A quaint par-54 course that captures the recreational side of Atlanta disc golf spirit quite well.

-Amenities: Concrete tees, the usual great Atlanta-style signs with distances and maps, Prodigy baskets. Course kiosk and practice basket.

-Navigation: I checked UDisc twice but otherwise the flow was clear and easy. Course makes an almost-perfect loop of 18 holes.

-Old Woods: Some lovely antique forest houses the better half of the course. Green and beautiful, but also easily navigable without losing discs.

-Shot Shaping/Gameplay: A fair mix of open and wooded that mostly favors MA2-3 level players but has a few tougher holes as well. (1)-(5) and (15)-(18) are the more open holes on the course, but only three of these are wide open, as the others still have challenging gaps, tree lines, or generous fairways. The rest of the course is extremely technical with narrow tunnels throughout. Shapes are mostly basic, but not boring. Finesse will be a must on any shots not parked. There is occasional elevation in play. You'll want to be racking up birdies as most holes are under 300', but at the same time bogies will roll in when you miss a gap. Two wooded holes in the middle are markedly longer than the rest and very difficult.

-Par-54: Some of these play as two-shot holes for shorter throwers, but predominantly this is a pitch and putt. Just, you know, a careful and clean pitch required.

-Highway Noise: The drone of I-20 can be heard throughout the course. Dissolves some of the woods mystique.

-Punishment: Those who can't hit tunnels must stay away. Initial gaps missed won't be fun.

-Inspiration: Definitely lacking the novelty and originality of a top-level course. There are some fantastic holes, no doubt, but the majority of the course consists of holes that could easily be transplanted to any other easy-ish course in the Southeast. Some open holes are especially run-of-the-mill, though have some redeeming qualities as ace runs.

To me, DeKalb Memorial captures the spirit of Atlanta disc golf well. It's a lovely environment that forces you to throw through (not around or over) trees in fair but challenging ways, while offering plenty of birdie opportunities. It's not the kind of excellent challenge found at the top area courses, but it's a delightful appetizer that I enjoyed immensely after many months of playing disc golf in more barren, desert environments. This is the kind of course I enjoy, but, in the scope of all disc golf courses, is close to average. My verdict is Good.

-Safety: I'd heard from a couple DeKalb County residents who didn't have nice things to say about this park. I personally felt very safe. Other than some occasional trash it was a pleasant environment.

~Similar Courses: Rosewood-DeKalb/Redan Park (Redan, GA); Perkerson Park (Atlanta, GA); Crooked Creek/Blair Mill (Matthews, NC); Shannon Park (Rome, GA); Elon Park - Eager Beaver (Charlotte, NC).

Newish course in the first ring of SE Atlanta suburbia. The neighborhood is in definite transition from previous squalor to gentrification. The park has been nicely cleaned up. I hope it can stay that way. There is a very good chance of that, as the course is very busy with tons of eyes watching.

Hole nos. 1 through 5 are in a true parkland setting, and then you go into the small woods that include holes 6 through 14.

Signature hole 11 is through light, narrow woods to an elevated basket encased in a magnificent staircase system that gets you safely up to the basket to retrieve your disc and on along to no. 12. There's a similar staircase up and down from the 16 tee (though not as aesthetically impressive as no. 11). Great to have both to get up and down the ridges.

At no. 15, you throw to a basket out of the woods and on the edge of a vast, open field. No. 16: You throw down into said field from an elevated tee. No. 17: entire hole is on the course's second ridge and largely open to the left, but the fairway slopes hard right-high to left-low. Makes throwing uphill that much harder (that is a good challenge). No. 18 is a feel-good ending hole, also from an elevated tee.

Most of the holes are pretty short except for nos. 13 and 14 which are along the course's first ridge (open field below) and essentially long, narrow tunnels.

Even though baskets for 16 and 18 are in the large field, they are close to one another (relatively speaking) so that most of the large field serves as a great buffer between flying golf discs and vehicles in the parking lot. This buffer zone is a good place to warm up your drive upon arrival. Just stay alert for play on 16 and 18. And mind the cars...

All those eyes of your fellow players provide safety, but they also mean that we are running over one another. Courses with short holes that are cheek-and-jowl have a way of killing the joy because people are routinely treading on you.

The fairways along the fence require care so that your disc does not wind up in no-man's land between the fence and the highway.

I find holes nos. 8 and 9 too tight and rather poorly designed. The land they take up is definitely difficult to do anything really good with. If there is ever a redesign to add new holes, these two should be first on the chopping block (sorry). No. 9 especially: You cannot see the pin from the tee and don't have much of a defined fairway at all.

Perhaps the start of no. 8 could be retained (including the uphill part) but the current basket 9 become basket 8 instead.

