Clay Disc Golf Course

This Course was not Designed to be the hardest or easiest, but to be enjoyable for every skill level. It's designed for you to be able to throw different setups each time you play, so mix it up and work different parts of your game. You'll use every shot in your bag,long,short,open,wooded,left,right,uphill,downhill. The Fairways are fair and if your inside of 30' you've got a putting chance. There's a bulletin board with a large map and map handouts. A Driving range at hole one with orange marke ...
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This Course was not Designed to be the hardest or easiest, but to be enjoyable for every skill level. It's designed for you to be able to throw different setups each time you play, so mix it up and work different parts of your game. You'll use every shot in your bag,long,short,open,wooded,left,right,uphill,downhill. The Fairways are fair and if your inside of 30' you've got a putting chance. There's a bulletin board with a large map and map handouts. A Driving range at hole one with orange markers every 50' starting at 250' to over 800'. Two practice baskets. Large Tee Pads 14' long 8' wide in back and 6' wide in the front.21 holes with multiple tee pads and baskets. Tee Signs on all AM and Pro pads with orange pins marking what position the baskets are in. A third of the course has two baskets. Each basket has an arrow pointing to the next hole and there are also next tee signs pointing the way. So if you get lost here you shouldn't leave your house :) :) Bench's on all holes, both Am and Pro pads. Where most Courses may have one signature hole this one has multiple signature holes such as Mini Me, Bamboo Beast, Down and Out and Double Decker Putter Wrecker. And Beautiful Scenery. A 9 hole mini course inside this course will be finished soon so when you don't have the time to play a full round or you've got the little ones with you, you can still come on out and enjoy yourself. Hope to see you on the course soon. Danny
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One of the top courses in Alabama. PROS: + SKILL LEVEL FRIENDLY + Unlike Inverness, Clay appears to be very approachable for most recreation players. The red tees appear to be true reds (Recreation level). In addition, the back (blue) tees appear to be challenging enough for advanced level play. This is great for an intermediate level player like me, where I can choose between running for aces or taking a beating. + CHALLENGING + The back tee and back basket combo will no doubt challeng ...
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One of the top courses in Alabama.

PROS:
+ SKILL LEVEL FRIENDLY + Unlike Inverness, Clay appears to be very approachable for most recreation players. The red tees appear to be true reds (Recreation level). In addition, the back (blue) tees appear to be challenging enough for advanced level play. This is great for an intermediate level player like me, where I can choose between running for aces or taking a beating.
+ CHALLENGING + The back tee and back basket combo will no doubt challenge lower end advanced players to stay pace with par. Several 300 foot holes that need some precision. Figure a typical 940 rated player will average around par from the backs. Rec players playing the front tees should also hover around par or be a couple under.
+ CHARACTER + Clay has a bunch of great amenities. Thankfully this mountain course is stacked with seating and the benches were only omitted at one or two holes. Tee (1) has seating room for something like 15 people. It's as though they are encouraging players to admire or laugh at every throwers drive. Good shading at a majority of the tees as well. The tees are a mix of concrete and artificial turf. Although turf tees in the mountains are less than ideal, but they are still ok. I understand the difficultly of hauling concrete ingredients up the side of a mountain. There are two practice baskets adjacent to tee (1). Most holes have duel tees and there are alternate basket locations. There are even two actual baskets at 5 or 6 holes as well.
+ NAVIGATION + Good, but with a couple of needed omissions. Great course map and community board just behind tee (1). The hole signage has been done professionally and has all the information that a well traveled player expects from a great course. Direction cues below baskets to keep players on track. I only peeked at my map twice. What's dearly needed are basket placement indicators. After throwing at a nonexistent basket location, I began running up all the blind basket fairways. Which is not fun on a course with elevation changes. Lastly I'll point out tee (A) which occurs after hole (11) and allows players to skip two holes. Probably not the wisest move for safety reasons as tee (A) and tee (14) can't see each other.
+ SHOT SHAPING + The first five holes are rather other open, however after the beginning stretch, being able to correctly move a disc along a planned path is going to be key to score birdies from the back tees. Holes (6) through (15) are fully wooded and holes (17) through (19) are heavily wooded along the right side and have their basket buried deep into a right breaking pocket.
+ ELEVATION + Lots of it. Unfortunately twice as many up shots compared to down shots.
+ UNIQUENESS + In addition to elevation, There's a really nice mix of hole types. Although not labeled, I'm pretty sure that hole (1) at 838 feet, is a par 4. The holes range from completely open to heavily wooded. Water comes into play a couple times. Be wary of throwing long on (19), water is lurking just beyond the basket. There are even a couple of manmade wooden enclosures on (3) and (4). This bodes much better than what likely would have been an obstacle free shot. Missing elements include a par 5, doglegs and a well defined left pocketing shot.
+ RAW BEAUTY + As of this review, I would put Clay in my top 20 most beautiful courses that I've ever played (227 courses). As mentioned above, great terrain and elevation. Great views from atop the ridge, large gorging dry washes slicing though the base of the ridge and hordes of wooded areas. All these elements make Clay a definite treat to walk and to play along.

