What to Expect: Beautiful 18 Hole Park style golf with dual tee pads, a "Championship" layout and a shorter "Recreational" layout with separate tees and singular pin locations. Plenty of room to air out bombs on this mix of light to moderately wooded holes with some other rather open bomber holes.

Amenities: Trail of Tears Museum shares a parking lot with the disc golf course, modern bathrooms, walking trail, deep winding creek through the center of the course, several soccer fields, a playground, and a nice bridge over the creek with good views.

Tees/Signage/Baskets: In typical HB Clark fashion all these are on point and well done. Nice course Kiosk near Hole #1 with all relevant information and a course map. 36 large textured concrete tee pads. Tee signs are nice with full color hole maps and all relevant information. Baskets are newer Mach X's (though I am not a fan of Mach baskets personally) they are still in great shape.

Design: Shorter tees are excellent for recreational players and below. There are tons of shorter par 3's and softer par 4's where birdies are plentiful, while balancing several more difficult and more lengthy holes where the birdie is very hard to achieve. Short tees give you a chance to score well but also challenge you at times as well. Championship tees add both length and shot shape difficulty to compliment the short tees. You can tell both sets are independent of each other and designed separately (and equally well for their intended player bases). Course utilizes small changes in elevation well where available, utilizes the creek (the only water hazard on the course), and the old hardwood trees extremely well in an otherwise open park setting to give each hole shape and character.

Signatures: Several to choose from really depending on what you love in hole design (technicality, beauty, challenge, memorability, etc). Like Hole #2 a flat and open hyzer into super guarded right to left bomb Par 3 in the 475 ft range. Hole #5 (The fish-hook hole) which is a tight low ceiling uphill tunnel shot that goes straight for 200 feet and then out into the clearing and immediately wrap hard right and back towards the tee pad on the other side of a dense wall of trees right on the bank of the winding creek. People love to hate this hole, but it is a very unique shot shape for this course. Hole #6 probably gets my vote as signature hole though. After you cross the bridge over the creek you are faced with a daunting 330 ish foot Par 3. The skinny fairway is guarded only a couple feet to your left by a deep and wide creek the entire left side of the hole. The right side is protected by massive hardwood trees down the entire right side leaving only a small 30-40 foot strip of fairway down the entire hole. A deep steep ditch runs down the right side of the fairway next to the trees and then cuts across the fairway just outside circle one. If your tee shot comes up short you will more than likely filter into this ditch and the top of which will be over your head and you will be forced to get creative to throw your approach into the green. If this wasn't daunting enough the basket is probably 15 feet from the bank of the creek, protected by massive hardwoods on the right at the edge of the circle, and a thick unimproved wooded rough long at the edge of the circle. This hole to me encompasses all the beauty of the park, with the bridge, water, hardwoods, etc and showcases the difficulty and technicality this course requires.

Extras: This course does a wonderful job of allowing you to choose your own challenge. With two sets of tees, ace run holes, varying difficulties, and some eagleable par 4's with extremely well executed lines and distances, Trail of Tears is a course you can grow with as your game improves and never run out of challenges. All the holes have well defined gaps, the grass is mowed well, course is free of trash and debris almost always. No forced or gimmicky OB or baskets in my opinion. Pin positions were challenging but accessible. A lot of risk reward shots on this course, while still providing a safe way to make par on each hole if that is your style.

Navigation: The course plays in three "distinct" areas and the transitions from each area can be confusing without a course map or U-Disc to navigate. Transitions between Holes 1 to 2, 4 to 5, 5 to 6, 6 to 7 and 9 to 10 can be troublesome. There are quite a few long walks between baskets and the next tee as well.

Elevation: This is almost an entirely flat park style meadow with large mature trees course (especially the board flat back 9). Course does well to incorporate multiple hole types (1-5 are wooded technical, 6-9 are park style with mature trees along a beautiful creek, and 10-18 are a flat and much more open neighborhood park style). The lack of available elevation change does make this course less impressive and less memorable, but only slightly.

Flood Plain/Old Neighborhood - Holes 6-9 are definitely in danger of flooding out, being extremely soggy, or completely unplayable after heavy rains. This area also appears to be an old campground with multiple utility poles and remnants of structures. Holes 10-18 play through what looks like an old neighborhood with paved access roads, remnants of driveways and foundations. It also plays very near to a current neighborhood (Hole #16 can get squirly depending on where the home owner decides to park their vehicles, and Hole #14 plays out to a neighborhood intersection and feels like you are playing in someones backyard).

