Shawshank Disc Golf Penitentiary

@donchoad

163

Amazing!

@nathanalleman

253

Formerly a top 100 UDisc course and #1 in Texas, this layout is a bit of a vestige of a design philosophy from another era, when courses with super tight and almost impossible lines were considered the ideal. Fortunately, many newer courses have moved on to emphasize clear, fair, and reasonable lines, challenging the player to hit them rather than to just hope to get lucky. To wit: the owner bragged to us about one hole being "the worst designed hole in Texas", a narrow 276' par 4 hiking path lined by trees and scrub with a right angle 115' down the fairway. Lest all this read as hating, there is much to like in the diversity of holes and elevation. Yet the combination of trees and water in many holes make for a high possibility of lost discs. Hole 21 has a completely blind pond we didn't know was there until one of us lost a disc in it. The owner/designer is a nice guy eager to talk about the course. My guess is 20 years ago when it was fairly new it was impressive, but pads, signs, and baskets are showing wear and age. This course has a 4.7 average Udisc rating which is much higher than it currently deserves, but it is certainly still worth playing. At this point it should probably be a 4.3.