Somerville, AL

Patriot Hills

Permanent course
3.255(based on 2 reviews)
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wellsbranch250
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 10.8 years 694 played 680 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Best 9er In Alabama 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Mar 6, 2022 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

(3.149 Rating) A beautiful wooded course with lots of play options.
- RAW BEAUTY - One of the best things about Patriot Hills is the beauty of the property. This is mostly a heavily wooded course with elevation movement. Hole (4) for instance, is an eye-catching line requiring the threading of a tree gap and then getting a favorable kick off one of the many interesting high-pitched mounds. Hole (8) looks fantastic as well. A big downhill wooded shot requiring slight movement left to right. Overall, I scored the course 75-80 percentile in this category and I found it to be better looking than its 5 closest course neighbors.
- DUAL PINS AND TEES - I hope more courses go to the multi-basket and multi-tee set-up. It really impacts replayability and widens the play appeal to more skill levels. There are 4 distinct layouts here. Long to long felt like an Intermediate level course to me. Long to short and short to long I think are both good Rec level challenges. The short to short will play good to both Novices and newer Rec players as well.
- HOLE VARIETY - Due to the play options, the course is bursting with variety for a small course. Hole (1) long to long is a very fun dogleg par 4. Lots of tunnel fairways with the play finishing left, right and straight. Up-hill shots and down-hill shots. There's an openish bomb play on hole (9) and the difficulty in the play varies greatly too. There's not a lot of length, so I could see bomber types not digging the course as much as those that prefer wooded courses.
- SIGNAGE AND NAVIGATION - A big and accurate course map located by the parking lot near long tee (1). Good tee signs as well at both pads and they have all the info one will need. There are some navigational cues along a couple of the trickier transitions as well. Overall, two thumbs up for this aspect.
- AMENITIES - In addition to the signage, the course has some nice equipment as well. Older DISCatcher baskets that are color coded for layout purposes. The tees are adequate being turf over dirt or sand I assume. The tees are probably the one area that the course could be improved upon if funds become available. There is also seating at just about every tee and there are scorecards in a mailbox by the course map... maybe.
- QUICK PLAY - For those looking to pad courses played stats, you can legitimately claim you've played it by just playing one of the 4 nine hole layouts. For those that do, it shouldn't take any more than 30 minutes as a solo.

Cons:

Generally limited to preferential stuff.
- LOCATION - Being on school grounds, this one will not always be available. Please don't show up here during school hours as its not open to the public at those times. Also, I have come out here before and the entrance gate was locked. Be cognizant that you may need to park at the church across the street. The course is sort of located out in the boonies as well. It's 25 minutes to the Interstate and at least twenty minutes to the next closest course as of this review.
- OVERGROWTH - The wooded fairways are thinned out and fine. Going well-off fairway however, can leave some wicked retrieval efforts. There are some brier patches here and probably also some poison ivy as with every wooded course in the region. Likely ticks and snakes too during the summer months. Plan accordingly and watch your step.
- TERRAIN - The footing can get dicey in spots on this layout. There are rocks and roots that can be tripped on for those that aren't paying attention. There is a wicked ditch behind the far basket on (2), which I personally loved. This is not the best course for those with knee or ankle pain issues. I'd label the course as somewhat cart friendly.
- BEGINNER FRIENDLY - I'm sure beginners get brought here. Although the short layout is great for novices, I think non-athletic first timers will be overwhelmed. Just too many trees and too much undulating terrain for sissy indoor types. I don't take off score for this.
- BONUS HOLE C - On my second appearance out here there were two bonus holes in play. I really liked bonus hole (B), which is a nice looking uphill wooded line. However, bonus hole (C), was an open filler play with property conflicts. I straight up skipped playing it cause I didn't want to take the chance of landing on an adjacent structure's roof. This was by far my least favorite hole. I looked around fervently, but couldn't find where bonus hole (A) was.

Other Thoughts:

This is among my favorite North Alabama courses on the south side of the Tennessee River. I like it better than nearby courses like Arab, Cullman, Fairview and both Hartselle courses. Its just such a great mix of adrenaline pumping wooded disc golf with lots of play options. If I lived in the area, I would play here all the time. Even though there are a couple bonus holes here now, I'm still crediting this as a 9-hole disc golf course. In my rankings of niners, Patriot Hills is near the top of my leaderboard. In fact, I have it in my top 5 among the 183 niners I've played as of this review. Overall, I'm going with strong a 3.0. If we scored by quarters, I'd drop a 3.25 on it. It the course were to ever bump up to 18 holes, I'd push it up to a 3.5 without question. For those in Huntsville, this is worth a drive over to see, especially to those that enjoy courses like Mastin and Monte Sano.
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2 1
Sugarfree310
Experience: 16.7 years 125 played 1 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Breweeerrr 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Nov 28, 2021 Played the course:once

Pros:

Lots of hole options with benches and bag holders on every hole. Good signage on every hole, the pads are turf with extra hole are natural pads. Some out of bounds on holes 1, 17, and 18.

Cons:

Leaves covering tee pads in fall.
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