Garden Grove is a high quality course that will only get better as it continues to get foot traffic and a few trees come down. There are a variety of technical shots needed to stay on the fairway or to get up and down if you're off it.

The park is very user friendly. The parking lot abuts a covered area with picnic tables and a drink machine that has sodas, bottled water, and gatorade. There is a water well nearby, just outside of the dog park, though I didn't test it and can't say whether it is on in the winter.

Designed for Advanced level accuracy but distance is not as important. If you can throw 325-350' on a golf shot then no birdie is unattainable.

My favorite holes were 1, 2, 7, 13, 15, 16, and 17. For the most part these have gaps and fairways that reward accuracy and less poke-and-hope situations. I expect/hope that in the future most of the course will play more like these holes.

As I continue to explore Triad courses this one stands out as high quality and I look forward to playing it again. It is much more interesting than Patriot.

It looks like the original concrete pads were tiny and that pavers were added. And they are still too tight. Why go through all of the work to make a nice course and then have wimpy tee pads? It can kill the experience for some players.

A little too much poke-and-hope on some of the holes. At times it feels less like skillful shot-shaping and more like luck. You still have to give the shot a chance by hitting the line but you can throw what feels like a great one only to be denied.

Hole 12 needs some work. Right now the par play is to throw 250' off the tee and then a series of 150' placement shots at close to right angles around the islands of trees. The middle gap landing spot is too small and is not worth the risk imo.

The rough to the thrower's right on Hole 13 is a good place to lose a disc. If you yank over on one and get a tree kick it's bad back in there.

I ran into a few locals who seem to play the course almost daily. They were really nice and overall this park was filled with pleasant and happy people.

This course is a great example of why it's important to check out a course for yourself rather than relying on other people's opinions. Based on the course's ratings, I had low(er) expectations when I came to Garden Grove. What I got instead, of a very good, challenging, wooded course that's better than advertised.
- New reviews are crucial. They offer different perspectives and reflect how a course is playing at a certain time. And they also reflect people's opinions, no matter how objective we try to be.
- A classic North Carolina wooded course. Felt like I was still in Charlotte throwing at Nevin, Hornets Nest, Scrapyard, or any other tight, pine-tree laden fairway. When you're on your game, you don't notice the fairway size. Every time you hit a tree, the fairway suddenly seems three feet wide, so tight you have to turn sideways to squeeze between the trees.
- A mental challenge. There's a huge risk vs reward aspect to this course. There are some quality, varied layouts. For a large swath of the course however, it feels as if you're having to decide on the tee whether you want to be aggressive and try for a birdie (pulling out a bigger disc), or play it safe, keep it in the fairway, and play for par. After smacking a tree, ending up way off the fairway on #7, I was only able to salvage a bogey because it was January and there wasn't any growth in the rough. The paths between the trees were just forgiving enough that I felt good carding a 5.
- Ah, #7. This hole along with #13, which share a small swath of grass, are the two most enjoyable, most picturesque holes on the entire course. #7, at 464 feet, tees off from the grassy area back to a wide tunneled fairway on a relatively straight hole. A solid tee shot will put players in position for a birdie 3. If you're like me, smack a tree, and end up in the rough to the right side of the fairway, you miss the fun this hole offers.
- #13 is the bookend to #7. At 486 feet, you've got an s-curved fairway to navigate. From there, the fairway opens up to a grassy putting circle and a slightly raised basket. With a backdrop of rolling fields serving as a backdrop, this is easily the best approach shot on the course.
- I liked the colored discs on top of each basket. I'm not sure if they're there to help identify the baskets or just to be. Either way, they serve as nice targets as I experienced first hand when my approach shot shattered the one on #3. So, I can't make 15 foot putts, but I can nail a target on top of the cage from 80 - 100 feet away. Seems about right.
- Very nice park overall. From where you park for the course, it seems like a small, nothing park. Suddenly, when you're on #10 & 11, you see a larger, nice portion of the park. It's as if they don't want the disc golfers associating with the rest of the park. Hmmmm.

