Man, this Eastway disc golf course sure is amazing. It's cool to see a new course have such good quality, and I'm sure it will only get better.
-The course offers 3 basic layouts. You can play the regular 18 hole beastway layout (longs), the short 18 hole layout (use short pads when available), or the short 9 hole layout. The short 9 hole layout has a separate #8 and #9.
-Good variety and elevation. There are multiple doglegs and straight holes, and a bunch of downhill and uphill holes. I never got bored and I don't think I threw the same disc twice in a row.
-Amazing use of land. The course is mainly carved out in the woods, but there are some fairly open shots, especially on the front 9. #2 is completely open, and there are a bunch of wooded holes that have wide fairways.
-Navigation is very straight forward. Transitions from basket to tee were easy, and the longer walks had good next tee signs with arrows.
-The layout of the course is amazing. You start out with some stunning holes, and it gets you warmed up for the back half of the course, which is definitely more challenging. Finishing on par 4 #17 and par 5 #18 really just gives you a sense of satisfaction after your round.
-Course is in great shape. I know the course just opened, but it's still worth mentioning. Tee pads and baskets are nice, and there is a fair amount of benches and trash cans throughout.
-I like the height changes of the baskets. A lot of baskets were low to the ground, and some higher than normal. Also, #2 has a nice raised basket.
-#3 gets a mention of its own. From the longs, this hole is a 585 ft par 4. It starts with a fairly open wooded shot that turns to the left, and finishes with a tighter, downhill shot to a basket that is placed just in front of the pond. Other than the old #7 at Reedy, this is the best hole I have ever played.
-There is a big field with 3 practice baskets, and the first hole is just off the side of that field.

-First and foremost, this course is going to be packed. It will be frequent to find groups of 4+ here, so prepare to be held up a bit.
-I feel as though there could have been better hole maps. They are pretty basic and get the job done, but they don't show much detail.
-I didn't enjoy the middle part of the course as much as the other parts (#7-11). There are a lot of par 3's that are similar in length, and I think they could've designed them a little better. A par 4 during that stretch would have been great.
-The rough is very punishing, almost too punishing for how tough some of the holes can be. You will be fighting for par with an errant throw.
-The short layout for #7 is bizarre. It is actually longer and probably more difficult than the beastway layout for that hole. You can tell that the short tees are designed for beginners, but that hole would be tough for a new player.
-I could feel that the round got slightly less fun as it went along. Don't let this fool you, the whole course is amazing. I just wish there were more holes like #2 and #3 throughout the course.
-Course can get muddy in places. I played after it had rained about 3 days prior to my round, and it was still pretty muddy.

Eastway is a top course in Charlotte. A course that is difficult, yet fun is just what one is looking for. The area around the park isn't amazing, but the park itself and rec center are very nice. I'm not sure that the rec center allows people to use the bathroom, so I would come prepared. If you live in Charlotte or if you're just visiting, this is a must play.

- exceptional signage and directions; everything well marked and clear- paths well maintained with woodchips along many- good mix of left and right doglegs; only a few truly open holes and the rest wooded

