The shortcomings of the original 18 holes of Sunrise Rotary are well documented, and the recent addition of nine more holes that are mostly heavily wooded and profoundly flawed does little to alter the reputation of the Tullahoma course.

My rating is a verdict on the entire course, but this review mainly focuses on the last nine holes (#19 to #27).

+++

A new challenge has been issued. The final nine holes definitely increase the difficulty as the dense woods combine with an increase in length, resulting in a home stretch that threatens to impose bogeys and worse upon your scorecard. This section includes four par 4s and three holes that are over 400 feet, including the lone open hole that exceeds 500 feet.

The final nine features new, level teepads. Most of them are covered by turf, which is different than concrete teepads on the first two-thirds of the course. Detailed signs haven't been added, but a small sign with hand-scrawled info indicating the hole number, distance and par appears at each hole.

Navigation is fairly straight-forward and intuitive on the last nine. A couple directional signs are displayed when the next teepad isn't immediately seen.

A few of the new holes are an enjoyable addition. Hole #22 is a wide-open par-4 with a grassy fairway. A line of trees guards the entrance road on one side and woods on the other. The basket isn't visible from the teepad and the hole requires turning right most of the way without overcooking the drive and approach. Hole #25 is a straight ahead toss with an opening on the left side that sets up perfectly for a drive of about 275 feet followed by a gentle fade.

The word woeful in the title to describe the course fits both definitions: as an adjective meaning bad or deplorable and also meaning "causing sorrow or misery."

Unfortunately, the design of the final nine is similar to several of the holes on the first nine with narrow fairways, punishing rough and misshaped fairways … except it's worse. The holes are longer, the angles of the fairways are more crooked, and the rough is much stickier to escape from. Some of the holes appear to be using a previously existing walking path.

Several of these holes are so poorly designed that it's questionable whether they have redemptive value. Even with tons of play and beating in, the fairway deviations are so extreme in spots that they might not be fixable. The last nine layout has more similarity to alphabet soup than disc golf fairways. Hole #19 requires about a 100-foot throw, then a sharp left. Hole #21 is designed similar to a backwards question mark. Hole #24 features a narrow fairway and low ceiling coupled with an unrealistic turn halfway to the basket. Several of the holes are a reminder that "discs don't fly this way" and drives (or second shots) that reach the circle will likely need an enormous amount of luck or the perfect tree deflection.

The areas off the fairways are fairly dreadful to recover from. Not only are there tons of thick forestry just off the edges, but in creating the new holes, branches and small trees were tossed into this area as well. On several holes, the areas in the fairway are overpopulated with timbers too. For example, on Hole #26, I recall being on the edge of the fairway about 150 feet from the basket and yet there wasn't a gap available to hit that was wider than my wingspan.

The baskets are old Mach 3s that don't want to catch anymore. Maybe I was unlucky on the day, but I had three gross spit-outs in one 27-hole round.

Other users have described the new holes with these descriptions: "no practical line to the pin," "absolutely no fairway or tunnel to even hit" and "could use a little chainsaw work."

The last nine holes could have been a saving grace for Sunrise Rotary DGC. Instead, the new holes have cemented its standing as a collection of poorly designed, unrealistic holes.

If you like hitting trees, you're going to love this place. Several of the holes on the front nine were literally a thicket to through through, it was difinetly a challenge. The back nine lossened up a little with wide open holes that were 300-400 feet plus. They are adding another 9 holes, concrete tee pads and temporary signs with hole number and distance, but I did not play them being unfamiliar with the course.

Not much negative other than a couple of missing signs.

This course is a good recreational course for newer players or old folk like myself that have topped out at 300 foot drives.

Challenge and variety.

-Amenities: Typical for a solid course, with tee pads, mapped signage, and acceptable baskets. Clear paths between baskets. The maps are artistic but slightly misleading.

-Variety: A good mix of woods, open, and transitioning holes. (Mostly wooded on the front 9 with more open holes on the back 9.) Similarly, the variety of distances is good, ranging from about 200' to 600' with three par-4s. The course doesn't heavily favor one throwing style over another.

