Pros:
Amenities, upkeep, landscape.
Other Thoughts:
Falling Creek Park is a fantastic park with excellent amenities spread across some groomed and wooded hillsides just outside of town. The disc golf course plays mostly along an open hillside dotted by cedar trees, occasionally crossing the Falling Creek itself and dipping into the wooded section of the park. Like the park overall, the hallmarks of the course are its upkeep and amenities, in this case excellent signage and baskets, and firm brick teepads that are just barely long enough, or not quite long enough depending on your view or x-step. The fairways are well defined and well maintained, just about every hole plays up, down, or along a hill, making for some fun shots and a bit of exercise, and the creek and woods are incorporated into the course just enough to add a bit of variety and diverse challenge. Disc-eating cedar trees and holes that for the most part favor distance over touch may be negatives for some players.
Falling Creek is not all about open throws over a picturesque course, but that is the main impression. The upkeep is ideal, and the challenge on many holes involves throwing straight toward the basket and staying away from the cedar trees. The counterbalance, however, is adequate in my view, and provides enough balance to the course to make it one of the finest in the Old Dominion. Getting caught behind a cedar tree is not like getting caught in a stand of hardwoods; oftentimes a saving pitch-out is the only option. And while I wouldn't call Falling Creek a long course by any stretch, it does have a few long holes, including a challenging closing stretch of three legitimate par 4s. Thus, while the course features plenty of birdie opportunities for those that can throw long and straight, it also may impose more doubles upon you than you like, because if you veer off into the trees recovery can be a challenge. Finally, the course does include a few holes with either baskets protected by a wooded area, or with tees coming out of the wooded area, and the stream is in play on a couple holes. These features keep the course from being defined as a purely grip and rip experience.
Overall, Falling Creek Park is well worth a road trip. The landscape and amenities alone make the course a high-end option. Yes, there's not much need for touch off the tee here and the teepads might be a little too short for some. The scenery, fun holes along the hillside and down to the stream, and overall experience, though, well compensate for these shortcomings. What it all adds up to is one of the better disc golf courses in Virginia.
Favorite Hole - #17 - plays downhill through a gap in the trees along the streambed, then back up to a protected basket in the woods.