Interesting, suburban course south of Richmond
9 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: Quiet and peaceful. Scenic in a simple way. As noted by others, the course has several open fairways and some wooded. Some start open and go into woods, some vice versa, and some all woods. Some all open, barring a few trees or bushes to get around or sideline rough to stay out of.
The forward tee is always present, paved, and mostly in good shape. Hole15's though apparently sits under water and mud a great deal of the time. That might also be true for no. 11; I don't fully remember.
There is a playground near the "disc golf" parking that keeps things from feeling too isolated. The other side of the park is very active. Maybe too active for the small space it takes up. Indeed the disc golf course is much bigger than all of the rest of the park.
I believe (don't know) that the disc golf course used to be a par-3 ball course. The main open areas (1, 16-18; 3, 7-10, 12-13) definitely look like ball-golf fairways.
The course is well-maintained in the dry spots: neat grass and open greens.
Cons: The main issue (noted by others) is that the several fairways are atop each other, and there is definite conflict when people are on two or more pads in the same section of the course. Yes, 1, 16-18. Also short 2 and short 3 play against each other. The basket of 13 is somewhat in the no. 5 fairway. Also playing against each other are nos. 10 and 12. I came late in the afternoon on a holiday and had 4 other people on the course with me. Three of them got in my way and I theirs. We were all chasing the sun, so perhaps it is best to play this course earlier in the day. So there is no need to be rushing each other around.
Total (or nearly total) woods holes 11, 14, 15 would be a lot more enjoyable if not so wet and muddy. I get the impression they are never dry...
I believe the practice basket is missing. I can see it being easily stolen by being in such an isolated place.
The baskets on the course are all there, though some are battered/bent or a little rusted.
I didn't see many long tees. I saw the framing for some, but the woods seem to have grown over them...
No benches at all, as someone previously mentioned. Would be nice to have a bench every 5-6 holes, at least. Nothing massive. Just a perch now and then to rest one's weak foot.
Other Thoughts: There are two entrances to the park. The main park is on the west side of the property. The disc golf course is on the east side. Though that split is distinct (with the school campus in between), there may be dog walkers on the disc golf course. Especially around the pond. Drive around to the very last section of the east parking area to reach the beginning of the disc golf course.
The OB near the green of no. 10 is a little confusing. I am not sure if the patch of squishy underbrush is the OB or if the creek bed closer to the no. 11 tees is what is meant by the tiny blob of blue on the course map. I think the latter as the former would be somewhat unfair. There was some running water in some of the creek bed but not all of it.
All in all, it is an interesting course. Not a destination course unto itself though. Pair it with Gillies, Dunncroft, and/or others in greater Richmond for your day trip. Or with some other activity in the Richmond area (Pocahontas State Park or the museums or such). Or maybe if you are driving through and in backed-up 95 traffic and just want to blow off steam for a couple of hours. The drive though is 15-20 minutes off the 95, driving back into a residential area. So not a simple on-off.
9 of 9 people found this review helpful.
In need of a Revival
12 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: -A variety of open, wooded, over the water, tunnel, gap, woods to open, open to wooded, and roller holes. There are down slope, up slope, and side slope holes.
-No.1 long tee hole a narrow tunnel shot, ranks as my most difficult and frightening hole for disc lost, for No. 1 holes on the courses I have played. Knocking out Dorey Park from a month ago.
-Solid three- hole stretch 13-15.
-The course from the short tees is a good teaching course for beginners and recreational players. From the long tees difficult for intermediate and advanced.
-From the tee I threw a variety of putters, fairway drivers, and drivers. Went thru about half of a 24- disc bag including approaches.
-Tee signs have map with next tee, hole number, distance, and par.
-Short tees are concrete in good shape. Some long tee pads were compact dirt and decent shape.
-Good navigation to the next concrete short tee.
-There are C1 and C2 whiskers. Did not notice until Hole 5 and saw them the rest of the way, and only saw a few C2 on the back 9.
-The course is separated by an elementary school from the rest of the park and has its own parking.
-Course map at the entrance gate.
Cons: -Looked like maybe just once this year the course had been mowed. There was waste high grass on the lower slopes of the course, and some knee-high grass elsewhere in some places. This made the roller greens ineffective.
