Pros:
(2.885 Rating) A one dimensional heavily wooded course.
- RAW BEAUTY - Out of 330 courses played as of this review, I'd put Fort Yargo at around 30th for raw beauty. So about 90 percentile. I'd say every holes looks at least average and often better. Hole (6) and Hole (11) are uniquely stunning with lake taking up much of the back-drop on these fun downhill lines. (13) and (14) are both beautiful plays as well with the lake sort-of along the left edge the entire way.
- TEES - I loved the huge tees. 6 feet by 12 feet and tapering to 10 feet wide in back. So big, that I could put my bag on one corner and still have room to throw.
- CHAINS - The perfect baskets for a woods course with the wide yellow band peaking threw the trees.
- SHOT SHAPING - Hitting some of these lines will be exhilarating . I was shocked to run it clean to the blind basket on (12), where I then followed it up with an airball on my deuce attempt. I hit a lot of trees out here, but I blame some of that on the 30 degree temps and sporting a puffy winter coat. The lines are very tight, but generally plausible on all but one or two holes. Veteran players who crave technical courses will love these lines.
- QUICK PLAY - Quick for a heavily wooded 18 holer. I had an empty course early in the morning and finished in just under an hour. figure two hours for a foursome.
Cons:
A bunch of minor issues of note and an unreasonable extra fee.
- OVERGROWTH - I played in late November and I still thought the overgrowth was bad. I spent a few extra minutes looking for my discs and got scraped by some briar. There is likely poison ivy during the summer and it's probably loaded with ticks too.
- PAY TO PLAY - I paid 9 dollars to play this course. 5 dollars at the gate and 4 dollars for disc golf. So let me get this straight. It costs nothing extra to use the boat launch, picnic, playgrounds, fish, play basketball, play tennis, hike or bike, all of which that take money to maintain, but disc golf... Hey, you have to pay extra. Ridicules.
- LACK OF MAINTENANCE - Other than a couple mowed spots, the effort to maintain this course is a minimal effort. The tees had natural debris on just about all of them. A few tees have substantial breaks in them. Many holes had nothing more than a 10 to 15 feet wide thinned out fairway width. Nothing new has been added to this course in probably 3 or 4 years. Again, why am I paying extra?
- TRASH CANS - I paid 4 extra dollars, and not one friggin trash can. What am I paying for?
- CHARACTER - No extras other than a beat-up practice basket. Not one bench on this up and down layout. Yes, there are benches all over the park, but the other park users didn't pay extra, so they get all the seating areas and shelters.
- PARKING - Lots of nice paved parking areas all over the park... except by the disc golf course.
- NAVIGATION - Not horrible, but less than desirable. No course map on site or on DGCR. I don't recall any directional cues on the layout and the signage doesn't have next tee direction. There are a few intuitive paths, but my assumptions got me headed the wrong way a couple times.
- TERRAIN - I don't take point away for this, but I wouldn't go here if I had knee or ankle issues. Most of the fairways have slope to them. Lots of rock and stumps in fairways as well. Although the course is listed as not cart friendly, I think a Zuca would do just fine here.
- BEGINNER FRIENDLY - Despite the shorter distances, this course is not beginner friendly.
Other Thoughts:
Despite my long list of cons, I actually very much enjoyed the course. Far away what made me enjoy my experience here was the beauty, and I sent photos to others during my round to instill jealousy. I was shocked that this course was not rated higher, post play. I went through all the past reviews to try and figure out why. Through my research, I came up with two reasons why this course is rated lower than it should be. Number 1, only the last 14 reviews and one other revised review, notes the large concrete tees. Apparently it went from horrible gravel to giant concrete pads in 2010. These newer reviews average a 3.33. While on the flip-side, the older unrevised reviews average 2.31. Whoa. The number 2 reason is due to a legendary reviewer's zero score review. That review alone, shaved off a tenth of a point to the overall review score. Fort Yargo is definitely under the radar due to the course ranking. Any player that likes tight technical courses with scenic fairway lines will love this place.
- CHALLENGING - The challenge is one dimensional being short and very technical. Advanced bombers will hate this course, but Advanced technicians will adore it. I couldn't find any official round rated scores online, but I'll fathom a guess that even par will net an 880 round or upper Recreational difficulty. I personally shot +1 as an Intermediate level player, but I was unfairly handicapped with the trees conspiring against me and walking into my throws.
- VARIETY - About average. All woods plays but the lines change up enough to be pleasing IMO. I wish a few holes were lengthened to 500 feet or so to bring in a true multi-play hole. Hole (11) is not a par 4 being downhill, and many Advanced players will have no problem getting to the other two par 4s as well. I liked the subtle flaunting of water danger, although I do wish one play was even more aggressive. Excellent use of elevation as well.