Pros:
Edwin M. Griffin Preserve is an interesting location for a disc golf course. As a preserve, this is a nice piece of land. As a place for disc golf....not so much.
- The biggest positive of my review is that I'm not going to give this course a zero. **SPOILER ALERT**: I'm giving this course a 0.5*** Now if you want, you can skip the rest of this review.
- The best thing this 'course' has going for it is that it's a very nice piece of land in the rich, expensive part of town. Driving to and from this course, I passed million dollar homes. I had no idea Spartanburg had such a nice part of town. That said, having a disc golf course, even in its most simplistic version, doesn't seem like it fits in this part of town.
- The concept here is simple. Tee off from the previous hole sign and aim for the next hole sign. To give some credit, there are some decent hole layouts here. I enjoyed any combination of holes #6 - 9 that involved throwing up or down a slight hill. The problem is that you basically throw down to the baskets on holes #6 & 9, and out of it on 7 & 10. Playing one hole here would be nice, but not using one nice plot of land on 4 holes.
- There's a wide variety in hole distances. If the course map is correct, #18 is a legit long hole, throwing across an open field. I bring that up because I spent several minutes searching for #17 (which would be the tee for #18) and couldn't find it. There are also plenty of holes shorter than 150 feet.
- The preserve keeps going a ways further past where the course ends. Behind the back end of the course - near holes #10 & 11 - is an impressive bridge that crosses a wide creek. This would actually be a nice spot to go for a trail run.
Cons:
I'll keep my negatives brief and pretty toned down. You can't deny the fact this is barely a functioning course. Anyone going here looking to play is wasting their time. I can only see this course being visited as a means of adding to your played total.
- This course has no logical rhyme or reason to it. I'm guessing it's intended for beginners and families. If that's the case there are basket locations that are way too difficult/offer too high of a risk of a lost disc. #4 for example is located on a narrow walking path. To the left and right of the path are drop offs to thick underbrush and/or water. Add to that, holes like #5 which is longer with a narrow fairway and the same water/underbrush to the left of the fairway and #18, with its length, seem to also play above a first-timers skill level.
- Without a map, this course would be virtually impossible to play. To give credit, even though it's poorly hand-drawn and not to scale, the map on this site is pretty accurate. Without the map, you would be lost after hole #3. At other points, you'll see multiple baskets and would have no clue where to throw.
- Some holes are complete jokes. As mentioned above, a fair number of holes are short. That said, there are several that are straight, wide-open and can't be longer than 100 feet. How can you have holes that might be 500 feet+ (#18) and 75-foot holes on the same course? Again, who is your target audience?
- There's really nothing appealing about this course. The open field in the front of the course has tall grass and a ton of fire ant hills, so it's not even conducive for practice throws. Add to that the fact there aren't real baskets here, and you can't even practice putting. Even if I lived in one of the nice houses close to the preserve, I wouldn't even consider this a place to use for practice.
Other Thoughts:
The EGP is there. It's a course and can be played. I've been wanting to check out just how 'different' this course was for quite some time. Let's just say I wasn't disappointed.
- Call me crazy, but if this were only a 9-hole object course, you could actually turn it into a semi-decent short course. As I said, there are some nice holes. By some, I'd say maybe a third of them weren't bad. Take those four to six decent holes, polish them up a little bit, and add a couple more holes of that same caliber, and there's a pleasant, neighborhood nine-holer. As an 18-hole layout, this course just isn't sustainable.
- This isn't the worst course I've ever played, but it's not too far from the bottom. On top of that, I don't think the locals even know this is a course. I passed a lady who was walking the preserve, and she seemed a little confused that I was throwing discs on the walking trail.
- The course seems to be a complete afterthought. I have a feeling the basket markers won't be replaced as they rot/break down/disappear. Over time this course will probably have less and less holes until there are just several markers remaining. And that might not be a bad thing.