- Tee Boxes: Nice, new red turf tee boxes. Based on other reviews, these must have been installed around the middle to end of 2023. Given the rest of the natural terrain of the course, having turf tees is needed.
- Signage: The Prodigy tee signs beside each tee box display the distance to each basket as well as clear and detailed images of the hole. If there is any out-of-bounds, there is text on the sign detailing the OB.
- Baskets: Each hole has both a short and long basket in different colors, red for short and white for long. The baskets themselves are new Prodigy baskets in great condition.
- Flow: For those who don't take advantage of the wonderful reviews written here on DGCourseReview, even stumbling upon Black Branch blind the course is easy to navigate. Hole #1 is to the left of the bridge at the main entrance, and players will essentially play in a circle around the police station and end close to the start.
- Local Area: In addition to the feeling of safety by way of a police station on site, there are plenty of nearby restaurants so players can grab a quick bite if they're playing during their lunch break as well as other close parks and playgrounds.

- Shot Selection: Whether you are predominately a backhand or forehand player, shots off the tee are generally the same: pushing 200' straight shot with a slide fade at the end. That's pretty much it. If you mess up and hit an early tree or saw off your drive, not a problem, saving par generally isn't too difficult.
- Terrain: ***WARNING - Do NOT come to Black Branch Trail if it has rained within the past week.*** This course unfortunately does not drain water well, especially given the lack of elevation, so I recommend coming ONLY when has been dry for a week or more.
- Hole Length: As readers can tell from the "Holes" tab, there is only 1 hole longer than 300' and there are 5 holes shorter than 200'. I don't mind the occasional pitch-and-putt disc golf course, but given that there are 2 baskets on each hole, there should be more variation in terms of distance. Unfortunately, this small course is just subject to the plot of flat land on which it is placed.
- Challenge: ... or lack thereof. If anyone above the average amateur player wants a challenge, then you will need to play to long baskets and abide by the OB rules. As mentioned above, the shot selection is generally straightforward, it's avoiding out-of-bound that provides the most challenge.

Even with its negatives, I have Black Branch Trail alongside Portland Park and Shepherd Rec. as my top 9-hole courses in the greater Chattanooga area. This course may be slightly held back by way of its water-logged terrain and lack of challenge at times, it makes up for it with exceptional tees, baskets, signs, and the opportunity to get in a full 18 holes with the presence of two baskets. For me and my local work league, we have absolutely added Black Branch Trail to our course rotation!

Was grabbing lunch in Fort O on the way back from working In Chatanooga and saw that there was a 9er close by and I decided to try it out.

One pro I'll add it that they seemed to have made the White baskets into a longer location and Red is now the shorter one, as that was an oddity others have noted.

You park at the front of the parking lot near the police station/civic building and the first tee is near the creek to your left. The pads are really great. Huge red turf affairs that even James Conrad wouldn't sneeze at. Signs by the pad denote the hole number and there are two baskets a red and a white Prodigy basket on each hole.

The creek runs through holes 1-2 and 7-9 and adds some challenge to a relatively flat course.

And one cool mildy elevated basket that is mounted on a large rock.

Plays quickly, only about 20/25 mins for a solo and I shot -4 to the longs with a mid a a putter neither of which I had ever thrown before. So it's not terribly difficult, but between the road/creek and buildings you could easily find some trouble.

There is a police station there. By the disc golf course. Write your own punchline.

There are also a couple of spots where you could be on line or close and hit a building, as well as one spot that you come close to the parking lot where the police fleet it parked. Didn't love that.

Signs are super basic, only having the hole number, wold be nice to at least put distances and par.

It's not a bad little play honestly, but is somewhat basic, not terribly long and has a few little oddities.

It's actually got some fun shots, it's not my favorite style of course, and the setting is a touch strange. A little single note but the use of the creek and road OB, fantastic pads and double baskets it's definitely worth the stop for a bagger on the go.

(2.259 Rating) A two basket nine fairway course with lots of water in play.
- TEES - To me the Pads are the best thing about this course. They are big. I didn't measure, but it felt like 6x12. The tees are also high quality turf. I didn't have one footing issue. The pads are also Red, yep Red. I don't think I've played on red turf pads before. Anyways, they stood out. It really helped in navigating this one the first time through. I'm not scoring this course above a 2.25 if this place were natural pads. They helped that much.
- CHALLENGING - The ideal audience for this course is MA3s, with blend over appeal to MA4s and MA2s that live in the area. The first 6, as a whole, seemed to be noticeably more difficult than the last 3 holes. Hole 5's tee shot requires a 380-foot frozen rope, and to me, it's the most demanding shot here. I scored this aspect roughly average.
- BASIC AMENITIES - In addition to the great tees, the course also has solid Prodigy baskets. In fact, 2 of them on each of the nine holes. They are color coded too. The White baskets being all the shorts and the Red baskets being all the longs. I liked the basket on top of the fire hydrant. That was a neat touch. I do wish they would have swapped the colors to go along with PDGA recommendations. As for the tee signs, not in yet. My gut is 99 percent sure they are coming soon. I gave the course credit for well-done tee signs as I doubt I'll be back.
- NAVIGATION - As noted, I played it before signs were in, and I still had no issues. No one's getting lost here.
- QUICK PLAY - I only threw one loop, the long Red baskets, and it took 25 minutes.

