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Newport, NC

Fort Benjamin Park

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1.65(based on 5 reviews)
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8 0
Rastnav
Bronze level trusted reviewer
Experience: 55 played 12 reviews
1.00 star(s)

Improvement, but fundamental flaws remains 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 1, 2020 Played the course:once

Pros:

I'll basically echo what BrotherDave said in his review, but as some small improvements have been made, I thought a re-review made sense. There has clearly been some small effort to make changes to the course to make it play more like a disc golf course, and less like baskets in a field.

- Quick growing trees now guard the basket on #3.
- Quick growing trees have been planted to eventually make some visual changes to hole #4 eventually.
- Trees now minimally guard #7
- #8 now has a marsh and creek/runoff ditch now guarding the approach.
- For experienced players, I don't think these changes make much difference, although #3 now is challenging to access and #8 heavily punishes anything on line but short.

Based on previous reviews, I believe everything else remains as before.

Cons:

The fundamental problem with this course is that it on the grounds of a large multi-use municipal athletic facility. If I hadn't played during Covid, when the fields were not in use, I don't imagine I could have played at all. Every throw would put someone in danger if the facility was being fully utilized.

My guess is that this course will only be playable early mornings and week days before school let out.

The holes, being on the borders of ball fields, are fundamentally open. However, being on the edge of the park, if you pull a backhand, you are in sever danger of losing a disc on many holes. This course doesn't see the use to beat in the rough on the edge of the park. The marsh on hole #8 will readily gobble quite a few discs as well. Thus, you don't even get the advantage of having worry free pulls.

Other Thoughts:

With the length (and dangers of wayward shots) being fairly non-friendly for new players, but the challenge of the course not being sufficient for experienced players, it's hard to know who the course would best serve. It's a little bit of a course in search of a niche. If you live in town, and this is what you have, it's better than nothing, I imagine. But there are far better courses an easy drive away.

I believe the baskets are Lightning DB5s that have simply had their bases buried, rather than being mounted in concrete. This would account for their rather short height and some odd tilts to the baskets.
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7 0
BrotherDave
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 16.8 years 192 played 189 reviews
0.00 star(s)

Ugh 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 20, 2017 Played the course:once

Pros:

Excellent tee signs that are informative and easy to spot. Grass is well mowed. Only 9 holes.



Welp, that's it.

Cons:

This is the afterthought-iest of afterthoughts of a course put into a park. Shoehorned in and around ball fields, roads, and parking lots doesn't even begin to come close to describing how horrid the design is. The course is completely enveloped amongst practically everything you don't want DG holes to be around, like a hemophiliac in an iron maiden. Not crossing a ball field is the exception more than the norm and maybe the worst part is that the holes even crowd each other(!).

Let's take hole 1 and 9 for example. 1 plays adjacent to and across the corner of a soccer field. Hole 9 plays literally across the same soccer field. COMPLETELY ACROSS IT FROM CORNER TO CORNER. Oh, and you can easily go into the parking lot on hole 9. Oh and hole 9's basket is less than 30 feet from hole 1's tee. Not an exaggeration. Talk about starting and finishing near each other for routing purposes!

I should also point out that this course is completely wide open. Occasionally you'll have a treeline to go along or a random tree here and there but basically wide ass open. So when the wind is gusting, like it was the day I played, it's not a question of if you're going to end up in a ball field but when, ramping up the peril.

The baskets are not great either. Single set of chains, really lightweight and prone to splash/spit-outs. If I had to guess they're old Mach 1's or something. They function but barely and the paint is fading on them fast.

The tees are basically 1'x1' or 2'x2' square pavers of concrete. They're mostly flush with the ground so that's good but even someone with limited run up like myself felt like I was driving from a postage stamp. To make matters worse, lots of these holes actually have good length to them, so you actually would like to run up on most of them. Even worse, the tee sign or a random tree is perfectly in the way of where you'd want to start your run up onto the world's tiniest tee pads. Some of the placements seemed like intentional trolling by the designer/installer rather than basic incompetence.

There's not a lot of fairway shape variety here due to the wide openness of the course. Some holes go a little bit left, some a little bit right but mostly straight, mindless bombing.

Other Thoughts:

There isn't really any great, redeemable quality of this course. It would actually be better if there was no course at all in my opinion b/c this is the blackest of black eyes for disc golf enthusiasts. There is no reason to come here, at all. When the park is completely devoid of other patrons, like it fortunately was the day I played, you can come here and work on your distance lines a bit, basically field or wind practice. Nearby Emerald Woods is a much better choice if for no other reason than it resembles actual disc golf and isn't an accident waiting to happen.
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1 1
bobbyschultz
Experience: 15 played 1 reviews
1.50 star(s)

Boring 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Feb 27, 2016 Played the course:once

Pros:

Nice newer, well maintained park. Easy to get to.

Cons:

This course is extremely boring. Every hole is mostly straight and wide open. No terrain, and the main obsticles are other people using the park for other uses. The course comes very close to the soccer and baseball fields, so when those are in use, several holes are sketchy to play at best.
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1 1
takman
Experience: 22.5 years 122 played 25 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Bombs Away! 2+ years

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Sep 20, 2015 Played the course:once

Pros:

Park was clean and manicured. Easter colored baskets seemed older but decent catchers. Long holes provided for good distance throws. Nice to have a course between Jacksonville & New Bern.

Cons:

Design flaws. Holes 1 and 9 were unplayable due to soccer games. I could see where holes 2, 7 & 8 could also be unplayable at certain times due to games or spectators. Long holes may be frustrating for beginners.

Other Thoughts:

Replace holes 1 and 9 by shortening two of the longer middle holes and re-installing the baskets. This will give provide some reachable short holes and remove the danger of throwing across the soccer fields.
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2 2
jnadkins
Experience: 10.2 years 7 played 2 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Good for Beginners to intermediates. 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 20, 2014 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Great course for beginners to get into it. Not hard to keep your disc on the course and out of the woods. Woods are easy to navigate for the most part if you loose your disc. Wind adds a challenging element. A definite must for people trying to get their friends into the sport.

Cons:

Briars in woods suck. Not overly challenging on obstacles. Holes are pretty straight from tee. Not for pro's really unless your trying to practice your distance drives.

Other Thoughts:

Hole 8 is the best for distance has a little challenge with the ditch line in front of hole that is the only possible water hazard.
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