Love wooded courses? Me too, but who doesn't want to get the chance to throw maximum crushes and see that beautiful ball golf fairway skip? Good news, this course has both. A challenging, unique, and clever ball golf/wooded hybrid featuring a mix of wooded and open fairways. An experience ranging from full sends to technical shots awaits you at The Chain Links at Nashboro.

A. Challenge - Nowhere else in town presents a challenge like this. Power, accuracy, shot selection, knowledge of OB, landing zones, and the most accurate putting you've got are a must if you are to score under par. The challenge is balanced, fairly grueling the whole time. If you let up, bogeys await you. Suffice it to say, this course is not for beginners. This is an advanced course. I'd think many pros would have a tough time with it specifically because of my next point, those baskets baby.

B. Baskets - Why the last point? Because each basket is beautiful baby blue banded Prodigy strike zone. Yes, that means single level of chains, and 1/3 (or 1/2 I'm not sure) the width of a normal basket. So after all that work, you're faced with a 15 footer, and boy does it feel a lot tougher to get that birdie. I think of this as a pro because I'm always looking for the greatest challenge. PSZs are something you need to practice to get used to. Not only are they much thinner than your regular baskets, but the single level of chains means that if you don't hit dead center or close to it, you're going to spit out, chain out, bound out, etc. I personally think MPO/FPO needs to start using them and would enjoy seeing more courses up the ante a bit by incorporating them.

C. Course design - Kudos to Jesse Coe on this. On paper it's kind of hard to imagine that you're going to find shot shaping and variability on a ball golf course but you'll be pleasantly surprised. By incorporating the wooded areas, cart paths, or creeks in the rough of the ball golf course you'll find yourself having to work through a gap, creek, OB, or low ceiling on each hole. There are no holes that are simply blasts to open space that finish with a basket sitting in similarly open space. You're going to throw every throw in your arsenal from backhands and flicks to spikes and low ceiling skips. One of the best features of this course is the use of elevation. Huge downhill shots give you the opportunity to unleash you're maximum power (Holes 6, 8, and 13), only to have that inflated sense of self be knocked down a peg having to muscle through daunting uphill elevation (Holes 4, 12, and 18). Another awesome feature is the distance. Rare is it in Nashville that we get to unload on 11 holes 400 feet or longer like at Nashboro, let alone multiple holes over 550. Get your big guns out as the two longest hole comes in a tick below 900. Two par 5s, four par 4s, and 9 par 3s. Some holes have alternate shorter tee pads that I've seen, but I honestly have not played them. The course flows really well. You start at the pro shop where the warm up area is, go to hole 1, hole 9 is at the furthest point, then return to hole 18 back at the pro shop.

D. Maintenance - Again massive kudos to Jesse Coe and crew because this course has impeccable maintenance. In part by virtue of being on the ball golf course, but the work is there, this course is always lovely. The tee pads are grippy turf and only holes 2 and 12 have low land areas where after a big rain it could be a bit covered. You can get your big run ups as you like as there is plenty of space. Fairways are well defined and clean. Grass is impeccably cut. Even after a tornado the course was excellent. Jesse is super communicative and has been excellent about pointing out where a hole is needing some love, usually doing something about it within a few days of pointing it out.

E. Warm-up area - A single PSZ basket sits perched below the pro shop. Take as much time as you want. A cool feature is that on the path to hole 1 there is a net where you can warm up your drives. I, for one, struggle to find good warm up areas at some courses sometimes. This is great because you can unload your whole bag, get your arm loose, and have all your discs sitting 10 feet in front of you ready to be scooped up. I've also gotten to the point where I can throw into the net, have the disc fly back to me, catch it and repeat.

F. Serenity/Solitude - I am a big fan of quiet spaces. I seek out courses like this because I enjoy having no rush. I appreciate the natural beauty of this space. I love being able to walk this course, look at some lovely cedars, listen to some birds, and practice the game I enjoy so much.

G. Golf Carts - You can rent a golf cart at the pro-shop if you want to really get the golf experience. While I don't do this, I certainly see the appeal and have seen others enjoying this amenity on many occasions.