-Shot Shaping/Gameplay: There are all the elements of a very good course, though see cons below. Shots through the woods are diverse, and in the open they still require good placement to score well. A sampling of good holes: (1) is a basic forehand shape but 350', (4) is a right-turning protected woods green, (12) is almost a u-turn par-4 with an easy birdie or bogey opportunity, and (17) plays downhill and around a treeline at the last moment. The difficulty is pretty high for a local course, with a lot of par-3s in the upper 300' range.

-Navigation: The next tee is pretty obvious from the previous.

-9 & 9: Returns to the parking lot after the first half.

Many holes seem to have been warped out of a natural flight path.

-Unnatural Holes: A lot of the holes out here have curves that just don't lend themselves to disc-throwing. Last minute bends and straight lines after an initial turn are too common and sour the course as a whole. There are also some woods holes that are unrealistically tight towards the end of the front 9 that necessitate a poke and hope approach.

-Blind Tees: Due to the nature of the holes and the grey baskets, a lot of tee shots play blind. This is aggravated by the imprecise maps on the signage. There were quite a few holes where the fairway shape or basket placement surprised me quite a bit once I went down the fairway.

-Scrambleability: There were many holes where getting in the rough instantly took a par out of the question for me. Off the fairway the tree cover is very thick and leaves you with pitch-out or FH roller only.

-Compact: I could see some bleeding from one hole to another, especially on the woods front 9.

Sunrise Rotary is one of the most frustrating courses I have played in a while. It was often hard to know where the basket and fairway were, often hard to force a disc into the shape of the fairway, and often hard to do anything if I missed my drive. There are some really cool ideas out here, some of which are executed well, but the strange shapes force the score on this course down for me to Decent.

Sunrise Rotary Disc Golf Course sits away from most activities at the end of the park and is 18 holes long . There is plenty of parking here and a bathroom not far away . This is a H B Clark designed course .
The Equipment : There is a nice Kiosk with a map near hole #1. The tee pads are plenty big enough . Flush with the ground and about 5' X 10' or so . The signage is second to none . Very decorative , they are easy to spot and give you hole# , par ,distance and flight path , along with a cool course seal . The baskets are typical DGA's , maybe Mach 5 with numbers on the tops . There is a practice basket near hole #10 . Next Tee signs are noticeable everywhere , making this course easy to navigate . As an out of town and here for the first time , I never wandered off the course once .
The Landscape . H B Clark designed holes that were full into the woods , semi woods and open holes . He is trying to make up for the lack of elevation and lack of water . This course is absolutely flat . Don't country music artists sing about the hills of Tennessee in some of their music ? Anyway , Some of the rough can be high in spots ,mostly on the back 9 , where the course opens up some . There is a small bridge going over a hidden small creek at around #17 , but other than that , no water that I saw .
The Highlights . After hole #1 , you might want to take a few chances at some birdies , because the length picks up at hole #9 . #1 is a good starter hole . 355' , slight left to right , makes you use a precise drive past a set of bushes , to a basket on the right protected by a set of bushes . #6 is only 225' but is in tight corners and is a left to right fade . #9 brings you from the tee in the woods to a tunnel shot out in the open to a basket situated on the left and protected by random trees . #10 is a long open slightly downhill sloping blast 580' that lets you finally air one out after 9 holes of shot shaping . #11 starts in the open but the fairway constricts your drive as it enters the woods to a basket protected on the right . #12 IMO , the hardest real hole on the course . A par 4 , and 460' , it snakes around from the tee pad inside the woods , to out of the woods but hugging the same woods line . Then entering back into the woods to a basket protected by smaller trees .
Signature Hole : #17 it is a drive to the hidden creek with rough covering it and rough on both sides . It quickly doglegs left to a hidden basket on the other side of a tree/brush line .
Amenities : Besides the nice kiosk , bathroom , and Next Tee signs , and putting basket , there are benches on some of the course , along with some trash cans , a bridge at #17 , and odd as it seems , at #6's tee , a bench and hammock await players that want to take a break or socialize .
Time : It took me an hour and 5 minutes to play here . Figure about 2 Hours and 20 minutes , give or take for a foursome . A lot of it will depend on whether you play at peak times .
This course is popular . I saw no less than 20 on the course the same time as me ,playing on a late Saturday afternoon

