-Many church courses have only nine holes and limited distance or elevation. Revelation Mountain does not fall under that category. It's very enjoyable for more casual players. Some tournament players will enjoy a fun round here to unwind. It's definitely not a course for sanctioned tournaments but as far as fun goes, I think its a fun course. It's not entirely suitable for starters but once they get the disc flu, they'll more than likely enjoy this course. Average hole length is 306' with plenty of ace runs and longer holes.

-Course has plenty of elevation. Some extreme! The first three holes play up, down, and back up a hill. There are a few more steep uphill holes that I liked. #7 is tight in the woods and steep uphill. Only 151' long but rises maybe 30 feet. #9 has even more elevation than #7. Very cool dogleg left in the woods! First bit of the hole is open but is primarily wooded along a ridge. The hill continues to rise as you continue to play along it next to a steep downward slope. Reminded me of #14 at Ashe County in NC! #12 is a simple straight uphill ace run. A great birdie opportunity! The best of the elevation by far is on #14. An extreme downhill tee shot with a view of Pell City! 624' par three that is reachable! Epic hole!

-I'm going to be spiritual for a moment: The tee signs are a bit difficult to read, but some of them are more clear. Every tee sign has a bible verse. I always enjoy seeing those on tee signs! The verses on the easiest holes (#12 and #13) address how simple it is to receive God's salvation. Appropriate verses for easier holes. #14's really struck my mind. Romans 10:11 "For whoever trusts in him will not be disgraced." Different thoughts came to mind. A couple that are spiritual such as "God gives me the ability to throw far" since the hole is 624' and obtainable since it's so downhill. Also seems to be a verse that gives advice on how to make it all the way down. Throw your most reliable driver, because the ones you don't rely on as much will be less likely to land close to the basket due to the elevation drop.

-Hilly but has many flat holes to maintain a good balance.

-The rough is fair in most place I saw. It's tougher to get out of on some holes (#6, and #9 particularly) but is still fair.

-Good mix between distances. Par is 54, so all par threes but the standard deviation (variety) of hole distances is 111' with an average of 306'. Meaning most of the holes are between 195' and 417' long. Two holes are longer than 417' and three are less than 195'. Course is suitable for anyone, really. Even is probably right at 900 rated based on my hole observations. Rec players will be able to birdie the shorter holes without much trouble.

-Baskets have large signs on top of them indicating the hole #. The hole # is usually visible from the tee pad, making navigation less difficult.

-I hate to downvote a course with a higher fun factor, because it's very enjoyable if you don't mind casual golf. #4 plays pretty close to the chapel and along with that, the fairway is in the way of a construction project. #5 is WAY too close to the Sunday School building. You have to throw a wide hyzer over the fence to the rightside just to eliminate risk in hitting the building. Many holes play along fields, or even IN fields (#15 and #16). #17's basket is WAY too close to the ball field. To add to bad basket placement on #17, the tee pad has #16's basket right in front of it.

-Tee pads are uneven on some holes, primarily because the tee pads themselves are flat but some are on hills instead of flat parts. #7 especially. The fairway angle is STEEP. The beginning and ending of the tee pad is more than a 2' difference in elevation. I like the hole itself, but the tee pad is scary even for me (a slim guy in his early 20s) to tee off on.

-#18 is a poor finisher. You are throwing across a "no trespassing" fence. You land a bit short, and you can either leave your disc in a clearly visible area surrounded by a fence or, well trespass.

-Holes 11 and 14 share a tee pad. You tee off in the opposite direction.

-Course is no longer fun after #14. #15 through #18 are all boring and poorly thought out. Course could use some tweaking.

-Course has many holes that are very well thought out. Unfortunately it has other holes that are not well thought out. Course has plenty of good with a lot of bad to it. Wish there were a few more wooded holes as well. #6-9 were all cool, and it'd be nice for a few more holes to be like that rather than the final four holes being too close to ballfields or even inside them. I agree with wellsbranch250 on #9. It should be a par four since it is a dogleg left. I know it's under 300', but it plays so much longer due to elevation.

-I don't think #14 is the ONLY hole worth playing here at Revelation Mountain, because I thought it was kind of fun overall. But it's not a course for tournaments. Maybe for clubs singles events but being on a church property and all, but then again maybe not. With some modifications and few holes redesigned, this course could have a marked improvement. But now, I'm giving it a 2.5; it probably deserves a 2. However, I think it's pretty fun, great for practice, and a nice course for a group of buddies to unwind at. Portions of my ratings have to do with my personal enjoyment. There probably isn't much of a need for long pin placements or pads, even though it'd be cool if there were. So the single layout to me is just fine.

-If you enjoy elevation, distance variety, and don't have a ton of objections to throwing in or near ballfields, then it's worth the stop I think. I think only six holes really need to be redesigned. As for the rest, it's a nice course in my opinion. If you come, you'll enjoy #14 for sure!

(1.946 Rating) A course that was partially redesigned. This occurred sometime after the previous posted review. This course is now much more open.
- HOLE 14 - This use to be hole (18), and it's the only reason to come play this course. One of the biggest down shots in all of Alabama. According to Topoquest.com its about 90 feet down. Many Alabama players will be able to claim their longest drives ever here as the hole is listed at plus 600 feet and its open. I had a poor drive that went 400 feet and I typically can't push it beyond 350 feet. This hole by itself likely raised my rating over the 1.75 threshold for a 2.0.
- ELEVATION - I'm a big fan of monster terrain changes, and for an Alabama course, this course has it. In addition to hole (14), holes (2) and (17) are both really nice plus 30 foot down shots. Hole (9) is nice multi-shot hole that goes up a good 60 feet.
- NAVIGATION - Great for me as I grabbed one of the last scorecards with a map out of the mailbox. If there are no maps in the mailbox however, things will get a lot more difficult. The tee signs are very diagrammatic and have no next tee direction. There are no navigational cues between holes, and 5 or 6 of the basket placards have fallen off.