To replace the current no. 9, could a new hole be added in the field after current no. 18? (Everything after no. 8 is renumbered, of course.) Something short so as not to destroy the current buffer between course and parked cars, but with a real obstacle to give the hole some sort of challenge. Maybe it could be a false island (this new hole I am suggesting): the green is in a low-bordered (plastic rings used for flower beds), mulched circle that one has to get in with one's drive. Jim Barnett Park in Winchester, VA has such at no. 6. It's a fun challenge. A low-cost "island" where no discs are swallowed and lost!

It's great to have another course this close into downtown Atlanta but yet can be played in the same day as others that are a little further out. Like Redan and Anderson Parks. Dekalb Memorial is meant to be the companion of Perkerson on the other side of town in southwest Atlanta. The connection is apt though the older Perkerson definitely feels Victorian (was Victorian in its heyday). While there is a park bathroom near the parking lot, it is locked up during the wintertime. So be prepared to find a restroom elsewhere, in a nearby marketplace. There's a plaza not very far south of the course (on Glenwood Ave.) on the other side of the freeway. Can get a meal there too.

- Good baskets (including a practice basket), tees, and signs: I especially like how the signs indicate which pin is currently in play!
- Good use of elevation change and many holes had multiple available lines to the basket
- Navigation is pretty straightforward, except I accidentally skipped hole 12. The addition of a sign after hole 11 telling people to take a left could help, but maybe it was obvious and I was just dumb
- The fence OB adds difficulty, and there are enough gaps in the fence that disc retrieval is not a worry if you go OB

- Some holes don't have much in the way, so all there is to do is just blast a drive without shaping a line, which I feel is comparatively boring. Among those holes, holes 4 and 5 are flat, so I felt they were the most boring. The other ones are holes 1, 16, 17, and 18. I think planting more trees on those holes would be beneficial.

Overall, this was a fun course that I could see myself replaying often. Seeing that this is a relatively new course, I am very appreciative that it got put in!

I don't know the guys who built this well, but the ones I do know told me of their efforts with the city to get this course installed and what they have had to go through to get a second course in Atlanta proper. Hats of to them!

Whenever you are building a course in a long existing park you are going to have some challenges, but I feel like they handled them really well. Hole 1 is fairly close to the main parking area, and they used the spaces along the creek and the OB fences(that boarder hwy 20) really well to make the challenge a little greater.

They have a good mix of open and wooded holes, and make good use of the elevation available. It's not to the point where you couldn't bring a cart or older players would typically have trouble getting around though, I think anyone could play here relatively happily.

The fact that the distances are not super long paired with the shaping lines, OB and rollaway potential on many holes means a good score is attainable by many, but not a given to anyone.

They did a nice job with the concrete tee pads that mainly taper towards the front, signs are top notch with the rings on hooks to indicate pin position. Many holes have benches, but not all.

They also have a beautiful multi tiered wooded green that reminds me on the one at Rollin Ridge.

My favorite holes are probably 15/16.

15 has the creek along the left, a hill on the right and some low branches so you need to pipe it low. 16 is from up on a hill throwing though a tree pocket into an open green with a backstop. Perfect ace run hole, but not too easy.

The cons are only those associated with putting a course in a long extant finite space. There are no bomber holes with the longest clocking in the high three hundreds, and the fenced OB in many places would make retrieving a disc very difficult.

Navigation is mainly easy, but the walk from 4-5 and 17-18 could easily trip up a solo first timer.

Parking is limited and though there are three areas the only one open when I arrived was behind the tennis courts, so we actually played 18 and then walked to 1.

The only other issue I noticed was that a lot of players throwing to 18 seemed to be leaving their drives at the steps you to from the tee to the fairway of 16. If it's busy you need to be heads up there.

These are all things to be expected in a mid size city park though and the course is thoughtfully constructed.

Bathrooms were closed for the winter, I'm not docking for that but it's not common in the south so plan ahead.

The design is thoughtful and the touches like the full color signs, multi tiered green on 11 I think it is and the wooded shot shaping holes make this a great addition to the area.

An excellent intermediate level course where people of of all skill levels could enjoy a round.

It is great to have another solid option for in-town Atlanta disc golf! DeKalb Memorial opened in October of 2022, and was very much a "community driven" project. Hats off to all involved.

To me, the best aspects of this course are: the variety, the use of elevation, and the "fun factor".

