Locklear Park is home to the disc golf course at Naval Weapons Station Charleston in Goose Creek, South Carolina, and it has a serious reputation among Lowcountry players. Provided by the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command and substantially redesigned in 2013, the course has grown into a 21-hole layout that ranks among the better-regarded courses in the region, carrying an average rating around 4.2 out of 5 across more than 1,700 community reviews. For a course on a military installation, it's remarkably well loved.

Twenty-one holes is an unusual and welcome number, giving the layout room to stretch and vary. The difficulty is rated moderate to hard, so while it's playable for improving intermediates, it will genuinely test better players, and the Lowcountry setting brings mature trees and South Carolina humidity into the equation. The 2013 redesign is widely credited with sharpening the course into what it is today.

Access is the one thing to sort out before you drive over, and reports genuinely conflict. Some sources describe the course as private and restricted to those affiliated with the Department of Defense, while others report that players simply drive in without encountering an entrance check. Naval Weapons Station Charleston is an active military installation, and access policies at such facilities can change without notice. Given that, contacting the base ahead of a first visit is the sensible move rather than counting on either account; it's a long drive to be turned around at a gate, and policies that were relaxed one year may not be the next.

For those who can get on, directions are straightforward. From I-26, take I-526 north about two miles to the Rhett Avenue exit, go left for 5.5 miles, turn right at the traffic signal onto Redbank Road, continue past three lights, then left on Webster Street and take the first right into Locklear Park, parking by the baseball fields.

The course is free to play for those with access, and it sits within a park that serves the base community, so the usual courtesies around other users apply. Lowcountry weather shapes the season: spring and fall are ideal, while summer brings heat, humidity and afternoon thunderstorms, and the wooded holes hold mosquitoes.

Bring water, insect repellent, sun protection and a few spare discs for the trees. And bring your ID and a phone call made in advance. It's a genuinely good 21-hole course, and knowing the access situation before you go is the difference between a great round and a wasted afternoon.