Pros:
Stopping in the original Nashville, I made time for a quick round. I'm glad it was a quick round at Glover Park.
- This is the epitome of squeezing in a course. It plays along the perimeter of several ball fields. In addition, the fairway also plays alongside, or over, a very, very basic walking trail.
- #1 is a perfectly suitable, basic opening hole. 200 feet, slightly downhill, open tee shot to a basket protected by trees. The fact this is probably the third or fourth best hole on the course lets you know about the rest.
- I think the concept for #6 is good. The execution is anything but. You basically have to throw over, or around the edge of an outfield fence while throwing over a walking trail and swing. If nobody is around, it's fine. If there is a way to retrieve a disc that sails over the fence, that'd be good too. My tee shot landed 25 feet from the basket and I was just glad I avoided trouble. In the right hands, this tight layout would be an excellent hole. Here, it's a miss.
- The last three holes are all fine. #8 & 9 allow you to throw with some distance. Both holes are longer than 300 feet. Both have tight fairways with obstacles on the left (fence, parking lot, basketball court) and trees & underbrush on the right. Throwing low stingers on both holes was the safest, smartest shot.
- The water tower as a backdrop on #9 was nice. The tight green/approach on #9 was a great feature even if it was more luck than planning. This gives a true island green feel.
- If there wasn't a walking trail in play, holes #2 & 5 would be better. I played on a quite Sunday afternoon. Three other cars in the parking lot and I had to stop multiple times for walkers.
Cons:
The layout is a bit ambitious for the amount of space. Turn that thought on its head, it IS impressive that a nine-hole course fits into this space.
- Poor signage. Poor tees. Look for the generic green posts to find out where you're throwing from.
- Baskets probably haven't been given a look since they were installed.
- Course allows nearly zero margin for error without bringing other park facilities into play. Or the park road (#1) or parking lot (#9) into play).
- For a relatively short course (240-footlength average according to DGCR; 221 according to UDisc), I wouldn't call this generally a beginner friendly course. That's 100% due to the narrow fairways. You're telling me a brand-new player is more likely to hit all the tight gaps, or they're having to retrieve a disc from the baseball fields?
- Course's general quality was poor. Even by small town standards, you could tell with the railroad tracks half a mile away, this was the wrong side of them.
Other Thoughts:
There are genuinely good parts to Glover Park. Less than a week after playing this course, I played a temporary course just outside Charlotte that had some fairways & greens just as narrow as this place.
- Holes #3 & 4 only exist so that the course could have 9 holes. They are as simple, short, and open as you'll see.
- Other than #1, there really aren't any trees in play. You'll have to be throwing some wide sweeping tosses to bring the ones on the outskirts into play.
- Nashville, North Carolina is older than Nashville, Tennessee, founded in 1780. So, there's that.
- Unless it's self-inflicted overly aggressive, or bad, putting, you shouldn't be shooting anything worse than a 3 on this course. On the flip side, you do have to throw good tee shots on certain holes (thinking #5 & 6, especially) to get your 2s.
- Even the overly generous, rating inflating reviews on UDisc have this rated somewhat low. That should tell you something.
- I'll drive by this exit plenty of times on NC-64. I sincerely doubt I'll be stopping here again, unless I'm a glutton for punishment.