Disc Risk : Moderate . You won't lose one in the creek , but there are high patches of grass in select spots that , if you take your eye off of your shot , or you are throwing around a blind corner . you may lose a driver . Also , some of the woods or semi woods holes have spots where a ricochet will send your driver to another part of the woods . Use a spotter if you have one .
The Elements . It was dry when I played , but after a rain or 2 , the ground here is going to be a mess . Especially in the first 9 holes and the wetland area , and a couple of the open holes . Wear waterproof boots if you are going to brave it .
Tree removal or fairway reshaping . Wellsbranch has it right . A few of the lines on this course were pinball shots off of trees or low shots because of the canopies forcing an uphill sloping shot to be more of a station to station throw . Both of these alternatives may add an extra stroke to your total .
Bug spray in the warmer months .

Course Designer H B Clark was given a parcel of land to work with , and , unfortunately , it didn't include much water and no elevation . I can't put in my cons what the area doesn't have . He was given a spot that had some woods and some open land , and gave him a budget to give a disc golfer an overall pleasurable round . The Area is nice to look at , probably even more so at sunrise ( get it ? ) . So many people giving up their Saturday afternoon to come and play a round or 2 , and relax in a hammock , can't be wrong . They are nice locals . too . As an out of towner , I felt welcome playing here.
My Recommendation : Pretty tough and long for newbies ,families , dates and 1 disc carriers . Good players , intermediate and up will enjoy some of the challenges here . A pretty good leg stretcher for out of towners driving up I-24 . And a great bag for the course collector , creating a circle of courses between I-65 and I-24 . This is a course is a Sleeper , meaning it is a bit undersold . PLAY IT !!!

(2.910 Rating) A great mix of technical wooded shots and open bombers.
- CHALLENGING - Sunrise DGC is definitely a challenging set of holes. I'd say it most closely aligns to the upper intermediate skill level. However, much of the challenge here is unfairly added due to flawed holes, see cons below. Lots of tight lines on the front and some longer open shots on the back. I could see a 925 rated intermediate level player averaging even par out here. Newer rec players are going to take beating. Players will need a good recovery game to score well on the front.
- SHOT SHAPING - Some serious thought process will take place on many tees. Players better have both a forehand and backhand perfected or they're going to be seriously handicapped here. On some holes, players will need to be a magician to avoid all the obstacles before them.
- TEES - Really nice 5 foot by 12 feet long concrete tees.
- SIGNAGE - Hand crafted country club style tee signage that would make my top twenty-five on aesthetic appeal (264 course played as of this review). A few holes are a bit off on the artistic representation of the hole layout, but that's to be expected with this style.
- NAVIGATION - Near flawless. Excellent next tee signs at every transition. I never once looked at my map being a solo first timer.
- COURSE MAP - I knew right away it was an HB designed course by the design of the course map. The map is a very large print, that's accurate and with all the info one would need.
- CHARACTER - Above average. In addition to nice tees, signage and navigation, there a few other nice extras of note. There's a practice basket near (1). There's seating at about half of the holes and a majority are shaded. They're also a really cool driving posts laid along hole (10's) fairway at 200, 300 and 400 feet.
- UNIQUENESS - A good mix of heavily wooded to open holes, with a few moderately wooded holes. I like it when a course has a couple shots coming out of a shoot and yet also a few barreling into a pocket. Lots of needle tunnel shot lines. There are three par 4s, one of which is a really nice dogleg right. As for missing items, no elevation, no significant water plays, no par 5s and no dogleg left.