- some muddy areas that will be fixed over time

A decade after the original incarnation, a new version of Eastway is back. Despite losing the signature features of the original layout, dare I say this is a better version? Stay tuned.
- For those of you who were fans of the original course, there are a few aspects to appeal to your sentimentality. Holes #2, 3, and 18 play on old holes. If that's not enough, reminisce about the old fairways that played along the entrance road.
- As for the new layout, WOW. Eastway Park had this much untapped land. It had a pond? Who knew?
- This course is almost exclusively in the woods. A couple holes on the front nine have grass, with #2 being the only 100% open hole on the entire course. That said, by North Carolina, and especially Charlotte standards, the wooded fairways are more than generous.
- Flow. There's good variance throughout. Long holes followed by shorter ones. Tighter fairways followed by wider ones. Flat holes lead to ones with elevation factor. I felt I was pulling out a lot of different discs on the tee pad.
- #3 is an outstanding hole of disc golf. A classic, longer par 4 at 585. A dogleg left off the tee. The final ¼ of the hole is a dogleg back to the right with water long. To get your 3, you need a well placed tee shot in order to have a chance at a well placed second shot. A bad tee shot, well, you're already hoping you can salvage par with your following three shots.
- #5 is as much fun as it is scenic. It's a relatively simple tee shot over the edge of a pond on this 292 foot layout. Over the water, it's slightly uphill and slightly doglegged left. Or, just throw it on a rope like I did and land within 20 feet of the basket. Your only risks are if you hit a tree and get an unfortunate bounce back towards the water. Based on how I've seen almost nobody posting about lost discs on the local FB page, I don't see that being much of an issue.
- #12 is a fun uphill, split fairway layout. It's listed at 275 feet, but feel much longer due to the elevation variance. You can swing it out far to the left or right. It's an easy par 3, but it feels good getting a birdie here because you'll have to make a good shot.
- #17 & 18 are solid closing holes. Two of the four longest holes to close out your round at 536 and 700 feet respectively. #17 has an OB creek on the right side of the entire fairway. On #18, the OB creek runs along the left side. #17 has the tighter fairway. On both holes, the closer you land your tee shot to OB, the less obstacles (trees) you have to deal with for your second shot. #18 has OB around the green so don't go short, long, or left.
- Lots of details went into the course before it opened. How many bridges are on this course? How many courses have steps leading one into and out of OB creek beds? It's as if they knew certain areas would collect discs. Good signage and tee signs to boot.
- Huge rec center here. We hate seeing the old course removed. With what has been built here (rec center, ball fields, etc.), I understand why it happened. And to boot, the course still doesn't overlap with other park activities.

Better signage from the parking lot towards the first tee would be helpful for first time players. I somehow took the long way around the building to get to #1.
- On a couple holes, better signage would be helpful indicating the long versus short tees. When the path leads you to a tee, it's nice knowing right away if you've reached the long or short tee. Small thing to just make rounds flow more seamlessly.
- On the long transitions on the front nine (#6 to 7 and #7 to 8), another next tee arrow or two would be nice too.
- More benches? I don't remember many on the course. In case you can't tell, these are relatively small issues.
- How packed will the parking lot be when this place has a big event? Will the disc golf course be accessible during such events?
- After #9, you're in the far back portion of the course. Don't come here thinking you can play just the front or back 9 and easily bail out.
- Honestly, for a new course, David Weaver and the CDGC volunteer army did an outstanding job of addressing almost every issue prior to opening.

What's not to like about the new Eastway? It's a high quality course and it's well maintained. Let's hope the volunteer work continue throughout the years.
- Short tees take some of the bite out of the tougher holes. It's 1,100 feet shorter than the long tees so it appeals to more disc golfers.
- This course fits in perfectly in the Charlotte DGC scene. It's not as elite as Renny or Nevin. It's the next level down along the lines of Hornets Nest and Angry Beaver. The level below that, for those interested, offer Kilborne, Reedy, and Scrapyard. And no, I didn't overlook all the other courses outside the city limits - Camp Canaan, Bradford, Stumpy, Bracketts, Dry Creek, etc.
- As if Charlotte didn't have enough quality courses, we're now spoiled with this one. It is a better course than the original, even if that one had aspects not seen on other Charlotte courses. Being in a prime location, it's close to NoDa, Plaza-Midwood, and the university area, as well as the closest to center city.
- It's only been open for a couple months, but this course stays busy. I played on a weekday morning in January, and passed a lot of players. Good luck playing a fast round on the weekend.
- I'd put this as easily the 4th best course in Charlotte, behind Renny, Nevin, and Hornets Nest. Not many city's, let alone regions, can match that top 4.
- I'm putting this at an easy 4.0 rating. It's best aspect is that it's a near perfect blend of fun and challenge. It's hard to excel at both, and Eastway earns high marks in both categories.

