Located in Westminster Park, which is an outreach of the Westminster Presbyterian Church, is this beautiful course that features a healthy mixture of open, semi open, and wooded holes. The course features nice Innova DISCatcher baskets, well designed tee signs, long tees made of leveled astro-turf and short natural tees marked with Innova tee markers.

For a park with so much open space, it would have been easy to just slap some baskets and tees down out in the field and call it a day, but some serious thought went into trying to make a balanced course. This was done by making good use of the elevation on the property. Well placed baskets that make players consider landing angles/speed control and plenty of fun downhill bombs really stood out. Hole 5 was likely the hidden gem among the whole course. It twisted it's way uphill a decent amount of elevation, creating a memorable Par 4.

The basket locations also utilized elevation well. In fact, the basket locations in general seemed well thought out and it was plain to see that some serious thought went into where the baskets locations. For instance, my card noted that on a lesser course, the basket for Hole 4, which is a long Par 5, probably would have been placed in the middle of the fairway behind the last tree in the fairway, but it was instead tucked off to the left on a slope between a handful of other trees. Holes 7 & 12 even have elevated baskets to spice things up. Hole 12's is particularly memorable because of its relation to the tree it is next to.

The maintenance on the course seemed immaculate. The grassy fairways were all neatly groomed, even the slightly long grass on the steep downhill shot on Hole 15 wasn't unruly. It can be frustrating to play a grassy course with weeds popping up everywhere, so this was a nice surprise. As an added bonus, while we were finishing up our round, a groundskeeper (or maybe just someone who does work around the park) was out doing more maintenance around Holes 17/18, which already looked perfect from my perspective. He was a very nice person, and it was clear, he and the entire team took a lot of pride in the course from our brief conversation.

Navigation around the course was very well marked. The only time our group got turned around at all, was when we got complacent, but every basket had a next tee sign on it, and longer transitions even had more signs pointing you in the right direction.

Outside of the disc golf course, the park also features a driving range for warming up/field work, and a six hole ace run course, that can serve as a spicier putting warm-up. There are multiple athletic fields, a picnic pavilion, a fire pit area, multiple trails, a ropes course, and a kayak/canoe launch onto the Catawba River.

While I think every hole on the course is well designed, I personally think there was a missed opportunity with the wooded holes, where they could have demanded more out of players in terms of shot shaping. Pretty much all of them can be reached for a birdie putt by throwing a dead straight shot.

Speaking of wooded holes, Hole 13 felt unnecessarily gimmicky. While the other wooded holes were certainly tight and punishing, they also felt fair/rewarding.I could be in the minority, but I personally would love to see Hole 13 be opened up a bit, and maybe lengthened so that the basket was pushed up the hill. Possibly far enough to create a Par 4. It would create another uphill hole, shorten the transition between 13 & 14, potentially add another Par 4, and drastically change what I can only imagine is the most disliked hole on the course.

There is a distinct lack of benches and trash cans on the course. I don't think either one is necessary for a good course, but I do believe a handful of benches at the wooded tees would be appreciated for people to take breaks and escape the heat on sunny days after walking up and down all the hills.

I also would have loved to see the short pads actually have pads like the ones from the longs. I feel like a mix between the two layouts would make the perfect after work course to just have a relaxing round, without taking too much time.

I had a lot of fun playing at Westminster Park and am super thankful the course didn't fall into the same common pitfalls many open courses seem to fall into. It is definitely a welcome addition to the Rock Hill landscape of disc golf and is a course I can definitely see myself trying to visit more often. For now I'll be giving Westminster Park a 3.5 rating, but it honestly feels like it is on the precipice of deserving a higher rating. It would probably only take a small tweak or two to really bump this course over the edge.

Favorite Holes: 5, 11, 15, & 18

A pretty fun course that weaves between open, very hilly areas, and some beautiful hardwood forests. The routing is in-and-out of the different areas, so you get to switch back and forth between unleashing long shots, and threading trees. Lots of elevation change throughout. Hole lengths vary greatly, too, with some a little over 200', some 600' or more, including some long uphill holes that play much longer than their measurements.

The atmosphere is great. A beautiful park, with the disc golf area pretty much exclusive to disc golf.

A couple of the woods holes are severely tight.

No benches (which would be nice after climbing some of those hills).

Navigation tricky in places. A few baskets have a "next basket" arrow, but only a few, and a maze of paths sometimes had us heading in the wrong direction.

Some of the earlier reviews indicate that it's a temp course, but apparently it's permanent now. Teepads, signs, and baskets are all in place.

Disclaimer: Course is unfortunately pulled as of now. There's a possibility that it will be permanent in the foreseeable future.

