Pros:
I admit that I didn't read any reviews before playing Robbins Park. It was on my way in between a business meeting and downtown Charlotte, where I was staying for work. I've already played Bradford, and wanted to bag the other public North Meck course. I knew from the rating and the ranking in NC's top 25 tracks that Robbins was a good course. But all of the buzz I've ever heard about Charlotte courses has been limited to the classics (Nevin, Hornets Nest, Renny Gold, and Bradford). I had not heard anything about Robbins and was basically expecting another quality, but not necessarily phenomenal, Charlotte course. I pleasantly surprised! Robbins is outstanding. In my opinion, it's one of the very best courses, not just near Charlotte, but anywhere in the Carolinas. I'm an intermediate player. I read in the designer's review that he designed it with intermediate players in mind. I have to say he absolutely nailed it. This is the perfect intermediate course.
+ Terrific design and variety. There are so many great holes using elevation, risk/reward, ultra-fast greens, or all of the above. A creek winds its way through the course. Many of the baskets are situated near it or on hills that slope sharply down to it. This track forces a decision on putts. You'd better commit or you're rolling into the creek. And the elevation use is outstanding. Uphills, downhills, ridge holes, and valley holes. Also throw in hyzer lines, anhyzers, flicks, straight. There are short, technical holes. You'll use putters of the tee, lots of mids, and a few fairway drivers...I mean, it just has everything. Towards the end of the round, I started to think, "What am I going to mark this course down for? Maybe a lack of any open holes or any par 4's." Then I got to the back 9 and Robbins even has that. Great use of OB on the open par 4. Great mando, dogleg, wooded par 4. A few holes to really air it out. Seriously, no exaggeration, this is one of the best designs I've ever played.
+ Lots of navigation arrows, good tee box signs, easy navigation.
+ Good baskets. One that is down a hill and hard to see from the tee has a tall flag on it so you can see it. Very helpful.
+ The designer thought of everything on this course. There is fencing and even a "clown wall" protecting the tee boxes that are within range of errant shots from other holes. There's also a fence obstacle, large downed trees that they incorporated into the design. It's super creative and interesting.
+ It's a very pretty park with mature forest and nice, green grass for the open holes. It's bordered by a very nice neighborhood. If I lived in Charlotte, I'd want to live there! It's like a country club, but with a DG course instead of ball golf.
+ There is a huge range of outcomes on each hole. I was throwing 2 discs and racked up several birdies, but also several bogies. Rarely did I go birdie/birdie or bogey/bogey, but I got lots of birdie/bogeys. Lots of separation based on how you play a hole points to great design.
Cons:
I struggle with any cons, so these are nitpicks:
- I played in late winter. I didn't have much of a problem with underbrush, but I can see how the summer would be rougher. There are some thorns. Also there is a decent risk of disc loss with lots of leaves and several blind tee shots. (Hard to complain about this, because I like blind tee shots!)
- Some of the tees are a little too short or narrow. One is a tee on top of an older tee, so slightly uneven.
- Probably the only legit one is it might be a little too easy for advanced players or pros. But again, it was designed for intermediate players, so I had no issues with it.
Thank you for the review. Tee on tee: Actually, I poured the shorter looking base later to prevent erosion around the tee and need for a semi-permanent retaining wall. We had extra concrete...looking back I might have made a different decision. Hole 17's tee become shorter when they built the ditch behind it.