Pros:
Trophy Lakes is a great, well-rounded and well-designed course that will really challenge intermediate and advanced players from the Blues while offering an enjoyable round with plenty of scoring opportunities from the Whites. With water in play on more than half the holes, the need to throw a good shot is always top of mind.
The Property / Amenities: Trophy Lakes is a pay-to-play course ($8) and requires an electronic pass to get on the property. Unfortunately, the gate system is frequently a headache for first time and repeat customers alike. Once on the property, Trophy offers two sets of concrete tee pads for the White and Blue layouts, and a set of dirt tees for the Red layout. Nearly every hole offers a bench, and trash cans can be found about every 4th or 5th hole. The course playes around the man-made lake and once you've tee'd off from hole 5, you're past the point of 'no return' meaning there trip back to the parking lot and pro shop can be a bit of a hike. Unfortunately there are no portapotties until you've looped back around to about hole 16. Regretably, the signage for many of the holes on the course are dated and occasionally inaccurate, and navigating the course can be a challenge for first time visitors.
Design: Trophy Lakes is an exceptionally well designed course. Intermediate players can expect to throw every type of disc in their bag. A handful of holes allow for a putter off the tee, while the attackable par 4s ask for a driver often followed by a midrange. Trophy's defining feature, unsurprisingly, is the lake that the course plays around. Water comes into play on about 10 of the holes from White, and 11 of the holes from Blue. The Red tees allow players to navigate the course without having to throw directly over water.
This course presents plenty of risk/rewards decisions. Take hole 5 from the Blue tee for example: the player must clear a ~300ft carry with water continuing down the entire right side of the fairway. If you decide to play conservative and hyzer to the left early, you will likely be left with a difficult RHFH flex shot, or flip-up BH with difficult footing. If you choose to risk more of the water and push the disc straighter for longer, you will be rewarded with a wider fairway with more options to work the disc up to the basket.
The holes present good shot variety with both right-to-left, left-to-right, straight, long bombers, short par 3s, big hyzers, flex lines, etc. If there is one fault I can give Trophy Lakes, it's that certain holes can only be attacked with a RHBH/LHFH (4, 5, 8, 10 white, 11 blue, 16A, 16 blue). In general, the course is more friendly to right-handed throwers than left.
Difficulty: From the White tees, Trophy is not an overly difficult course for intermediate players. The par 3s average in the 270-310ft range, and the par 4s are very attackable with relatively little risk. While a 900-rated round is about -1, if you're throwing the disc well, -5 or lower can easily be in reach.
Trophy's full potential is realized when playing from the Blues. It is a pro-level layout that will not only test your ability to throw the disc, but your decision-making and resillience as well. Par 3s from the Blues average between 310-350ft, the par 4s become very challenging to attack, and there are very few "gimme" birdies. Hole 11, for example, requires a 340ft water carry to have any reasonable chance of birdie. +7 is a 900-rated round from the Blues and -5 is 1000-rated.
Other Thoughts:
While Trophy Lakes is often seen as the best course in Charleston (for good reason), the property owners have relatively little interest in the sport. Even though discs are frequently retrieved from the lake, getting them back proves to be a hassle due to infrequent and inconsistent pro shop hours. With the recent addition of the floating obstacle courses, disc golfers can expect to deal with loud children while playing holes 11, 16A, and white 16, and risk hitting parked cars lining the OB area of 17. The original hole 18 is frequently unavailable to play during the summer due to non-disc golf customers parking on it's fairway. Luckily the local club has been afforded the opportunity to modify the course during the peak times for these non-disc golf activities, and new holes have been created that aren't available year-round.