Ohhhh, Red Land High School .... I loathe your disc golf course. I loathe it for one reason, and one reason alone: I always lose a friggin' disc at this course. 'How', you may ask? 'How can you possibly lose a disc on such a wide-open course ... let alone two discs or three?" Let me tell you. Because there is an evil leprechaun or troll that grabs discs and runs away with them. Friggin' ridiculous.
I have lost my top approach disc, my top putter, and my top putter after replacing my last top putter. Whhhhy!!!?
Course Layout: This course is a grip-it-and-rip it course like none-other. There are some VERY long holes on this course (600 ft +) that have very few obstructions in the fairway. The holes are all pretty straight-forward, and you don't have too much elevation to worry about. There are very few dog-legs as well. Most of the time, you can see the pin from the box, and it is straight ahead. The exception to this is hole 3 (sort of...it is straight-ahead but behind a small grove of trees), hole 4 for sure, and hole 9 (back in the woods). Other than that -- that is about it.
There is no water on the course, but the course can get soggy after some rain. Also, despite there not really being any obstacles in the fairway, there tends to be some dense vegetation to either side of you. So, if you yank it on some holes, you will likely never find your disc. Also, going after your disc is perilous...which brings me to my next category...
Course Layout: 3 / 5
Venue: The actual venue itself is never busy .. at least, not when I have been there. This makes looking for an errant throw a little easier, and you can definitely play a much more mellow round without anyone on your heels. Speaking of errant throws, if you do have one ... good luck finding your disc. Not only is the vegetation dense along most holes, but it is dangerous. I have gotten poison ivy from the woods and I have gotten scraped-up pretty badly by the gratuitous number of thorny bushes ... everywhere.
Venue: 2 / 5
Tee Pads and Baskets: The baskets are great. The Tee Pads? Not so much. They are way to small, and they are bordered by wood frames which are not all flush with the tee pad. It is very, very difficult to throw drives off of these tee pads safely. I have nearly rolled ankles on multiple occasions. The biggest problem with the pads stems from the fact that some of these holes are monster-holes. As previously mentioned -- 600 + feet long, so you want to put a little extra behind every tee shot. That is very difficult to do without risking injury. I don't feel safe on these pads, and so I typically tone it down a bit, or try and overcompensate with a little more arm. Ultimately, this isn't helping my game and is likely doing more harm to my mechanics than good.
Tee Pads & Baskets: 2/5 (5/5 for baskets -1/5 Tee Pads)
Final Thoughts: Red Land is a fun course to come out and try working on your short game and your putting. In terms of your long game, given the extreme distances on some of the holes, you can work on that too, but I recommend coming on a dry day and throwing from the grass. The tee pads are just too difficult to manage, and some of them are backed-up to a barn or other structure so that it is impossible to walk-up to them. Overall though, if you are looking for a backwoods-style, easy-going course with little traffic and some real bombs for drives, this is something to check out. If you are looking for a quality, tournament-level course ... this is sooooo far from it, it is hysterical. read more