Pine Valley turned out to be a joy to play. The wooded holes were a grind to play using a variety of discs from my bag. The open holes which I'm normally not a fan of, but 4 of them won me over with a few well-placed baskets in the tree line, and a hidden open basket. There was also some elevation to the course, to add in the fun. The variety of discs from the bag, and from the tee Standstills, 2 and 3-step kept me thinking on the tee. This was a single course bag for the morning, so I was able to play both short and long tees two rounds, something I hadn't done in 2 1/2 years on a course bag. I enjoyed the first round so much, I decided the other two courses I was going to bag taking me further away from home, could wait another time, and decided on the 2nd round. The 2nd round allowed me to play a few elevated long tees, and more difficulty. My personnel con on the course was the two opening holes, 1 and 2 which were open boring, but I already knew there were better holes to come.
My overall rating is anchored on a 4.0 based on the variety of park open style disc golf, and the majority of the course wooded with difficulty. The time to play from short tees was 70 mins, long tees 85 mins.
Featured Tee's:
-#2 long sits on a knoll about 8 feet high above the fairway, with the fairway on a gentle downslope to an open basket. If you're just playing the short tees, playing #2 long will be worth the elevation and extra distance throwing down fairway.
-#3 long an elevated tee starting you off in the heavy woods is a dogleg left, that slopes back up hill past the dogleg. This well worth playing if you're on the short tees for the majority of the round, fun watching the disc fly further up the tree line from long tee.
Featured Basket Placement:
-#14 from an open tee the basket is placed in the right tree line starting on the edge of C1, with a narrow gap of about 20 feet. Miss that gap on the tree line your blocked out, the basket is hidden from the tee.
Featured Holes:
-#12 Par 4 short at 334 feet, and long at 371 feet lined directly behind short tee. A heavily wooded dogleg 110 degree left that upslope directly to the basket. From both tees the fairway shrinks by funneling to the dogleg, the dogleg is 165 feet, and 200 feet respect to played tee. At the dogleg no more than 15 feet wide with protruding trees. The play here is placing your disc in the small open area of the dogleg, from there you'll have a clear shot to the basket for your approach.
-#13 short tee Par 4 at 410 feet, long tee Par 3 at 482 feet both are open tees lined up, to a basket placement in the tree line on the right side. The fairway is uphill, and you can add on at least another 75 feet. There is an O.B. road that runs along the left side of fairway, and about halfway up the fairway are protruding trees that will push you towards the road, then the fairway will open back up for you. The basket has the tree protection covering C1, come in short of the basket in the woods, you'll have blockage. The play is to hug that road, so when you're ready for an approach to the basket, you'll have an open line to the basket. If I was playing this hole weekly from the long tees, I would never reach C1 on a par putt, and rarely C2.
-#18 short tee Par 5 at 601 feet, long tee Par 4 at 721 feet are open tees lined up to a basket placement in the left tree line. The O.B. road also runs along the fairway right side. From the long tee its uphill for about 350 feet, then directly downhill the rest of the way in. From the short tee if you can make it over the hill, you're going to have a nice chance for a 2nd shot placement for an eagle run. The fairway is plenty wide enough between tree line and road, but a late or early release can get you in trouble. The basket has tree protection, only in the bullseye area. I had a C2 eagle run from shorts with tree blockage, nice birdie pickup, but from long tees I gave it back with a bogey.
Signature Hole:
-#15 Par 4 at 438/537 feet tees is not directly lined up behind each other, both tees open. From the short tee with an outfield fence along the left side, a lazy dogleg right along a tree line. From the longs a sharper dogleg right, the fence can come into play, but need to pay attention to the tree line to stay away from it. I liked the placement of the long tee, it was a unique open tee, on the left side what could be a small pond area when filled with water but had high grass and weeds. On the right and behind tall heavy grass/weeds on a down slope. The tee area is scenic. The basket is hidden open on a severe down slope to the O.B. road, the road is outside C2, the slope starts about 100 feet from the basket. Whether from the tee or approach you're going to watch your disc disappear over the horizon to the basket, a beautiful sight! Hopefully the grass will catch your disc before the road.
Trouble Hole:
-#9 short Par 4 at 326 feet, long Par 3 at 369 feet is a dogleg left 2/3rds of the way and climbs up slope from there. This is a heavily wooded hole wide enough, except about 60 feet out from shorts is a lone pine tree right in the middle of the fairway. You can either go to the left or right of pine, both lines 40 feet past the lone pine has protruding trees into the fairway, so from the tee there going to be in your line. You're going to have to work some type of shot to reach the dogleg. The basket is protected by a few pine trees in C1 on the right side, so if you reach the dogleg you need to work your away around those trees to reach the basket. From the long tee, a bogey can be a pretty good score. I would hit three trees on my way to a bogey.