I take issue with the design of a few holes.
- FLAWED HOLES - The enjoyability of this course is spoiled by a handful of holes. Unrealistic lines and poke and hope shots occur way too many times. Hole (4) is a twisting 265 foot shot that turns into a poke and hope line 60 feet out from the basket. Hole (7) is a 285 foot 60 degree left bender and has near 100 percent obstruction mid fairway. Hole (14), a 340 foot 80 degree left bender where the tee shot has to stay relatively low and straight out of a shoot yet then bend abruptly at least 125 feet to the left from straight ahead after traveling 225 feet. The basket for (14) is buried deep into a pocket, where a great shot would still be more than 50 feet short of the basket. Hole (15) is a subtle double move line that's 5 feet wide and has to stay very low due to the canopy above, yet the basket elevation is above the tee elevation and it's 270 feet long. Good luck. I predict less than 5% of the tee shots get within 50 feet of the basket. It's funny to note that a carpet tee is present on this hole at a plausible angle to the basket. My guess is that it was installed by some local who hates the hole.
- FORGIVENESS - Excluding the before mentioned holes there are also a bunch of boarder line fair needle lines that have the potential for making scores jump. Ricochets are going to happen and when they occur in the wrong direction, scrambling for par may take a miracle. The odds of losing a disc however, should be real low as the water features are generally going to be dry or muddy washes. In addition, the thicket areas are not impenetrable jungles and they are generally flat.
- ELEVATION - If there's one thing a course designer can never fix, its elevation. This site is very flat. The entire park probably varies by no more than twenty feet overall. The most grade change on any one hole can't be much more than 10 feet.
- TRASH - Lots of plastic trash along the drainage wash on (17) and (18). No doubt this is not a disc golf related trash issue but rather coming from neighboring communities run-off.

I've played five HB designed courses (also, Doctors, Lovers Lane, Red Hawk and Panther Creek). There are no doubt some really cool holes out here but a handful of holes spoil the rest of the bunch as a whole. Despite my displeasure of a few holes, I still somewhat enjoyed my round and would put it third on my ledger of HB courses after Red Hawk and Panther Creek.
- NATURAL BEAUTY - Average. There are numerous aesthetically appealing holes to throw and to walk along, especially on the front. However, Sunrise Rotary has inadequacies compared to courses I've scored higher. As started above, no water or elevation and no backdrop views. In addition, the trash issue mentioned in the cons above, obviously doesn't help either.
- TIME PLAY - My solo round took about an hour. This seems to be about average among 18 hole courses. Figure about two hours for a foursome.

Extremely challenging. The course is clean and well kept. There is a little variety in shot...

...but not that much variety. There is a lack of elevation changes and there are too many throw and pray fairways with no real line to the basket.

If you are in the area, or within a short drive - go check this course out. The layout and variety of shots make for a fun round of golf.

The front 9 of this course feels a lot like other courses that HB Clark has designed. Lot of 250 - 300 foot shots with tight fairways and tricky approach shots.

- Great baskets and excellent signage.
- Almost impossible to get lost, great directional signs.
- Love the shots in the woods, tricky fairways or not.
- The front and back 9 loop near the parking lot.
- A few major distance shots for the guys who want to throw as far as they can.

Unlike the other reviewers, the insanely technical fairways don't bother me. A 250 foot shot with a crazy fairway is still a fair 3. Most of the things I didn't like at this course were dictated by the land.

- This course is limited to almost exclusively flat shots, less than 30 feet of elevation change on any of these.
- No alternate teepads.
- Very few benches on the course.
- The last 5 or 6 shots on this course seemed to be a way to throw across the open field.
- Not super challenging for experienced players.

I drove from Nashville to check out this course. There are some nice elements here, but if you are making a 90 minute drive from Nashville, there are other places I would recommend.

This course does get a pretty good amount of play from the locals. From what I saw, most of the locals just play the front 9 twice or just the first 12.

After playing this course once, I would return to play again if I was in the area. To get the most enjoyment, I might play 1-12 and do that twice. Was not much of a fan of the finishing holes.

nice tees ,great new baskets and a practice basket, next tee signs was a big help. very friendly locals were all pretty new to disc golf.

baskets were all very low to the ground. I guess you could call it a challenge instead of a con.we went at 12:30 pm on a weekday and the course was
already getting busy with several large groups.
as others have mentioned too many small trees were left in fairways to enable a well executed drive to fly. i have also never been a fan of 90 degree turns halfway down a fairway on a tight heavily wooded hole.

there were 4 holes i would love to move to my perfect course.
i think i'll wait a couple of years and let "Bubba" clear some of those extra trees out before driving a hour to visit again.

