Monday, September 30, 2013

Glenn C. Hilton Memorial Park Disc Golf Course – Hickory, NC

I was lucky enough to have some time to play some disc golf while visiting friends in Hickory. The course was really close to their house, so I took the morning and checked out this 24-hole course.

I had printed a map of the course from the pdga website, so it made finding the flow of the course pretty easily. The course starts with a mostly open hole, which I actually enjoyed.

Then you head into the woods. For a long time. Lots of woods.

Thankfully, there are a handful of interesting holes to break up the tree-fulness this course has to offer. Some tricky pin placements next to a creek and one in a tree stump.

But then, back to the trees.

Then, there were a few holes with absolutely no decipherable fairway. Just a wall of trees to throw down and hope you plinko off in a positive direction. I always have problems with these holes. Even if it’s a super narrow fairway, I’m fine with it. Just show me where you intended me to throw the shot. Hole 16, I believe, was the worst I’ve seen in a while. Just no point leaving your eyes open to play this hole.

The last hole was one that some message boards talked about. It’s a throw off the side of one hill, across a wooded valley with a creek, to a basket on the side of another hill. The throw isn’t very far – I used a mid-range and slammed it into the side of the hill right next to the basket. Is it an interesting hole? Not on its own merit. However, compared to the wooded holes that encompass 95% of the course, this hole is pretty fun to play, especially right before walking to your car.

Overall, I’m not a huge fan of this course. It was a little monotonous with THAT many holes in the woods. I will admit I’m a little biased since I’m not a finesse player and wooded holes with incredibly narrow (or in some cases, non-existent) fairways. But they did a couple of creative things with pin placements that I was a fan of. I’ll likely play this one again when I visit my friends again, but I don’t think I’d fly down just to play this one.

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