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American Legion Post 13 DGC reviews
28
0
Cerealman
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience:
15.8 years
588 played
179 reviews
Heavy on hype: Pardon the gripe, this isn’t my type 2+ years
Reviewed:
Played on:Nov 14, 2020
Played the course:once
Pros:
With much fanfare, the nine-hole American Legion Post 13 DGC opened a few months ago. It's nice to see a partnership between an organization that supports veterans and the disc golf community in order to add to the recreational options in the Greater Knoxville area.
The colorful baskets are an appropriate choice. The blue cages, the red banners and the white lettering proclaiming the Veteran brand are an appealing addition.
Hole #1 is next to the parking lot, and with an evergreen tree line on the left, the opening hole offers some rare and welcomed shade in the afternoon.
The coolest and most picturesque design is likely Hole #4. In addition to viewing the Great Smoky Mountains in the background, there are numerous trees on the left and back sides, as well as a dry retaining pond area that offers a contrast from the grassy fairway.
Hole #9 conveniently ends next to the opposite side of the parking lot, which is convenient for returning to your vehicle or starting a second round.
Elevation comes into play on a few holes. Hole #4 runs downhill, though it's not as extreme as Hole #7, which is fairly open but goes downhill while sloping left-to-right toward a tree-lined area that you'll want to avoid.
Every hole includes a predominantly grassy fairway, and wet conditions will likely have less of an impact here.
The colorful baskets are an appropriate choice. The blue cages, the red banners and the white lettering proclaiming the Veteran brand are an appealing addition.
Hole #1 is next to the parking lot, and with an evergreen tree line on the left, the opening hole offers some rare and welcomed shade in the afternoon.
The coolest and most picturesque design is likely Hole #4. In addition to viewing the Great Smoky Mountains in the background, there are numerous trees on the left and back sides, as well as a dry retaining pond area that offers a contrast from the grassy fairway.
Hole #9 conveniently ends next to the opposite side of the parking lot, which is convenient for returning to your vehicle or starting a second round.
Elevation comes into play on a few holes. Hole #4 runs downhill, though it's not as extreme as Hole #7, which is fairly open but goes downhill while sloping left-to-right toward a tree-lined area that you'll want to avoid.
Every hole includes a predominantly grassy fairway, and wet conditions will likely have less of an impact here.
Cons:
As you pull into the parking lot, you can immediately see five or six of the baskets scattered about the open fields. This is the first indication that this course lacks variety and isn't a captivating design.
Hole #2 includes a military personnel carrier in the middle of the fairway. While this might seem cool to some, to me, this seemed like a strange obstacle to include and a weird place to design a hole. I'm not sure every veteran would want disc golfers throwing at a piece of military equipment that exists to recognize those who have served.
The designers were extremely limited with the land available, so the holes are shoehorned into existing areas, and roads come into play on several of the holes. The roads are intended to be out of bounds, and while this increases the challenge, this plan tends to be more annoying and indicative of poor design.
Every hole is basically a straight line to the basket and there are very few obstacles. On a few holes, there are heavily wooded areas off one side of the fairway, and Hole #5 has a couple of small trees to avoid halfway to the basket. However, while this course is mostly wide open, it's not the most ideal option for beginners due to distance (holes average about 290 feet), roads and a few difficult off-the-fairway areas.
Hole #6 is probably the worst hole on the course. It's 221 feet and inconveniently sandwiched between two fences - the fence on the right guards the baseball diamond, meaning this hole is unplayable when a game is in progress.
The practice basket isn't near Hole #1; instead, it's tucked around the side of the building not far from the Hole #3 basket.
When I played the course, there were wooden frames indicating that the teepads are a work in progress. No signs had been placed yet. I don't take off points for this, however.
The navigation is a bit clunky for first-timers. Finding Hole #4 isn't intuitive; there's a long walk after Hole #5; and the teepad for Hole #7 involves a short walk and crossing over the path between Holes #3 and #4.
The designer has stated on UDisc and DGCR that this is a donate-to-play course and that a donation box will be installed near the parking lot soon. Personally, I'm unlikely to play this course again for free, let alone a donation.
Overall, this course offers a fairly monotonous and uninteresting design. Unless you live near Maryville or are a serious course bagger, I recommend passing on this course.
