Warlick Academy is your cookie cutter, pitch-&-putt course you expect to find at an Elementary School. The course is all in the same grassy field, right next to the parking lot of the school, and is completely visible from the parking lot. It features 9 holes, each with a numbered DISCatcher basket, a natural tee area (mostly marked with blue tee markers), and a numbered tee sign with distance listed. Along the course there are three very nice benches, probably so teachers can sit and keep an eye on the students as they play throughout their round.

The course is a great place for kids and beginners to get their first few throws in. The open field has enough trees that there is potential for them to be a factor in your round, but is forgiving enough to not discourage newbies from enjoying the sport. The holes average less than 120' per hole, so more experienced players are going to score low - and will likely be hunting for aces. Realistically, many of the holes will be jump putt approaches for Intermediate and Advanced players, with Hole 7 even being a Circle 2 putt from the tee. I was able to ring up an "ace" on Hole 3, which was still exciting in its own way.

At 190' long, Hole 4 actually has the feel of a decent hole. It is long enough, with potential danger along the left of the fairway, for beginners to get coaxed into what to expect once they move to more established courses, but without breaking too far away from the rest of the course.

Warlick suffers from the same cons as many school courses: limited hours, no accessible restrooms or water fountains, and a simple, boring layout. If you've played for even a month or so, this course won't offer much outside of the prospect of drawing metal from the tee. Even then, there are more interesting courses that can accomplish this same goal because you can pretty much just throw in a straight line at the basket from the tee on every hole here.

There is a climbing tower right next to Hole 2, which is dangerously not locked up. Putting up a simple, lockable "gate" that covers the holes for the bottom 10 feet of the wall would prevent people from attempting to climb this thing. As it currently stands, someone could just walk up and start free climbing it, and potentially get stuck, hurt, or worse on it.

The course plays along a busy road, and there is some place for potentially losing a disc along the edge of the field if a young, beginner shanks a throw deep into the woods.

It's obvious that most people who visit DGCR aren't going to fall into the intended audience for this course, but it was well maintained (when I visited). I'll be giving it a 0.5 rating for now because I do think it serves a purpose, it's just that that purpose is focused on a very small percentage of the sports player base. Though, I do think the course is set up in a way that a fun safari layout would be possible here - so if you are a local, don't be too quick to write this course off.

Favorite Hole: 4

It's short
It has nice baskets
Signs are solid
Has benches in case you get tired on your 100ft walk

It's short
No tee pads

It's what you'd expect at a school. Open, short, and natural tees.

However my kids enjoy it, and it's a great place to hang out and try to throw in some hundred footers. Who doesnt enjoy discin' with the kids, and a good throw in?

Warlick Academy is a basic, pitch-n-putt 9-hole layout. The course offers just enough varied looks to make it relevant.
- This is about as simple of a layout as you can find. Install 9 baskets in an open field. Place baskets near the few trees in said field. And that's your course.
- Course is obviously aimed at kids. Hole length is 118 feet. There are more sub 100 foot holes (3) than holes longer than 150 feet (1). I brought two discs just so I could chuck a second disc for cubby ace purposes.
- There are a couple 'decent' layouts. #1 plays under a tree and its branches, forcing players to throw under a low ceiling or come in wide back to the basket. That hole alone is one you could want to throw a bunch of discs on trying for that cubby ace.
- The basket for #2 is back, left of another of the trees. At 125 feet, it's still just a soft toss to get towards the basket. The tree protects the most direct line to the basket, so any ace run is having to come from the left or come in high & hot from a RHBH throw.
- #4 is the long hole. It's a 198-foot foot, slightly downhill, wide open layout. The hole felt like it might be slightly longer simply because my putter seemed to glide through the air a long time before landing. It's also the only hole one could truly boast about carding an ace on. Nobody is going to care about acing a 55-foot hole. At least people will acknowledge you if you talk about acing a 200-footer.
- Course flows nicely through the field. With the tee signs, it's easy to make your way through the round. And with the course being so short, you can knock out a round in 10 - 15 minutes tops.
- This is a good course to bring kids and beginners. Also, with its layout, you can get some good practice for all aspects of your game: drives, mid-ranges, and putts.

