One of few courses in this area of the mountains, Creek Wise Park is developing into a pleasurable place to play.

- Since the first review and picture for this course, tees have been improved. They are formed of locking concrete retention blocks filled with gravel. They provide a level surface, though uneven.

- The parking lot features a large aerial photo map of the course and the tees are marked with numbers on the front and back of the post.

- Each tee has an accurate diagram of the hole layout which is important when the baskets are often obscured by trees.

- As a fairly new course, still being refined, many of the holes still have piles of debris in the rough consisting of cut logs and branches. These debris piles can make disc retrieval a challenge.

- My wife and I played in the late fall, so a deep layer of leaves made it difficult to see hidden stumps and branches.

- Since most holes are on slopes, the average recreational player may trouble finding a stable stance for throwing after the tee shot.

The course would benefit from some judicious tree removal since some holes have little recognizable fairways. Players planning on visiting should practice their tomahawk shots to sneak through 2 foot openings near some tees.

I admire the willingness of this church to provide a multi-use park setting for the community and visitors. The nearest public courses are Morganton or Black Mountain, so Creek Wise will be a regular stopping place for us.

-I love Churches with extended property! This one has its very own park that is very small but the land sure makes good use for a course. I wouldn't recommend parking down there though. I'd just park by the church because that gravel driveway can be dangerous.

-If you seek inspiration, you'll see many Bible verses on the first several holes.

-The sheds around the back nine are a cool asset. They can come in play on a few holes. Also think the rhododendron bush on #15 is a great feature.

-Going straight to the layout, the course starts off fun. Hole 1 is a good starter that plays on the side of a large hill, and on hole 2 you get to tee off on that large hill. The hole goes over the creek. Definitely a great hole! Also love hole 3 and its island green. The green is guarded by trees.

-Sad thing is, the course is kind of annoying once you get to hole 8. It has two lanes but the one straight ahead is probably not much more than 20" wide. Not 20 feet, but I mean 20 inches. Hole 9 is inchoate to me in a way, because the green is so severely guarded that you can't really park this hole. The fairway is also extremely narrow to the point where you can't really get it down there. Things continue to get annoying with #10. It's a short hole, but there is a mando where you have to throw through a 45 degree angle "Y tree" where you have to throw at least 5' up. If you go for it and think you'll miss the mando, you better pray that you'll hit a tree, because if you go past it, that's a stroke. Pssh, whatever. We aren't kicking field goals here. Hole 11 is similar to hole 9 but more curvy. It's extremely tight to the point where you just won't be able to thread the needle. Many of the holes here could be much better and the ones that aren't as great seem to be repetitive. You're just playing on narrow trails for the most part. Only hole I loved on the back nine was #14. That's a very fun hole to throw a sidearm flick!

-Holes 5 thru 7 are extremely confusing. Once you complete hole 4, you go to the tee back up the fairway and the first basket you'll see will be hole 6 straight ahead. I thought hole #6's basket was really hole 5's. Hole 5 is actually to the left about 300' away. #6 is out in the open close to the tombstones and plays uphill into the woods. So holes 5 and 6 make a "V shape" at a couple of points.

It's somewhat overgrown from holes 4-7. It's also quite thick in many places. Even here would probably be what I'm rated now (923). I don't think that a course under 5,000 feet should be difficult to shoot under par on. While I did shoot a 51, I felt like I missed out on the whole point in going for it because that is what you should do on par 3's.

-What I think is that hole 3 should be hole 1 and the current hole 2 (my favorite) should be the finisher. I was quite deceived. After hole 3 I was like "Why does this only have a 2.5?" By the time I got to hole 9, I understood why. The hole quality here in my opinion is a 5/10, and it can be higher than that. I mean, a lot higher. I don't think the mando gate on #10 is fun, I think it's very corny. Don't get me wrong, it's not as bad as the island green rules at Black Mountain cause that's as bad as it gets in disc golf. But to me, about half of the holes here don't have completely defined fairways; a few are imaginary. To me, this is a hippie's dream course, or for the guys that just want to see how far they can get past the pad and get a laugh out of it.

