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Oliver Park DGC reviews
17
0
wellsbranch250
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience:
10.3 years
661 played
640 reviews
Oliver Twist-Less 2+ years
Reviewed:
Played on:Aug 26, 2020
Played the course:once
Pros:
(2.069 Rating) A typical sports complex course with a couple good elevation tee shots and some multi-use conflicts.
- BASIC AMENITIES - The core components for this course were done right. There are concrete tees, tee signs with distance indicated and new MachIII baskets.
- NAVIGATION - It's ok. Course map posted next to tee (1). Most will need to have a picture of this map to get around a couple times or have a navigational app.
- BEGINNER FRIENDLY - Not a beginners course, but most new players should not be over whelmed. Lots of open tee shots, but also a couple easy wooded holes to learn some accuracy on. Novice players will have numerous ace run opportunities.
- QUICK PLAY - It took me 42 minutes solo on an empty course and I photographed the entire layout.
- MAINTENANCE - The park maintenance for my visit was great.
- BASIC AMENITIES - The core components for this course were done right. There are concrete tees, tee signs with distance indicated and new MachIII baskets.
- NAVIGATION - It's ok. Course map posted next to tee (1). Most will need to have a picture of this map to get around a couple times or have a navigational app.
- BEGINNER FRIENDLY - Not a beginners course, but most new players should not be over whelmed. Lots of open tee shots, but also a couple easy wooded holes to learn some accuracy on. Novice players will have numerous ace run opportunities.
- QUICK PLAY - It took me 42 minutes solo on an empty course and I photographed the entire layout.
- MAINTENANCE - The park maintenance for my visit was great.
Cons:
Some safety hazards, flow gaps and less than stellar holes.
- MULTI USE HAZARDS - On hole (1) right away, the fairway plays over the meat of a baseball field. And thus instantly I got into the mindset that this layout isn't going to care about the surrounding park activities. Park roads and low use roads will come into play a handful of times. Ball fields that are in use could prevent a hole or two from being played. I personally had to skip my tee shot on both (7) and (9) as there was football practice going on. The amount of interaction is far too great imo and I took off a good quarter point to the score.
- LACK OF CHALLENGE - The course has a nice introductory challenge to it. Novice players with around an 830 to 840 player rating will likely average around par out here. Players above a 900 rating will murder this course and won't really be entertained. Several holes are the duece or die type for skilled players. On the flip side, there are couple beastly holes like (7) and (9) which are both plus 350 feet.
- HOLE VARIETY - Overall I'd label the variety a bit below average. However, for a sports complex park like course it's not so bad. There are some ups and downs. There are a couple wooded holes and a couple bomb-it shots. Hole (11) is an honest 539 foot par 4 that's labeled as a par 5. Overall, nothing magical here, it's just a mediocre mix with a couple chocolate sprinkles.
- LAYOUT FLOW - There is some jumping around on this layout, especially between (9) and (10). be sure and take a picture of the map.
- NATURAL BEAUTY - Below average. Man-made features are in view the entire time.
- MISSED OPPORTUNITIES - I don't think the patch of woods where basket (17) is located got incorporated well-enough into the layout.
- MULTI USE HAZARDS - On hole (1) right away, the fairway plays over the meat of a baseball field. And thus instantly I got into the mindset that this layout isn't going to care about the surrounding park activities. Park roads and low use roads will come into play a handful of times. Ball fields that are in use could prevent a hole or two from being played. I personally had to skip my tee shot on both (7) and (9) as there was football practice going on. The amount of interaction is far too great imo and I took off a good quarter point to the score.
- LACK OF CHALLENGE - The course has a nice introductory challenge to it. Novice players with around an 830 to 840 player rating will likely average around par out here. Players above a 900 rating will murder this course and won't really be entertained. Several holes are the duece or die type for skilled players. On the flip side, there are couple beastly holes like (7) and (9) which are both plus 350 feet.
- HOLE VARIETY - Overall I'd label the variety a bit below average. However, for a sports complex park like course it's not so bad. There are some ups and downs. There are a couple wooded holes and a couple bomb-it shots. Hole (11) is an honest 539 foot par 4 that's labeled as a par 5. Overall, nothing magical here, it's just a mediocre mix with a couple chocolate sprinkles.
- LAYOUT FLOW - There is some jumping around on this layout, especially between (9) and (10). be sure and take a picture of the map.
- NATURAL BEAUTY - Below average. Man-made features are in view the entire time.
- MISSED OPPORTUNITIES - I don't think the patch of woods where basket (17) is located got incorporated well-enough into the layout.
Other Thoughts:
This was the 100th course I played, just in the state of Alabama. I thought about making this milestone number a special destination play, but I had already played all the great courses in the state, and thus Oliver Park it was. The course was decent. It's one I would likely play weekly if I lived in town, but not one I would ever travel more than 30 miles out of the way to go play again. To players in the Birmingham area, this course has a lot of attributal similarities to Veterans in Alabaster. The top courses in Birmingham are far superior to this course.