-Westminster to me, was better than the other courses in Rock Hill. In regards to appeal, I enjoyed it more than I enjoy Canaan. Westminster had a better mix of elevation than Boyd, Winthrop, or Canaan and it gave an interesting mix of shots without being too over the top. It almost feel like a hybrid golf course but in actuality, there's just a ton of open space that is used wisely. The wooded holes, for the most part were very attackable with some scoring separation.

-Had four par fours with different aspects. #4 was flat down a meadow with a creek on the right side and a long line of trees to the left that has you entering a wide gap where the basket is outside of. #6 was sharply uphill and to the right side. Gave plenty of room to bite off the right side and have a chance for a shorter upshot. The hole was open, but woods on both sides were very rough. #15 was a big downhill bomb that was maybe 35' down in elevation. Only 519'. I threw many drivers off of this pad. However, I think #18 was the best of the par fours. It was the longest hole (over 600'). The tee pad was in a field facing a small corridor in the woods that takes you back downhill down a gorgeous trail. The short pad was enjoyable too, being 357' on top of the hill in the woods. The long pad was pretty intimidating, because the gap to hit was pretty small. There was a left route that gave an anhyzer option, but it was a tougher route to hit because of the thickness of woods on the left.

-It started with a bang too on #1. That was a superb starter. Steep downhill tunnel shot onto a green in the open. It was tricky being dead straight and down a tighter fairway, but it was rewarding toward accurate players. You could throw short and have a putter skip 50' forward due to the elevation. It was more than 30' below.

-Lot of people loved #16. The straight tunnel shot beside the gravel road. It was 236'. Fairway was wide enough to make you feel confident about being able to birdie, but it was also tight enough to scare you in going OB left or kicking a bad tree to the right side.

-Atmosphere was pleasant. At Winthrop, you constant have to yield to pedestrians or sunbathers. Boyd is in a rough neighborhood. Westminster was very tranquil being on church property. It was calm and peaceful and gave that escape from reality feeling. The atmosphere at Westminster was up there with Camp Canaan. Brings me to say, Camp Canaan is very close to Westminster.

-Not really relevant now, since it is pulled but there were tee pads and tee signs. I guess you can count on seeing that the next time this course is put in.

-A couple of wide open fillers. #12 sticks out. It was 358' and bland. #8 was wide open too, but was off an elevated pad and was over 400'. Hole #7 was a kill joy. It was a scruffy 193' anhyzer in the woods down a measly fairway. I played with Shadrach3, DiscGolfCraig, and Olorin in that charity event. We all agreed that this hole was probably the worst.

-#17 was unique beside of the basket placement. It was right beside an old tree with a wide limb span consisting of many trunks that make for a difficult putt. The tee shot was through a gap less than 10' wide that was at least 40' past the pad. I thought the tee shot for #17 was pretty irritating.

-Wind played as a pretty big factor in the amateur tournament since it's pretty open. Gameplay seems to be more dependent on wind conditions. I shot eleven under the first time I played here. In the charity event, I shot only one under because it was pretty windy. Looking at the tournament results, even was over 940 rated one round. The first time I played when I shot -11, I would've guessed even to be around 900.

-Hope a permanent courses comes here someday. There were a few holes that I didn't enjoy, but I enjoyed most of them. It was a great middle ground between Winthrop and Boyd. Not completely open and had some longer holes. One thing I would've loved to see would've been holes #9 and #10 combined together as one hole. #9 was an uphill hyzer around a wooded line. #10 was further up the hill with the tee pad being around 350' straight ahead of #9's tee pad. #10 was a straight par three into the woods. If those two holes were combined, this would've been an epic dogleg right par four in the open that would allow you to rip a driver far up the hill and have a possible look at the woods. This would've been a similar fairway to #6, but it would've been longer and would've been wooded for the last 100' or so.

-You could really taste that Rock Hill flavor on this property. It's in that pleasant rural area that you tend to see when you drive in this town. If it ever becomes permanent, then Westminster will be that middle ground 18 hole course that Rock Hill really needs. It had more to offer than Winthrop and Boyd. A lot will disagree with me here, but I think Westminster had better quality than Canaan too. Canaan is a scenic course with some excellent holes, but to me it is a little too fickle with all the elevated baskets raising the roll away potential, and some of the fairways are very strange with extreme consequences for missing. Westminster was rewarding and had a better mix overall. Canaan has many par fours and fives and some sweet hazards, Westminster had elevation, woods, easy holes, tough holes, and fairways that were demanding with some consequences, but nothing too extreme. Water doesn't really come to play, but maybe it could if this course ever comes back. I know for sure that there is room for longer holes.