Pros:
Sandhills is a pleasant little, shorter course. Accuracy is key here - not just to score well, but also to avoid putting other park goers at risk!
- The course in and of itself is fine. I enjoyed the flow of the course. Despite a couple of flawed layouts, this course has a lot of variety to offer. The negative is that you can't completely take each individual course in a vacuum.
- The course does a job of building up the challenge. Hole #1 is a good opening hole - a little challenge, but also offer a birdie chance. The first six holes are open to varying degrees before you finally move into the woods on #7, and where the difficulty ratchets up a few notches.
- That said, there are birdie chances throughout the course. A very nice touch that this course offers three easy, birdie-able/ace run holes at the end of the round. After the most challenging hole - #14 - a tough 312-footer that plays straight uphill, holes #15 - 17 are all short - all under 200 feet, and all offer different looks. I missed a 20-foot birdie putt on one; nailed a 15-foot putt birdie on another; and had a real ace run on the final for a tap-in birdie.
- There is variety throughout the round. Holes #1-6 are 'open' in that they're on the grass, and not in the woods. Still you get wide open (#3) to tighter wooded (#4 & 5); uphill (#2) and a downhill, dogleg left (#6). In the woods, you've still got a good variance of doglegs, elevation-factor holes, risk/reward, and so forth.
- Course puts all the emphasis on the mid-range game. As stated, there are no long holes here and the average length is just under 259 feet. If you can control your mid-range shots, you'll do extremely well here. If not, you'll get frustrated hitting trees and be forced to scramble to salvage par.
- For the most part, this course is a rec-level/casual level friendly course. Coming from Charlotte, I'm used to heavily wooded courses, so this didn't seem like it would be a deterrent for a new player.
Cons:
There are a couple obvious flaws that should be addressed sooner rather than later. They seem relatively minor but could become bigger if left unattended.
- Course comes dangerously close to other park activities, especially with some blind shots. To me, the biggest culprit is #9. Again, in a vacuum, this would be an awesome, fun hole. You start out throwing in the woods to an open, downhill sloping, dogleg right, 307-foot layout. The problem is the park road winds around what's entirely the putting/approach area of the hole. If you go left, you're in the road. If you go long by 30 feet, you're in the road. The problem is you're throwing blind from the tee. I hate that it's only going to take one time for something to happen and this course becomes an issue. Sadly, I feel the layout needs to change.
- The second big, potential issue is the safety of walking up and down some of the hills. Holes like #2, 14, 17 need stairs, or at least better goat paths as people are having to walk up and down dirt hills. I was having to essentially penguin walk down #14 to get to the tee pad, throw my tee shot back up the hill, then walk cautiously up it again. Again, it's only going to take one person getting hurt and the course is at risk.
- The third thing is that navigation, as a whole, can be a little tricky at times. I had a map printed out, and even with it, I still had problems finding holes at times. Going from #3 to 4 was a little harder than should be. There's a stretch of holes from #7 to #13 where, at multiple times, you could easily walk straight to the wrong hole simply because it's closest or easiest to spot. The walk from #16 basket to #17 tee was bad because there was a neighborhood entrance to the park, plus walking trails, intersecting with the transition. Arrows and/or signage would be very helpful in these spots.
- There seemed to be plenty of unused land across the road (where #15 - 17 play) that could be incorporated into this course. This course could be better if it were spaced out a little more. I played right when the gates opened on a Sunday morning, so I had the course to myself. On a busy day, I think there could be some issues, especially in that stretch of #7 - 13.
Other Thoughts:
Sandhills was a great way to kick off a one-day disc golf trip for me along I-26. Even though I had to wait 30 minutes for the park ranger to finally show up (along with some locals who expected the gates to be opened at 7, not 7:55), I thought this was a great course for a relaxing, warmup round.
- The 18 holes themselves were fine. I'd take this course layout, and enjoy playing it frequently. Throw in the realities of this course's flaws - both current and potential - and it does take a little luster off of it.
- The course did achieve in making simple hole designs enjoyable. #5 & 6 were way too enjoyable for as simplistic as they were. #5 is a dogleg left, semi-open hole that has a semi-canopy of tree branches. Getting a 2 on this hole will require an excellent tee shot. #6 was the slight downhill, 352-foot shot that has the fairway narrow just after halfway, before opening up to a large putting circle. If you try to cut your tee shot too close to the left, you'll be in the woods, and will most likely take away any chance to salvage par.
- The course had that good recreational to mid-level feel to it, reminding me a lot of Sugaw Creek in Charlotte, in that regard. A great example here is on #6, which has a 352-foot layout that has the fairway narrow just after halfway, before opening up to a large putting circle. If you try to cut your tee shot too close to the left, you'll be in the woods, and will most likely take away any chance to salvage par.
- If you're from the region, think of a challenge level similar to Timmons (Greenville), Trails (Anderson) and Reedy Creek & Sugaw Creek (Charlotte). Add this to one to that category.