Pros:
A decade after the original incarnation, a new version of Eastway is back. Despite losing the signature features of the original layout, dare I say this is a better version? Stay tuned.
- For those of you who were fans of the original course, there are a few aspects to appeal to your sentimentality. Holes #2, 3, and 18 play on old holes. If that's not enough, reminisce about the old fairways that played along the entrance road.
- As for the new layout, WOW. Eastway Park had this much untapped land. It had a pond? Who knew?
- This course is almost exclusively in the woods. A couple holes on the front nine have grass, with #2 being the only 100% open hole on the entire course. That said, by North Carolina, and especially Charlotte standards, the wooded fairways are more than generous.
- Flow. There's good variance throughout. Long holes followed by shorter ones. Tighter fairways followed by wider ones. Flat holes lead to ones with elevation factor. I felt I was pulling out a lot of different discs on the tee pad.
- #3 is an outstanding hole of disc golf. A classic, longer par 4 at 585. A dogleg left off the tee. The final ¼ of the hole is a dogleg back to the right with water long. To get your 3, you need a well placed tee shot in order to have a chance at a well placed second shot. A bad tee shot, well, you're already hoping you can salvage par with your following three shots.
- #5 is as much fun as it is scenic. It's a relatively simple tee shot over the edge of a pond on this 292 foot layout. Over the water, it's slightly uphill and slightly doglegged left. Or, just throw it on a rope like I did and land within 20 feet of the basket. Your only risks are if you hit a tree and get an unfortunate bounce back towards the water. Based on how I've seen almost nobody posting about lost discs on the local FB page, I don't see that being much of an issue.
- #12 is a fun uphill, split fairway layout. It's listed at 275 feet, but feel much longer due to the elevation variance. You can swing it out far to the left or right. It's an easy par 3, but it feels good getting a birdie here because you'll have to make a good shot.
- #17 & 18 are solid closing holes. Two of the four longest holes to close out your round at 536 and 700 feet respectively. #17 has an OB creek on the right side of the entire fairway. On #18, the OB creek runs along the left side. #17 has the tighter fairway. On both holes, the closer you land your tee shot to OB, the less obstacles (trees) you have to deal with for your second shot. #18 has OB around the green so don't go short, long, or left.
- Lots of details went into the course before it opened. How many bridges are on this course? How many courses have steps leading one into and out of OB creek beds? It's as if they knew certain areas would collect discs. Good signage and tee signs to boot.
- Huge rec center here. We hate seeing the old course removed. With what has been built here (rec center, ball fields, etc.), I understand why it happened. And to boot, the course still doesn't overlap with other park activities.
Cons:
Better signage from the parking lot towards the first tee would be helpful for first time players. I somehow took the long way around the building to get to #1.
- On a couple holes, better signage would be helpful indicating the long versus short tees. When the path leads you to a tee, it's nice knowing right away if you've reached the long or short tee. Small thing to just make rounds flow more seamlessly.
- On the long transitions on the front nine (#6 to 7 and #7 to 8), another next tee arrow or two would be nice too.
- More benches? I don't remember many on the course. In case you can't tell, these are relatively small issues.
- How packed will the parking lot be when this place has a big event? Will the disc golf course be accessible during such events?
- After #9, you're in the far back portion of the course. Don't come here thinking you can play just the front or back 9 and easily bail out.
- Honestly, for a new course, David Weaver and the CDGC volunteer army did an outstanding job of addressing almost every issue prior to opening.
Other Thoughts:
What's not to like about the new Eastway? It's a high quality course and it's well maintained. Let's hope the volunteer work continue throughout the years.
- Short tees take some of the bite out of the tougher holes. It's 1,100 feet shorter than the long tees so it appeals to more disc golfers.
- This course fits in perfectly in the Charlotte DGC scene. It's not as elite as Renny or Nevin. It's the next level down along the lines of Hornets Nest and Angry Beaver. The level below that, for those interested, offer Kilborne, Reedy, and Scrapyard. And no, I didn't overlook all the other courses outside the city limits - Camp Canaan, Bradford, Stumpy, Bracketts, Dry Creek, etc.
- As if Charlotte didn't have enough quality courses, we're now spoiled with this one. It is a better course than the original, even if that one had aspects not seen on other Charlotte courses. Being in a prime location, it's close to NoDa, Plaza-Midwood, and the university area, as well as the closest to center city.
- It's only been open for a couple months, but this course stays busy. I played on a weekday morning in January, and passed a lot of players. Good luck playing a fast round on the weekend.
- I'd put this as easily the 4th best course in Charlotte, behind Renny, Nevin, and Hornets Nest. Not many city's, let alone regions, can match that top 4.
- I'm putting this at an easy 4.0 rating. It's best aspect is that it's a near perfect blend of fun and challenge. It's hard to excel at both, and Eastway earns high marks in both categories.