H. Parking - Park up at the pro-shop

A. Pay to play/Tee time - At $4 for walking and $10 for a cart, this will not break the bank for me, but I know that this will turn some people off. I would say it's worth it, but again, to some this would be an automatic no-go. You can only play during a set tee time that you lock in by texting/calling Jesse Coe. This might also be a pass for some folks, but it doesn't bother me much.

B. Deferring to ball golf patrons/shared or crossing fairways - A rule of the course is that you have to allow ball golfers to play through. Depending on the skill of the golfer, this could take a while although in my experience everyone is super nice and backups rarely last over a minute or two. This comes into play when there is a shared or crossing fairway such as with holes 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, and 13. Keep your head up for when golfers are around, let them play, continue enjoying your round. Don't walk into a fairway when someone is about to swing, please.

C. Lack of mid-course amenities - use the rest room prior to your round at the pro shop because despite there being a toilet between hole 9 and 10, it is in varying degrees of function depending on day and time. Fill your water at the pro shop as there are no fountains for drinking on the course.

D. (Minor) Overgrowth - There are 3 holes where overgrowth comes into play. Holes 2, 12, and 18. Off the fairway of 2 there is a depository for old bridges and downed trees that is not the most stable footing to say the least. In the summer the green of hole 12 sits on a rocky table top and gets weedy/grown out pretty quickly. They do their best to keep it down, but in summer what can you do. Hole 18 can get some poison ivy growth in the fairway. Again, they do their best, but best to stay aware.

E. Insects - Summer time in Nashville is what it is. There are chiggers, mosquitos, and the like on some of the more wooded holes. I'm susceptible to bad bites so I DEET up, wear pants, and tuck in my socks. Most people won't have this problem, but I do, so I take my precautions.

Can I say more positive thinks about Jesse Coe? Such an amazing job creating a challenging and enjoyable hybrid course that utilizes the natural obstacles available. The uniqueness of this course in the context of Nashville disc golf is part of what makes it a under-appreciated gem in my opinion.

I rank this course in the top 3 of Nashville DG (along with Cedar and Cane Ridge - sorry Seven Oaks fans) and will continue to enjoy it one or two times per month as long as they'll have me. If you're still on the fence I highly encourage giving it a shot. It's well worth it. Find the contact info for a tee time on the Information page of this course page or search in your internet browser. It's easy enough to find.

Get out there and enjoy the grind! May your putts be dead center every time.

- entire course has StrikeZone (marksmen) 1/2 diameter baskets. Probably most difficult course in TN with these bad boys.
- big distances with lots of elevation change. Par 62 in my book. 3 pro par 3s (3,6,8) and 6 true 2 shot par 4s (1,4,9,12,13,17)
- some technical holes cut into the woods to keep you honest
- they removed the big water carry shots
- affordable cart golf

- tee signs are a QR code / there is no tee sign so you have to use UDisc. This baffles me. How hard is it to put a distance and brief sketch of a hole?
- rough is still very rough here on the new pin placements. They need to thin it out.

Absolutely worth checking out the new layout. It might tread on repetitive but unloading distance drivers down massive elevation drop shots never gets old to me and each hole is distinct. For every annoying ball golfer there's at least 2 chill ones and most of the staff are friendly.

Map of course on Nashboro's Facebook page.
Course is easy to navigate as each tee pad has a 3-4' orange pole beside it.
Nice mixture of uphill downhill. Most holes you're either throwing through the woods into an open fairway or from an open pad to a slightly guarded pin.
Each hole is picturesque. It is honestly a beautiful disc golf course.

Can't play on the weekends until 2:00 PM.
Have to wait on ball golfers to play through. This is honestly the biggest con with the course overall. It's closed several days of the week and they obviously prioritize ball golfers. However, whenever I've been out some of the pro-staff is out throwing discs.

If it's wet, the course will likely be cart path only for the golf carts. If this the case, it's easily 5.5 miles of walking to play this course. I have really enjoyed it each time I've played it.