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Dix Park - West reviews
13
0
Skyline drives 2+ years
Reviewed:
Updated:
Played on:Feb 5, 2021
Played the course:once
Pros:
The Dorothea Dix (Dix east) temporary course was an immediate hit when it arrived in the fall of 2020, quickly becoming one of the most popular courses in the region. But its stay was always meant to be short and of the season, leaving everyone wanting more.
Surprisingly, an epic sequel has now arrived in a different portion of the park, to be available to disc golfers only during February and March of 2021.
And it is a wholly unique monster of a course.
+ At over 5800 ft. and a par of 37, by any measure this is one of the longest 9-hole courses in the world. In a quick search of the DGCR directory, I can only find two nine-holers that are longer, and both of those are tacked onto ball golf courses (Lake Estes in CO, and Sea Pines in CA). Dix West's par of 37 is the absolute highest that I can find for any nine-holer in the world. This is a singular, unique disc golf experience.
+ Hole 2 features stunning drives straight at the downtown Raleigh skyline, and immediately rivals Diavolo's hole 9 as the most scenic disc golf hole in the Triangle. It's rare to have the opportunity to play disc golf on such prime scenic property so close to a major city.
+ A wide-open crusher of a course, the likes of which you won't find anywhere else in the region. There are many opportunities to rip your longest drives both off the tee and on the approach, to attack for birdies. That said, large trees and occasional rough still require some welcome elements of shot-shaping and technique, especially on approach shots.
+ Hole 6 is a 1000-ft. par 5 monster, and is one of the most challenging holes in the region. The tee shot is surprisingly technical, with trees and rough requiring a fairly straight or S-shaped drive into the ideal landing zone. From there, players must mash multiple uphill drives around a corner to finally approach the hilltop basket.
+ The course flows quite well, as the next tee is often immediately visible from the preceding basket, and small arrows help in a few places. The course map can easily answer any remaining questions. Tees are marked by small colored stumps that display the hole number, and the baskets are highly visible yellow-banded Discatchers. On hole 8, the basket itself is blind from the tee behind a rise, but a thoughtful flag on top gives you a nice point to aim for.
Surprisingly, an epic sequel has now arrived in a different portion of the park, to be available to disc golfers only during February and March of 2021.
And it is a wholly unique monster of a course.
+ At over 5800 ft. and a par of 37, by any measure this is one of the longest 9-hole courses in the world. In a quick search of the DGCR directory, I can only find two nine-holers that are longer, and both of those are tacked onto ball golf courses (Lake Estes in CO, and Sea Pines in CA). Dix West's par of 37 is the absolute highest that I can find for any nine-holer in the world. This is a singular, unique disc golf experience.
+ Hole 2 features stunning drives straight at the downtown Raleigh skyline, and immediately rivals Diavolo's hole 9 as the most scenic disc golf hole in the Triangle. It's rare to have the opportunity to play disc golf on such prime scenic property so close to a major city.
+ A wide-open crusher of a course, the likes of which you won't find anywhere else in the region. There are many opportunities to rip your longest drives both off the tee and on the approach, to attack for birdies. That said, large trees and occasional rough still require some welcome elements of shot-shaping and technique, especially on approach shots.
+ Hole 6 is a 1000-ft. par 5 monster, and is one of the most challenging holes in the region. The tee shot is surprisingly technical, with trees and rough requiring a fairly straight or S-shaped drive into the ideal landing zone. From there, players must mash multiple uphill drives around a corner to finally approach the hilltop basket.
+ The course flows quite well, as the next tee is often immediately visible from the preceding basket, and small arrows help in a few places. The course map can easily answer any remaining questions. Tees are marked by small colored stumps that display the hole number, and the baskets are highly visible yellow-banded Discatchers. On hole 8, the basket itself is blind from the tee behind a rise, but a thoughtful flag on top gives you a nice point to aim for.
Cons:
- As a temporary course, the tees are natural, and I expect that heavy foot traffic will immediately tear those tees apart into sloppy and muddy messes, as we saw a few months prior at Dix East.
- Because of the distances involved, birdies are completely out of the question for anyone with less than 300 ft. of power, and 350 ft.+ shots are probably required to realistically/consistently birdie most of these holes. Recreational players may have to be content with a scorecard full of bogeys. True beginners to disc golf may be genuinely shocked at the distances required of them. I would describe this as somewhere between a blue or gold level course purely because of its distance, which is highly unusual for a nine-holer in a popular city park. Not a con for many players who will visit, but perhaps discouraging for a large proportion of visitors, and an interesting decision for a course design.
