Pros:
Creek Wise is an absolute work-in-progress. With some more work and maintenance, and a lot of patience, in time this should be an intriguing course.
- Lots of potential. In all honesty, the course shouldn't be open for play or be listed on the site. There are 18 baskets (easily identified), there are 18 tee areas (some more clearly defined than others) and 18 fairways (ditto). The course is raw, but you can clearly see the makings of some good hole layouts. Things would be a lot better if this course weren't listed as open until the end of 2015 or beginning of 2016.
- Good variety of hole layouts. The first seven holes are in the open; the final 11 are all wooded. The open holes included a little bit of elevation, highlighted by the very enjoyable second hole. #2 is a downhill, 292-foot layout to a basket in a small opening between several trees and over a small creek. The wooded holes have a solid mixture of doglegs & straight lines, very tight to not so tight. When all is complete, who knows how many more trees will come down to help better define/create fairways for the wooded layouts.
- Course presents a fair amount of challenge, especially to one's mid-range game. The wooded holes force you to hit your lines, be that throwing on a rope, or carving shots around trees. The 18 holes average 244 feet, ranging in length from 146 - 329 feet. For the wooded stretch, if you can hit your target up to 250 feet, you'll do well. If not, you'll be hitting trees left and right, leading to lots of scrambling and frustrations.
- Course is almost completely isolated from the rest of the park & church activities. After the first three holes, with the possible exception of #6, you're completely removed from everything else.
- A ton of work has already gone into this course design, and I expect much more to take place before it's complete. Take a look at the course map posted on this site. On it, you'll see that holes #3 - 7 are shown as being in the woods. Those trees have all been removed, or at least most parts of those trees are gone. There are still stumps galore throughout this stretch. On a positive note, I really admired having the lined paths between holes. That was a huge help for navigating this stretch.
Cons:
Tons of work still needs to be done before this course can be considered playable, and more importantly, safe. The only three holes that are truly complete are the first three. Holes #4 - 7 still need stumps removed, ground leveled and many branches/downed trees hauled away. The wooded holes still appear to need many trees and/or branches need to be cut back and dragged away. There are still too many instances of undefined/unnatural fairways and/or angles/doglegs to create fair hole designs. It turns challenging layouts into poke and hope holes.
- As for the safety, that comes with the amount of stumps, cut trees and branches to dodge while navigating the course. Being on a church's property, and in a neighborhood/residential area, I have a feeling this course is going to bring in mostly casual/beginning players and/or families. With the course in its current state, I wouldn't want kids walking/running through the course. Seasoned disc golfers (those of us who use this site, for example) are used to playing in rugged conditions. Those who are playing with their family, and carry one or two discs probably won't be as prepared for some of the ruggedness.
- Not sure who this course is designed for. I sense it will be more for casual and beginning players based on being a church-owned course and its short layout. If it is for that level of player, the layout of the wooded holes is far superior to that skill level. Casual players are going to be deep in the woods on the wooded holes after they keep hitting trees. That also brings in the safety factor again.
- Signage isn't that great right now. I'm betting this will be a moot point once work is complete. Right now there are signs directing you towards the next hole, or towards the basket (again, an experienced player doesn't need to be pointed toward a basket on a 250 foot hole, but a beginner would) on some holes. I suspect there will be tee signs with good visuals of the hole layout and correct distances listed.
- Not a con per se, but I thought it a little odd that you tee off on the edge of a cemetery on one hole - #6 - then walk through the cemetery on your way back to the parking lot.
Other Thoughts:
Creek Wise has the potential to be a very fun layout. The wooded holes reminded me a lot of Tidal Creek (I'm not calling it by its embarrassing new nickname) in West Ashley (Charleston), SC due to their extreme tightness. I have higher hopes this course will create more natural, fairer fairways once its completed.
- It will be interesting to see what skill level this course settles on once it's done. It'd be nice to have a fun, quick-round 18-hole layout here, both for locals and travelers on I-40.
- Once this is done, anyone travelling on I-40 between Hickory and Asheville will have an 18-hole course every 15-20 minutes: multiple courses in Asheville; multiple Black Mountain course; Creek Wise in Marion; Catawba Meadows in Morganton; Glenn Hilton in Hickory. It's maybe not the most challenging set of courses; but, if you're travelling with a family and you need to stop, you have options.
- I hope to play this course again once it's complete. My rating won't be completely accurate now (too high) and once complete (almost certainly too low). I'm giving this course a 2.0 taking into account its current playability (closer to a 1 - 1.5) and my estimation of its final design (probably a 2.5ish - 3.0 range). At this point, my review is probably more reflective of the course than my rating, at least until that becomes outdated too.
- Sad to hear the course is no more. It had potential to be a fun layout. A lack of upkeep or support is what ultimately led to its demise.