-Warm up net on hole one. Very rare amenity and certainly a very good one.
-Innova Discatchers all in great shape and as usual the bands are quite visible.
-18 was an interesting hole - going from left to right dogleg. As was 12.
-The tee signs were great with good illustrations and the distances seemed correct.
-The tees are carpets. They seem ok - for now. I am not a fan of these as a long term solution.
-Hardly any shule to speak of here. Pretty tough to loose a disc with the exception of the rough on the right side of 18.

-I was impressed with the ability of this course to have so many holes so utterly similar. That takes skill. What was really impressive is not only are holes 1 through 10 are almost identical with their left/right parallel orientation so are a lot of the holes on the back nine. Wow.
-Carpet tees. Yeah I know I mentioned those in the pros but come on...These are not going to last unless someone is going to maintain them on a very very regular basis. Need to get something different in there sooner than later.
-The land here is super flat and boring.
-Dang shame the ditch behind 3 and 5 basket could not be utilized. I'm told the walking path behind those baskets could not be crossed.

This is what happens when you severely limit the land for a course designer to use. It becomes a mildly uninteresting and bland course of 18 holes shoe-horned into too small of a space. Here, it really isn't terrible and frankly this is the kind of course that would be great for glow rounds. While this course really does not violate any disc golf design no no's its basically a more bland version of Braham Springs here in town.

-Beautiful Land Trust of Northern Alabama Nature Preserve. Restrooms and miles of hiking trails on the property.
-This is a solid parks course, free to play, and appropriate for beginners and rec players, though the tight fairways will cause some frustration. Advanced players can have fun here too, though they can keep their distance drivers in the bag. The course rewards accuracy far more than distance.
-Tight technical but there is always a line to the basket through the tall pines with an accurate throw.
-Baskets are good Innova DiscCatchers
-New signs are accurate and informative
-Tee boxes are level and good-sized carpets. I'm not sure how they will hold up over time, but for me they provided an adequate surface, one day after a rainstorm.
-Not much undergrowth, at least not in my late winter round. Low chance of a lost disc, though you might have to look through the pine needles in places. If you get off fairway you usually have a "save par" line that you might be able to hit.
-Good flow and safety. Some of the hiking paths come near a few greens, but enough separation to not cause issues.
-A friendly "Big Foot" Sasquatch greets players near the first tee.
-Not as crowded as other courses in town, but still a good community of regulars.

-A mix of distances and fairway shapes, but no elevation / water features / rock outcroppings to add challenge and variety.
-With only one basket and tee box per hole it will be too easy for some, too hard for others.
-Getting there is a bit of a challenge... can only reach the lot west-bond on Rt 72. Took me a few minutes to find the driveway and I'm not sure my GPS navigation was helping.

A shorter and maybe slightly tighter "clone" of Brahan Springs.

Sure, there are more challenging courses in the Huntsville area, but this is a fun tract and a fairly quick play.

Built and maintained by volunteers. Please do your part to keep the course clean and playable and respect the land trust property. The course was fairly clean though I did pick up a few empty water bottles.

As I summed up my pros and cons on this course, it rated between 2 1/2 and 3. I rounded up based on the number of friendly and happy players I interacted with on this course on the day I played. The place seemed to have a joy and vibrancy.

There is a course named Chapman Pines
Where dense forest fills up all the lines
If we charge you a bit
For every timber you hit
You'll be long overdue in paying your fines

On the northeast side of Huntsville in the Chapman Mountain Preserve, the Chapman Pines DGC is a recent creation that offers a thrill of excitement on nearly every hole. If you somehow avoid hitting trees on your drive, it's exhilarating to see a disc fly unaltered through the woods. However, that thrill might turn to terror thanks to the numerous pinball and plinko shots you will undoubtedly encounter.

While your first play-through might seem redundant, repeat customers will learn the lines for each hole, which actually are unique. The luck factor will still come in play occasionally, but learning the distinct layout of each hole will increase one's enjoyment versus feeling like you're just mindlessly chucking discs through the woods.

Navigation is intuitive and fairly easy to manage. With a bit of leaning and looking, just about every basket can be spotted from the teepad area. The arrows under the baskets help with finding the next hole too.

The length of the course is reasonable for less-experienced players as only two holes are over 300 feet. The challenge here is all about navigating the trees. Hitting a tree on nearly every hole might happen.

There's a Big Foot-sized photo opportunity near the beginning of the course.

Redundancy. The first 10 holes are especially repetitive, as they are back-and-forth in a fairly straight line across a tightly wooded area. If you glance at the photos, they all look similar. While the distances vary and the lines do too, there's a lot of "poke and hope" while trying to weave your shot around the towering pines. Hole #11 finally departs from the north-and-south orientation, and a few of holes on the back half offer a dogleg line and more defined fairway.

Due partially to the newness of the course, the ground is raw and rough. The forest floor is filled with timber remnants, pine needles, uneven patches and more. Keeping the overgrowth and briars at bay seems to be a merciless task. And the poison ivy is bad. Real bad.

Low score variance: Due to the challenging lines, negotiating the timbers to find the circle on a drive will be difficult. However, many of the holes offer reasonable upshot lines if you advance down the fairway, meaning that par should be a frequent score if you can avoid the horrible tree kicks. Glancing at a few of the scores posted at Chapman Pines so far, it appears making par on a majority of the holes can be a common thing. I finished my round there at even-par, with 14 pars to go with two birdies and two bogeys.

With hills all around, it's amazing that this course offers nearly zero elevation.

The teepads are pieces of carpet, which are already well worn and muddy. While the traction was decent, the carpet is certainly an eyesore, as are the cheaply laminated tee signs.

