My favorite thing about disc golf is playing a new course for the first time, especially if you’ve only played a few courses in your life. The instant shock of realizing you have no clue what discs or lines you’ll be throwing is so fascinating to me. I don’t know about you but there are about 3 courses I play constantly that I know exactly which driver in my bag to throw on each hole. It can get pretty repetitive and boring but luckily I got to experience my new favorite course by far earlier this year and that’s DOGWOOD!!!!!!!!
Dogwood at Lindsey Park in Tyler, Texas was the most difficult course I’ve ever played but not in an unfair way. The only hole that’s not wooded is the first and it’s a downhill bomber shot that has to navigate trees by the green. The rest are long, brutal, and beautiful wooded holes. Each hole requires a different shot off the tee and if you happen to nick a tree, well better hope you have a gape in the dense rough.
The elevation changes are also what make this course so difficult. For me, I have poor depth perception in the woods and gets worse with elevation change but that’s also what makes this course so beautiful. It’s not a ton of elevation but just enough to affect your shot. You’ll be rewarded if you hit your line but punished if not. Every hole at Dogwood is one bad kick away from a double bogey so staying laser focused the whole time is key. To me the separator for this course is the fairways have true clean lines. They’re just not very big. I feel like most wooded courses have holes that heavily rely on luck and nobody likes that. So if you’re hitting lines at Dogwood then you’ll most likely post up a solid score.
In my hometown of Tulsa, OK there’s a similar course to Dogwood called Blackhawk. It’s basically just a smaller version but without the elevation and it’s my favorite course in the city. The only aspect to Blackhawk I like better is it has a couple water holes. That’s the only thing Dogwood is missing in my opinion. Either way, Dogwood is my new favorite course and I highly recommend everyone to go play it!!! Well… maybe not the novice lol.
Picture 1 is Dogwood
Picture 2 is Blackhawk
These photos were used from www.discgolfcoursereview.com