- Challenge: You'll need 500 ft airshots as well as 130 ft putter drives that must land in extremely tight spaces.
- Cool wooded and open par 4's
- Decent teepads and signs

- Some holes have so many small trees in the fairway that there is no real route, making the 2 impossible but the 3 fairly simple. I've never played a course with so many bizzare "par 3.5" holes
- Rough is very rough on some holes

The front 9 feels like putt-putt but was enjoyable in a novel way. A fun course to play once but just too weird to respect.

Sunrise Rotary DGC is a pretty fun and challenging course. It is a well balanced design that does not put a premium on one particular disc golf skill set. To play well here you'll need to bring accuracy, shot shaping, and distance. If you are having a tough time hitting your lines in the woods, some recovery golf will go a long way as well. On the other hand, on the long open holes, you can lose strokes to your long throwing brothers.

The course is fairly close to the interstate, ringing up at only about twenty minutes away, and the course is certainly good enough to justify the trip if you are passing through. Beyond the generous parking, an information kiosk and course map welcomes you to the course. There is an always welcome practice basket for a quick pre-round warm up. In addition, hole ten's distance markers made for an impromptu driving range and it was nice to loosen up a bit before heading to the nearby pad at hole one.

Hole one is a fun shot punching into and introducing you to the woods. It's pretty much a steady diet of shorter and technical shots until you get to the lengthier and more open back nine. Hole ten's wide open and long fairway offers a chance to air our your drive and perhaps gives the only hint of elevation change on this predominantly flat course. The back nine is the more open half but a few longer wooded holes are in the mix as well. Overall, there is a very balanced mix of strait and left/right sweeping shots across the course.

Are far as amenities go this course is well stocked. The kiosk was nice for starters but the course itself was nice too. Great tee signs mapped the fairways sufficiently (although a quick walk on the blind shots were needed a time or two), while next tee signs led the way on some of the areas where the layout might have not been obvious. Nice concrete tee pads on all the holes were nice. There were a couple bridges in the areas that needed them.

There's mulched areas in the most flood prone areas. Of course being a new course, the baskets, which are DGA's, are in tip top shape.

Generally, I felt like some of the holes were a little too close to one another, especially on the front nine. I think it is probably fine for most times but come tourney time this will cause some problems, namely backups and waiting on folks to clear out.

During the wet season, some flooding/muddy conditions will take away from the overall enjoyment of the course.

There are two holes that I didn't like. Hole seven, which has the potential to be a good hole, just needs to have some trees removed to make it a little more "valid". There is way too much luck needed as opposed to raw skill to get through the trees in the fairway. The second is number 15. This hole is borderline ridiculous. As a previous reviewers noted, a 25' "upshot" from the tee is needed to get to a spot where you can actually throw a disc golf drive to reach the basket. I like a challenging hole as much as the next guy, especially a good dogleg, but a hole that defies any reasonable flight of a disc under any circumstance is frustrating.

I like the idea of having an opportunity to recover if you get off the fairway. Here, at least on most of the wooded holes, it is difficult as there are really no graduated fairways where there is a hint of clearing of shule. You are either on the fairway or in thick uncut areas. This is a personal preference but worth mentioning.

Benches and trashcans, while not necessary, would be a nice addition.

As mentioned previously, this is a fun course and worth the trip off I-24 if you are passing through. Anyone should enjoy this above average course. If you are looking for more challenge go play this course on a windy day!

Very Clean very well kept. nice signs indicating next hole. hole 10 has signs indicating length of drive.

people who have trouble with tight shots may want to play somewhere a little more open before letting this beast get ya

-Well kept fairways in woods
-Large variety on holes
-No holes felt similar
-Recently mowed
-Nice signs indicating the hole
-Varying pars on holes

-Narrow fairways in most parts of the course
-Slightly muddy do to recent rain
-Not a beginner course

This 18 hole course flows nicely and is in a portion of the park that looks to be only dedicated to Disc Golf. No need to worry about pedestrians. Both the front and back 9 end up right at the parking lot and course flow seems natural between holes. Course Map shed at the parking lot shows the general layout and there was a box on the back side for scorecards but was empty when I was there. Plenty of pencils though. A nice touch.

