reward, wooded-layout closing hole.
- Probably because of the topography, this course had many similarities to other courses in the region. There were many aspects of this course that reminded me of Lake's Edge, Yadkin County Park and (not as close) Randolph Park in Dublin, VA.
- This is a solid addition to the Triad disc golf scene. The area still needs a truly elite course. Like some of the other courses in the Winston-Salem and Greensboro area, this is a good, but not great course. I'll give this course a solid 3.0 rating. I was debating between that and a 3.5 rating. In the end, it's lacking just enough challenge and splash to get the bump. Still, it's solid and worth a play if you're in the area.