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Gaston Christian School reviews
9
0
DiscGolfCraig
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience:
20 years
604 played
547 reviews
Simple, if unmemorable, layout.
Reviewed:
Played on:Jul 7, 2022
Played the course:once
Pros:
You ever finish a course and feel completely indifferent about it? Welcome to Gaston Christian School, where you'll have a quarter mile walk back to the parking lot to feel (perhaps less) indifferent about it.
- Course is a work in progress. It will get a tad better when completed.
- The course plays through the back portion of the campus. The front 9 is a nice, spaced out stroll. Then the designers ran out of space and had to cram in the final 9 holes.
- The course is predominately in the woods. That said, the better layouts all seemingly had a mix of grass and wooded aspects.
- #4 is a really good hole. 465 foot, par 4 layout. A wide-enough fairway with thick rough/tree lined sides to the fairway. The basket is a slight dogleg left, uphill layout. Uphill basket will allow players to come in hot with their approach shots.
- #7 & 8 are the best two holes, mainly due to the terrain in this portion of the course. #7 is a 408 foot, par 3. Disclaimer, nobody is making a 2 here unless you hole out. A little more than halfway down the fairway (I'd estimate around 225 feet), there is a 90 degree right turn into the woods. It's not a wide gap so too short or too long and you're possibly playing Plinko with the trees. It's a solid upshot to the basket. Realistically, this should be lengthened just enough to be classified as a par 4. Even if you played this as a short par 3 from the right angle, that short, uphill shot would still be one of the better holes on the course.
- #8 is the most scenic hole on the course. It's downhill over a nice rock formation. A couple trees that players to need to throw around. It's 369 feet, so players can get close with their tee shots. It's a well earned two and a not-overly difficult par 3. This might be the only hole on the course you'd want to throw multiple tee shots.
- Course is extremely easy to navigate. Almost every tee sign is visible from the prior hole's basket. While that's a positive on one hand, being too close together can be an issue. See below.
- Course can be played well with only two discs. I played with a mid-range and fairway driver only. It only cost me a couple strokes on the round not having more variety.
- Course is a work in progress. It will get a tad better when completed.
- The course plays through the back portion of the campus. The front 9 is a nice, spaced out stroll. Then the designers ran out of space and had to cram in the final 9 holes.
- The course is predominately in the woods. That said, the better layouts all seemingly had a mix of grass and wooded aspects.
- #4 is a really good hole. 465 foot, par 4 layout. A wide-enough fairway with thick rough/tree lined sides to the fairway. The basket is a slight dogleg left, uphill layout. Uphill basket will allow players to come in hot with their approach shots.
- #7 & 8 are the best two holes, mainly due to the terrain in this portion of the course. #7 is a 408 foot, par 3. Disclaimer, nobody is making a 2 here unless you hole out. A little more than halfway down the fairway (I'd estimate around 225 feet), there is a 90 degree right turn into the woods. It's not a wide gap so too short or too long and you're possibly playing Plinko with the trees. It's a solid upshot to the basket. Realistically, this should be lengthened just enough to be classified as a par 4. Even if you played this as a short par 3 from the right angle, that short, uphill shot would still be one of the better holes on the course.
- #8 is the most scenic hole on the course. It's downhill over a nice rock formation. A couple trees that players to need to throw around. It's 369 feet, so players can get close with their tee shots. It's a well earned two and a not-overly difficult par 3. This might be the only hole on the course you'd want to throw multiple tee shots.
- Course is extremely easy to navigate. Almost every tee sign is visible from the prior hole's basket. While that's a positive on one hand, being too close together can be an issue. See below.
- Course can be played well with only two discs. I played with a mid-range and fairway driver only. It only cost me a couple strokes on the round not having more variety.
Cons:
COURSE IS A WORK IN PROGRESS. More clearing is needed from stumps cut further down to the ground to more dragging away from the fairway to (hopefully) a few more fairways opened up.
- It's never a good sign when standing on a tee pad and not sure which direction you're throwing. There should be a clearly defined fairway. On #17, I debated three directions I could throw. The one direction I thought was the correct one ended up being wrong. That's never a good sign.
- The plastic tee covers are horrible. I hope this is not permanent. They're way too slick, even just from dew, that I almost slipped on them multiple times. It was better throwing from dirt or ankle high grass than these disasters.