The front 9 is mostly wooded holes while the back 9 has only 2 or 3 fully wooded holes so if you are looking for a more technical round you can play the front 9 only or if you are looking for more open holes, back 9 is your game. Fairways in the woods are well groomed. I've seen other courses that hack tree out and leave the 3" stumps everywhere but not at this course. Grass was even planted on the wooded holes to keep it looking nice.

A variety of shots is needed to excel on this course but accuracy will win over raw distance. Distance varies from under 200' to over 600' and pars are fair with a course par of 56 that seems accurate.

Full size concrete tee pads on each hole are all in great shape as well as the DGA baskets that are brand new and all catch very well. Mulch around most of the baskets caught missed putts well. Signs with distances look great and the few "Next Tee" signs where needed were helpful.

Most all baskets seemed to sunken in 6-8 inches lower than baskets I normally play on. I'm sure they are within regulation height though.

Many of the wooded fairways seemed a bit narrow and some holes such as 8 had too many guardian trees in the middle of the fairway.

The only hole I thought was a very poor design was hole 15. The sign is extremely incorrect and does not play straight at all. It plays about a 25-30 foot layup shot from the tee, hard dogleg right, then down a 12 foot alley 150 feet into the open where the basket is another 40 feet out of the woods. This hole felt very unfair.

I really enjoyed hole 12 which played out of the woods, to the right and back into the woods. I felt that this was one of the signature holes on the course and nothing could be done to improve it.

*Updated*
I first played this course in 2013, shortly after it opened. I played it again 4 years later and was very impressed with how nice the courses has matured and the care that has put in to it. Great to see improvements over time here instead of something wasting away.

18 holes set in a park-like area that appears to be 100% dedicated to the course. There is a mix of shorter woods, and longer open, and even a couple holes play from the open into woods and from woods into open.

The wooded holes are relatively short, but are plenty challenging as they often have sharp angles, strategic trees in the middle of the fairway, and punishing rough if you miss the fairway. Most open holes had few to no obstacles other than length, but there was a shorter grass fairway and long grass rough clearly defined by mowing that reminded of ball golf (in summertime).

Superb concrete tees with traction tops. Baskets still in fine shape, including a practice basket. Ample parking lot, kiosk with map. A very nice Disc Golf Course sign at the main road entrance. Course navigation was a breeze with plenty of quality permanent next tee signs and clear paths. Also, the permanent tee signs are really nice and classy, a big step up from the originals.

I really enjoyed the aesthetics of nature on this course. It looks amazing now compared to when it was under construction.

Overall, a decent beginner/intermediate course in a town that did not have a course nearby. If traveling down I-24 between Nashville and Chattanooga, the course is not too far from the interstate (12 miles) and most of that is highway.

Some tee shots that I would call unrealistic shapes of disc flight, where basically you have to conservatively putt it from the tee to the bend in the fairway, and then play your long upshot. On many of these it seemed to me there was a better, more obvious spot for the tee- would not have made it any easier, just more of a risk/reward option, rather than a play-it-safe option as your only option.

For me playing here occasionally is fine and enjoyable, but if this were my regular course, I think it could mastered in a short amount of time. The woods holes are pretty short and getting 3's is usually simple even with a putter on every shot. Many of the open holes are very open, with length as the only obstacle..

Not a con, but a potential one: I hope the open hole tall grass is not allowed to become a ridiculous length in the summer. The fairways are beautifully defined and manicured and plenty wide at least.

I have only played here when school was not in session, so I can't comment on playability during school hours- the park is set apart from the school, but the road to the parking area is the school road.

Sunrise Rotary disc golf course is in early development stages and is playable but understandably difficult. The open and combination holes play well and wind will be a factor.
Tee pads are grippy and roomy.
DGAMach 3 baskets almost made me believe I could putt.
Nice neighborhood, near East Middle School.

It's green friends. Off fairway is not fun. You'll need bug spray. School zone traffic could be a hassle at start or let out times.

Tullahoma's Sunrise Rotary course will be a good winter course this year and continue to improve.