Pros:
Tyger River is a tale of two courses. The front 9 is more technical, shorter and more heavily wooded. The back nine is more wide open and longer, a chance for big arms. Combine the two and you have the makings of a very good course.
- There were parts of this course I absolutely loved. For about two-thirds of my round, the course top-notch. The coursehad great blend of nearly everything you could want. The problem was on the back nine when the course gets repetitive and, with a lack of natural obstacles, a reliance on gimmickry is needed to create some artificial challenges.
- The front 9 was a blast. The holes play through wooded areas forcing players to throw accurately to score low. Among the highlights here are #2 - a narrow, slightly downhill 240 foot layout (or 225 foot according to this website). You shoot the gap on this hole and you can see a birdie putt. Miss it, and you're fighting to salvage par or bogey. #4 is a longer hole (405 feet) that also has gaps to hit. A safer, mid-range tee shot will leave you in a great spot for an up-and-down. You pull out driver and you bring the risk-reward factor into play. I loved the S-curve, multi-shot design on #6. At 440-feet, you can play a couple mid-range shots and still see a possible birdie on this par 4. And, the most enjoyable hole on the front nine, which is #7. Tee sign says 269 feet whereas this site says 210. It's definitely closer to 210 feet. It's a slight dogleg right shot starting in the trees to an opening with the basket on a rock. There's a great picture from Bennett on here that shows the basket through the trees.
- This course has lots of variety. There are plenty of shorter, technical holes; plenty of mid-range challenging and/or fun designs, and plenty of longer, multi-shot layouts. The average hole length is 405 feet (291 feet on the front 9; 520 feet on the back 9) with 5 holes less than 250 feet and 5 longer than 500 feet as well. Not surprising, the five longest holes are all on the back nine.
- As for the back 9, there are some solid layouts here. I'll highlight my two favorite holes coming in. #10 is my favorite hole on the course. It's a classic par 4 design. It's listed at 550 feet on this site (483 feet on the tee sign. It's closer to 550 feet.), and is a true multi-shot layout. You have several lines off the tee, all throwing around trees. From there, you have a more open approach shot and a chance at birdie. Give it a couple years, and the approach shot will become much tougher as the young trees get much taller.
- The back-to-back up-and-down the hill combo of #13 and #14 is good. #13 is a simple, uphill, basket on a small hill, par 3. The better and more challenging hole is #14. At 348 feet, it plays much shorter. You can aim for the fairway, or you can take advantage of the elevation and throw over the trees and have your shot come back to the basket. This is the type of hole you'll be tempted to throw multiple shots on.
- I love the hole maps on the rocks. It's a clever, unique design. Rather than the boring, standard tee signs on posts, I enjoyed looking for the rocks on each hole. I also enjoyed the benches and bag holders throughout the course. All are solid touches.
Cons:
Tyger River was close to being a great course. What knocked it down a peg in my book was some of the poor designs on the back 9. There's a bit too much repetitiveness and lack of imagination involved that made it feel tedious at times.
- Hole #11 is completely boring and just a bad hole, period. It's wide open and 529 feet (or 575 according to this site). If you throw 400 - 500 feet, it's an easy second shot. If you throw shorter, you've got a longer, and more challenging approach. This was clearly a filler hole in that the designer needed to get you to the mound for #13 & 14, and there wasn't anything to work with. So, instead of a long walk in an open field, let's just have players throw discs a couple of times during that walk.
- I get that there's something magical about having a hole reach 1000 feet. It's rare territory. That said, #15 would have been a more enjoyable hole if it were in the 600 - 700 foot range. You still get that multi-shot aspect along with the uphill, dogleg approach shots. My beef is that it takes 3 repetitive shots to get to the best part of the hole. Why not make it only two long shots before the bend and uphill throws? This hole was long simply for the sake of saying it is 1000+ feet.
- #16 & 17 were lesser versions of #13 & 14. On #16, it's a wide open, slightly uphill shot. On #17, it's slightly downhill, while also being completely wide open.
- I found it a little weird that the furthest point from #1 is hole #15. Typically you start making your way back to the front much earlier than that. As I'm doing a ton of walking on my 1000 foot hole, it struck me how much walking I would have to do on the finally three holes. That said, if you parked by the first tee, there is a good bit of walking after #18.
- As wide open as the back nine is, that's going to be a brutal stretch if you're playing in the middle of summer. There's very little shade on the back 9, so plan accordingly when it's 95 degrees and sunny.
- The park itself is really nice. However, there are no amenities near the disc golf course - water fountains, bathrooms, etc. So, keep in mind that the nearest restaurants/gas stations are a good 10 minutes away when coming here to play.
Other Thoughts:
Tyger River is very close to being great. It's no fault of the course designers when you're given a big open plot of land to design a course without any/many natural obstacles. You're stuck with the hand you're dealt. And because of a lack of obstacles/trees on the back 9, you get some less desirable holes.
- This course has so many positives going for it, which might be part of the reason the 'other' holes stick out so much. It's almost like once you cross the park entrance road, you are playing a different course. Take holes #1 - 10 & 18, plus 14, (and maybe 12 & a slightly modified 15) and this would be an awesome 12 to 14 hole design.
- This park is out in the middle of nowhere, at least from the direction I came. I'll blame Google Maps for that. Add to that the fact the signage along the way was inconsistent (why have a sign that says park is 1.3 miles away then not have further signs, even though you still need to turn two more times to get to said park?) and it made it feel like you're in the middle of nowhere. In actuality, you're 15 minutes from I-85, and less than that from civilization.
- There's a new neighborhood being built alongside the first several holes. Once that is done, a couple of backyards are going to back right up to the edge of the course. I had a 25 foot birdie putt on #2 and was much closer than that to being in somebody's backyard. I'm glad the course was built first so neighbors can't complain. I'm also curious how, if at all, that impacts the feel of the front 9.
- I recommend this course to everyone. From casual level up to pro, this course should be played by anyone in those skill levels. It's not the best course in the Spartanburg area. That honor goes to Pipeline. Still, I'm amazed how great, and how fast, the disc golf scene has gotten in upstate SC. And Tyger River is another great addition to this area.
- Tyger reminded me, in parts, of three other courses I've played over the years: Falling Creek (Bedford, VA), The Mounds (Oak Ridge, TN) and Kiwanis (Staunton, VA).