Pros:
This weekend was literally the first time I stepped foot in this park since the late 80's. During that time, I was in school at UNCC. Reedy Creek Park seemed like it was out in the middle of nowhere at the time, and I would vist every now and then to play basketball. The outdoor full court is still there, sitting right in the middle of a bunch of tall pines and hardwoods. At least once or maybe twice back then, I vaguely recall playing this disc golf course. I'm pretty sure I played it with one of those HUGE old-school frisbees, because I hadn't even heard of the modern golf disc yet. To put this into perspective, Innova had only been born about 5 years before the Reedy Creek course was established.
The only thing I remember about playing this course back around '89-'90 was that it seemed to be really hard, the course was in the woods, but I definitely recall the fairways being a lot wider! Amazing what 25 years of forest growth can do to a course. From my round this weekend, I came away as a relative newcomer to disc golf just thinking this is a really tough course. We played the short tees, and I just kept thinking the holes should be much easier to score par on with the short distances. I was completely wrong about that. Do not let the difficulty of this course deter you as a beginner, though. This is a really beautiful, scenic course.
I believe just about every hole had long tees (called "stout tees") and short tees. Some were barely a few feet apart, but some were drastically separated to create completely different looks on some of the holes. I think 80% or more of the tee areas had nice benches, and many had permanent trash cans. I did not see any random trash out on the course, either. Maybe saw one or two old beer cans, but the course was really clean overall.
The first hole starts out with a classic split fairway on a very open short hole, but you immediately get hit on the second with a maze of trees and a tee shot over a fairly steep ravine. The third hole hands you a very narrow fairway with a right-to-left tilt. That basket was perched on the edge of a built-up green area using cross ties. Number four is the first one that shows you dramatic differences between stout tees and short tees. Stout tees create somewhat of a left-to-right dogleg, while the short tees show you the basket straight from the pad. Great story here on my shot. I let mine go too early and hyzered hard left onto what I thought was some old roadway. Turns out it was a muck-layered lagoon at the end of the pond behind the tee pad. As I was trying to reach it with a long limb, this guy playing behind us just walks up and takes his shoes and socks off to dig that disc out of the drink. What a great sport, right?
Five is another brutal ravine crossing with uphill to the basket, and then you have to know where you are going for the next tee. There just aren't any directional signs on this course from last basket to next tee (see my "cons" next). The long tee is across the hiking path and to the left, but the short tee is way down the path off to the right. I didn't love this hole from the short tee. Sharp downhill, trees everywhere, and unable to see the basket until you were almost on top of it. Number seven is an unusual twist to the course. I'd love to know what the story is here from the past, because it definitely looks like there were two and maybe three pin locations at one time. This hole drops downhill and to the left, and then you see one short basket over to the left and another perched precariously on the edge of a creek bed ravine. I played the long basket, which turned out to be disaster! Still, a great little hole.
After you complete the first nine, you cross over the road and drop into some of the best holes on the course. It seems to open up from this point, giving you some slightly wider fairways but at the same time longer holes. As you go by the cricket pitch and tee off around by number 14, you start to see some drastic slope to the next holes. This stretch just ate me alive. After looking at the GPS map here for 15, it looks like we never saw the short tee for that hole which should be up to the right of the 14 basket somewhere. Instead, we went all the way down the hill and I think we played the stout tee. That was brutal, straight back up a steep incline to the basket. It builds character, right?
The last stretch of holes ease up on you a bit. I came within 15 feet of my first ace on the downhill right-to-left number 17, and still missed my putt. The last two are pretty good finishing holes.
Cons:
I've been playing all around the Charlotte area now as a beginner for about 6-7 months, so I have grown used to these great courses in the area having well marked directional arrows either on the bottom of the basket pole or up on nearby trees pointing you to the next hole. I was really surprised by the fact that I didn't really see any of these at Reedy Creek. In a couple of places, the next tees are a good distance away from the last basket. You can also struggle a little figuring out where the short tee pad is, too.
This is a minor con, and I think it is really driven by the age of this course and equipment. All of the baskets are dark grey, with a metal white circle sign on top with the hole number. On some of the heavily wooded holes with slope or doglegs, it was really hard to spot the basket. Pay close attention to the hole signs!
Other Thoughts:
For any disc golfer living anywhere near the Charlotte area, playing here is a must-do. This one is truly a historic layout from the very early days of disc golf in the eastern part of the country. I think I would have rated it closer to a 3.75 if that was an option on the scale. WIth a little work on signage and possibly doing something to make the baskets more visible, I can see this course easily getting back up to a 4.