Pros:
A stunning course, with some of the most spectacular holes in the state. Despite the score I'm giving here, Rockness is a must-play for anyone in the area.
+ 27 wooded holes that dramatically work their way up and down hills and alongside creeks, to baskets perched on rocky outcrops. The setting for this course is awesome, and chock full of memorable holes.
+ Some of these holes are simply astonishing, breathtaking, and unforgettable. It's hard to pick a favorite - perhaps hole 21's green next to a small waterfall, or hole 11 or 14's wooded hallways and peninsula creekside greens, or hole 5's downhill drive to a basket encased within a rocky fortress, the highlights here are truly astounding.
+ Great variety of shot shapes and distances, you will likely throw every disc in your bag at some point. Though the normal 1-18 layout only includes one par 4, the loop of holes 20-22 adds two more, plus an excellent par 5.
+ The wooded fairways are all wide and well-maintained. Yellow-banded Innova Discatcher baskets are easy to spot around the many blind corners here. Holes 2 and 9 are more open and offer a welcome relief from the thick woods elsewhere, but still require technical tee shots.
+ Most holes have two, three, or even four teepad options. The middle whites are by far the most frequently played, as the course flows best in that layout, and the difficulty is reasonable for most skill levels. Short red tees are aimed at beginners. The whites, blues, and occasional orange tees are filled with fine granite that play much better than you might expect. Small colorful dragon sculptures mark the color of each tee, which is an extremely cool and unique touch.
+ Outstanding tee signs that clearly show the hole layouts, and also well-crafted descriptions to provide more color. Arrows between holes help considerably with navigation.
+ Playing the 'normal' 1-18 layout allows for two nine-hole loops that return to the parking area, which is always welcome. The additional holes (A-E, 19, and 20-22) are all found along the front 9, and can easily be looped in whenever desired. Even if short on time, I would still highly recommend playing holes 20-22 at the very least, as they introduce more par 4+ hole experiences, and hole 21 is a must-play disc golf experience for the area.
+ Quiet, peaceful, and never crowded. This is a wonderful escape from the traffic of the Triangle, and is really not that far away.
Cons:
- While the fairways are all reasonably wide, there are quite a few holes where I find the required shapes to be puzzling, strange, and borderline impossible to consistently execute on. I end up getting a par on these holes every single time, and the few times I've birdied them have been a result of lucky kicks or long putts.
- The most frustrating example to me is hole 11, which is one of the most gorgeous disc golf holes in the entire state. And yet, seemingly the only pure line is an extreme RHBH flex shot with something overstable, that must perfectly pan its way downhill through a narrow hallway of massive trees all the way to the peninsula green. Or perhaps an even more exacting hyzer flip with considerable turn and a late finish? Get the angle just slightly wrong, and you will likely kick into the rough, and likely take an instant bogey. I've yet to find any 'safe' way to reliably play this hole for par. The very few times I've managed to birdie this hole have felt like a miraculous accident. A disc golf hole this picturesque deserves better. And it's not the only example like this, which if you care about scores, can build to a frustrating experience.
- The long blue tees rarely get played, as evidenced by their much rougher fairways. The probable reason is because these tees are demanding and difficult to an unreasonable degree, and also do not flow well. No matter how good you think you are, these blue tees just aren't very fun. The orange tees, where they exist, seem to play much better as an advanced option, but don't seem to be as well-marked. I'm not even sure where to find many of them, as I don't think they're shown on the tee signs.
- In the fall and winter, the leaves on the ground are thicker than on any other course in central NC. It is treacherously easy to lose drivers that burrow deep into the leaf layer. Then in the spring and summer, the thick foliage blocks visibility of disc flights. There are quite a few blind throws on this course, and obviously kicks into the rough are always a threat, and in both cases it is often impossible to even guess at where your disc might have landed. Big elevation changes add to the uncertainty, as your disc may have glided or rolled huge distances downhill without your knowing. As a result, this course seems to swallow up lost discs, at all times of the year. For an entirely wooded course with no pond carries or thick brambles, I've lost a shocking number of discs here.
- A few fairways and hole transitions are extremely steep, and may be tough for folks with bad knees, coordination/balance issues, etc. A few of them also seem to be eroding into becoming even steeper over time. Switchbacks and/or steps would be much better solutions for these kinds of slopes. But even the steps on hole 3 have already eroded into becoming largely useless.
- Navigation is a little tricky in a few places, as there are a few places where multiple holes' tees share the same immediate space. For historical reasons, hole numbering is also weird, as the course flows best as 1-5, A-E, 19, 6-7, 20-22, then finally 8-18, which I'm sure is clear as mud to first time visitors (some of these jumps are due to mini-loops that can optionally be skipped, but letters feel like the better solution for all of them, rather than adding numbered holes in-between). And Hole 5's blue tee plays to a completely separate basket on a completely separate fairway, and is therefore in all respects a completely separate hole, and I genuinely have no idea why it's still called Hole 5.
Other Thoughts:
I typically emerge from this course feeling a little frustrated. Either because I lost a disc in the leaves or around a blind corner, or because I simply cannot figure out some of these odd fairways. Judging purely by the design of its holes, I personally feel that the 'fun factor' of this course isn't all that high.
That all sounds very negative, but I suppose it's telling that I've driven an hour and returned to this course 20+ times over the years. Some of these holes are jaw-dropping and unforgettable, and those feelings have not faded on repeat visits. Even if I didn't play disc golf, I would consider this to be one of the more scenic hikes in central NC. That we get to watch the flight of our discs past these gorgeous creeks and wooded hallways is such a special opportunity. Who cares if some of these holes can't be consistently birdied? So maybe the best way to approach this course is to not care about your scores at all, and just appreciate the surrounding landscape. Still, in the back of my mind, I wish some of these holes made a little more sense.