Benches/Trashcans: This is a big course with a lot of walking and could certainly use multiple benches and some trash cans throughout.

Championship Level?: I'm not sure I would go so far as to call the long tees Championship. While they are certainly more skill intensive, most average recreational players can shoot even par pretty easily from them. I would expect professionals to score extremely well on this course as it lacks tight OB or really tight lines through the woods.

Overall not a stellar course and definitely not a bad course. It falls right in that area where a park course should. Very good for the area and land available while having room for improvement. This course falls just below what I would call a destination course on its own. There isn't another stellar course nearby to pair it with unless you want to drive another hour. It is a very enjoyable course though, that will test multiple skills and several discs in your bag. This course is a par fest though and scoring separation could be difficult in tournaments. There isn't a lot of punishment for bad shots and good shots (not great ones) are still likely to end with par. For those who have played multiple other HB designed courses, this is on the upper end of his middle ground park designs, but should not be compared to stellar designs like Mahr Park.

Southwestern Kentucky needed a competitive style park course and a new ( 2017 ) H B Clark designed 18 holer has been installed in Hopkinsville . When pulling into the park you , the first tee and nice kiosk will be noticeable next to the road. The park is well taken care of . As a matter of fact , a park employee was cutting grass as I played . . Better print off a map , because there are a couple of very long walks between holes , especially between holes 5-6 and 9-10 ( the back 9 are in the very back of the park , behind the old looking cabins ) .I am not sure why they didn't put a printable map online on Disc Review . What this course lacks in elevation , it makes up for in equipment and length . The shorts play 6355' and the longs play around 8585' . Yes , there are 2 tees for every hole , where many times , the longs not only give you length , but a different look of the fairway . The signage is excellent at both pads , with Hole number , distance and par , plus with a number on top of the sign to help you navigate to the tee. Gold numbers for long tees and Blue for shorter . The baskets are the new deep Mach X .The cement tee pads are long and level . Basket placement is very good . Low ceilings can come into play along with a creek on several holes ( #6 , and maybe 10 and 11 ) . Nice bridge on the course , too . There isn't much in the way of woods , but some of the baskets are tucked into a part of woods ( like the 605' #4 ) .Even the short tees will challenge the casual to intermediate player . You shouldn't run into too many park dwellers here , except an occasional jogger or dog walker . You will have a lot of holes giving you different looks and will give you the opportunity to use many of the discs in your bag . Disc risk is only strong on holes like #6 , where if your disc fades right to left in the fairway or you clip one of the row of trees on your right , your disc will land in a large creek with a steep bank , Challenging but fun . I think this course defintely has character . Pack water , because this course will take you 90 minutes solo . Such a nice park , and I hear that the club here wants to make even more improvements on it . Signature hole would be #6 , an elevated tee pad with a long row of trees on your right and a deep creek lining your left on a narrow fairway , over a small gully to a tight green ( 425' ) .

#1 The course plays flat and plays close to some neighboring yards in the back of it . #2 without a map , finding the long walks and next tee pads could be a trick . Especially to the back 9 . A few amenities could be added , like benches and trash cans , but this is still a new course . Bathrooms were not open when I was here , so go before you come ....Maybe add some NEXT TEE signs to help , but if not that , then maybe some tape at the bottom rungs in the bucket pointing you the way if it isn't obvious .

I thought this course was a little underrated after playing it . This course is NOT for families or newbies . I would suggest maybe playing a hundred rounds of disc golf or more before tackling even the short tees . Pros and good ams should really like this course , along with the avid locals , travelers and course baggers . Thank you Hopkinsville Parks for letting me play your course . My recommendation : Not quite a destination course yet , but close . Warm up at North Drive , then PLAY THIS !!!!

Warning this review will be lengthy:

Very nice teepads, tee signs, and baskets. Grass is usually well mowed and much of the woods have already been cleaned up even though the course is very new.

The course is very difficult which makes it good for experienced players to play to try to improve, which is something people in the area have been asking for for years. Mix of wooded and open holes. Has long and short tees but as you will see in the cons these have some problems.

There are some holes that I really enjoy, like holes 2, 3, and 10 from the long tees. I also enjoy 18, 13, and 4 from both tees.

