Northview Optimist Park

Disc Golf is constantly growing in East Tennessee. There have been courses popping in this area on a near-yearly basis for the last decade. One place on the map of East TN disc golf courses that most ... show more ›

Disc Golf is constantly growing in East Tennessee. There have been courses popping in this area on a near-yearly basis for the last decade. One place on the map of East TN disc golf courses that most disc golfers in this area have felt is lacking, would be in the Sevier County area. Most of you will know that this area is the home of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge which are some of the most touristy places in all of East TN. Due to the amount of visitors in Sevier County, (roughly 12 million tourists annually) I have always felt that this area is underserved when it comes to disc golf. East Tennessee is a fairly popular area for disc golf and I have always feared that visitors to the area play the Sevier County courses and are underwhelmed when with what they would then consider “East Tennessee Disc Golf.” Fortunately, the newest course addition to this area, Northview Optimist Park DGC, is a step in the right direction. I know this was a long-winded way to get my point across, but I wanted readers of this review to realize the impact of a well-designed course in an underserved area. Northview Optimist Park DGC shows Sevier County how a properly designed disc golf course can be an outstanding use for public property. This 9 hole course weaves in and around the outside of the park with an excellent flow and pretty much all available space utilized in the design. This is something that the Sevier County area has been missing in my opinion. I have played this course twice. The first time, before the tee pads were installed, and the second time after. To me, this shows that even though this course is seemingly permanent, it hasn’t been forgotten and is still getting improvements. The signage, tees, and baskets are all in great shape which is to be expected from a newer course. Hole 8 actually has two tee pads that players can choose from. Obviously, more skilled players are going to prefer the longer, more challenging tee, but players like myself are going to go with the short tee. I do like this option and hope that more holes get this treatment over time. In addition to this, I feel this course has a great mix of elevation. You will be surprised by the mix of elevation utilized in such a small park. Now, please don’t misunderstand my review and think of this course as a destination course that you must play, but if you are traveling through the area and want to play a fun layout, this would be about the best that you are going to find in Sevier County. This is not the long wooded challenging course that we are used to in East Tennessee, but it is definitely a fun little layout to play if you are in the area. Most of the holes have multiple ways you can play them which is a much harder feat to accomplish when installing a more open course. In summary, this isn’t the type of course you want to make a specific trip for, but this is definitely a step in the right direction for disc golf in Sevier County. If you want to see this course on video, please consider checking out this playlist with all 10 tees in individual videos as well as a full round at the course:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW_PphhAUBjXwGe7Fe0HCj84NghM_q3sx