Hole #2 includes a military personnel carrier in the middle of the fairway. While this might seem cool to some, to me, this seemed like a strange obstacle to include and a weird place to design a hole. I'm not sure every veteran would want disc golfers throwing at a piece of military equipment that exists to recognize those who have served.
The designers were extremely limited with the land available, so the holes are shoehorned into existing areas, and roads come into play on several of the holes. The roads are intended to be out of bounds, and while this increases the challenge, this plan tends to be more annoying and indicative of poor design.
Every hole is basically a straight line to the basket and there are very few obstacles. On a few holes, there are heavily wooded areas off one side of the fairway, and Hole #5 has a couple of small trees to avoid halfway to the basket. However, while this course is mostly wide open, it's not the most ideal option for beginners due to distance (holes average about 290 feet), roads and a few difficult off-the-fairway areas.
Hole #6 is probably the worst hole on the course. It's 221 feet and inconveniently sandwiched between two fences - the fence on the right guards the baseball diamond, meaning this hole is unplayable when a game is in progress.
The practice basket isn't near Hole #1; instead, it's tucked around the side of the building not far from the Hole #3 basket.
When I played the course, there were wooden frames indicating that the teepads are a work in progress. No signs had been placed yet. I don't take off points for this, however.
The navigation is a bit clunky for first-timers. Finding Hole #4 isn't intuitive; there's a long walk after Hole #5; and the teepad for Hole #7 involves a short walk and crossing over the path between Holes #3 and #4.
The designer has stated on UDisc and DGCR that this is a donate-to-play course and that a donation box will be installed near the parking lot soon. Personally, I'm unlikely to play this course again for free, let alone a donation.
Overall, this course offers a fairly monotonous and uninteresting design. Unless you live near Maryville or are a serious course bagger, I recommend passing on this course.
Other Thoughts:
I played the American Legion Post 13 DGC a few weeks ago. I had played a couple courses in Oak Ridge that day, and I opted to drive about 40 minutes to check out this new course. The reviews on UDisc were glowing; the course was rated a 4.4 (80 ratings) and the review section was filled with praise, including users saying it was challenging, great fun, and their favorite short course in the area.
My opinion: Those reviews are absolute rubbish.
I left the course irritated and feeling deceived. While bagging a new course was a slight consolation, I was annoyed that my detour resulted in such an unsatisfying experience. I decided to add my two cents' worth to the UDisc reviews in hope that other disc golfers wouldn't be duped by the bogus evaluations. Within a day, my candid four-sentence review of the course was reported and promptly deleted. I waited a couple weeks, and then wrote another review; again, this review was deleted.
Apparently, the course designers are opposed to any negative press and are willing to overhype the course, manipulate the ratings and report any less-than-amazing reviews.
Consequently, I reached out to the UDisc help desk about this issue. They replied promptly and restored my review, plus several other "negative" reviews that had been reported and removed. Well done.
So while this review might seem retaliatory, I can assure you that my rating is my honest assessment of the course. Of the 300-plus courses I've played, the American Legion Post 13 DGC would rank in the bottom 10 percent. While most courses that garner a low rating are guilty of significant flaws in design, navigation and amenities, this brand-new course could be convicted simply on the crime of being incredibly boring.
My opinion: Those reviews are absolute rubbish.
I left the course irritated and feeling deceived. While bagging a new course was a slight consolation, I was annoyed that my detour resulted in such an unsatisfying experience. I decided to add my two cents' worth to the UDisc reviews in hope that other disc golfers wouldn't be duped by the bogus evaluations. Within a day, my candid four-sentence review of the course was reported and promptly deleted. I waited a couple weeks, and then wrote another review; again, this review was deleted.
Apparently, the course designers are opposed to any negative press and are willing to overhype the course, manipulate the ratings and report any less-than-amazing reviews.
Consequently, I reached out to the UDisc help desk about this issue. They replied promptly and restored my review, plus several other "negative" reviews that had been reported and removed. Well done.
So while this review might seem retaliatory, I can assure you that my rating is my honest assessment of the course. Of the 300-plus courses I've played, the American Legion Post 13 DGC would rank in the bottom 10 percent. While most courses that garner a low rating are guilty of significant flaws in design, navigation and amenities, this brand-new course could be convicted simply on the crime of being incredibly boring.
