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Cave Run reviews
19
0
A Walk Through Cave Run
Reviewed:
Played on:Jun 25, 2022
Played the course:once
Pros:
+ The course plays mostly in a peaceful wooded part of a much larger recreation area. Before or after a round, a player can enjoy tons of activities.
+ Several wooded fairways force the player to plan and consider.
+ Most tee pads are made of solid and sturdy concrete.
+ The tee signs have colors that stand out from the green of the course and tell the pars and distances, but...
+ Several wooded fairways force the player to plan and consider.
+ Most tee pads are made of solid and sturdy concrete.
+ The tee signs have colors that stand out from the green of the course and tell the pars and distances, but...
Cons:
- ...They have no diagram of the fairway ahead. Plus, they are just laminated paper stapled to trees or posts. Some were on the ground or missing altogether.
- With two notable exceptions, the grounds are largely flat.
- The pamphlets and info board show some kind of old 9-hole layout.
- The baskets are misnumbered. All of them. Misnumbered.
- Very few 'next' indicators.
- No lost disc box or practice basket that I saw in late June 2022.
- With two notable exceptions, the grounds are largely flat.
- The pamphlets and info board show some kind of old 9-hole layout.
- The baskets are misnumbered. All of them. Misnumbered.
- Very few 'next' indicators.
- No lost disc box or practice basket that I saw in late June 2022.
Other Thoughts:
To my mind, holes14 and 15 have the best optics. Those are both shaded and deep quiet woods far away from everything else. A disc golfer can feel at peace there. Hole10, meanwhile, plays in a flat wide open field. It is featureless and easily the most boring hole of the course.
Contrast that to hole9! The tee pad is at the very top of the dam that you drove over to get to the course. It may be about as wide open as hole10, but that steady steep drop over the 790-foot fairway was such a shot of adrenaline after so many ho-hum holes. Also, I played hole10 as my first hole because I didn't know where hole1 was. So hole9 was the perfect finale for my first time playing Cave Run. It's just a shame that the road is right next to the tee pad. One bad breeze or slight griplock could spell trouble.
The rest of the course at Cave Run poses little to no danger to the public. You're either in a field throwing away from people or in the middle of woods with nobody else around. As it is part of a larger park, a lot of effort has gone into making the grounds presentable. I played here just as summer was starting, yet the grasses were short, and the dense undergrowth was kept at bay as much as possible. Within the woods, the roots and rocks underfoot have been dealt with. Safety is well-managed here. And the fairways do a fair job at testing your throws that finish right and left, even if it is all mostly flat.
Infrastructure is a little different. The tee signs are flimsy laminated paper without diagrams. The baskets are misnumbered, which caused me a great deal of confusion for the first few holes that I played. There are only a few 'next' signs, which I've always said is one of the key features of a disc golf course outside of tees and baskets.
Aside from hole9, hole17 is another downhill giant-- about half the size of hole9 but still an impressive look. Just be careful walking down those hills, of course. Yeah, hole9 is no joke.
The other holes at Cave Run don't match that kind of energy and presence, though. I liked the overlapping shadows and peace found in holes5 through 8 and again from 12 through 16. Their tree-dodging challenges were all fun in the same way. Yet still, a grand downhill tee off always sticks in a person's memory more easily than a string of familiar wooded holes. And it has the unfortunate side effect of dwarfing the other holes, making them seem lesser than they might otherwise be. (The larger the crown jewel, the smaller the other gems appear.)
If you are a course bagger like I sometimes pretend to be, then this course is worth one visit. If you live nearby, then it is a perfectly suitable course to train and practice on. Really, some of those wooded holes are dense enough to cause many players to stop and think. And the two giant wide open downhill throws have the kind of terrain I wish I could play on more often because I've got a soft spot for downhill throws.
But, in closing, Cave Run still has things to do. Infrastructure improvement would be a great start. Get those basket numbers and tee sign numbers to agree, and upgrade the tee signs. A lost disc box couldn't hurt, either. As for the disc golfing side, it's neither great nor grotesque. Holes9 and 17 might not be enough to compensate for most of the other holes that are grindy and similar, but that just means it's still maturing, right? I've got a good feeling about this course, but only time will tell.
Contrast that to hole9! The tee pad is at the very top of the dam that you drove over to get to the course. It may be about as wide open as hole10, but that steady steep drop over the 790-foot fairway was such a shot of adrenaline after so many ho-hum holes. Also, I played hole10 as my first hole because I didn't know where hole1 was. So hole9 was the perfect finale for my first time playing Cave Run. It's just a shame that the road is right next to the tee pad. One bad breeze or slight griplock could spell trouble.
The rest of the course at Cave Run poses little to no danger to the public. You're either in a field throwing away from people or in the middle of woods with nobody else around. As it is part of a larger park, a lot of effort has gone into making the grounds presentable. I played here just as summer was starting, yet the grasses were short, and the dense undergrowth was kept at bay as much as possible. Within the woods, the roots and rocks underfoot have been dealt with. Safety is well-managed here. And the fairways do a fair job at testing your throws that finish right and left, even if it is all mostly flat.
Infrastructure is a little different. The tee signs are flimsy laminated paper without diagrams. The baskets are misnumbered, which caused me a great deal of confusion for the first few holes that I played. There are only a few 'next' signs, which I've always said is one of the key features of a disc golf course outside of tees and baskets.
Aside from hole9, hole17 is another downhill giant-- about half the size of hole9 but still an impressive look. Just be careful walking down those hills, of course. Yeah, hole9 is no joke.
The other holes at Cave Run don't match that kind of energy and presence, though. I liked the overlapping shadows and peace found in holes5 through 8 and again from 12 through 16. Their tree-dodging challenges were all fun in the same way. Yet still, a grand downhill tee off always sticks in a person's memory more easily than a string of familiar wooded holes. And it has the unfortunate side effect of dwarfing the other holes, making them seem lesser than they might otherwise be. (The larger the crown jewel, the smaller the other gems appear.)
If you are a course bagger like I sometimes pretend to be, then this course is worth one visit. If you live nearby, then it is a perfectly suitable course to train and practice on. Really, some of those wooded holes are dense enough to cause many players to stop and think. And the two giant wide open downhill throws have the kind of terrain I wish I could play on more often because I've got a soft spot for downhill throws.
But, in closing, Cave Run still has things to do. Infrastructure improvement would be a great start. Get those basket numbers and tee sign numbers to agree, and upgrade the tee signs. A lost disc box couldn't hurt, either. As for the disc golfing side, it's neither great nor grotesque. Holes9 and 17 might not be enough to compensate for most of the other holes that are grindy and similar, but that just means it's still maturing, right? I've got a good feeling about this course, but only time will tell.