- Have you ever seen a grade school kid writing on a birthday card? The first half is written in really big letters. Then, they realize they're running out of space and suddenly everything is crammed together and written in small letters. That's the back 9 here.
- With the exception of #11, every single hole on the back 9 essentially overlaps with another hole. Hit a tree on #10 and end up on #18's fairway. Go through the left route on #15's fairway (which means you missed the mando), and you're on #16's tee. On #13, you can easily end up on the fairways for #17 or 14. Not surprising, #11 is one of the best holes on the back 9.
- Then there's the long walk from #18 back to #1. It's 1400+ feet as the crow flies. Walking around ball fields and buildings and you're 3/10 of a mile walking across the entire parking lot.
- It's never a good sign when standing on a tee pad and not sure which direction you're throwing. There should be a clearly defined fairway. On #17, I debated three directions I could throw. The one direction I thought was the correct one ended up being wrong. That's never a good sign.
- The plastic tee covers are horrible. I hope this is not permanent. They're way too slick, even just from dew, that I almost slipped on them multiple times. It was better throwing from dirt or ankle high grass than these disasters.
- Have you ever seen a grade school kid writing on a birthday card? The first half is written in really big letters. Then, they realize they're running out of space and suddenly everything is crammed together and written in small letters. That's the back 9 here.
- With the exception of #11, every single hole on the back 9 essentially overlaps with another hole. Hit a tree on #10 and end up on #18's fairway. Go through the left route on #15's fairway (which means you missed the mando), and you're on #16's tee. On #13, you can easily end up on the fairways for #17 or 14. Not surprising, #11 is one of the best holes on the back 9.
- Then there's the long walk from #18 back to #1. It's 1400+ feet as the crow flies. Walking around ball fields and buildings and you're 3/10 of a mile walking across the entire parking lot.
Other Thoughts:
Gaston Christian has some enjoyable holes. For every good hole, there are completely unforgettable, or worse, layouts.
- #2 was an 'uh-oh, this might be one of those courses' layouts. #3, 6, 9, 16, and 17 were amongst the holes that were just there.
- If the mando on #15 was better explained, this would be a good hole. From the tee, you're starting in the open to what appears to be a split fairway as you enter the woods. Instead, the left side is OB (it's #16's tee), and you're left with a narrow, walking path wide fairway on the right side.
- A few too much reliance on trails for fairways. There's a 2 mile marker sign by the tees for #11 & 18. I'm guessing that's for a 5K trail, which seemingly weaves through and around much of the course.
- I wish the tee signs were a little more specific instead of very basic, generic images. The cartoonish images of a fairway with generic images of trees and curved fairways doesn't let anyone know how sharp a dogleg, where the basket actually is, or the extent of the tree coverage.
- Because it's on private school property, there are no amenities for disc golfers. Let's not use that as an excuse to litter and risk losing access.
- I'm giving this a 2.5 rating. Once the clearing is done, and a little more basic maintenance is done, I'd consider bumping it up to a 3.0. Of the four 18-holers in Gaston County, this is 4 on the list (behind Rankin, Bradley, and Goat Island).
- #2 was an 'uh-oh, this might be one of those courses' layouts. #3, 6, 9, 16, and 17 were amongst the holes that were just there.
- If the mando on #15 was better explained, this would be a good hole. From the tee, you're starting in the open to what appears to be a split fairway as you enter the woods. Instead, the left side is OB (it's #16's tee), and you're left with a narrow, walking path wide fairway on the right side.
- A few too much reliance on trails for fairways. There's a 2 mile marker sign by the tees for #11 & 18. I'm guessing that's for a 5K trail, which seemingly weaves through and around much of the course.
- I wish the tee signs were a little more specific instead of very basic, generic images. The cartoonish images of a fairway with generic images of trees and curved fairways doesn't let anyone know how sharp a dogleg, where the basket actually is, or the extent of the tree coverage.
- Because it's on private school property, there are no amenities for disc golfers. Let's not use that as an excuse to litter and risk losing access.
- I'm giving this a 2.5 rating. Once the clearing is done, and a little more basic maintenance is done, I'd consider bumping it up to a 3.0. Of the four 18-holers in Gaston County, this is 4 on the list (behind Rankin, Bradley, and Goat Island).