A great course with just thoughts of what could have been.

CONS:
- MISSED OPPORTUNITIES - Make no mistake, Clay is a great disc golf course, but wow, there are some misses. The property that Clay sits on is some of the best disc golf land I have ever come across. Huge elevation changes on the property, over 250 feet of grade change inside the park boundaries, vast wooded areas and a 10 to 15 foot wide creek. Are these features used? Yes, sort of, but it seems like it could have gone so much farther. A perfect example is hole (16) where the shot is around an 80 to 90 foot drop. The tee shot easily could have grown further up the slope to be 400 foot long, and become a 125 to 150 foot monster down shot. Another bummer was the use of the creek which is almost completely ignored. At 10 to 15 feet wide it's the optimal size. Just wide enough to make it register in the shot process, but small enough to be able to fish a disc out. Hole (21) easily could have been a play across it with a bridge being right there going back to the parking area. I also question the over use of the top of the mountain. Nothing like being on a ridge and seeing all the great terrain, but throwing shots along the flat top portion.
- TERRAIN - Players with walking impairments or bad knees should avoid this course. It's a 200 foot climb up and down the mountain on this course (source Topoquest.) I consider myself to be in decent shape and this course wiped me out.
- SAFETY HAZARDS - 95 percent of the course is completely separated from other park uses. However hole (19) and especially (20) bring in hazards. (19) plays along the park access road. (20) plays alongside a pavilion and the shot is blind.
- FORGIVENESS - For this type of course, surprisingly not as bad as I had envisioned, but far from an open city park course. The most likely scenario that will crush a player's score and open up the possibility for a lost disc, is hitting a tree and the resulting ricochet sends it barreling down the ridge. Playing the short tees will alleviate some of this issue, but not it all.
- BEGINNER FRIENDLY - I wouldn't bring someone here until they've played at least a few dozen rounds. Way too many opportunities to lose a disc for untrained players. However, there is an open field with some baskets not part of the (21) hole layout. This would be a good area to teach someone the game.
- PARKING - The parking by tee (1) is not the greatest. A section of it is gravel but it seems that some people actually park on the grass closer to tee (1). There is paved parking nearby (17) and (18), I wonder if some players begin up there instead.
- TIME PLAY - Clay is not a quick in, and quick out bagger course. This one is going to take a solo player close to 90 minutes to complete. Figure a group of four skilled players could spend 3 hours here from the back tees.

OTHER THOUGHTS:
One of the better courses in Alabama. I currently have it as the third best in the state behind Inverness and The Admiral and I've played 8 of the top 12 courses listed on this site. Clay, unlike Inverness, is very much more approachable to lower skill levels and this could be the ultimate course for recreation players in the state of Alabama. It's hard to find courses with this much elevation and still be this user friendly. So all stated, traveling recreational level players that are in the Birmingham area should definitely place Clay number one on their hit list. However, those that are looking, and that can handle a greater challenge, should choose Inverness as first option.
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