The main issue I have with this course is with the design of some of the holes and what I would call "questionable" pin and tee placement. In my opinion, it seems like the designer was really trying to hype up this course as a championship level course and chose to lengthen some holes into par 4s when it just doesn't make sense. Hole 14 is the best example of this. It is a 450 ft hole where you have to throw under an extremely low ceiling around 100 ft off the tee, but the rest of the hole is slightly uphill to the basket, so you really can't throw it more than around 200 ft off the tee. Another hole that I have a major problem with is hole 5. It requires you to throw a rhfh around 300 ft through a tight gap, but then the problem is that the basket is around 60 ft backwards once you get around the corner which is a very tough corner to make to begin with. The laws of physics seem to prove that this shot is nearly impossible to get close. For you to throw your disc hard enough to get it to hold straight long enough to get around the corner there is no way to get it to stall to come back to the basket. It's gonna do the opposite and keep moving forward. To me the perfect shot on this hole leads to being close to 100 ft away from the long tee. Finally, now that the trees have fully grown in the gap on hole 15 has nearly completely closed up causing you to have to throw yet another awkward extremely low ceiling shot.

I recently played the short tees for the first time and right off the bat I began to question the purpose of the short tees. This is because hole 2 from the short tee is a 425 ft par 3 where the basket is almost perpendicular to where you have to throw of the teepad. It is definitely a 2 shot throw except for the monster arms of touring pros as you have to throw a monster 425 ft spike hyzer. But I'm not usually one to get worked up about pars so I just wrote it off as a par 4 and moved on. Hole 3 had similar issues though. It was another awkward placement for the teepad where you have this 325 ft large hyzer that you have to throw over trees. I have around 400 ft of power but even with the wind in my favor a good pull left me 70 ft short because of just how high I had to play it to get enough hyzer towards the basket. Hole 5 was a hole that I was hoping to see improvement but instead the tee for five cuts off the angle to the basket even more, to where what I thought was a solid forehand was still 80 ft away. Hole 14 I once again was looking for improvement, but instead saw the same low ceiling with an extremely tight gap added in right off the tee. The hole is 300 ft from the short tee and I'm still not certain I can reach the hole because of the low ceiling combined with the slight uphill.

I don't want people to read this and think that I just think the course is too tough and that I don't know how to play tough courses. Two of my favorite all time courses that I've ever played are Idlewild and WR Jackson which are 2 of the toughest courses the pros play every year now. I enjoy challenging lines that punish mistakes. The thing about Idlewild and Jackson are that you feel so well rewarded when you throw a good shot. Good shots aren't necessarily rewarded here. This course is a par fest. Throw good shots and your still likely to make par, throw bad shots and it's still very possible to make par. That's because a lot of these holes are really just awkward and limit the distance you can get up the fairway. Or they're awkward distances for the higher rated ams, being in the 450-550 ft range where your most likely not going to 2 but if you only get 200 ft down the fairway you can still make 3. With the exception of 5, 10 and 11 there really aren't any thickly wooded areas on this course. Even on 10 and 11 these shouldn't really come into play with better players. This means that bad shots really aren't punished as you can still throw your next shot to the full potential. Overall I think this course is still good for practice, but I don't think it's a great tournament course or a very enjoyable course to play due to the awkwardness on a lot of the holes. Being from the area, I'm still pleased to have a course to play where I have to throw full drives and where I'm challenged with every shot. I just had higher expectations from how hyped up this course was as being one of the best courses in the area. I still think Madisonville has 2 better courses, and I would personally still rather play the course in Oak Grove on a daily basis.

Sorry for the super long review, but this is my hometown course so I feel I need to fully explain all my thoughts about it.

I really liked the challenge of this course. The fairways had well defined gaps, there was some OB on some holes but none of it felt forced or gimmicky, the pin positions were accessible but not always easy. Some courses with 2 sets of tees have a sense of, "let's move the tee 40 feet back and call it a day." That is not the case here. For most holes, the long tee presents a completely different teeshot and makes you feel like you are playing a different course. I really like that about this course.

Memorable holes include Hole 3, a big right to left bomb over some deep rough from the short position, and a 500 foot tunnel shot from the long position. This is an example of the same hole being completely different based on the tee. The short for me is a big right handed hyzer with a driver, the long is a layup to the mouth of the gap with a midrange, and then another midrange to the pin. Hole 11 had an interesting teepad (from the short) which combined with the trees, made you choose between 3 different shots. It was tough but forced you to be creative. Hole 18 from the long pad has a super tempting left hand gap down the road (all over OB) that is begging for a power right handed forehand, but also has a couple of safe routes to the right side.

