George Ward Park

A longer city park course with very good variety. PROS: + EXTRA BASKETS + My favorite thing about George Ward is the two baskets on every hole, well 18 holes. This appears to have occurs something around 2013 from reading the reviews. Considering that there is no extra tees, the extra set of baskets really makes this course approachable to a wide swath of skill levels. The loop of holes (A) thru (F) only have the one basket however. + UNIQUENESS + For an all par 3 course the variety is ...
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A longer city park course with very good variety.

PROS:
+ EXTRA BASKETS + My favorite thing about George Ward is the two baskets on every hole, well 18 holes. This appears to have occurs something around 2013 from reading the reviews. Considering that there is no extra tees, the extra set of baskets really makes this course approachable to a wide swath of skill levels. The loop of holes (A) thru (F) only have the one basket however.
+ UNIQUENESS + For an all par 3 course the variety is about as good as it can get. Huge distance variations from sub 200 to the short basket to over 600 feet to the long baskets. Shots will break into mildly defined pockets to the left and to the right. Some tee shots are heavily wooded while other are nearly completely open. There are a couple of really fun water clears along the creek. Finally, elevation usage has been well incorporated into the design with several shots going up and down. The down shots on (12) and (15) were my favorites being both down about 30 to 35 feet.
+ CHARACTER + All the bells and whistles that a player would expect from a well established course with a big club following. In addition to two basket on each hole, there is also a third alternate placement as well. At tee (1) there's a large community board with info, course map, lost sunglasses and someone's drivers license. There are benches on just about every hole and there's adequate hole signage. I didn't see a practice basket in my haste, but it looks like (9) basket is the perfect one to commandeer with it being right by the parking.
+ TEES - The numbered holes have very nice adequately sized concrete tees.
+ A THRU F + After (14) players can decide between a six hole loop labeled (A) thru (F) or can continue on to tee (15). I played the loop and found it to be much different than the rest of the layout. These holes are general more short and more technical that the 18 numbered holes. I couldn't help but notice that three groups behind me transitioned right to (15) instead of playing the loop. So I wonder if it is used routinely or not.
+ CHALLENGING + Playing to the back baskets appears to be upper intermediate level difficulty while the front baskets read as recreation level. I played the bake baskets and I struggled to maintain par finishing 2 over as a 900 rated player. The letter holes is the easiest IMO and I had 2 birdies there. The numbered holes derive the challenge more from length off the tee so a player with a big drive will have a leg up on a technical player for that portion.
+ NATURAL BEAUTY + One of the better looking city park courses. As mentioned above, there are elevation changes, wooded areas and water features. Hole (1) right out the gates has a play accross some nice sized limestone boulders. Hole (13) is an awesome risk/reward play along an elegant 15 foot wide creek. The letter holes are a heavily wooded charming mix.
+ NAVIGATION +I didn't have any issues other than trying the find the course. The course flows really well and a quick peek of the course map quickly cleared up the couple times I questioned my next move.
+ TOM MONROE + His name is associated with everything disc golf in Alabama and he is credited as the designer to ten courses I've played. I kind of neat that a player of his stature is regularly associated with this course. Several reviewers have pointed out that he's often at George Ward.

CONS:
It typically find it easier to write about con, but it was very difficult to find even minor flaws with George Ward.
- WALKING PATHS - Several holes bring a five foot wide concrete path into play. I waited on several tees for walkers and joggers to pass. However, waiting 30 seconds a few times over a round makes almost no impact on my ratings or my personal enjoyment of a course.
- GPS DIRECTIONS - My Waze app (GPS) did not take me to the course. The app seems to think that 19th Avenue connect to the parking area from the East.
- TEES A THRU F - The letter hole tees are sub-par. They are carpet mats if I recall correctly. Tee (C) has no mat at all
- MAINTENANCE - Not too bad. There were lots of larger tree branches down along the layout. Perhaps I caught a bad a day. The letter holes look a lot less tended to compared to the numbered holes.
- TIME PLAY - Playing the full 24 holes in a four sum is going to take awhile on the heavily used course. figure 3 holes. However playing 18 or even to witha skip of the letter holes. 9 can easily be done as well as tees (1) and (10) and baskets (9) and (18) are all by the parking.

OTHER THOUGHTS:
One of the better course in the State of Alabama. I've played six of the top ten Alabama courses listed on Disc Golf Scene and have it ranked 4th among those six. The perfect course to bring a group with a mix of skill levels due to the two baskets per hole. In all a really great course. Not as exotic as a course like Inverness but George Ward should have just about everyone wearing a smile on their face.
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George Ward ( GDUB) Disc Course is a fun course in an old neighborhood park in the Southside of Birmingham. Disc golf has been at Gdub since the early 80's with chains since 1990. The course is set up with a parking lot between the front and back nine. This allows for a quick 9 during lunch or a break to let the traffic thin. Yes, the park is right off I- 65. Get off at Exit 258 and you are 4 minutes from the parking lot. . From 65N turn right, 65S turn left go to the light at the bottom of ...
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George Ward ( GDUB) Disc Course is a fun course in an old neighborhood park in the Southside of Birmingham. Disc golf has been at Gdub since the early 80's with chains since 1990. The course is set up with a parking lot between the front and back nine. This allows for a quick 9 during lunch or a break to let the traffic thin. Yes, the park is right off I- 65. Get off at Exit 258 and you are 4 minutes from the parking lot. . From 65N turn right, 65S turn left go to the light at the bottom of the hill and turn left. Get in the right hand lane and turn right at the light. Take your 1st right into the park. Follow the road to the dg parking lot. You may get lucky and run into a Hall-of- famer selling plastic . Have fun.
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Nice course. With 3 or 4 pin placements for each hole there is a lot of potential variety. What is unfortunate though, is that there are 2 baskets on each hole and this makes it difficult to determine which you should throw to. I tried to throw to the furthest basket, but this was not always clear. After a few holes I recognized that there was an orange market on the pole for what at least appeared to be the more difficult pin placement and then I used that basket as the target. VERY conf ...
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Nice course. With 3 or 4 pin placements for each hole there is a lot of potential variety. What is unfortunate though, is that there are 2 baskets on each hole and this makes it difficult to determine which you should throw to. I tried to throw to the furthest basket, but this was not always clear. After a few holes I recognized that there was an orange market on the pole for what at least appeared to be the more difficult pin placement and then I used that basket as the target.

VERY confusing to try to find the main parking lot. Nice overall course, and would like to play more when in the area.
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Been playing for about a year and this was my first time to play this park. I really enjoyed the park and the layout of the tees. Beautiful park with a mixture of shots. Really nice signs at each hole along with good tee pads for holes in the park. The day we played the course was set up with the baskets located in the 'A' position. There are three different pin positioins that each hole can choose to place a basket. Very well maintained park, when we went hardly anyone even there, it is was Me ...
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Been playing for about a year and this was my first time to play this park. I really enjoyed the park and the layout of the tees. Beautiful park with a mixture of shots. Really nice signs at each hole along with good tee pads for holes in the park. The day we played the course was set up with the baskets located in the 'A' position. There are three different pin positioins that each hole can choose to place a basket. Very well maintained park, when we went hardly anyone even there, it is was Memorial Day. Layout was fairly easy with hole 13 taking a moment to find. The extra holes after 14 are pretty much all in the woods which makes the game more interesting. Beware of losing your disc in the leaves that cover that area. Once you 'get out of the woods' you are brought back to the tee pad for hole 15 which brings you right back into the park area. Took pictures from tee pads and baskets so I hope they help and give you a good idea of the course. If you are in the area I highly recommend playing.
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