When getting off the highway for gas and lunch I decided to see if there were any courses that I could swing through and stretch my legs at, and .6 miles from the gas station I found this little 9 holes.

With a rating below 1 on DGCR and 3.5 on Udisc I had to examine and see what this disparity was and honestly I don't know how anyone could give it higher than a 2.5 unless it was the only place they had ever played.

The have 9 disc catcher baskets in good working order, and maybe 4 of the 9 holes with a pretty interesting design.

Hole 6 is an interesting shot with a blind basket, and 7 would be the best hole on the course if you didn't have to cross over the 6 fairway to throw it. The intended line is a really wide forehand, but it's by far not the best way to reach the pin.

The final hole is fun with road and parking lot OB, but if you are playing when anyone at all might be at the church cars could be hit.

I feel like someone who knows disc golf helped put this one together. Some of the lines are kind of nice.

The baskets have next tee arrows so at least you can navigate.

The cons unfortunately are not a short list.

On the first two holes the pin is very close to the houses that boarder the left side of the course. I'm sure new players go into their yards and maybe even hit one close by house all the time. On holes 2 and 3 the playground is in the line of fire, and I actually hit one of those basket style baby swings on 3 when the shot was on line.

The grass on holes 5-8 is knee high and there are a lot of brambles. Several groupings of trees add some needed challenge on the back half, but there is a ton of underbrush so getting a disc out is not easy.

Tees are marked by 4x4 posts with mailbox numbers on them and some have sharpie with the distance.

No pads and some of the spots are not very level.

Safety is an issue if anyone is at the church. Kids on the playground, can't play 2&3. Full parking lot, can't play 4,5,9.

The land is not really ideal for a course. Holes 1-4 come into contact with the other activities too much, and the back is not maintained currently. There is actually some half decent land behind the existing course, but the church must not own it.

If holes 4-8 were combined with that land you could probably make a 2-2.5 9 hole course.

Kudos to the church for allowing it to be built, but someone at least needs to hit it with a lawnmower. Trying hard not to be rude, but other than a spot to stretch your legs and practice your putts it doesn't do a whole lot of most people.

You can solo it in 20 though if speed golf is your thing.

Have you ever been to lavish meal where there is so much good food, you can't possibly try everything? You get so focused on the sweets, you didn't even have time to sample the appetizers? Now, picture the opposite of that, and you have the essence of the problems at East Gold Street Wesleyan Church.
- In and of itself, most holes have the bones of a good design. As for execution? Well....(shoulder shrug)
- #1 is a fine, short, beginner-friendly hole. Low ceiling shot throwing under or around branches/trees.
- #2 is a scenic layout with Crowders Mountain serving as a backdrop for this layout. Here's where the issues start to creep in. I viewed this hole as a tight, island green type of layout, with an OB fence on the left and a swingset as an obstacle to throw over or around. Then, after some reflections, and one disc getting caught in a gust of wind and sailing over the fence, I realized it wouldn't take much for a disc to hit a housing unit. Plus, the whole idea of the hole being unplayable if there are kids on the swings.
- #6 & 7 could both be high quality layouts. Honestly, if a big name designer or a big name course had these layouts, I'd imagine they would be viewed differently. Blind tee shots on both, with tight fairways lined by waste high (or taller) grass. #6 is the shorter, 236-footer that plays to the right of a giant oak. #7 is a multi-shot, par 4, 431-footer with the fairway playing to the left and behind the same tree. I threw a short 200-ish foot tee shot to make sure I had eyes on my disc.
- #9 is another hole that seems like it has the bones of a solid layout, but it's just missing something. The left side of the fairway is a small road and a business. When I played, there was someone just hanging out in their vehicle on the left side of the fairway, which took away several routes/shot types.
- Tee sign posts make it easy to spot your next hole. The transition from #6 to 7 could use an arrow or clear path for the navigationally challenged.

Course is somewhat neglected. Ok, actually it looked like the fields where portions/all of holes #4 - 9 play hadn't been mowed in a long time. Granted, it's wheatgrass-esque so not difficult to navigate through. It's more of an issue that you can't spot anything until you're just about on top of said object, be it a disc or a snake.
- Safety issues. As mentioned above, there's an issue on #2. Issues also abound on #4 (throwing along the backside of the church building) and #9 with its fairway alongside the street.
- Several boring holes. For the holes with neither safety issues nor tall grass, it's because these holes are essentially out in the open. #3 & 5 are simple non-obstacle layouts. At least on #8, you have to throw around a large conifer.
- Frustrations for beginners/kids. This course is meant to be beginner friendly. I don't know anyone who got hooked on the game by searching for a disc in three to four foot tall grass or walking around a fence to get a disc.

Somehow, this is a relatively spaced out course at East Gold Church. If you look at the satellite image, you'll see how small this space is. You're looking at less than five acres for the course. With that constraint in mind, it's actually decent.
- Course doesn't offer even much in terms of practice. You could use the baskets for putting or approach shots, but that's it. There's not room for drives. And, with the tall grass in play, you wouldn't want to turn practice time in disc recovery time.
- I liked hole #2. It really is one of the most picturesque backdrops in the area, especially coming from Charlotte. For us Charlotte players, the elevation and mountain backdrop make this feel nothing like a Charlotte course. You're definitely playing foothills disc golf here.
- Instead of a local brewery, there's a nice winery seven minutes away. And for food, you're less than 15 minutes from Red Bridges BBQ Lodge in Shelby. It's consistently rated as one of the best bbq spots in the state. As for disc golf, head back towards Gastonia and play Rankin or Bradley.
- The tall grass is a major deterrent. Playing here when the grass is shorter or winter and this would be a much greater experience. Just don't throw any wheat-colored discs and you should be ok.
- I'm rating this as slightly below average. Regular maintenance will immediately bump up my rating and perception of the course. As is, this is a stat-padder.