While Chapman Pines is another decent addition to the Huntsville area, this course is rough in its current state and will need some time to get beat in properly. Hopefully, the upkeep can be maintained and at some point, concrete teepads and new signs will be added.

If you're visiting the Rocket City and Chapman Pines is your cup of tea, be sure to play the classic Ed Headrick-designed Brahan Spring Park course too.

(2.564 Rating) (REVISED - replayed March 2023) A pines layout that requires mastery precision.
- CHALLENGING - I was not expecting this course to be as tough as it was on my first play. Chapman is shorter than the average 18 holer, but it has a lot of constricted throwing lanes and it is now perhaps the tightest layout in the Huntsville area. There are a few holes with less than an 8-foot-wide discernible gap to the basket. Some will argue that many holes are too luck based. Those that scramble well from 150-feet will do well here. I'll go out and fathom a guess, that even par would draw around a 900 rated round from the back tees and all far basket placements.
- SHOT SHAPING - Magicians will love this course. At the tee I'll sometimes pause and envision a glorious gauntlet ace run to the basket. Then I'll walk up and execute a short flawless tree ace. Locals that don't like the tighter lines at Brahan, Mastin Lake or Monte Sano, won't like this course either. It's the definition of a heavily wooded course.
- CHAINS - 28 chain DISCatchers, the best baskets on the market imo.
- NAVIGATION - Everything you need is here to have an easy to follow course. Newish artistic tee signs. There are arrows below most of the baskets and sometimes there's even a numbered sign in the distance leading from that arrow. Course map is posted adjacent to the parking lot as well.
- QUICK PLAY - A quick first time solo should be able to play it in about 50 minutes.
- UPDATES - Over the first 2 years of the courses existence, a few holes had some evolving fairway lines. 6 extra basket placements were put in and 4 holes got extra tees. It seems as though with the signage install in 2021 that the course is finally set... or at least for awhile it seems. Benches keep getting added as well. Seems like more than half of the holes now have a place to sit or to set a bag. There's also a driving range net.

A newer course cut thru heavy woods. Expect a raw environment for a couple more years.
- BRIER - During the summer, the brier can get awful off fairway. I could see some one-play reviewers shaving off some significant score for just this issue. Inaccurate throwers that play in shorts could leave blood trails behind. The course during the fall and winter consistently offers much better conditions.
- LOCATION - The course can only be accessed from westbound U.S. 72, and finding the turn-in on the first try is not the easiest either. There is a park entrance sign for the turn-in spot, but it sneaks up on drivers not paying attention. In addition, getting back onto 72 westbound could get dicey in heavy traffic.
- BEGINNER FRIENDLY - The fairways are too tight and too raw for newer throwers. I recommend taking newer players to Brahan Springs, Dublin or Lil-Calhoun.
- POKE AND HOPE - This aspect got better over time as the worst two offenders, (10) and (12), got there tee location tweaked in late October 2020. However, those with a low pin ball tolerance will argue that there are no fairways on many holes. Overall, I am personally not bothered too much as the density is just below my threshold level.
- HOLE VARIETY - Chapman Pines has a lot of similarities to nearby Brahan Springs. This course was built almost entirely in a planted pine enclave. The backdrop is very repetitive. The holes blended together in my memory soon after my first play and I still can't decipher them all in my memory after 10 plays now. In addition, this is an all par 3 layout. There are no water features and elevation maxes out at 10 feet on any one hole. There are definitely a few neat looking tunnel fairway lines, but again, it's a similar look through-out.
- TERRAIN - It's beating in day by day. Players will kick into old buried dead branches from time to time. Not epic terrible conditions by any means, just not ideal yet. Zucas will do just fine out here.
- PARKING - A gravel access road and gravel parking lot.

I think this is going to be a nice local course in a couple years as it continues to beat in. I've upped my score a half point since opening and could see even more improvement coming in the next couple years or so. This course will be enjoyed by those that prefer heavily wooded courses. Local bombers may surrender before the end of the round and won't ever return.
- VOLUNTEERS - Chapman was built by and paid for, entirely by volunteers.
I personally need to give a shout out to five individuals that poured a lot of time and money into this course. Tim McNeil, Aaron Barnes, Mickey, Ben Payment and most especially course designer Billy Drake made this course possible. If you run into them, please thank them for their volunteer efforts.
- RAW BEAUTY - Chapman is nearly 100 percent detached from the built environment. There's been a noticeable sense of tranquility for me when I walk around these woods. There's even a seven foot tall Bigfoot that can be spotted behind tee (1). I think he has been given the name Darrell. Yet with all this stated, the course lacks exotic features like massive rocks, ponds and elevation change. Anyways, overall I scored Chapman a 2.625 out of 5 for beauty.

It is very technical. Can't argue that. Chances of disc loss are pretty slim - there is rough in play, but it's not thick enough to really eat plastic.

Baskets are brand new Discatchers, carpet tees are in good shape, and next tee signage is present and generally clear.

Variety is lacking - it felt like I took the same four shots with the same three discs all day. Elevation is nonexistent - yes, Huntsville now has another board-flat mountain course. Some holes are too constrained (often early; the mandate from the land trust was no lumberjacking), to the point where they're poke and hope at the overall level of play this course aims at.

For some reason, it actually holds water really well. As far as Huntsville courses, it's not as bad as Southside, and it doesn't flood flood like Indian, but it seems to stay soggy/muddy in some inexplicable places - definitely more so than Brahan, which is overall similar to this course but better across the board.

As mentioned in the title, location, location, and location seem to be a big hit - not much disc golf on this side of town, so it's nice to have around, and busier so far than might be expected.