Tee pads. Apparently the work order for tee pads was wrong. How do you build a new course with pads that are half as long as they should be? It stands out like a sore thumb and I sense it may mess with people's impression of the course.
- There is a walking trail that weaves throughout the course. It can be easy for a walker to end up strolling down a fairway, or a discer ending up on a trail instead of a transition between holes. In certain areas, it would be nice if the signage was clearer to identify what's what.
- There are a tad few too many non-descript holes and a repetitive sense of repetitiveness. Your closing four holes are all essentially dogleg lefts. On #15 - 17, if you can throw a disc 250 feet and straight to slightly faded left, you're seeing easy par 3s on #15 & 16, and an easy par 4, with a potential birdie three on #17. DISCLAIMER: I played in January when there are no leaves on trees. For nine months a year, these holes may play different due to the foliage factor.
- I think #12 was an ambitious, adventurous design. There are multiple cleared out fairways, all with funky/awkward transitions at some point. If it was smoothed out, this would be a much better hole. Sure, on Pretzel Day, you can ask about getting all 18 toppings on your pretzel. Unless you're Michael Scott, you probably don't want the works.
- If you don't like wooded layouts, you will be frustrated here. There's grass on #1, 7, 13, & 18. Otherwise, your fairways are covered with dirt, tree roots, and pine needles.
- #1's tee shot can be a bit testy. You have a city building to the right side of the fairway. It's really not in play, but imagine if your arm isn't loose, you're slightly concerned about accuracy, and you don't want to sail left before the fairway's bend, and you know you're unleashing a drive on a 500-foot layout, that building may seem a bit closer. More of a mental block than anything else.
- I didn't notice many, if any, benches throughout the course. I don't use them, but on a hot summer day, plenty of people will notice the lack of benches.

Garden Grove is a really good course. I felt right at home with this layout. It does feel as if you could drop it right in Charlotte and you'd feel right at home.
- Hats off to the course designer. Whoever this unknown person is, he (or she) did an excellent job.
- The first hole ended up being one of the top two or three on the course. At 503 feet, you're playing the first 60% in the 'open' before the fairway breaks left into the woods. It's a split fairway, so two chances to hit your gap. You don't want to end up in the woods before your gap. That stuff is thick. A solid second shot, and I had a easy birdie three putt. Overall, one of the better opening holes you'll see.
- #6 is one of the potentially easier birdie chances. It's the tightest fairway on the course. It's also the shortest hole on the course as it's the only one shorter than 200 feet. In case you've had a rough start to your round, this can right the course. Or it can feel like a lost opportunity if you smack one of the many trees.
- Other than the walking trails, this course is removed from other park activities. There's a dog park (I think that's what the fenced in area is for) just beyond #18's basket. Otherwise, the parking lot will probably be mostly disc golfers.
- As for the repetitive repetitiveness, you have split fairways on both #10 & 11. I like both layouts. I just wish they were spaced out so both felt a like more distinct.
- This is an easy 3.5 rating for me. There are enough positive elements that I was thinking about a higher rating. A couple of aspects keep this course from that. Still, I like this course more than Patriot or Davie Park. A solid addition to the Triad disc golf scene.

Great, brand new Veteran baskets, very easy to see, especially with the logoed frisbees displayed on top.
Concrete tee pads.
Very good course map at the first tee and tee signs throughout.
Plenty of Innova minis used as next tee signs. This is very helpful in the middle part of the course, where several holes come together.
Five Par 4s and one Par 5, its nice to have mult-shot holes on what appears to be a small property. More on these later.
There are a variety of hole types, in addition to the length, left, right, straight, split fairway and a couple of ace runs.
Practice basket right near parking lot.
Nice restrooms and shelter convenient to first tee and after #9.

First and foremost, the concrete tee pads, while nice and smooth, are way too short. Most are flush to the ground, especially on the back, so the problem is minimized, but they need to be larger.

While the practice basket is nice, its in a rather small, sloped area near the walking path. It seems it might be better to have it near the first tee. But maybe the designer didn't want that activity so close to the first tee.

#12 - a very interesting design for this hole, Par 5, multiple paths, with a 90 degree turn in the fairway. But, after playing it, there are at least six 90 degree turns on this hole. If you take one of the first routes available, you have to make two or three 90 degree turns to get to the green area, and in most cases, that limits the length of your throw. It really affects the flow of the hole. Also, a bridge is needed on this hole.

Fairways are still a little rough and thick rough areas, and this was playing in February. This is pretty common for a new course cut through woods, I'm sure it will improve.

