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.