-Keep in mind that this is a Church course. It's not appropriate to smoke, drink, and when your round is over, you'll pass some tombstones. Be on your best behavior and don't act foolish.

-Is this a bad course? Not at all. But can it be better? Yes, by a whole lot. Want my advice, start on #3 and end on #2. And bring a friend. The game is much funner when you aren't by yourself.

Starting off I like to let everyone know what I'm personally looking for in a course. I love the scenic aspect of disc golf (this includes boulders, lakes, wildlife, and plantlife- I did study horticulture). With that being stated, I rate a course based on a combination of the scenic factor and the overall course aspects (this includes layout, fairway lines, diversity of holes, and amenities).
-Beautiful Pine/Oak forest with plenty of Rhododendron's to claim errant shots
-Fairly scenic stream on holes 2&3 (both are challenging little holes to be relatively short and open
-Brand new DISCatchers
-As a woods golfer I am in love with many of the off camber fairway angles and greens, the designer did an awesome job incorporating Rhododendrons (rhododendron maximum) and Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) as 'bunkers' either mid-fairway or on the greens.. Haha I thought it was humorous on the tee signs they call these areas OB rhododendrums hahaha its hysterical that people actually think they are called and spelled that way! Anyways.. Those areas def shouldnt be OB, like come on your really gonna define the canopy layer of some Rhodys OB??? There is no lines on the ground, no flags, no determining line for your lie besides tje canopy of the RHODODENDRON shrub ( sorry for the rant but this is just plain ignorant). Rhodys are formidable opponents to disc golfers, its punishing enough to make a putt from underneath a rhody (that's why they are the perfect comparison to a ball golf sand trap) make the rhody's buncrs, not OB. Rant over

-The island green on hole 3 is sweet as is the mando hole (hole 9 or 10 I think)
-The interactive trail signs on the first few holes which have scripture on them
-Hole 17.. I wont spoil the surprise

-Still a fairly new course as you can tell from the many sticks and stumps that will trip you up, pick up your feet folks!
-Some will have a tricky time navigating it the first time, be sure and either take a picture of the layout or grab a map
-Im not even sure I am teeing off at the correct place on hole 5

This has the potential to be a 4 star course when it is all said and done, and it is just minutes from the Interstate and downtown Marion. The diversity is really great, you will need both a solid Backhand, Forehand and Overhead shot to really score well. I imagine in time the navigation issues will be resolved with tee signs and arrows
Personal best thus far: -3

The course is in an interesting spot not far off of Interstate 40 in Marion, NC. The layout is very interesting with the 2nd hole just over a small creek. It appears to be a church property with a small camp with cabins up in the woods around the 14th and 15th holes.

As the previous reviewer stated, this is very much a work in progress and would likely be rated higher due to the variety of holes with some early open holes but mostly wooded after the 7th hole.

The main pros at this point are the brand new baskets, map provided near the first tee, and the potential, which is great!

Cons are many due to the early stages of this design. There are signs but mostly they are paper and were getting wet and will soon be difficult to follow. The map was an absolutely necessity since several of the tee boxes were very hard to find even with the map. I'm still not certain we teed off on 4 from the right spot.

Holes 4 thru 7 are all located in recently cut wooded areas and not fun walking around but still playable.

Lastly, several of the holes on the second 9 are exceptionally tight tunnel shots and would be very difficult for a high level player to get close on any kind of consistent basis in my opinion.

I truly hope they continue with the development as I can see this being a truly beautiful course one day. The only near term issues would be weathered signs falling and making it hard to navigate.

This is in an area where I'm likely to give it a try again one day and I'll update at that time.

Creek Wise is an absolute work-in-progress. With some more work and maintenance, and a lot of patience, in time this should be an intriguing course.
- Lots of potential. In all honesty, the course shouldn't be open for play or be listed on the site. There are 18 baskets (easily identified), there are 18 tee areas (some more clearly defined than others) and 18 fairways (ditto). The course is raw, but you can clearly see the makings of some good hole layouts. Things would be a lot better if this course weren't listed as open until the end of 2015 or beginning of 2016.

