Just west of Kingsport, the Mount Carmel course offers solid design in a park setting and is a welcomed addition to a region that features several excellent and lengthy disc golf courses but is a little short on quick, nine-hole plays.

Six of the nine holes are less than 250 feet in length, but the impactful elevation and tricky pin locations mean this course is a little challenging and not completely family friendly.

Several of the basket locations were well-chosen and add to the course's appeal, with Hole #7 leading the way by being positioned on a considerable incline that can lead to 50-foot rollaways and terrifying death putts from above the target. Hole #2 is a short, downhill throw where you can easily air mail the basket. Hole #4 has the basket perched on the edge of a hill and shots to the right of the pin may be punished.

The baskets are Dynamic Veteran, which are definitely my favorite basket. These chains always snagged my slightly off-center putts.

Only two of the holes have newly-created teepads, but the course design incorporates the nearby sidewalks and works fairly well.

The best view in the park is from the blacktopped plateau above the Hole #7 basket as you can see Bays Mountain and beyond.

Navigation isn't exactly intuitive as there's a bit of backtracking involved. The course is easy to follow after one round, but there might be a bit of searching during the initial attempt. If you follow the path from the parking lot, the course starts past the large pavilion and behind the small restroom facility.

Holes #5 and #6 are susceptible to maintenance issues. If not constantly mowed or weed-whacked, the high grass will swallow discs. The "traversability" of these two holes isn't great either. The obstacles of uneven ground, briars, ditches and elevation can make these two holes treacherous.

Since the course utilizes sidewalk space for teepads, not every area is level.

The course ends with Holes #8 and #9 being fairly flat and wide open.

There are a few other activities available in this park; a couple times, players warming up near the softball field forced me to adjust my drive on Hole #9.

I played about two dozen rounds here in a three-month window in spring 2022 before I moved from the Tri-Cities area. The course was just a few minutes from my house, and I would frequently play a couple rounds in less than an hour.

The designer Tim Barr did a fantastic job of optimizing the variety of design and utilizing the established sidewalks to squeeze nine pretty good holes into the area available.

Beautiful park
Plenty of other things to do at the park
Bathrooms available
Very fun layout
Great for a quick round
Good mix of uphill/downhill holes

Some of the baskets/tees are located fairly close to each other

Mount Carmel Park in (you guessed it) Mount Carmel Tennessee, has a brand new 9 hole disc golf course. This course is listed as "Pedro 66" on Udisc. The first thing I want to say about this course is that the scenery around the course is absolutely beautiful as the backdrop of the Appalachian Mountains can be seen from most of this park. With this course being as close to the Mountains and Foothills as it is, this allowed for quite a few elevation changes in the layout. As with most courses in East TN, there are some hills in play on this one! The holes are fairly short but as you know, short doesn't always mean easy. There are several sub 300' holes that require you to hit a specific line or battle ground play with potential rollaways. Hole 7's for instance is a fairly short hole but the basket is brilliantly placed directly on the side of a steep hill. While it is reachable for the two or potential ace run, you may want to throw a placement shot off the tee to avoid a roll. Small little nuggets of cleverness like this is what makes this course a must play for me. I wouldn't exactly say that this is a course that you absolutely have to travel to, but if you are in the area, don't be silly and pass this one up. I live around an hour away from this course and have only played it one time so far, but will I travel back to it? Of course! (see what I did there?) If you simply look at the distances, you may think this course is super easy, however you would re-think your opinion on some of these tricky shots. I like this course because it is short enough to allow newer players to learn the sport but is also just tricky enough to make it fun for more experienced players. There are a few things that worry me about this course with some of the tee/basket placements and some of the walking paths. For instance Hole 3's tee pad is downhill behind Hole 2's basket. It isn't directly behind it but an arrant shot could definitely head down towards that tee. Just be smart when you play this course and make sure you are never throwing one towards other players and all should be well. Don't forget to look out for yourself on some of these holes as well because as we all know, every throw doesn't always go as planned. Overall, this is a super fun little 9 hole layout and I would definitely request you go play it at least once. I am certain that if you play it once, you will want to go back in time for another round. Great addition to Tennessee Disc Golf! If you want to see this course on video, check out the playlist below that features a full round on the course as well as videos for each individual hole.
https://www.youtube.com/playl...7NhXLtfg9Es3P