A re-design and another failure.
- RE-DESIGN - Several of the previous reviews expressed wishes for a re-design of several holes. Well it got re-design, but I'm not sure it helped. About half of the layout is new. Old hole (1), the most acclaimed hole, no longer exists. It also appears that many of the implausible heavily wooded holes are also gone. Their replacements were wide open shots with adjacency issues. So it pains me to state this. 2 designs and 2 failures.
- SPACING - Horrible. Tees are placed next to prior baskets in numerous instances. Buildings and park roads are in play on several holes. The basket of (16) is sitting in the middle of (17s) fairway. Whomever re-laid out this course, didn't know what they were doing.
- NATURAL BEAUTY - The pervious layout from the old pictures looked a whole lot more wooded. Now there are 11 shots without a tree in play. Hole (14) is obviously a killer shot, but after that one, there's a big dropdown in eye appeal. Holes (4) and (5) are awful with buildings in play. On top of the ridge there are ballfield fences in play. Hole (18) to finish, plays along a fenced in football field and then over an unattractive dry retention pond. Backyards are in view on this hole as well.
- UNEVEN TEES - The concrete tees were poured along the natural slop of the terrain in every instance.
- CHARACTER - In addition to poor tees, the overall equipment and extras just aren't here. The baskets are MachVs, but several are listing or beat up. There are no extra tees, alternate basket placements or a practice basket. Despite hiking up and down the ridge, not one bench was waiting for me at the tee.
- TIME PLAY - Walking onto the course seeing the 5500 foot course length, I figured 1 hour tops. An hour and a half later I put my bag into the car. Figure 2 ½ hours for a quick foursome.
- WIND - I wouldn't recommend playing here on windy day. Players might reach Georgia if they attempt to throw (14).

I had high hopes for this course knowing that the layout had gotten a tweaking. Although many of the old issues may have been fixed, new issues have arisen with the re-design. The land at Revelation Mountain is awesome and it deserves much more than what it was given. I could not recommend this course to anyone except for those that live in town or to course baggers passing through. Revelation needs a third design.
- AVERAGE CHALLENGE - There are some super tough shots out here, but an equal amount of relatively easy shots. I think a good rec player should finish right around even par. Most of the challenge now is length off of the tee with ten shots over 300 feet. Hole (9) should be listed a par 4 being up 60 feet and a tunnel shot with movement. Its only 280 feet, but it plays like 450 feet, with no way to get close to the basket.
- UNIQUENESS - The variety is hard to define. On one hand, a couple of shots are ones you just don't see every day. On the flipside, way too many similar looking holes. If it weren't for the elevation and the couple remaining tunnel shots, the variety would be dreadful.

Holes #1 and #18 are extremely fun to throw off the mountain.

the back nine is horrible and tee pads are not level...follow the grade of the hill side

Recommended to use your car as a golf cart on holes #1 and 18

skip the long drive out to the this course and play one of the other great courses in the area

Like everyone has said...1 and 18 do offer you the chance to throw your longest drives ever. Great views from up there. Holes 1 thru 8 are challenging and fair.......

....but the rest of them were an afterthought. Sticking baskets in the woods doesn't make a disc golf course (check out InDiGo...now that's a well designed woods course) Having to navigate the woods is one thing but adding the"walk displays" makes the back side unplayable...especially with the lack of any attempt of maintaining anything back there. Damaged metal panels on #9 basically took the fairway out of play...the entire back side is like playing goofy golf in a landfill and you keep looking for the windmill and clown foot holes to be around the next bend. No flow-you have to backtrack to a few tee pads. They need to have a work day or 7 and clear out some underbrush....some baskets weren't even visible and not because of the dog legs.....these were right in front of you. Lots of trees near baskets....getting through the fairway woods should not be rewarded by having to get through a dozen more when you're 8 feet from the basket.

I was really amped to play this course...glad it was on my way back to B'ham and didn't go out of my way to play. Should have made 18 the 9th and last hole and added another tee pad to each hole on the playable side and going around twice thus eliminating the crap side and maybe even being open in October!
Didn't get to play the 18th because the kiddies had soccer practice in the middle of the fairway....not suprising tho for the experience out there...won't be back.

Like the other reviewers have said, holes 1 and 18 are amazing. The front 9 are tough but still fun with mostly uphill shots.

The back 9 is brutal if you are not 20 something and do cross-fit.

If you are 40 or older, be sure you bring hiking boots, an oxygen tank and a first aid kit! Or just plan to play the front 9 and #18.

The front nine was laid out perfect, the flow from hole to hole was easy even for new players without a map. Elevation changes, wooded areas, really test a players skills. Concrete pads and signage boost the course past older courses.

Holes 14 and 15 are almost unplayable. 14 doglegs to the left by almost 90 degrees and to the right is a huge wooded drop off. Hole 15 has a 38º up slope not for the faint of heart or weak of leg.

Hole 1 and 18 are amazingly fun holes as they are both long distance and have great downward elevation changes. Its worth playing the course for 1 and 18.

Revelation Mountain is a very clean course that provides concrete tee pads, quality holes, and a scenic "Revelation Walk," (back 9) a Christian event area. Holes 1 and 18 give a rare opportunity for some major driving distance as you tee off on top of the mountain to pins 650+ ft. below.

Many tee pads are skewed with the landscape giving an uneven tee approach; and as predicted, much of the course is up and down so be prepared for a hike. In particular, the back 9 has 3 holes that are very steep up and down.

There is not a course like this in the greater Birmingham area. The front 9 shines while the back 9 needs an evaluation of course design.