- Good variety of hole layouts. The first seven holes are in the open; the final 11 are all wooded. The open holes included a little bit of elevation, highlighted by the very enjoyable second hole. #2 is a downhill, 292-foot layout to a basket in a small opening between several trees and over a small creek. The wooded holes have a solid mixture of doglegs & straight lines, very tight to not so tight. When all is complete, who knows how many more trees will come down to help better define/create fairways for the wooded layouts.

- Course presents a fair amount of challenge, especially to one's mid-range game. The wooded holes force you to hit your lines, be that throwing on a rope, or carving shots around trees. The 18 holes average 244 feet, ranging in length from 146 - 329 feet. For the wooded stretch, if you can hit your target up to 250 feet, you'll do well. If not, you'll be hitting trees left and right, leading to lots of scrambling and frustrations.

- Course is almost completely isolated from the rest of the park & church activities. After the first three holes, with the possible exception of #6, you're completely removed from everything else.

- A ton of work has already gone into this course design, and I expect much more to take place before it's complete. Take a look at the course map posted on this site. On it, you'll see that holes #3 - 7 are shown as being in the woods. Those trees have all been removed, or at least most parts of those trees are gone. There are still stumps galore throughout this stretch. On a positive note, I really admired having the lined paths between holes. That was a huge help for navigating this stretch.

Tons of work still needs to be done before this course can be considered playable, and more importantly, safe. The only three holes that are truly complete are the first three. Holes #4 - 7 still need stumps removed, ground leveled and many branches/downed trees hauled away. The wooded holes still appear to need many trees and/or branches need to be cut back and dragged away. There are still too many instances of undefined/unnatural fairways and/or angles/doglegs to create fair hole designs. It turns challenging layouts into poke and hope holes.

- As for the safety, that comes with the amount of stumps, cut trees and branches to dodge while navigating the course. Being on a church's property, and in a neighborhood/residential area, I have a feeling this course is going to bring in mostly casual/beginning players and/or families. With the course in its current state, I wouldn't want kids walking/running through the course. Seasoned disc golfers (those of us who use this site, for example) are used to playing in rugged conditions. Those who are playing with their family, and carry one or two discs probably won't be as prepared for some of the ruggedness.

- Not sure who this course is designed for. I sense it will be more for casual and beginning players based on being a church-owned course and its short layout. If it is for that level of player, the layout of the wooded holes is far superior to that skill level. Casual players are going to be deep in the woods on the wooded holes after they keep hitting trees. That also brings in the safety factor again.

- Signage isn't that great right now. I'm betting this will be a moot point once work is complete. Right now there are signs directing you towards the next hole, or towards the basket (again, an experienced player doesn't need to be pointed toward a basket on a 250 foot hole, but a beginner would) on some holes. I suspect there will be tee signs with good visuals of the hole layout and correct distances listed.

- Not a con per se, but I thought it a little odd that you tee off on the edge of a cemetery on one hole - #6 - then walk through the cemetery on your way back to the parking lot.

Creek Wise has the potential to be a very fun layout. The wooded holes reminded me a lot of Tidal Creek (I'm not calling it by its embarrassing new nickname) in West Ashley (Charleston), SC due to their extreme tightness. I have higher hopes this course will create more natural, fairer fairways once its completed.

- It will be interesting to see what skill level this course settles on once it's done. It'd be nice to have a fun, quick-round 18-hole layout here, both for locals and travelers on I-40.

- Once this is done, anyone travelling on I-40 between Hickory and Asheville will have an 18-hole course every 15-20 minutes: multiple courses in Asheville; multiple Black Mountain course; Creek Wise in Marion; Catawba Meadows in Morganton; Glenn Hilton in Hickory. It's maybe not the most challenging set of courses; but, if you're travelling with a family and you need to stop, you have options.

- I hope to play this course again once it's complete. My rating won't be completely accurate now (too high) and once complete (almost certainly too low). I'm giving this course a 2.0 taking into account its current playability (closer to a 1 - 1.5) and my estimation of its final design (probably a 2.5ish - 3.0 range). At this point, my review is probably more reflective of the course than my rating, at least until that becomes outdated too.
- Sad to hear the course is no more. It had potential to be a fun layout. A lack of upkeep or support is what ultimately led to its demise.