Mills Park

Hole #1 is the best of the course. Decent length, right to left shot up a hill. #2 is a mess. Heavy woods with no clear path to get through. Next you have a long walk to #3 which is on the other side of the track near a restroom. #3 is a good hole. You have to play a little left to right to get close to the basket. There is a near-vertical drop off just a little right of the hole. The fourth hole is not very long but trees and elevation make it tough to get a deuce. #5 is very short wi ...
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Hole #1 is the best of the course. Decent length, right to left shot up a hill.
#2 is a mess. Heavy woods with no clear path to get through.
Next you have a long walk to #3 which is on the other side of the track near a restroom.
#3 is a good hole. You have to play a little left to right to get close to the basket. There is a near-vertical drop off just a little right of the hole.
The fourth hole is not very long but trees and elevation make it tough to get a deuce.
#5 is very short with a narrow tree opening to navigate.
#6 is fairly short and downhill. It's a great hill but the basket is so close you can't let one rip like you want.
Follow the paved walkway towards the right side of the basketball court. The tee pad for 7 is apparently just part of the sidewalk. This one has okay length and goes uphill. If you go long, your disc can go down a long way.
#8 is another hole where you are sure to hit trees with your drive. The tee and basket are both very high but there is a deep valley in between and the uphill to the basket is heavily wooded.
#9 is super short and almost straight downhill. The throw is easy but the descent is something else. Getting down the hill is a free-for-all of roots and mud.
Other notes: paper maps shows the baskets but not the tees. Three and seven are not obvious to find the first time you play.This has 3 good holes (1, 3, 7), 3 mediocre holes (4, 5, 6) and 3 rotten holes (2, 8, 9). Add in mud, lots of walking and you get a course that is more novelty than fun or challenging. If most courses were like this one, I'd give up the sport.
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This review hurts to write. Mills Park DGC in Gatlinburg, TN has always been one of my favorite short little 9 hole courses to play in East Tennessee. I first played the course possibly close to 8-10 years ago and have tried my best to get back to the course at least once per year since then. It was never a big long challenging course, rather more of a short just absolutely fun little layout to play. Just straight up fun! In 2021, Mills Park DGC had a course redesign and for me, it absolutely ru ...
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This review hurts to write. Mills Park DGC in Gatlinburg, TN has always been one of my favorite short little 9 hole courses to play in East Tennessee. I first played the course possibly close to 8-10 years ago and have tried my best to get back to the course at least once per year since then. It was never a big long challenging course, rather more of a short just absolutely fun little layout to play. Just straight up fun! In 2021, Mills Park DGC had a course redesign and for me, it absolutely ruined the course. Two of the original holes are still in play but are now different numbers on the course. Old Hole 3 is now Hole 7. Old Hole 4 is now Hole 8. I do like the fact that these 2 original holes are still in play, however now you have to walk behind Hole 8's basket (that players could be throwing towards) to get to Hole 7's tee. Even if you never played the original layout here you would be able to notice that this is a flow of play issue. In addition to this, possibly the most fun hole on the og layout (Hole 9) which was practically a jump putt of the tee with a huge elevation drop and basket on the other side of a creek, is gone. This is a hole that everyone around the area knew and loved. This was just super fun and short shot that made you want to empty your bag on ace runs and it definitely kept this course in your mind after you left. I will forever miss this hole. From what I have heard, this hole was taken out due to safety concerns because of how steep the hill was. However, you still have to walk that hill because Hole 9 now plays up the hill instead of down it. This is silly. In my opinion, there are now more safety concerns on the course than there ever was due there being 18 baskets tightly packed in such a small area. Not only do we have the issues I mentioned with Holes 7 and 8, now Hole 1's "long pin" plays directly towards Hole 2's tee pad. Furthermore, after you finish your round on Hole 9, you now have to walk directly up and through Hole 2's fairway to get back to where you started the course. If safety was the reason for some of the course being changed, the mark was missed. The positives on this course are that it is still on that same gorgeous property that Mills Park DGC has always been on so you still get to experience the Great Smoky Mountains while throwing discs. This is obviously a huge plus. Another plus is that with there being a "short and long" basket on each hole, you can pick whichever layout you want to play, or even throw two off the tee to play both layouts in one loop. In short, if you have played this course before, please forget everything you know about it and think of it as a brand new course that was just put in. That is pretty much the only way you are going to enjoy this course. This short, fun little near-annual trip for me will no longer happen. If I am ever in the area and have free time and absolutely need a disc golf fix, I will play it again. But I will likely never travel to specifically play this course again. This hurts to say. If you want to see this new layout on video, check out the videos below where I feature both the Short Pins and Long Pins.

Short Pins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi8qYIv_ao8
Long Pins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frBw7XvEDTA&t=199s

Check out this playlist to see both the OG Layout and both of the new layouts: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW_PphhAUBjUb--uCzmPk_aeHAq8MIVbX
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