I found very little wrong with the course itself. It's not aimed at me. I'll only point out a couple things the course is not.
- The course is not long. It's not challenging. It's not varied in its hole layout. The reason for all 3? It's a small, open field.
- Grass was tall when I played. I'm guessing an unused field at a closed-for-summer school isn't getting much attention from the county.
- Course isn't open during school hours. So, plan your trip accordingly.

Warlick's course is good for what it is. I've played worse courses than this one. This one is just above that level of mediocrity.
- The best things this course offers are the opportunity to introduce students to the game and to be a practice course for locals. If anyone starts playing this course, they can then move on to Bradley, Rankin, or Goat Island for a better challenge.
- The REAL best reason to play here is the awesome dive across the street, Will's Doggin' It Deli. Great hot dogs and deli sandwiches along with classic, harder to find sodas and sweets. If you drive out here to play and don't grab food across the street, you're doing yourself a disservice.
- If you're looking for the worst possible course, check out a couple of the school courses in Rock Hill. Here, they at least thought to incorporate the few trees into the course rather than avoiding them completely.
- Unless you're stat-padding, there's no reason to stop here. That's the only reason I finally played here. That, and the course I intended to play was closed. So, I didn't want to go home empty handed. And that sums up this course perfectly.

+ 9 baskets in good shape.

+ Ace runs on every hole.

+ Rock climbing wall next to hole 1 (Doubt you're "allowed" to use it but I didn't see anyone that would stop you)

+ Well mowed

+ Takes about 4-5 minutes to play if you jog between holes like I did.

- Zero challenge

- Every hole is basically 50-120' and wide open. I think two trees came into play in the entire course, and they weren't even enough to force a forehand or backhand. I flicked my putter on every hole.

- Plays next to a busy road

I'm giving this course 0.5 stars rather than 0 because it has 9 baskets in good shape. That's basically the only redeeming quality of Warlick.

The only reason I stopped by is because I have acquaintances a mile down the road, so I figured I'd stop by and take photos for DGCR if nothing else.

This makes a good place to practice putts and upshots, but that's about it. Even throwing upshots requires some safari play. It's barely a step above setting up a few baskets in your yard.

I came here mainly out of curiosity to see how bad it is. I'm weird in that I like stopping by abysmally rated courses to see just how bad they are. Courses rated 2 or under always grab my attention for that reason.

I can assure you there is no reason to travel more than a mile to come here unless you're desperate for an ace (or three).

To put things into perspective, if you added up the length of all 9 holes, I've thrown individual holes longer than this entire course.

-umm.........umm........umm....... well, you might get an ace. Avg. length is like 119 feet or something. I can't even remember the hole distances!
-Well, if you want to work on your approach shots, this place is well, um.... adequate.
-Leaving the place to go to work was great!

- I'm not saying it is a bad place to start. I think it is good for beginners but literally none of the holes here will get newcomers hooked on disc golf. It's wide open mostly, except for a few trees.
-#7 is a joke!! 55' long are you serious? The indoor pools that I work at are both longer than this! It's open too! No challenge whatsoever! This hole is so lame.
-Bug infested grass! It is somewhat tall, there is a ton of vegetation and overgrowth behind #2's basket.

-Lame course. None of the holes here are fun! I don't have any idea why there is a course here. I'm sorry if I sound mean because it isn't bad for practice but we have River St. and Lowell Elementary around the area. Lowell is literally Winthrop Gold compared to this course. It's so lame! I played with two putters and it took me 23 minutes to play two rounds! Including the times I tried to ace #7.

#1. Lame, dinky hole like 114' long with many overhead branches.
#2. Super boring 130' footer with a basket behind a tree.
#3. Wow this hole is so lame! It's just a 98' toss that is up a tiny hill.
#4. Not too bad actually. 190' that is completely open but it's better than any other hole here. Still pretty boring.
#5. Barely remember it. 120'.
#6, Wide open! 145'! Very boring toss.
#7. This isn't even a hole. It's just a putt. 55'.
#8. More of an approach shot around a cluster of trees. 88'.
#9. I don't remember this one either! I think it was 134'.

-Look, this is not worth it. Go to River St. This makes Lowell look like Renny or Winthrop Gold and this make Fewell in Rock Hill look like Nevin! By far the lamest course ever. Please find another place to put the baskets!