Pros:
Mills Park is a nice little park that offers a fun 9-hole disc golf course, as well as many other recreational activities for both locals and travelers.
Course Essentials:
The course uses MachV baskets that all look brand new and are in great shape, including a practice basket near the first tee. There are concrete tee pads on holes 1-8, and a small, wooden tee pad on hole 9. The concrete pads were a little small, but given the length of the holes, they were adequate. Each hole had a nice tee sign that gave both hole distance and an accurate layout. A large sign with course map was located at the first tee with a box that contained course maps and scorecard (I highly recommend grabbing the course map to take with you during your round).
Course Design and Layout:
The course offers a fun layout and some really nice holes, despite the fact that the park itself is so small, but course design/layout was heavily impacted by the size of the park, and all the other activities and usages of the park. Hole length is a little short, averaging around 230ft, and a couple of holes have a decent hike from the basket to the next tee (2-3, and 6-7), so it interupts the flow a little. No underbrush or excess foliage to deal with, maintenance on the course is good. Lastly, hole 9 finishes a long way from the parking lot near hole 1, there wasn't room in the park to loop back to the start.
Moderate elevations are present throughout the course, and utilized effectively. There is a great mix of uphill/downhill shots, and nice variety in right to left/left to right fairways. The course offers both open holes with little to no obstacles to clear and a couple more technical shots through the woods on 2, 8, & 9. Navigation was easy with the map, but would have been pretty difficult without it due to the spacing between some of the holes.
Some Fun Holes Worth Mentioning:
Hole 2: A very challenging fairway that sweeps continuously left to right along a right to left slope through a 25ft gap the entire length of the hole. The basket sits just outside a clearing in the trees at the end of the fairway. Hole 2 is by far the hardest hole on the course.
Hole 9: A neat little 165ft hole straight down a steep incline with a 20ft wide fairway and a small creek just in front of the basket.
Cons:
Be aware of other people in the park with walking tracks and picnic tables near some of the golf holes, a few areas of the course could be a potential safety hazard to others in the park. The course is pretty short, and will not provide much challenge to the more experienced players. The fairway up to 8's basket and down to 9's basket is pretty steep with little to no grass. These 2 areas in particular were pretty slick, and made for some slippery conditions, a little difficult to walk here when wet.
Other Thoughts:
This is the only course near Gatlinburg, so if you are in the area, this is the one to play. Otherwise, you are going to be driving roughly 45 minutes (with traffic) to the next course. This is a nice little park that has a playground with nearby pavilion, baseball fields, track, basketball courts, tennis courts, skatepark. A fun little course located just outside downtown Gatlinburg, check it out.