VARIETY: The main strength of DeKalb Memorial in my opinion. There is a great mix of types of holes, and that mixture is interspersed throughout the course in a way that keeps your attention and prevents any redundancy. I mentally put the "types" of holes at DeKalb Memorial into five buckets: short, mid-length (250-290) dogleg right, mid-length (250-290) dogleg left, long tough tunnel (300+), and open field. Just with these five types of holes alone, most disc golfers will have every shot in their game tested. The best part about DeKalb Memorial though is how these holes are scattered throughout the course: rarely are you playing the same tee shot consecutive holes, and definitely not more than twice in a row. The course crescendos from a difficulty standpoint to 13 and 14, both long tight wooded tunnels. From there, a breath of fresh air is offered as the player is given a fun downhill ace run (16) before getting two open field crushes (17 & 18) to finish the round. My (very) rough groupings display this variety: short (1,8,9,12,16); mid dogleg right (5,11,15); mid dogleg left (2,3,7,10); tough tunnel (6,13,14); open field (4,17,18). The course flows together very naturally.

ELEVATION: I feel the course designers really used the most of the available elevation on the property, with a couple very cool elevated tee shots on 1 and 16. The uphill holes are generally on the shorter side, and elevation is also used as a "hazard" on holes like 13 and 14 to make roll-aways even more punishing.

FUN FACTOR: This course is fun!!! That was my first takeaway. There are some birdies out there, some ace runs, some tough holes... and of course, you get to finish the day with a couple huge rips. For the length of course it is, and the amount of property available, I think DeKalb Memorial maxed out the sliders in the "fun" category.

INFRASTRUCTURE: 1 basket and 1 concrete tee pad per hole, but multiple basket locations on nearly every hole that will get rotated. Solid amount of benches, and a dedicated practice basket with a good sized "green" to practice on that is out of the way of other play. I also have to give a particular shoutout to the wooden structure that the basket on #11 is built on to give it challenging greenside elevation. There are stairs as well for some of the more challenging walking slopes on the course.

Sometimes "Cons" aren't really the course's fault: not every property can naturally provide a Maple Hill level of distance, topography, and hazards (nor should it). DeKalb Memorial does a great job of taking advantage of what it has available, but there are a couple shortcomings:

ROUTING: The routing of the course has a few trouble spots and long walks. The walk from #4 to #5 goes directly across #2 fairway, which I see as a potential issue with people not paying attention when throwing. #2 to #3 is a bit wonky, and #17 to #18 is a little weird, having to walk back the length of #17 while people are throwing towards you/the basket.
Another small point but I saw multiple groups arrive to the course and immediately tee off of #11, which is right next to the practice basket (as is #1, to be fair). I wasn't sure if this was an intentional strategy to try to avoid playing behind anyone, or genuine confusion of where to start.

FENCING: There is fencing separating the disc golf hole from thick woods and brush to the right of #3 and left of #4, #6, and #7 that presents a major lost disc hazard if you were to clear the fence. I don't think a disc is retrievable from beyond the fence.

LENGTH/CHALLENGE: Based on the length and difficulty (even in its most extreme setup), I think a 3.5 is about the peak for DeKalb Memorial. It will never be championship length or quality, hence the 3.5. But, as far as I know, this course was never billed to be that, and it accomplished the goal set out before it. It is another excellent "tweener" course in Atlanta.

While these courses are graded on a 0.5-5.0 scale, I usually mentally grade courses on a binary scale: do I want to play it again, yes or no. DeKalb Memorial is absolutely a yes: I have been back, and I will continue to go. It might not be where I go to give myself the ultimate test in disc golf, but it is a fun course with good variety to work on different type of shots.

The great thing about disc golf is every course doesn't *have* to be Pro Championship Quality. DeKalb Memorial had a goal of bringing a playable course for everyone to in-town Atlanta, and achieved it. Despite a few instances of wonky routing, DeKalb Memorial and its designers did about as much as they could given the land they had.

This is a brand new course built into an existing city park just east of downtown Atlanta.

Pros:
- Good size concrete tee pads (1 per hole)
- Brand new prodigy baskets
- Great tee signs
- Makes excellent use of the topography with over half of the holes featuring meaningful elevation change.
- 2 excellent (though perhaps too similar) downhill ace run holes (1 and 16) that you will want to take a few shots at
- Has a large creek that is in play on multiple holes.
- Very good mix of heavily wooded, moderately wooded, and open holes
- Short enough and open enough to be beginner friendly while still being fun for more advanced players

- Single tee pads and limited available land means many holes are unlikely to ever challenge more advanced players (the hardest holes are 2, 6, 7, 11, and 15 which are challenging for me at intermediate, and 13 and 14 which are likely to be challenging for anyone)
- A couple wide open holes (4 and 18) with no danger at all
- Somewhat easy to lose a disc with relatively thick rough and OB fences which you can take a tree kick over and have virtually no chance of retrieval
- Constant ambient highway noise from nearby I-20

Love this new addition to the ATL ITP (inside the perimeter) disc golf scene!