I had no problem taking 4's on a lot of the long tees. I think this is the way disc golf is trending and I am in favor of it. More risk reward, placement shots, tough par 4's and 5's. Less of "deuce or die."

Mach X baskets are awesome. Definitely loved playing on those for the first time. I would like to see my local courses get these potentially in the future.

There is a bit of a long walk from hole 5's basket to hole 6's tee. Same for hole 9's basket to 10's tee. this is due to those 4 holes being on a separate little section than the rest of the park. It isn't a big knock but I thought I would mention it.

Hole 5 is kind of out of character with the rest of the course. It is extremely tough, which I am not opposed to, but the shape of the shot and the tight lines are only really featured on this hole.

This is a long course and I would like to see a few benches added as the course matures. I know it just opened and there is plenty of time to add these, again just thought I'd mention it.

I had a really good time playing this course in the Hopkinsville Open and would love to come back and play. It is already a really solid course and will most likely get better as it breaks in. Both beginners and experienced players should enjoy this course and the shots it has to offer.

18-hole course with two sets of tees (labeled recreational and championship). Has all the essentials- 36 concrete tees, 36 signs, and 18 Mach X baskets. Near hole one is a kiosk with course map and a box on tee #1 full of scorecards/maps. (first time players will want to grab one for the map)

I played from the shorter tees and it was just about right for my skill level, plus I scouted out all the long tees and those would definitely make this course challenging for just about anybody. Besides being longer, most of them were placed at a different angles to the basket for added variety.

Several longer holes/par 4's.

The course is mostly flat park style with grassy grounds and lots of mature trees. The course covers quite a bit of area. Course plays in 3 separate areas. Holes 1-5 include some tighter technical woods areas and some wide open field throwing. Holes 6-9 are park style surrounded by a beautiful creek seen on a few holes and definitely in play on #6, and maybe on a couple others if you really lose control. Holes 10-18 are in a third area that seems more like a neighborhood park and is park style.

I easily found all 36 tees on my first round (with the map helping on the two longer walks).

Not so scenic at times, #7 plays along the highway (you will likely get honked at)
#8 plays around what looks like the remains of a campground- lots of electrical outlets on poles in a circle. The back 9 feels like in plays in some peoples backyards, one basket is almost out to an intersection of neighborhood streets - (I questioned whether it was in the park boundary or was in a private lawn). The back 9 also plays through an area that has much evidence it used to be something else- strange remains of several concrete driveways and small concrete slabs (for camping, cabins, very small houses???? I don't know) just kind of eerie looking.

Not really a con, but if playing here you should be aware that you will want to definitely grab a course map (though the map has small and fuzzy font), but it still will be needed as there are some walks since the course plays in 3 separate areas. I had some trouble finding #2 because the first thing you see after #1 is #5. Also there is a decent walk to #6 and to #10. Also note that #16 rec tee is a bit of a walk from 15's basket, and nowhere near the champ tee.

Land here is mostly flat to very flat (maybe long 7 for some downhill elevation and long 13 for a slight up, and that is just about it).

This course is legit and should test just about anybody, especially from the champ tees. You will need a lot of discs and shots in your arsenal to score well. I thoroughly enjoyed my round and would love to play here again, and test my game against the long tees.

I recommend parking in the large lot by the museum which is closer to holes 6-18. There is a small lot by a playground and restrooms that you will see first upon entering the park immediately followed by the kiosk and tee #1, but keep on driving. Parking in the big lot will get you closer to your vehicle should you need it mid-round, and will minimize the walk back to your car after #18.

The Good:
This course has plenty of room to air those bombs out.
Navigation isn't too bad, I only got lost once.
Mach X baskets.

The Bad:
Pretty much just throw far, birdie, repeat.
Hole 7 long is difficult to find. Turn right after 6 and follow the woodline to the road.
Hole 8 and 9 hold water, and are near unplayable the way they are set up.
The back 9 are a bit dangerous as they often play over park roads, and walking paths.
Bathrooms were not open in the middle of the day on a Friday.

Some navigation signs or painting a spoke in the basket to lead you to the next hole would be great. Overall not a bad place to play, and very easy to get to off the interstate.