-Charlotte golf is known for its technical difficulty. The old Eastway was an open course with many par threes that require maximum distance for a good percentage of players. The new Eastway is a whole lot different. It's very wooded with only a few of the same parts from the old course. The new layout did not come easy. The parks and rec staff promised that a new course could be designed, but the crew basically started from scratch. They cut down tons of trees, cleared tons of poison ivy, and got rid of the underbrush. The amount of hours put in by volunteers was over 1500 to make and shape this whole new course.

-Brand new disc catcher baskets. Tee signs and tee pads are already installed. There are benches and bridges built along with it. Seems like project crashing occurred in parts of the installation phase so that locals could play this course sooner and be pleasantly surprised.

-Several practice baskets behind the building where the course begins. The field is big enough to throw some practice upshots. I saw a basket on the other side of the ball field where the old hole one was located.

-I strongly agree with dndelli on the signature holes. His favorite holes were my favorites as well. #2, #3, and #18. None of them are par threes. I think the longer holes are the stand outs, even though I enjoyed many of the par threes too. #2 is the only real open hole. It's 618' and slightly uphill with the greenway to the right side in play. The fairway is very wide but trouble might await you if you rip one too hard or throw too early toward the woods on the left. If you remember the old #14, you know, the par three near the old shed that had you tee off on the pavement? The new #3 is down that exact same fairway, so you are essentially playing the old #14 but an updated version. The woods toward the pond past where the basket USED to be were cleared, turning this hole into a nice downhill par four. The water hazard is about 30'-40' past the basket. I was able to birdie this hole throwing a driver right to left and throw a sidearm sharply right down the path and have an easy birdie. The finishing hole is a very memorable par five. 700' and down a medium width fairway. Pros will want to eagle this hole, but there is OB to the left side starting on the second half of this hole. The approach is intimidating. It's over an OB ravine that isn't deep, but it's lengthy. A good drive could land in a spot that allows you to try and reach the green in two shots, but it's very difficult since some trees spread apart right before you face the ravine.

-My favorite par three was hole four. It's right in the area where the old hole #15 was. This hole is a much better anhyzer than the old hole #6 was (couldn't stand that hole). #4 is right around 300' and is more open than all except a few of the holes here. It's a very fair sidearm shot that allows righty backhander to throw a big anhyzer. It's ideal to have a sidearm, but a big anhyzer could still reach this hole. Another par three that I thoroughly enjoyed was #8. This hole capitalizes on the available elevation. It's the shortest hole on the course distance wise, but it's up about 20' in elevation and it's very tight the whole way. Bring your straightest midrange!

-The course has its own special entrance gate, like the one at Hornet's Nest and the ones at the IDGC courses. With Charlotte being the disc golf capital, it shows how much the crew and volunteers wanted to bring more of the Charlotte style to this new layout while giving it some of its own merits as well.

-The whole park has been renovated as part of a funded project and has been upgraded for the better. There is now an indoor pool and a greenway you get to walk on if interested. It's like a miniature YMCA.

-Offers a beginner nine hole loop with short pads for holes #1-7 and a short #8 and #9 that remain in the woods but closer to the edge near the ballfields.

-Not as much elevation as the old layout. The old layout wasn't VERY hilly but it had many holes with solid elevation changes and more than a couple of holes with grade changes around 25'. The old #2 long pin was an awesome downhill par four with a lot of room to bomb a driver and a lot of trouble consisting of an OB ravine and deep woods. #5 was a sweet downhill creek hole in the woods to a slightly elevated basket. The old #18 was a rough and challenging uphill par four from the longs that I miss as well, and I loved the approach through the "V shaped" tree. That's another hole I miss, even though the new #18 is a standout.

