Sweetwater Park

From: HellboyCraig from DG Review. Pros: Veteran's Park offers a little bit of everything with its patchwork quilt design. Trying to combine an existing layout with a new, different-feeling set of holes gives players an interesting round of golf. - This course's layout is...weird. You start with three wide open holes in two fields, to a couple of holes that offer (inadvertently perhaps?) clear short cut routes, to a stretch of 10 holes that are either short, clumped together, or both. - If ...
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From: HellboyCraig from DG Review.

Pros: Veteran's Park offers a little bit of everything with its patchwork quilt design. Trying to combine an existing layout with a new, different-feeling set of holes gives players an interesting round of golf.
- This course's layout is...weird. You start with three wide open holes in two fields, to a couple of holes that offer (inadvertently perhaps?) clear short cut routes, to a stretch of 10 holes that are either short, clumped together, or both.
- If this course were represented by a map of the U.S., the first three holes would be Alaska (sparsely populated); #4 - 7 would be the Carolinas/Georgia (typical suburban population distribution); holes #8 - 17 would be the Northeast (major urban sprawl); and #18 is Maine (it's just there).
- With that said, because of the course's layout and flow, all parts of your game are tested. #2 & 3 are both wide-open 500 footers, so you can area it out. #5 & 10 are solid shoot-the-gap holes. And there are some tight, sharp curved layouts sprinkled throughout the back 9.
- There are some truly fun layouts here. I liked the sharp, dogleg right layout on #4. Also, #17 has a great classic, layout that goes from wooded to open to wooded to open again.
- Somehow, someway the flow of holes #8 - 17 is manageable. Think of a figure 8 if it were turned in on itself again, and that what you have here. Transitions cross paths; non-sequential holes run alongside each other and there's often not much signage. And with that, there's fun to be had.
Cons: The layout is the biggest con. Honestly, if you removed a couple holes from the #8 - 17 stretch, and added a couple on the other side of the park access road, the course would flow much better.
- I don't understand the 'design' of #2 & 3. #2 is a 500-footer across a field to a basket. From there, walk 50 feet to the left of the basket to #3's tee, turn around and throw back 500 feet to the basket. The best part? #3's basket is only 25 feet from #2's tee. So, you can play more than 1,000 feet of disc golf and end up in the exact spot you started.
- From there, you've got a stretch of holes on the back 9 where none is more than 200 feet. And most have odd/sharp curves, doglegs and atypical disc golf hole layouts to them.
- #15 is the first hole I've ever seen where a disc golfer gets penalized for shooting a 4-foot gap between trees 200 feet from the tee. If you do go through the eye of the needle, there's a drop zone for you.
- Lots of untapped land here. Again, why cramp in 10 holes into a small space when you've got acres of unused land at the park?
- Lack of important info that one often finds on tee signs: hole lengths, hole layouts, or even hole numbers. It got to a point where I just threw putter straight ahead, figuring a straight, 200-foot throw was a solid option.
- Lack of benches, trash cans, rest rooms and other basic amenities. Coming from the interstate, I also didn't pass any gas stations or convenience stores my direction. So, players will need to come prepared.
Other Thoughts: As I'm making the long walk from #17 to 18, and passing lots of unused wooded space, I wonder why the course is two separate designs. Even if no more cutting took place, there's lots of land around the ball fields that could be used.
- Veteran's Park was mostly a fun course. There was more to like than not like. But man, you're doing a lot of walking for a course that features so many sub-200 foot holes.
- Course probably doesn't get much out-of-town traffic, except for people like me. With Augusta, the IDGC, and Hippodrome all 30 minutes away, this course is on the outskirts.
- I used nearly every disc in my bag during my round. Many were only used once or twice - my big, sweeping throw disc, for example. It did require lots of different shot making.
- My impression of the course would be a little better if a few basic issues were addressed, say signage & listed distances. That said, it's never going to compare to the other Augusta area courses. It serves its purpose while also offering enjoyment.
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