This seems like a lot of Cons for a course I really liked, but wanted to get those out there in the early stages of this course. The designer is one of our own, BrotherDave, and knows all of these, but I wanted to give him another opinion.
This is definitely the Blue level layout that BD was looking for. As you pull into the Town Hall complex it doesn't look like a huge area, but he did a great job to lay out 18 unique holes, using all the terrain available.
Most of the holes are heavily wooded with only a few "open" shots, #1 tee shot and the approaches to 13 and 18. The wooded fairways are fair to make the shot necessary with only a few very tight, #2, #5 and #9 come to mind.
#10 and 11 are both split fairway Par 3s, with 10 a little longer. You need to pick your line and go for it.
I'm not sure about the established Par on a couple of holes, 5 and 18. #5 is heavily wooded, Par 3 with an S curve fairway. It turns right, then left back to the basket. At 335' it wouldn't normally be a Par 4, but a 3 seems like a helluva good score. #18, heavily wooded, 681' Par 4 that bends left and ends on an grassy hillside, with the basket around the corner on a steep slope. I just don't see a lot of people getting all the way to that hillside in 2 shots, plus its a very fast green. Either way, its a very good, tough finishing hole.
A couple of my favorites were two of the Par 4s:
#7 - 464' with OB down the right side, straight tee shot to a fairly open landing area, then it tightens up, slightly downhill and right to the basket.
#13 - a little longer at 486', again a fairly open tee landing area that is blocked with trees, except for a gap on the left, hit that gap, then it opens up, to the elevated basket.
The course finishes pretty strong, 480' Par 4 17th, that reminds me of #17 at Hornets Nest, and the 680' 18th. Both require several pretty good throws, so save something for these. They have the potential for some serious scoring separations.
I think pretty soon this will be known as one of the best courses in the Triad, somewhat overshadowed by Keeley Park right now, but this will be a highly rated wooded course.

Normally it's good for people to refrain from reviewing their own work but since I'm highly critical of myself I can probably get away with this.

Okay, here we go. This is a very Charlotte-esque wooded style course behind Pleasant Garden's town hall. It features 19 Dynamic Veterans baskets (one practice basket) and 18 concrete tees. Mostly par 3s with five par 4's and one par 5 to deal with. Practically every hole is designed with challenging the modern Blue level player, which was something this area badly needed. With the exception of a couple "must-gets" the par 3s are designed to be "tough but fair" with birdies rewarding to get but not implausible. The par 4/5s are generally technical rather than multi-rip but a fairly blurred distinction between the two I think.

Many of these holes are very John Houck inspired, with multiple lane fairways for your Choose Your Own Adventure enjoyment. Others are more reminiscent of Harold Duvall gems like Castle Hayne, like hole 13 which requires two solid throws and a putt on a raised basket to card the birdie. The course is almost entirely wooded but Holes 1, 7, and 13 make use of what open spaces were available to sprinkle in some variety. The wooded holes vary from the very technical gauntlet of hole 6 to the fairly open but shape-shifting beast that is hole 12. Lastly, the course is designed so that players can play the front 9 or the back 9 loops and not have too far a walk from the parking lot either way.

The course is much easier to navigate now thanks to orange sign minis donated by Alex McLaughlin. This is vital because the nature trail that weaves around this course can lead 1st time golfers astray easily. The transition from hole 13 to 14 and hole 15 to 16 would be a curve ball without them also. For the most part, the course flows fairly well and not terrible to navigate. A large map greets you at hole 1 and also at hole 18 if you happen to park in the soccer field parking lot. The white baskets are nice and visible but also have high vis frisbees attached to the tops to aid in spotting them (thanks to Tom Bullock).

Not a great deal of elevation or water elements but what exists is used quite well, such as hole 18's pin placement on the hill, hole 16's subtle valley shot, and hole 12's spring. The woods are a nice mix of tall pines and lots of deciduous trees.

Most of these are new course related. The rough is still very rough. Every species of brier and also grape vines carpeted huge swathes of this property and had to be tamed. Poison ivy was copious and probably will be fought for a few seasons. Ticks were atrocious everywhere in NC this year but absolutely Biblical plague levels bad here. Fortunately they're non-existent right now and hopefully with all the increased play the course is getting will be less and less of a problem come next Spring. It will take a considerable beating in this Fall and Winter to alleviate the roughness of some of the hole's roughs but it's not too bad now. Just keep a sharp eye on your disc as much as possible.

The tees are small. That's my fault due to a miscommunication with the park. But they're fairly flush with the ground, a good texture, and will be easily ran upon for the most part.

Some of the holes are still playing tougher than their listed par. I'll be tweaking and working on these constantly to improve their scoring separation. Hole 18 in particularly is devilishly difficult to birdie and requires flawless play just to par right now.

Hole 12 plays over a section of the nature trail. Normally I would eviscerate a designer for doing this but I talked myself into it b/c the juice is worth the squeeze IMO. This trail is seldom used in general and this section even less so. I took great care in avoiding conflict with the trail otherwise though. Hole 12 also needs a bridge over the spring if you take the left fairway, we're working on that.

Hopefully this review brings some attention to the course and encourages more people to scope it out. It's getting more and more popular every week and I'm very pleased with it. I just want to quickly thank Mayor Carla Strickland and Parks and Rec. head Jason Peterson for putting up with me. Also a huge thank you to all the volunteers, most notably Brother John, Tom Bullock, and my 2nd in command, Dustin Maynard. Hopefully I'll have some Red Tee locations scouted out this Fall and Winter to make the course more accommodating for beginners but no real timetable on permanence. I'll update this review a lot so check back occasionally. Cheers!