-Missing tee sign on one-hole, other tee signs had nasty clothing draped over them. A few tee signs had foliage growing over and around them.
-Some long tee pads not possible to find due to no markings, or not playable due to high grass or thick foliage grown over them. No. 10 long pad is gone due to road construction. No. 2 long tee sits in the middle of No. 1 long fairway, but worth it.
-Some fairways cross over and run close together and are blind tee throws. I wonder how often players are hit by a disc.
-No. 12 basket bent at the barrel, and No. 14 leaning over.
-High lost disc potential.
-After a sustained rain, course is likely to be swampy.
-Broken glass and trash on the course.
-A few dog walkers crossing fairways.
-For those passing thru the Richmond area or bagging. The course is 9 miles from I-295, and 6 miles from I-95 with heavy traffic, frequent stop lights, and currently construction, this part of the drive was agonizing. What was supposed to of been an 8am arrival, turned into an 820am from I-295. That much extra time.
Other Thoughts: IMO with no or little course maintenance, some lost and unplayable long tee pads resulting in losing out on some long holes, and trash on the course. This course is on the back slide, and per my homework prior to playing has been for quite some time. Kudos to member Gottafixit for trying to rally the troops to cleanup the course on a wall post, but it does not look like there was a response?
However, there are those who love the layout including a local Pro I happened to play with in Virginia Beach a few days after playing the course. The course is difficult from the long tees and he had me thinking that perhaps I'll keep my eye on the course, and if there's a time when its cleaned up, I'll return for a rewrite on my review and a possible solid jump on my rating. Per my homework on the course, I did play 1 and 2 from the long tees for 2 extra holes and I already knew about the mess the course was in.
With the variety of the course layout, variety of disc played from my bag, A solid fun factor in the wooded portion of course my overall rating is anchored on a 4.5. It took 70 minutes to play the round, including searching for long tee pad's.
Notable Holes:
No. 5 Par 3 short tee at 245 feet is an up-hill tee throw between a wooded gap. The gap is about 50 feet out and 20 feet wide, the crest of the hill is about 75 feet out and the disc will disappear down slope, with also a right to left down slope across fairway. On the left is a tree line, and the basket is in the right tree line on top of the slope. Basket it about 15 feet in the tree line and protected in the front. If you can make the distance, best putting is side/back door. I found my straight drive in the left wood line.
No. 6 Par 3 short tee at 195 feet is a straight tunnel shot 15 feet wide and need 185 feet for a birdie look. Basket is protected by bushy tree. Would be a difficult ace run.
No. 13 Par 3 short tee at 370 feet is a lazy left at 200 feet, then a lazy right to a roller basket. From tee is a down slope at the 200- foot mark, where there is a waste area of debris. Then fairway drops steeper to the basket, and from the tee disc will disappear. From left to right is a down slope across fairway to basket. Clump of trees right of fairway at 220 feet. It's a scenic hole, but the high grass takes away the roller at the basket, there's also a tree line just 20 feet past the basket.
No. 14 Par 3 short tee at 290 feet is on the lower portion of the course. Straight down, with a slight right to left, fairway slopes down left to right. Heavy woods both sides about 25 feet down. Nasty brush on the right side. At the 240- foot mark sharp left turn to an elevated basket on a hill about 12 feet high, roller up hill and to the right. Levels out past basket. Again, the high grass makes the roller ineffective. Need to make the 240-foot mark or you will be blocked out on the left tree line.
No. 15 Par 3 short tee at 260 feet looks a little like 14 from the tee, but more of a lazy right to left and narrower at 20 feet. From the tee you are aiming to the nasty tree line on the right, and no straight shot to the basket. A slight slope across fairway left to right. Basket is at fairway height, and just 5 feet from the nasty stuff on the right. If grass was cut, could roll into brush.
Signature Hole:
No. 2. Long tee at 297 feet across a deep pond needing at least 247 feet to make it across into a 30- foot gap. A little elevation from tee, you're throwing from a gap, and dirt tee is solid footing. Basket sits in the open about 50 feet past pond and gap. Heavy tree line on both sides of gap. Very Scenic! If you cannot make distance, there is some shorter poke and hopes to the short No. 2 fairway.
