Pros:
Foothills DGC rests within a county park, and appears well funded. Benches and trashcans are provided at nearly every tee and the grounds are generally free of trash. The local group responsible for the course has taken studied consideration for the course's layout and, as such, the course plays very well. The vast majority of the 18 are tight par 3s with narrow - yet defined - fairways that approach highly guarded &/or tricky pin placements. Ironically, the signature hole is the 800', Par 5 10th. An elevated tee shoots down into a very well manicured field and then follows a wooded fairway into a dogleg right green. You'll empty your bag on this tee pad a few times, we did.
Cons:
16 of the holes are a delight to shoot. I might recommend that 3 and 14 be considered for reconfiguration. #3 is a blind, uphill, hard dogleg left par 3 ranging about 185 feet. There is no poured tee box, a completely wooded fairway and the hole layout is so ill-defined and blind that its really a throw-away hole. #14 might have seemed so weak because of #12 just before it, which is one of the nicest holes @ Foothills, (#12 is a sweet and reachable par 3 where righties must carry a swamp the entire length of the hole to an exposed green The layout is quite stunning). Anyway, # 14 presents itself as somewhat of a failed compromise. It runs parrallel to #8 and demands the same, tightly focused tee shot up hill and through a narrow gap of timber. However, the hole then turns immediately right, carries the slope of a hillside, to a pin placement 200' down the line. # 14 seems to be a desperate attempt to carve out a Par 4 on a course full of Par 3s. While niether of these two holes are so bad as to diminish the overall play of Foothills DGC, they take the course from an Excellent rating to (3.5) Very Good. Were they reconfigured, or cleaned up somewhat Foothills might be approaching the Phenomenal level.
Also, keep in mind the rating system here is very insightful but also highly arbitrary: if you're a player that doesn't like tight, wooded par 3s with lots of elevation changes, you're gonna hate this course. Its technical and you'll need to have a consistently tight target zone to score well. Foothills demands execution and punishes variance. Thats a good thing.
Other Thoughts:
The course is what I call Road Trip worthy, on a regional level. If you live in southern North Carolina, north Georgia or anywhere in the upper piedmont region of South Carolina you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't go and shoot this course.
Finally, if you do day trip out to play it, pack some burgers and dogs in a cooler and grill lunch inbetween rounds. There is a sweet little camp grill back in the woods (where I'm positive only the DG community knows about it) between the 4th & 5th holes. There's even a picnic bench back there too if I remember correctly. While I've only shot 2 of the Greenville area's 18-holers (timmons and Foothills), Foothills is strong; stop reading and go shoot it.