(3.168 Rating) A long and flat lightly wooded course with a few pockets.
- CHALLENGING - Sunshine Oaks is power players kind of course. The short Red layout will require 325-foot power to routinely break par. The long Yellow layout is an 8,000 foot par 60 with a few technical twists. Players will likely need plus 400-foot power to crack par on the long layout routinely. There is also some mild technical shots and shot placement planning on the par 4s. The long placement on (1) is a great example of a multi-play hole that needs a well placed bomb to be able to attack the basket on the next shot. The Yellow layout is ideal for Pros and MA1s and the Red layout is ideal for MA2s
- NATURAL BEAUTY AND MAINTENANCE - I went with 55 percentile on this category. The best aspect is the upkeep of the course grounds. On my second time out here, they were already mowing the shortish 4 inch long grass. A couple holes have a little extra charm to them such as on hole (7) which is across a small shallow creek.
- TEES AND BASKETS - The pads here are glorious. Long, wide and with a foul line extension. Players will need it too as some of these holes need 500-foot action to leave a birdie chance. There are benches too at the back of every tee, which are very much needed on this longer than normal layout. The baskets are also top notch. Pro 28 DISCatchers, my personal favorite.
- NAVIGATION AND SIGNAGE - Well done course map and community board. Navigation could be tricky for first timers due to the openness, but all one needs to do is peak at the map that they should have photographed and boom, back on track. The tee signage is effective with all the required information. There are a couple noticeable errors on the signs, but it's not even worth a 0.01 rating deduction. Tee sign (6) far placement is off by at least 100 feet. The course map doesn't list the short placement on (10). Tee sign (14) indicates that the par to the short basket is a par 3 while the course map indicates that it's a par 4. The course is also very cart friendly.

Not enough trees to provide shade and intrigue.
- RED LAYOUT - Since I don't live that far away, I elected to throw both layouts before dropping my review. The Red layout comprises of a shorter red banded basket on 9 of the 18 holes. In every case, the gameplay to the short basket is noticeably inferior to the farther yellow basket, except on (7). Red basket (1) has zero trees in play unless its airmailed well past. Holes (3), (6) and (16) have one tree in play. Several single basket holes also lack tree intrigue, such as on holes (4), (6) and (17). Had the yellow baskets not existed here on the 2 basket holes, I probably would have scored this course a 2.5. Half of the holes are very boring.
- ONE TEE - This is amongst the most money I've seen dropped on a course that didn't have two tees. It really misses the mark on skill friendliness. MA1s and even Pros will love the opportunities to air it out. However, the appeal for those with only a 300-foot max arm is just not going to be here in most cases. Why does the short layout have two plus 400-foot par 3s? That type of distance already fits the game of those throwing the long layout. Makes no sense.
- GIMICK ISLAND - My favorite looking basket is no doubt number (4). It's literally been fabricated and painted to resemble a rocket. Frig'n awesome. Unfortunately, it has been planted in an unjust fake OB island. For those that can't clear 300 feet in the air, they will all automatically lose a shot through no fault of their own. Easily my least favorite hole on the course.
- VARIETY FOR AN 18 HOLE COURSE - The parcel here at Sunshine Oaks is big, but bland. There is a lot of mindless open filler. Water only comes into play once and elevation change never registers. I liked the dynamics on a few holes, but an equal amount were forgettable.
- DRAINAGE - I didn't take off any score for this, but be cognizant that this flat course doesn't drain the best. My first round here I had to deal with a half dozen spongy fairways. Pack waterproof shoes just in case. Please note that Huntsville is typically wettest January through April.

I had high hopes for this course initially, but I walked away with too much of a meh feeling by the end of both of my rounds here. I just can't get into a course that has 4000 feet of open filler in it. I went back and forth on whether to score this one a 3.0 or 3.5. To me, the land dynamics at local similar style courses such as Indian Creek, UAH, John Hunt and Sharon Johnson are all better than here. Thus I feel a bit content that when I tallied the numbers, that it fell short of the 3.25 threshold. I don't think the course is destination worthy beyond a 40-minute drive. I'd rather replay all of those noted courses again, before here. Outside the area, it reminds me of courses like Eastgate in south Alabama, Camp Jordan in Nooga and Victor Ashe in Knoxville,

- Large, nice, new teepads on each hole.
- Full color signs that are accurate and have OB info
- Half the holes have short baskets for the Red layout. This is helpful as most of those are on the longest holes which allows more skill levels to play competitively.
- While the majority of the course is very open, there is still a good variety of shots required and some small gaps to hit. A few shots are specifically forehand shots (RHFH) while most seem to cater to backhand (or are open enough where it doesn't matter)
- Variety in length is also present, although it does skew long typically. The shortest Gold hole is 288 while the longest Gold hole is 722. The average hole length for the Gold layout is 437. This is a course for big arms.
- One water hazard on hole 7. It's a small creek right at the basket.
- Above average beauty in a well taken care of park. I hope that the city can keep the grass mowed consistently.
- Dedicated disc golfing space. There shouldn't be too many people other than disc golfers on the course. After the playground is finished and more people utilize the park that might change.
- Bench on every hole. Every tee pad has a nice metal bench.

- Lack of elevation. This course is board flat other than the basket of 10 being on a tiny ridge at the edge of the park.
- The course appears to not drain well at all, probably because it's so flat. There were large puddles on several holes and many other wet spots. I wouldn't recommend playing after a heavy rain.
- The transition from 4 to 5 is a lengthy walk across the parking lot. The rest of the course flows nicely.
- Hole 10 has a walking trail deep and left of the basket which could be a safety hazard on a windy day.

This is a long course that requires very long throws. Even the shorter Red layout has two par 3s that are over 400. I will be back as it isn't far from home and I think it's a good addition to the disc golf scene in the Huntsville/Madison area. This side of town needed another full size course.