Trouble Hole:
No 1. Par 3 long tee at 265 feet into a tunnel gap with heavy trees and canopy all the way down. Your birdie look is at 255 feet. The gap is no more than 20 feet wide all the way down. On your left is the heavy tree line with a roller to the lower short No. 1 fairway. On the right with the heavy tree line is the deep pond and only a few feet below the fairway. Nip a tree and your disc can go either way, and into the pond, you will never see it again. With the extreme lost disc potential, and no bail out. My first thought was "what a frightening" tee shot. I was not feeling charitable, so I threw easy putter all the way down.
12 of 12 people found this review helpful.
The Links At Goyne Marsh
7 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: Decent variety of wide open and wooded shots, sometimes depending on the tee pad taken.
Will encourage you to play both back and forward hand drives.
Good for practice.
Cons: Long tee boxes aren't maintained, and some don't seem to exist.
Many holes play in what can only be described as march land.
Little confusing finding tee boxes the first few times you play.
Other Thoughts: Goyne Park is about 3-4 minutes from my house, but I will drive 20+ minutes to go to other local courses 90% of the time I play. I don't know if this is a new thing because I don't see it mentioned in other reviews, but this course suffers from a severe drainage issue. Even when it hasn't rained in 5+ days, there are many places on the course that you will be in 3"+ of mud. The putting area around 10, the tee box at 11, good portions of 14 & 16, and all 15 are all just standing water.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.
Open course; not the most interesting design
4 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: Good for practicing big, open throws
Nice concrete tee pads
Has circle marked around basket with white "whiskers"
Cons: Several overlapping fairways/greens with other holes
No shade makes it very hot in warm weather
Slightly confusing where you were supposed to go to park and to get to the first tee box
Other Thoughts: This wasn't my favorite course and due to very little shade, will definitely only play if the weather is cooler. There are a few interesting holes, but mostly you're just playing in a big open field with a few trees/wooded patches here and there. As others said, you have to be careful of other folks playing as several holes overlap or come very close to each other. This would be an OK course for beginners or working on distance since you don't have to worry too much about shot shaping/avoiding trees.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
Wait! are those Circle 1 Markers?!
8 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: Great, large concrete tee pads for the Gold (actually White level) tees.
Good tee signs, show both tees.
For the FIRST TIME EVER that I have seen, there are plastic whiskers in the ground to mark Circle 1 and maybe, Circle 2!! I've only seen these used before on softball fields, where there are multiple base locations. A rubber plug is inserted in the unused base location and the attached whiskers make them easy to spot, without affecting play.
Mostly open holes in this DG only area of the park. Most of the baskets were unprotected, but a few were placed just inside treelines.
Cons: The main negative about this course are the safety issues, too many cases of holes using shared fairways:
#2  - #2 is a pretty good hole, a gradual left to right hole, along the pond. Then you go uphill a little to #3 tee, and throw around a blind corner, right into #2 fairway. If you don't know someone is playing #2, you could be throwing right into them, on a 50' wide fairway.
#5 & #13 - #5 tee is tucked in the woods, uphill and the tee shot goes through Circle 1 of #14. The fairway is mostly open and you see a basket, that is #13, #5 is tucked in the woods on the right. So both holes are coming from different directions on a 75' wide fairway.
#8, #9, #10, #12 - the shared fairway area is wider than most, about 240', but #8 and #12 baskets are about halfway up the fairways of #9 and #10.
#1,#16,#17,#18 - the last three of these are all over 300' and going in opposite directions, high speed discs going in different directions in that small of space, an average of just 130' wide, delays in throwing looks like the least of your worries.
Looks like the ground holds water a lot around #15 tee and on the final three holes.
Other Thoughts: Being a Disc Golf only area of this park, it probably helps with the safety issues, because the experienced players know what to look for and when to throw. But if beginners, or first timers, give this course a try, they could become frustrated with multiple baskets in sight and when it is safe to throw.
While most of the holes had baskets out in the open there were a few interesting holes:
#1 - from the Gold tee, along the treeline at the base of the pond dam, the basket is in the trees about halfway up the dam.
#6 - a short, downhill tunnel shot that finishes to the left.
#14 - a somewhat tight tee shot, that turns left to the basket up on a hill, 290' away.
#15 - also a tight tee shot with a creek on the right, sharp hyzer to start, then straightens out to 260'.
#18 - even though it is wide open and sandwiched between #1 and #17, the plateau green area reminds you of a flat, golf green.
