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Sunshine Acres DGC reviews
2
0
Tricky homegrown course 2+ years drive by
Reviewed:
Played on:Dec 7, 2015
Played the course:2-4 times
Pros:
Sunshine Acres is a private, pay-to-play, members-only, homegrown course. It's very tricky to find because the owners want to keep it private. (Can't blame them for that; the course is in their backyard!) I played Sunshine Acres for the 2015 Spike Hyzer "Sun Christmas Fun" PDGA C-Tier. Overall, I liked the course. There were some obvious flaws, but enough positive elements to entice me back for next year's Spike Hyzer event.
Pros:
1. I'm always amazed by regular Joe's who pull off building disc golf courses on their property. I can't imagine the work involved to build it and then maintain it. Kudos to the owners for "executing the dream."
2. Good mix of uphill, downhill, and flat. Good mix of hyzer, anhyzer, and straight shots off the tee.
3. There are only 3 somewhat open and long holes. I used a midrange or putter off the tee everywhere else. But it's a very technical and challenging course.
4. Navigation was simple and straightforward.
Pros:
1. I'm always amazed by regular Joe's who pull off building disc golf courses on their property. I can't imagine the work involved to build it and then maintain it. Kudos to the owners for "executing the dream."
2. Good mix of uphill, downhill, and flat. Good mix of hyzer, anhyzer, and straight shots off the tee.
3. There are only 3 somewhat open and long holes. I used a midrange or putter off the tee everywhere else. But it's a very technical and challenging course.
4. Navigation was simple and straightforward.
Cons:
Despite the charm and quirkiness of the course, there are some cons:
1. There are several plinko/pinball holes with no obvious lines from tee to basket. If I had a magic wand, I would've taken out about 100 more trees and branches. I like tight wooded courses, and Sunshine Acres is definitely that, but some holes were way heavy on luck and therefore not as fun. The most similar course I've played is Dogwood DGC at Southern Community Park in Chapel Hill. That course also has lots of plinko holes. The difference is, Sunshine Acres is much shorter and has a higher percentage of pinball holes.
2. I played 21 of the 23 holes for the Spike Hyzer event layout. I guess they added 5 additional holes after putting in the original 18. I liked the 2 additional holes after 18, but did not like the "Sun" hole in between holes 8 and 9. It was about 100 feet, carved out of some super dense, new growth trees, dogleg to the right. It felt like it was just crammed in and didn't need to be there.
3. The tee areas are natural and not always flat and dry.
4. The baskets are mostly homemade. Some may like this feature (they certainly are more challenging!), but I struggled with the different types of baskets and chains on every hole. I literally had a chain out, dead center chains, from 5 feet out. Some chains are super heavy and you have to pound your putts. Others have plastic chains that don't catch well. And there's everything in between. Like I said, tough! Some may like this, but I didn't.
5. Very few holes where you can use a driver. I used a fairway driver on three holes. Bigger arms may never use a driver here.
1. There are several plinko/pinball holes with no obvious lines from tee to basket. If I had a magic wand, I would've taken out about 100 more trees and branches. I like tight wooded courses, and Sunshine Acres is definitely that, but some holes were way heavy on luck and therefore not as fun. The most similar course I've played is Dogwood DGC at Southern Community Park in Chapel Hill. That course also has lots of plinko holes. The difference is, Sunshine Acres is much shorter and has a higher percentage of pinball holes.
2. I played 21 of the 23 holes for the Spike Hyzer event layout. I guess they added 5 additional holes after putting in the original 18. I liked the 2 additional holes after 18, but did not like the "Sun" hole in between holes 8 and 9. It was about 100 feet, carved out of some super dense, new growth trees, dogleg to the right. It felt like it was just crammed in and didn't need to be there.
3. The tee areas are natural and not always flat and dry.
4. The baskets are mostly homemade. Some may like this feature (they certainly are more challenging!), but I struggled with the different types of baskets and chains on every hole. I literally had a chain out, dead center chains, from 5 feet out. Some chains are super heavy and you have to pound your putts. Others have plastic chains that don't catch well. And there's everything in between. Like I said, tough! Some may like this, but I didn't.
5. Very few holes where you can use a driver. I used a fairway driver on three holes. Bigger arms may never use a driver here.
Other Thoughts:
This was *almost* a 2.5 for me; it was just slightly below average. And despite the plinko holes, *most* holes were pretty fair. It was a fun course and hosted a really fun event. I'll play it again.