-The variety is a bit more limited on the new layout. The par threes are all quite close in distance and there's fourteen of them. There was a better mix on the old layout. Especially on the longs since there were short holes around 250' and par fours over 600'. There was more variety in length on the par threes ranging from 200'-440' and you wouldn't have a good idea on how the next hole would look. The wooded holes are well put, but there is a lot of similarity until you reach #17 and #18.

-With the three year intermission between the removal of the old course and the opening of the new, expect LOTS of crowds. A grand opening tournament was held and 180 people played in it. The day I came, you would've thought a C-Tier tourney was taking place when in actuality, there were just many eager people on a Saturday morning.

-#15 and #16 I'm not wild about. #15 is a very tight 331' par three with a slight right fade. The rough is incredibly dense. Just too punishing for missing a very difficult line. #16 is my least favorite. Basket is perched on a small hill a good bit to the left. You have to throw right to left. Right before the pin, there are a bunch of retentions trees guarding the basket. You could have a good looking shot and right as you fade left, you could kick a tree and roll OB into the creek. Just an aggravating hole.

-I didn't want the old course to go. I liked it for what it was. The day after I played the old layout in 2011, I saw in the course conditions that the vegetation was getting a hold of the park and there was a possibly that it would be pulled a couple years later. I was strongly hoping that it would stick around. It was different than the rest of the Charlotte courses because it was diverse and had its own challenge while giving many chances to make birdies too. But it would get extremely rough in parts over the summer to where it was hard to spot your disc in the snake infested overgrowth. I've seen them here, along with many others. The new layout is much cleaner and polished with different aspects and appeals. The challenge is consistent, even though a few of the last six holes were more difficult. It's very big on rewarding accuracy. Big pros will probably shoot around eight under here regularly without much difficulty. Advanced players will sink or swim here. Some will be able to shoot three or four under and others will struggle to save par on many holes.

-The old layout at Eastway was my first ever disc golf experience in the town of Charlotte. Played there with my church group as a short kid in the eighth grade that hadn't hit his growth spurt. The church leader said that it was less difficult than most courses in Charlotte and I called him a liar after the round. I thought 350' was pushing to be a par four and I thought that anything over 400' would automatically be a par four. Since most of us were kids who played only for the fun, we played every hole on the old layout as a par four instead of a par three. I saw the tee sign for the old hole ten and my 5'2", 95 lb fourteen year old self was outraged to see that a 402' uphill hole would be a par three. I initially thought that the old Eastway was only for pros because it's not entirely easy to throw 350'

-Standing on the old hole twelve. 439' par three. I said to my church leader how a hole this effin' long could possibly be a par three according to the tee sign and we only played it as a par four. All I got from this crazy hype eager guy was an enthusiastic high pitched "Yeah it's long but it's straight as an arrow !" Then I was all like "How in the name of ALL THAT'S HOLY does "straight as an arrow" make it any easier?!?! IT'S STILL FRICKIN' DAGGUM FAR! WHO TF THROWS THAT FAR?!?!" I learned soon after that the old hole twelve was after all, not the longest par three in the world. The holes at the old Eastway gave me a better sense of how long the average par three is in disc golf. It's actually not 240', it's probably 320-350' and I needed to learn to throw that far to really love the game. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would throw 30' past the basket on the old hole twelve five years later in 2016.

-And never ever in my wildest dreams would I have thought that this course would be redesigned by the only other guy I know that also starting playing disc golf at the Bonclarken Conference Center. David Weaver! It's so cool to think about that. Well done sir. This is a great course! The many crowds that came the Saturday morning I played all believed so too!

Eastway is a course whose redesign I have been eagerly waiting to play, ever since the county closed the park to build the new rec center. As you drive into the park, players of the old layout will immediately notice that the course isn't going to look anything like the old design, which admittedly has its pluses, and minuses. The holes up, down, and across the entrance road are nowhere to be seen, and that's because this course manages to utilize a lot more land around the edges of the park than before.

Overall the course is in great shape, the concrete tees are some of the best around, every tee has a teesign, and the brand new Innova DISCatchers work great. The rough is really cleared out for a brand new course, and considering the shape Eastway was known for, it's frankly amazing how good this course looks. It honestly doesn't feel like a new course at all.

