- Beautiful grounds.
- Well-maintained fairways.
- New course map.
- New tee signs.
- New tee markers.
- Mix of challenging and easy holes.
- Fair course par.
- Variety of shots and lengths.
- New baskets.

- No concrete tee pads...just grass and dirt.
- Some fairways cross paths.
- One flight path crosses a road.
- One lengthy walk between basket and tee.

After last playing this course several years ago, I was excited to see the new course design and play the newly installed back nine.

The front nine uses roughly the same property as the original nine, including many of the same pin placements. However, the course redesign makes better use of the space. Drives range from 259 ft. to 659 ft., with three par fours on the front nine. Several of the holes involve significant elevation change, including two throws off tees placed at the tops of small hills.

The back nine--the Creekside Course--is a fantastic addition to the front nine. Situated behind the new sports facility building, the back nine plays across and around a small creek that borders the property. While several shots are open, including an initial 417 ft. downhill shot, many are more technical, requiring throws between, around, or through wooded fairways. Throws range from 235 to 620 ft., with the two par fours being hole 5 at 441 ft and hole 8 at 620 ft.

If it's been a while since you've played this course and you live near Knoxville, you should take the time to check it out. It's worth it!

(REVISED) The scenery at the Johnson University - Field course is gorgeous and green - rolling hills dotted with mature trees and manicured landscapes.

And the course makes good use of the hills on several holes, as nearly every hole includes at least a small change in elevation. On Hole #6, the basket is perched atop a hill, while Hole #7 requires devising a route around several large trees toward the valley.

The course that was without teepads or even tee area indicators when I last played it five years ago has been transformed with the addition of concrete teepads. There's also been a change to a couple of the holes -- Hole #5 is an awesome par-4 downhill bomber throw with trees (and a pond beyond) on the left side.

The targets have been upgraded to Patriot baskets.

Navigation can be a bit tricky, as several of the baskets aren't visible when teeing off.

Most of the holes are fairly wide open. Only Holes #6 through #8 have significant trees en route to the basket.

There's a bit of construction on campus that comes into play on Holes #2 and #9.

Also, the concrete tee areas for the first two holes are still in progress. The wood framing is there but they're not complete.

The improvements at Johnson University - Field have prompted me to increase the rating from a 1.0 to a 2.0. The rolling hills create some good hole dynamics.

Great scenery. Low traffic, so you could have time to practice driving or your upshots and putting.

No tee boxes and it was very confusing.

I may have liked it better if I had went with someone who already know the course, but I wouldn't go out of my way to play it again.

Just like when Adam and Jamie need to blow something up they go to the Alameda Bomb Range, strong arms are welcomed to test their D here on some extremely fluctuating elevations. You'll be surprised by how many breath-taking tee-shots are crammed into this long, open 9-hole bomber course.

Along with the massive rolling hills comes a healthy amount of wind, which will either create a distance boosting tail wind, or a challenging head wind. Another positive that comes with the hills are the many roller routes, especially on downhill giants where an extra 50' on the drive can make the difference between a look at a nice 2 and a just out-of-reach 3.

Distance is definitely what makes this course enjoyable, because even if you think it's bland to play mostly open holes, you can't lie and say a 2 on any hole here (besides #1) isn't super satisfying.

You would be greatly surprised by the variety of shots that can be effectively thrown, especially on the more-wooded holes #3-6. Tomahawks and thumbers are used occasionally to avoid huge hyzers that would require 100+ feet of power. As mentioned before, rollers are almost essential to having a shot at par if you're shooting into a nasty 20 MPH head wind.

Drives seem to mimic the slanting land underneath them, offering a truly entertaining experience rather than a strategic mental grind off the box. And when it comes to putting and upshots, be prepared to battle the wind before you take advantage of these lightly protected pin placements. Holes #5 and 7 feature two extremely elevated greens that slope down to OB roads, which will make you upshots to them a little unnerving.

Equipment-wise, the baskets catch brilliantly and are in excellent repair. The landscape is nurtured year-round, and is impeccable. Even though it is situated on a college campus, it is plenty far enough away from all buildings and most student activities. Students are super kind so don't worry about having trouble asking them politely to watch out.

The biggest issue is the obvious, no tees, signs nor pads. Without being told, no one would know where to tee. Definitely find the tee info on here before visiting (under Hole Info.).

Along with that, all tees are simply from the previous hole's basket (except #1 and 2). To state the obvious, you will have wait a bit if there's a group ahead of you. This being said, I can personally testify that the course receives such little traffic that I would rarely expect this to be an issue (It's never happened to me after 30+ rounds).

The remaining cons have to do with the design. This is an open course, and I rated it as such, but if I rated it on a more generic scale this is a 3.0 at best for lacking a challenging and creative layout.

Hole #1 is just a disappointing throw-away hole, which is everything that an opening hole shouldn't be. And the up-hill hole #9 isn't the exciting finish that you would expect after a beautiful downhill sloping #8.

Hole #2 is also a missed opportunity, for simply pushing the pin a little further back or to the left would protect it enough to make the long par 4 finish a little more interesting. A more emanate OB presence would do wonders for some of the more open holes.

I think just because the course is extremely forgiving of errant shots and lacking in forced routes doesn't mean it's a poor designed course, rather it uses a beautiful piece of land to the best it's capacity. Plus these design cons actually increase the enjoyable factor and decrease any chances of losing discs or highly penalized misplays (which could be a pro or con depending on the player).

Come on out if you really want to unleash your drivers without having to worry about tracking them down. The grass is always cut, and they chance to lose a disc would be in the woods shaping hole #4's dog-leg left open fairway.

The multiple roads that go through the course add a very interesting OB element, especially on the longest hole #7 where you're faced with laying up or going for a very elevated green. Hole #3 has a left-to-right line that skirts with the OB road all the way down the left side.

And probably the signature hole #5 is a massive blind drive over a hill, then a valley that slopes into another huge hill with a small green area on top. Throw a tomahawk, anhyzer, whatever you name it, but be sure to treat the 330' like 430' because it's a mountain. Without commenting on my other favorite holes, I have to say that there are several "go for it" rips waiting to be had in this 30 minute smooth-flowing round (no hiking to any hole, see Cons).

If you're in the South Knoxville/Seymour area it is definitely worth a trip, but if you're looking for a technical and challenging round then I suggest to save this for a later time.