- About half of the holes feature a wide-open tee shot completely free of significant obstacles, with only the second/third shots requiring any technique or shot shaping. As a consequence, those open tee shots feel somewhat like navigational filler. One could easily suggest splitting many of these longer holes into separate par 3s, but I suspect there'd be too many short wide-open hyzer holes then; I think I support the decisions to make these long par 4s, but it's hard to envision a truly ideal design solution. Ultimately these are just limitations of the openness of the property.
- While there is gradual elevation that is well-incorporated into these holes, Dix West lacks some of the dramatic elevational changes that the fall's Dix East course presented in a few places, and perhaps feels a little more one-note as a result.
- Take out the city skyline and the novelty, and I'm not sure if these holes are actually all that compelling or interesting on their own, they're mostly pretty standard designs. But of course, the above are very important features that can't be discounted.
- Only available to play for a limited time, during February and March of 2021.
- Because of the distances involved, birdies are completely out of the question for anyone with less than 300 ft. of power, and 350 ft.+ shots are probably required to realistically/consistently birdie most of these holes. Recreational players may have to be content with a scorecard full of bogeys. True beginners to disc golf may be genuinely shocked at the distances required of them. I would describe this as somewhere between a blue or gold level course purely because of its distance, which is highly unusual for a nine-holer in a popular city park. Not a con for many players who will visit, but perhaps discouraging for a large proportion of visitors, and an interesting decision for a course design.
- About half of the holes feature a wide-open tee shot completely free of significant obstacles, with only the second/third shots requiring any technique or shot shaping. As a consequence, those open tee shots feel somewhat like navigational filler. One could easily suggest splitting many of these longer holes into separate par 3s, but I suspect there'd be too many short wide-open hyzer holes then; I think I support the decisions to make these long par 4s, but it's hard to envision a truly ideal design solution. Ultimately these are just limitations of the openness of the property.
- While there is gradual elevation that is well-incorporated into these holes, Dix West lacks some of the dramatic elevational changes that the fall's Dix East course presented in a few places, and perhaps feels a little more one-note as a result.
- Take out the city skyline and the novelty, and I'm not sure if these holes are actually all that compelling or interesting on their own, they're mostly pretty standard designs. But of course, the above are very important features that can't be discounted.
- Only available to play for a limited time, during February and March of 2021.
Other Thoughts:
Whether one prefers Dix West or the past fall's Dix East probably depends partly on personal preferences, and partly on how much distance you can get off the tee, as the latter feels pretty critical for clearing the bar and appropriately meeting the challenges of Dix West. Personally I give a very slight edge to Dix West, as even though my distance is mediocre and I only carded one birdie, I tend to enjoy par 4s much more than par 3s, and the consistency between holes is higher; it feels more like a 'real' course to me. Currently I have Dix West as the 2nd best 9-hole course that I've played, behind only Samuel S. Lewis State Park in Pennsylvania, which is a radically different course from this one.
Actually, almost every course in the world is radically different from this one - Dix West is singular and unique, mostly for better and perhaps a little for worse.
Update: the course has been redesigned in order to avoid daffodils. Notes from Danny Grasse on Facebook:
"The course has been redesigned, due to the daffodils in 2/3 fairway.
#1 is the same
#2 & #3 are gone
Old #4 is now #2
Old #5 is now #3.
Par-5 #6 is now long par-3 #4, and par-4 #5
Old #7 is gone
#6 is new, very reachable par-4, with some minor obstacles
#7 is new, reasonable par-3. (I reached C2 and C1 on my drives.) Low ceiling though.
#8 and #9 are the same.
Personally, I like the new layout. They're not all purely multiple-bomb holes. There's more to the course than just throwing your arm off again and again (though it's still long)."
Actually, almost every course in the world is radically different from this one - Dix West is singular and unique, mostly for better and perhaps a little for worse.
Update: the course has been redesigned in order to avoid daffodils. Notes from Danny Grasse on Facebook:
"The course has been redesigned, due to the daffodils in 2/3 fairway.
#1 is the same
#2 & #3 are gone
Old #4 is now #2
Old #5 is now #3.
Par-5 #6 is now long par-3 #4, and par-4 #5
Old #7 is gone
#6 is new, very reachable par-4, with some minor obstacles
#7 is new, reasonable par-3. (I reached C2 and C1 on my drives.) Low ceiling though.
#8 and #9 are the same.
Personally, I like the new layout. They're not all purely multiple-bomb holes. There's more to the course than just throwing your arm off again and again (though it's still long)."
