A long open layout featuring duel tees and alternate baskets on many holes.
PROS:
+ CHALLENGING + The Orange to Orange configuration here should very much please the best players around. A 10,000 foot layout that requires monster drives and the avoidance of ever present OB. Unfortunately, I'm not now sure how often they use the Orange (back) basket placements. During my round, only one basket was placed in the Orange position. This makes rating the challenge of this course very difficult as the toughest scenario could very likely only occur once or twice a year for a tournament. As an intermediate level player I finished over par on the blue to blue layout on a windy and rainy day.
+ UNIQUENESS + Not to be confused with shot shaping, but the hole type variety here is well above average and it was my favorite aspect of the course. Lots of bomb-it par 4s and one par 5 from the back tees. Water comes into gut checking play twice on the last two finishing holes. (17) and (18) are also big dogleg left holes on the orange tee to orange basket configuration. However the appeal to these two holes is flawed due to property hazards. There are two substantial missing features. There are no well defined tunnel shots or pockets to play into.
+ ELEVATION + A bunch of 20 to 25 foot elevation plays. I unloaded my bag on hole (2) which was an obstacle free 25 foot down shot. Despite all the elevation, bringing a disc golf cart here is very doable.
+ CHARACTER + A touch above average but with some basic omissions. The tees are above average being concrete and sized 4 feet by 12 feet. A majority of the holes have two tees (Blue and Orange), However, I constantly found myself starting my run up from off of the tee. The 4 by 12 foot size is just not adequate enough for the numerous holes exceeding 400 feet. In addition to the duel tees, there are also multiple basket locations on a majority of the holes (Blue and Orange). The baskets are in great condition as well. The omissions include no seating at the tees, no practice basket, no restrooms and no finishing shelter with picnic tables.
+ SIGNAGE + The course map and hole signage is very attractive and is generally very informative. A big error to not include the direction to the next tee on the hole signage with a layout that jumps around as much as this one.
+ MAINTENANCE + The grounds were well mowed upon my arrival here. The course appears to be constantly trimmed and manicured. There was very little trash spotted despite a lack of garbage cans along the layout.
CONS:
A seemingly awesome course on paper that's marred with issues.
- DESIGN FLAWS - The degree that property damage and safety issues come into play is very concerning. I admire the drive to deliver a challenging course but it should not be done at the expense of putting people and property at risk. The issues are constant throughout the layout. I personally had a glancing blow off a truck's tire on hole (3). There are several blind plays next to parking and walking paths. Fairways cross roads and parking. Upon finishing the course, what I had initially thought was a practice basket, turned out to be basket (18/19). How awesome is it that the course map instructs parking to be located in (18's) fairway approach line.
- MISSED OPPORTUNITIES - In addition to the design flaws there are some big misses. There is a nice wooded area just south of (1) and (2) that was completely skipped over. Behind basket (6) is the perhaps the best wooded area where the fairway line could have been punched deep in. The blue tee to blue basket on (16) could have been blind placing the basket much further down the slope and taking more of the road out of play.
- NAVIGATION - Despite an attractive course map and hole signage, maneuvering along this layout is not the easiest. There are no directional cues along the layout. The DISCatchers are somehow not numbered. Hole signage does not indicate the direction to the next tee. The course jumps around a lot and several walks between holes exceed 200 feet. I often found myself walking in what seemed to be the intuitive direction only to then become confused after several hundred feet, at which point I would check my photo of the map and then realize I had walked in the wrong direction. I strongly encourage having a printed copy of the map on a first go here.
- LAYOUT FLOW - The fact that the Orange tees and Blue tees don't follow the same layout after hole (9) is a head scratcher. Hole (10) for the Orange tees is a 300 foot water clear that omits a Blue tee. At this point, Blue hole (10) will correlate with Orange tee (11). I had never seen such navigational blunder like this before which unnecessarily causes layout confusion. Hole (15) Blue and hole (16) Orange share the same tee but play to different baskets. Blue tee (16) then plays to hole (16) Orange basket. On (17), the Orange and Blue tee layouts match again only to have the layout break apart again on the same hole. There are 19 Blue layout holes and 18 Orange layout holes, what a cluster. In addition, with no basket at the before mentioned Orange only hole (10), there were only 17 playable Orange holes on my visit.
- NATURAL BEAUTY - The are some really awesome looking holes out here, but there are even more duds. Either buildings, roads, parking or sometimes all three are in view on every tee shot. Most of the building are descent looking but I'll take a scraggly looking fairway with bordering trees over buildings any day. In totality I scored the course just below average. The views of the water, elevation features and the few woodsy areas cancel out a lot of the undesirables.
- PARKING - Located in the path of play on (18/19)
- TIME PLAY - I was not able to play this one in under an hour solo and I consider myself a quick player. Figure a group of four could be here 3 hours.
- WIND - With most of the holes having an openish feel to them, expect wind to play a big factor here.
OTHER THOUGHTS:
Wallace State most closely resembles nearby regional courses Sportsplex and UAH. Players that like those layouts will likely enjoy this one as well. For me, the course was a letdown. I was expecting something more in line with Clay, Indian Creek or Inverness considering its current rating but it's nowhere close. I personally do not find throwing around manmade objects and implied OB areas as entertaining as throwing through carved wooded fairways. The course would have been a B- if it weren't for all the layout spacing issues.
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+1 votes 
Billy Turnbull
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August 3, 2015
