Pros:
Fun, hilly course that epitomizes the beauty and terrain of central Virginia. Some challenging holes and amazing views.
- Walnut Creek is mainly a wooded course, but there's even variety that everyone should holes they both love & hate. Course features some extreme elevations, both up & down. some holes with not-so much elevation, or none at all. Some doglegs, open holes, and, of course, plenty of wooded holes.
- Dual tee pads and/or baskets on just about every hole. With the long tees, you get some layouts that are completely different layouts that the short tees. #2 & 7, for example, play different depending on which tee you're throwing from.
- Every hole also has a long & short basket location. The kiosk in the parking lot lets you know which position the baskets are in. This is very helpful with so many blind tee shots.
- Major love for the tee signs showing the distance to clear the water (on water holes, obviously.) It's one thing to guess the distance (it looks like 200 - 250 to throw over the water); it's another to have it on a sign and remove the doubt.
- The park itself is amazing. Huge plot of land (enough for a second 18 maybe??) that really puts you out in nature. There are vey few courses I've played when you don't hear cars/traffic in the distance. I loved the views of the lake from holes #2,3 & 5.
- This is a great course for all skill levels. I saw many people carrying 1 or 2 discs and other casual players on the course when I played.
- Plenty of benches throughout course. You'll need them as you walk up and down the hills.
Cons:
I noticed several reasonable issues during my time at the course that could pose problems.
- Course signage could be improved. During a stretch on the front 9, you can see 5 baskets (for 4 different holes), along with several tee pads. On other holes, you see the basket for a different hole than the one your playing. On multiple holes, I had to walk almost the entire way to the basket before I could spot it. I understand doing that on blind tee shots, but on #7, it's almost a straight shot, but the basket blends into the shadows. A big help for both of these problems would be yellow baskets with numbers on them.
- A bigger issue with signage is the transition between holes. The problem here is the bike trails that wind through the woods, often near, and/or crossing holes. On at least one occasion I started walking down a path only to realize I'd been on a bike trail. Even with a map, it's easy to get lost. There was only signage on several holes, such as from #16 basket to #17 tee. More of these signs would be extremely helpful for first-time players.
- The course intertwines a little too closely with the bike trails at times. Not only did I get confused between disc golf fairways/paths & bike trails, but so did bikers. I had some pedal up a fairway just as I was about to tee off, at which time they realized they'd gotten lost. You really need to use extreme caution when throwing.
- I was surprised at the lack of restrooms & water fountains. It appeared (from my out-of-town perspective) that the real bathrooms are only open during the summer, when the waterfront is open. Playing in October, when the waterfront was closed, I only saw 1 port-a-jon for the entire park.
- This course has huge "lost disc potential." In a weird way, the biggest risk for losing a disc in the water, isn't on a true water hole (#2, 17 & 18), but on #1. This is a dogleg right, with the fairway sloping down to the left, to the water. It'd be easy to have a disc sail or roll right into the water if you're not careful, or unlucky.
- The other, bigger threat for losing discs is the combination of blind tee shots, and elevation changes. Throwing around a corner with a steep drop-off equals problems if you're not careful. My buddy & I passed a group of 3 guys on #16 (a blind tee shot, dogleg right hole) who were searching for a lost disc. Nothing out of the ordinary there. The problem was the disc had sailed off to the left, down the slope, and they were searching from about a third of the way down the fairway to about 100 feet past the basket, about a 300 foot-span going up and down the hill. I felt that easily could have been us, on about half a dozen holes.
Other Thoughts:
I think the several negatives about the course were more prevalent than normal because Walnut Creek is so close to being great. Even with the concern of losing a disc, or walking around an extra 30 minutes, this course is in "must play" list.
- Be prepared for a slow round your first time here. Between find the holes & baskets and taking in all the sights and sounds, it's a slow go. The first time we played, it took two of us more than 2 hours to finish a round. The second time through, we knocked off about 45 minutes, finishing in less than an hour and a half.
- I was a let down by #17, by most accounts, the course's signature hole. The scenery is great, watching your disc sail forever is cool, but it's actually a relatively easy hole. The first time through I missed an easy putt for 3, the second time I had a longer putt for 2, and had a tap-in 3. The lake on the right should never come in to play. You're much more likely to land in the small creek near the basket than the lake. At least you get your exercise walking up the hills.
- For natural course beauty, this ranks right up there with High Country in Jefferson, NC as the best I've played. The view from the fairway of #5 to the tee, with the lake in the background is simply amazing. Playing the hole with the leaves changing colors was picturesque. Trust me, the pics on here don't do justice for the view. And there are other great views throughout the course as well.
- This is definitely a must play for anyone within several hours. If you live in Virginia and don't make a trip here, you're doing an injustice. It'd be nice if there were another course within 30 minutes, but it's good enough by itself.