Landing a disc inside the police station.
- SPACING - The nine holes here are jammed into all the remaining open areas in this park. A few tees feel a touch too close to the prior basket and roads are in play a few times. Hole (5), in particular, has a tall chain-link fence along the right. It looks locked and seems to be part of the police storage area. Obviously a really bad spot to end up. (6) also has a building in play along the right and it had already been hit a few times in the 10 days the course had been open when I played it. I could see several reviewers shaving off significant score for this aspect.
- NATURAL BEAUTY - I scored this aspect roughly 40 percent tile. Its small flat and surrounded by a man-made environment. I considered dropping it even lower on my ledger for the numerous earth moving scars from the fairway construction, but that will all heal in a couple years. So I ignored this temporary blemish in my scoring.
- LOST DISC POTENTIAL - For a niner, the disc loss potential is much higher than normal. Water is in play at least 6 times and perhaps 8 if it had rained recently. I think (2) is going to claim the most as there is a deeper spot in the creek next to the far basket and the creek parallels the hole the whole way. The last 3 holes could all easily claim one as well if the creek level is up.
- HOLE VARIETY - Above average among niners but slightly below average among all courses. As noted above, there is a bunch of water to gameplan around. A couple of baskets are placed into defended pockets. There are trees to weave around a few times. All par 3s, generally shorter and no elevation change.

Fort Oglethorpe is a good niner in my opinion. Its nothing special, but I had a good time throwing it and I kept all my discs. Yea me! I went back and forth on whether to score this one a 2.0 or 2.5. It very much felt like a 2.25 to me and I wish I could give it that score. Had this been a nine-basket course, there is zero chance I put it over the threshold. Among niners in the Chattanooga area, I think this becomes the best of the bunch. It is also quite a bit different than all the nearby niners due to its flatness and water element. It actually feels more representative of the south Florida disc golf scene. Courses like Palm Springs south of Naples and Lakeview near Sarasota come to mind. Anyways, no need for players to go out of their way to play here unless they are a course bagger and it could be a good multi-bag hit when combined with Jack Mattox. The course should be a good fit for local MA2s, MA3s and MA4s that live within a 20 minute drive.

Marked with bright red turf teepads and dual baskets per hole, the Fort Oglethorpe disc golf course is a reasonable addition to the Greater Chattanooga landscape. Even with a slightly shoehorned design, the "Fort O" course gets the basics right and squeezes in several niceties within the nine-hole layout.

The first positive you might notice is the teepads. The red turf is easy to spot and most of the tee areas are slightly raised. The first teepad is placed under a couple of trees next to the sidewalk with a lovely rock wall lining the area. Hole #1 is one of the prettiest opening holes in the area.

Each basket has two baskets: a red and a white Prodigy T2. The distinction between the short and long basket isn't always significant length; in fact, only on three holes does the distance disparity exceed 50 feet. Instead, on several of the holes, the contrast is left-versus-right with a choice of lines offered.

The length of the course is ideal for recreational players: the short baskets average just over 200 feet per hole; the long baskets equate to an average of about 260 feet, though Hole #5 is the outlier at nearly 400 feet.

There are a few cool features with the basket placements that add some variety and a bit of challenge. The short basket for Hole #4 is elevated and mounted on a rock. The short basket for Hole #5 is elevated and attached to a wine barrel. The short basket for Hole #6 is only 187 feet, but it's hidden behind trees to the left, prompting a high hyzer throw or low skip shot to reach the bullseye. The short basket for Hole #7 sits atop a red fire hydrant and is maybe 15 feet in front of the creek. And both baskets for Hole #9 are just on the other side of the creek.

Navigation seemed fairly straight forward as the next teepad was usually easily spotted. Right now, the signage is minimal.

There's a blue practice basket not far from the start of the course. Parking is available near the Hole #9 baskets or in a parking lot not far from Holes #1 and #2.

With the low-lying terrain on the course, especially on the last three holes closest to the water, the course might be prone to miry conditions on several holes. The turf teepads are already retaining a noticeable amount of mud and crushed gravel, which may prove to be a consistent nuisance. Also, the teepads already have a couple irregularities instead of being perfectly flat.

A couple of the holes play close to city facilities. Hole #5 includes a tall chain link fenced area that serves as a right-side boundary and appears to belong to the police department. Hole #6 has a metal siding building with a gently sloping roof that will undoubtedly claim some wayward discs.

The fairways for Holes #3 and #4 appear to be recently created by removing a bunch of brush under the trees. There's still a decent amount of rutted ground and tree debris in this area, but no points off since the course just opened.

Only one hole (Hole #5, long) exceeds 300 feet, so higher-skilled disc golfers will likely employ mostly mid-ranges and putters without any opportunities to throw open bomber shots.

For recreational disc golf, the Fort O course pairs nicely with the nine-hole course at Jack Mattox Park, which is an easy 10-minute drive away.