Short Mountain Distillery - Red Apple reviews
10
0
Entrancing Woods with Accessible Challenge 2+ years
Reviewed:
Played on:Sep 20, 2020
Played the course:once
Pros:
Located in the pleasant woods, the Red Apple course offers a shorter and more uniform technical challenge than its sister course.
-Natural Beauty: The course's greatest strength. All 18 holes are in an exceedingly pleasant woods biome with plenty of elevation, an occasional creek, and not a lot of undergrowth to catch you up. Cows add to the natural beauty in my opinion. I very nearly just stopped playing and sat underneath a tree for a few minutes to enjoy the environment.
-Shot Shaping/Gameplay: A par-54 course through and through, but Red Apple doesn't have very many gimme shots. The technical challenge is substantial, though the distance required is typically under 250' and tops out in the upper 300s. Holes go up and down, straight and turning, and usually feature lanes that are only a few feet wide. For upper rec and better players, the challenge will be accumulating birdies, not avoiding bogeys.
-Navigation: Despite the lack of a course map or tee pads, navigation is near flawless once you find the first tee. Spray-painted trees mark the way through the woods pretty obviously.
-Playability: That is, despite being a course full of trees, you shouldn't have to spend too much time looking for discs unless the leaves just fell. Similarly, it isn't hard to get to any lies despite the elevation.
-Rec-Friendly: Every hole can be parred even with a bad tee shot. The short length makes scrambles very doable.
-Optional Connector: You can make a 30-hole course by combining Red Apple holes (1)-(15) followed by a loop of White Lightning (A), (13)-(15), (8)-(12), (B), then back to Red Apple (16)-(18).
-Facilities: Restaurant and distillery on site. I can't vouch for it, but it looked pretty delectable.
-Natural Beauty: The course's greatest strength. All 18 holes are in an exceedingly pleasant woods biome with plenty of elevation, an occasional creek, and not a lot of undergrowth to catch you up. Cows add to the natural beauty in my opinion. I very nearly just stopped playing and sat underneath a tree for a few minutes to enjoy the environment.
-Shot Shaping/Gameplay: A par-54 course through and through, but Red Apple doesn't have very many gimme shots. The technical challenge is substantial, though the distance required is typically under 250' and tops out in the upper 300s. Holes go up and down, straight and turning, and usually feature lanes that are only a few feet wide. For upper rec and better players, the challenge will be accumulating birdies, not avoiding bogeys.
-Navigation: Despite the lack of a course map or tee pads, navigation is near flawless once you find the first tee. Spray-painted trees mark the way through the woods pretty obviously.
-Playability: That is, despite being a course full of trees, you shouldn't have to spend too much time looking for discs unless the leaves just fell. Similarly, it isn't hard to get to any lies despite the elevation.
-Rec-Friendly: Every hole can be parred even with a bad tee shot. The short length makes scrambles very doable.
-Optional Connector: You can make a 30-hole course by combining Red Apple holes (1)-(15) followed by a loop of White Lightning (A), (13)-(15), (8)-(12), (B), then back to Red Apple (16)-(18).
-Facilities: Restaurant and distillery on site. I can't vouch for it, but it looked pretty delectable.
Cons:
A mix of fixable and non-fixable items.
-Amenities: Only the very basics. The baskets are a mishmash but catch well. Tees are natural and often feature tree roots. Tee signs are limited to number and occasionally distance. No course map. No path to get to the first tee. With a little money, this course would be a seamless experience.
-Finding the Course: They have made no effort to mark where the course begins. I'm not sure how you were supposed to get there--I asked staff at the restaurant and they told me to go through the gate, but I had to go over it. Regardless, the first tee is located near the creek just inside the woods to the north of the restaurant building.
-Uniformity: It's short woods holes. The challenge level stays pretty similar throughout, as do the types of shots required. Don't think I used a distance driver at all, and barely even a fairway.
-Cows: The course is entirely in the cow pen. That means you might have to skip some holes, and you definitely need to watch your step for copious cow pies.
-Lines: Some of the lines looked a bit hokey. There wasn't anything absurd, but a lot of small gaps and slightly unnatural shapes.
