Pros:
(2.824 Rating) A good park style course with a little dose of everything.
- WAY BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL - I first came out to this park about 5 years ago. There was a 9 holer here using just 7 baskets. It was not a model of perfection, to say the least, and I had scored the course at the 1.0 level. This new layout is lightyears better. First off, a full 18 of legit holes now. The baskets are a small downgrade from DISCatchers to Prodigy, but they are still a nice second tier basket. The tees are a huge upgrade and they are big concrete pads now, versus the natural ground from before.
- SKILL LEVEL FRIENDLY - The course seems to find a good balance between being too easy and being too hard. New players will have chances at par, MA3 players will card a couple birds and MA1 players will rarely hit double digits down. The course seemed to slightly favor the longer throwers, but there are a few technical plays here as well.
- HOLE VARIETY - I think the hole variety is one of the stronger aspects here. Slight ups, slight downs, left hooks, right hooks, long open throws and even one technical shorty. I also enjoyed the 3 multi-play holes. If I had to pick a favorite, I'd say (15), as this basket generously accepted my first throw from the tee.
- SIGNAGE AND NAVIGATION - This was a big upgrade over the original course as well. Nice course map posted on a community board near tee (1). The tee signage is good, and it has all the info that's needed. Weird orientation on the tee signs though. 95 percent of the tee signs out there have a portrait format, whereas these are in landscape format. The scale between short and long, and left and right is very distorted.
Cons:
The park space could have delivered more.
- PLAY HAZARDS - This park is bigger than most small town parks. Over 50 acres in fact. Unfortunately, it's got a lot going on in it. Several holes infringe on existing park amenities, such as baseball fields and walking paths. Even worse however, three holes have buildings in play, (14), (17) and (18). The building on (14) is literally adjacent to the fairway. To no surprise, a couple windows have already been hit.
- MISSED OPPORTUNITIES - I generally prefer woods play over open play and seeing the many fringe woods without any attempt to tee out of or play into was very disappointing. The one actual wooded hole was borderline gimmicky with its ultra thin tree gap and chip shot distance. Perhaps the beautiful woods just to the west of this hole weren't allowed to be used. The Tank in view on (11) and (12), also doesn't come into play.
- NATURAL BEAUTY - I scored this aspect a fraction of a percent point below average. I enjoyed the appeal of (1), (4), (9), (13) and (15), but the rest were forgettable. Lots of manmade features in view, basically the whole time. As noted above, I wish the woods would have been used better. Seems like the creek could have been framed better on a hole as well. Oh well.
- THE ENDING - The course ends 800 feet away from the parking area and tee (1). In addition, hole (18) is a rather lackluster finish that's ripe with spacing issues.
Other Thoughts:
Winfield finally has a respectable course now. It'll keep locals entertained and draw in players within a 30-minute range on a regular basis. Regionally there are not that many courses out this way. I don't think one other course is within 20 minutes as of this review. Aggieland in Hamilton is probably the closest comparable course, which is about a half hour away. Ivan K has slightly better amenities, while Aggieland has a smidge better gameplay and better curb appeal. I'll give a slight nod to Aggieland overall. The course also reminds me of the Old 18 holer in Decatur called Sportsplex. In conclusion, a weak 3.0 rated course to me. I was expecting a much better course. On the UDisc platform, which is strife with homerism and regionalism, this is somehow a top 5 rated Alabama course. I personally have it ranked at 33rd out of my 127 played Alabama courses as of this review posting. Good course, nothing special.
- TIME PLAY - One hour for this quick solo on a weekday afternoon.