Sam Houston Elementary School in Maryville Tennessee is home to a short kid-friendly and beginner-friendly 9 hole disc golf course. First of all, I have to give the school props for allowing the children at the school to have disc golf available for them. Schools with disc golf courses are one of the things that I believe helps with the growth of disc golf not just now, but also in the future. With that being said, this course definitely needs some work. First of all, I am aware of the fact that ...
continue reading ›Sam Houston Elementary School in Maryville Tennessee is home to a short kid-friendly and beginner-friendly 9 hole disc golf course. First of all, I have to give the school props for allowing the children at the school to have disc golf available for them. Schools with disc golf courses are one of the things that I believe helps with the growth of disc golf not just now, but also in the future. With that being said, this course definitely needs some work. First of all, I am aware of the fact that this course is designed for children and I am reviewing it as a full grown man. Believe me, I took that into consideration for this review. My first issue with this course would be the condition of the baskets. They are... not in good condition. Several of them are leaning and shaky or bent in some form. The style of the baskets themselves are absolutely fine for a children's course, but they have been seriously neglected. Next, I would like to mention that there are no actual tee pads or ground markers showing exactly where to tee from. Each hole has a small tee sign in the area, but nothing shows exactly where to tee from. There were several holes that I am not sure if I played correctly just because of the positioning of the tee sign. This may be something that is just common knowledge for the children that play the course but any player from outside the area would have a difficult time deciding where to tee from. The last major complaint I would have would be with the pars that were listed on the tee signs. Most of the holes were listed as Par 2's with a couple Par 3's and one single Par 4. I can see calling them Par 2's for player like myself, but with this course being meant for children, I personally believe they should all be Par 3's. Even as an avid intermediate disc golfer, it felt weird to have Par 2's that you would have to ace to birdie. With all this being said and all things considered, I actually had a fun time playing this short little layout. I am a huge fan of short "ace run" courses just because to me, it feels like an entirely different style of disc golf to me than most permanent courses. I think of it as the "miniature golf" or "putt putt" of disc golf. I mean, who doesn't love a round of miniature golf? Apply that same mind frame to these short children's courses and I promise you will have a blast. The designer(s) of this course, whoever they may be, actually did an excellent job with the layout. They used several trees and other obstructions on most holes and had a great use of the elevation on the land. The layout was really fun for short little ace runs. Once again, I love that type of thing. If I lived in the area, I would go out to this course often with the goal of acing every hole on the course which is definitely possible. I threw a putter on 8 of 9 holes and a mid-range on the final hole just because of the elevation. In conclusion, I believe that if the school would put just a little bit of time and money into this course, it would be one of the best children's courses in East Tennessee. Throw 9 to 18 bricks in the ground to show an exact tee area and brace the baskets better into the ground (with some additional basket upkeep) and this course would be perfect for children. I have only played this course one time, but if I make it back to the area, I will definitely take my kiddos to this course to play and I believe many more families would do this with a few small improvements to the course. If you want to see this course on video please consider watching this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkTAbrumQ_w
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Josh Baysinger
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October 3, 2023