I'm thinking experienced players play here often, with the Circle 1 markers and alternate Blue tees, those aren't installed and maintained for the intermediate player. Perhaps this layout works well, but it seems that a 9 hole layout, with 18 baskets, making up 18 unique holes, might work better for this course. There are a lot of heavily wooded courses in this part of the country, having a course with mostly open holes, is a rare treat.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.
Good beginner course
5 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: Good beginner course
Most shots covered
Well mowed
Cons: A little jumbled together
Pretty much all open
Can be a bit difficult to navigate the first time
Other Thoughts: Nothing spectacular but noting really bad about the course. Would be a good place for someone to learn how to play the game or someone new who is starting to get a little distance.
It doesn't seem like there was a whole lot of land allotted for the course but a good job was done with what was available.
Be sure to follow the directions in the course description as it can be hard to find. Also you may want to print out or keep a copy of the map up on your phone to help get from hole to hole.
The restrooms on the other side of the park have sinks where you can fill a water bottle, a good hike from the course or you can drive over there, probably easier.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.
Play it and move on
4 Helpful / 1 Not
Pros: Well marked and easy to find. It's a convenient course for anyone located at Fort Lee. The course plays fairly quickly, but seems awfully clustered.
Cons: The first two holes are not good warm up holes, but they have a nice practice basket to warm up putting. The course is a little confusing because all the holes are kind of clustered together.
Other Thoughts: Give it a run, and then move on to some of the better courses in the area. It'll play pretty quickly, so you can get a couple rounds in if you're not planning on playing anywhere else that day.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.
New Concrete Pads
3 Helpful / 2 Not
Pros: Newly poured concrete short (yellow) tee pads.
Good tee signs and directional arrows.
Cons: Blue tee pads on 1 & 2 make lost/wet discs likely, not good warmup holes!
Most Blue tee pads are overgrown. Could not find blue tee pads on 13, 14, 16, 17 & 18, and believe that they no longer exist.
Some blue pads add a little extra length without changing the angles much, others make good shots unlikely.
Other Thoughts: Enjoyed a round here, would just use the yellow pads if I played it again.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful.
Short and Straight forward
1 Helpful / 3 Not
Pros: Very well maintained
Easy to follow signs
Short tees for a quick 18 holes
Easy par or better
Multiple open fairways to play
Cons: Tees could be redone or filled in again
Baskets could be repainted
No benches at any tees
Other Thoughts: Fun course for a lazy afternoon or a way to get a quick 18 holes in.
1 of 4 people found this review helpful.
Basic Beginner Course
6 Helpful / 1 Not
Pros: Full 18 hole course with nice baskets and decent tee signs at each hole. Course is set in its own piece of land so there should be no interference from other park users. Navigation is pretty simple, and there are plenty of next tee signs to make sure you know where to go.
There is a lot of of open holes and grass here, and today it was mowed nicely, and everything was well kept. Fairways are clear and obvious with nothing to complain about.
Hole lengths varied from around 198' to about 380' with most holes being of the deuce or die type. Lots of open holes with plenty of fairway to work with, and a few tighter holes sprinkled in. There is one water carry of almost 300', but there is also an alternate pad that plays to the tune of a nice, dry 246'. That's a nice option on a course that appears designed mostly for beginners and recreational players.
While most holes are pretty open there are a few tighter holes with some thick rough on the back 9. Nothing too brutal, but at least it keeps you from having to throw all wide open holes.
Cons: Natural pads that were a little lumpy in spots. Some decent sized depressions to work around.
Lots of open holes with straight shots. Not much line shaping or variety. Throw straight, then fade a little left or right. That's the plan here.
Pretty dull little course. Nothing overly exciting or thrilling. Mostly flat, simple golf.
Other Thoughts: This is a clean, well kept little course, that seems like a great place for families and beginners. Lots of open fairways to keep lost discs to a minimum, and no overly challenging layouts. For the people that have played for a while this course could get old real quick. I wouldn't go out of my way to play here, but if you are looking for a quick, simple round it'll do.
6 of 7 people found this review helpful.
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Hole #10 (Taken 8/2010) 
3 / 255ft. 
1 
10/11/2021 
10/12/2021
Review By: DumfriesLizzie 
This review was updated on 10/31/2021
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