-Amenities: Only the very basics. The baskets are a mishmash but catch well. Tees are natural and often feature tree roots. Tee signs are limited to number and occasionally distance. No course map. No path to get to the first tee. With a little money, this course would be a seamless experience.
-Finding the Course: They have made no effort to mark where the course begins. I'm not sure how you were supposed to get there--I asked staff at the restaurant and they told me to go through the gate, but I had to go over it. Regardless, the first tee is located near the creek just inside the woods to the north of the restaurant building.
-Uniformity: It's short woods holes. The challenge level stays pretty similar throughout, as do the types of shots required. Don't think I used a distance driver at all, and barely even a fairway.
-Cows: The course is entirely in the cow pen. That means you might have to skip some holes, and you definitely need to watch your step for copious cow pies.
-Lines: Some of the lines looked a bit hokey. There wasn't anything absurd, but a lot of small gaps and slightly unnatural shapes.
Other Thoughts:
What a charming course. Throwing gentle technical shots over rolling forest with the mooing of cows in the background was a perfect September afternoon. The course has limitations though of both scope and polish. Due to the short length and lack of variety, I've left it at an upper-level Typical for now, but I think some dedicated improvement could land it a Good. Highly recommend if you want a pleasant casual round with your midranges.
1
0
Wood Chuk
Experience:
43.9 years
372 played
34 reviews
A very pretty and technical course 2+ years drive by
Reviewed:
Played on:Feb 27, 2016
Played the course:once
Pros:
* The course is on a beautiful, wooded piece of property.
* Every hole has at least one defined line.
* Excellent use of elevation change.
* A very pretty spring creek is used to provide an OB challenge on the first three holes and really adds to the charm of the course.
* The course is very well groomed.
* The natural tee areas were well chosen in areas that were flat.
* All holes have baskets.
* All holes had signs.
* Every hole has at least one defined line.
* Excellent use of elevation change.
* A very pretty spring creek is used to provide an OB challenge on the first three holes and really adds to the charm of the course.
* The course is very well groomed.
* The natural tee areas were well chosen in areas that were flat.
* All holes have baskets.
* All holes had signs.
Cons:
* Temporary course.
* The #3 tee area has a root that could be trouble.
* The course uses a variety of baskets, some are better than others.
* When the course is under heavy use there could be safety issues because some tee pads are near baskets.
* The #3 tee area has a root that could be trouble.
* The course uses a variety of baskets, some are better than others.
* When the course is under heavy use there could be safety issues because some tee pads are near baskets.
Other Thoughts:
This course was dinged at least 0.5 points because it is temporary. I found this course to be super enjoyable and soul refreshingly beautiful. I had the privilege of playing with two locals, Mike and D., who generously shared their knowledge of lines earned by helping do the work on the course. Primarily you will drive putters and mids on this course, but you will be challenged to throw them accurately - there are no gimme holes.
The course has been teased out of the woods with a lot of care and haven't been overly manipulated to create this course. Usually when playing a wooded course in TN it seems that you land in a tangle thorny vines (usually Smilax sp.) if even slightly off the fairway. Either the six of us never threw off the fairways, or a very intense underbrush management campaign has been undertaken by the caretakers or cattle that are allowed to graze here at times.
I really liked this course! It is obvious that some people who really care about disc golf, disc golfers, and the world we live in have made something wonderful. Even better, they shared this wonderful course with me!!
ALSO: when playing this course you are at the Short Mountain Distillery. I would be remiss in not advising you that (with proper ID) you can sample the refreshing products made by the distillery.
The course has been teased out of the woods with a lot of care and haven't been overly manipulated to create this course. Usually when playing a wooded course in TN it seems that you land in a tangle thorny vines (usually Smilax sp.) if even slightly off the fairway. Either the six of us never threw off the fairways, or a very intense underbrush management campaign has been undertaken by the caretakers or cattle that are allowed to graze here at times.
I really liked this course! It is obvious that some people who really care about disc golf, disc golfers, and the world we live in have made something wonderful. Even better, they shared this wonderful course with me!!
ALSO: when playing this course you are at the Short Mountain Distillery. I would be remiss in not advising you that (with proper ID) you can sample the refreshing products made by the distillery.