The course currently features a proper 18 hole course, and a 9 hole beginner loop, that could probably be considered its own course. It even has two holes separate from the rest of the course. The beginner loop is incredibly well designed, and I was stoked to see that it included three Par 4s. Too often beginner courses wind up feeling like lazy Par 3 pitch-and-putt affairs. This one will provide beginners a better taste of the various aspects of the sport, while also giving them plenty of chances to score. Hopefully Hole 9S doesn't prove too difficult to maintain with the gradient of the fairway. Holes 15 & 18 also had two different tee placements for players wishing to bite off a little less.

Eastway starts off strong with a nice warmup hole before a long open bomb with a water carry over a detention pond on Hole 2. This hole is one of the signature holes on the course, and will likely be a favorite of many players. With its nicely placed elevated basket, keeping the putting green spicey. The course doesn't stop there as it begins to blend shot shaping and placement as key aspects needed to score well on the next few holes, as well as another water carry over a small corner of a large pond. This beginning stretch of holes (the first 6) give the course an interesting character that sets it apart from other Charlotte courses, but with that same priority on accuracy and landing zones.

The course then enters the woods, and begins to really reward players for clean tee shots. The middle six holes are a nice place for players to score birdies if they are able to capitalize on clean drives.

On the final six holes, Eastway begins to ramp back up before two monster holes to cap off the course. Hole 17's Par 4 feels challenging, but Hole 18 is an absolute epic of a Par 5 that really leaves players feeling accomplished, and making good use of the deep creek that stood out on the old layout to create a final OB area that needs to be avoided if searching for birdie.

Overall the course felt like it did a great job shaping different shots, utilizing elevation, and keeping things fun and fresh throughout. The navigational signage throughout the course was really top notch.

I understand that the course is new and there is likely more work to be done, which has me so stoked to see how the course improves over time. I know a lot of hands have gone into making this course so great.
Having played the old layout, there are a few places on Holes 2, 3, & 4 that could become really thick and overgrown in the summer if left unattended. I do know that David Weaver has gotten volunteers to help maintain the course, so he would be a good person for locals to reach out to if they are interested in helping.

The current layout from Eastway seems to be suffering from a bit of an identity crisis. I personally couldn't really tell who the course's target audience was. The first six holes felt like the main layout was designed for Intermediate/Advanced players in mind. The middle six holes felt like they were a touch easier, and were reminiscent of a more Rec/Intermediate course. Then the course starts ramping up again, feeling more like an Advanced+ course near the end, most notably on Hole 17 and the long tees on Holes 15 & 18. This isn't inherently a bad thing, because not many people want to play a grueling course that feels like a slog the whole way through, but the course could probably benefit from a couple of longer Tees in that middle section of the course stick out so much.

The transition from Hole 16 to 17 feels a bit awkward. The course could possibly benefit from a second bridge in that area angled in a way so that it doesn't feel like you are walking into drives coming off Hole 12's tee.

While the old Eastway/Beastway layouts were some of my absolute favorite courses (despite their various flaws), the new layout is a better overall course. It still features a few brief glimpses of the things that made the old layouts special, but brings so much more to the table that is new to this specific version. It does all of this, while also having more room for growth, at least from what I saw.

For now I am giving Eastway a 4.0 for it's overall solid design, and strong highlights. On its opening day, I'd say it already stacks up with some of the better courses in the Charlotte area, which is not an easy thing for a brand new course to do. This course doesn't seem to suffer from many, if any real new course woes. And I am sure it will only get better as the course beats in a little and grows. If there's enough room so that a couple of the holes, especially in the middle stretch of the course could be lengthened, with possibly even another Par 4 thrown in, maybe somewhere around Hole 11 and/or 12, I'd have to revisit this review and give the course a higher rating.

Favorite Holes: 2, 3, & 18