Pros:
Anson Nixon Park is a quaint park with a quaint disc golf course. The multiuse park is located in a nice area on the outskirts of the Philadelphia region, just north of Delaware and is very easy to locate. Once in the park, the first tee isn't difficult to find. The first thing that you'll probably come across is the alternate first tee. One of the big pluses at Anson Nixon are the multiple tees on most holes. While some are just longer versions of the original tee, some provide the opportunity to play the same fairway quite differently. The primary tees (and several of the alternates) are concrete and provide ample footing for short run-ups or "stand & deliver" throws.
Multiple moving pin positions are in place on many of the holes. This, in concert with the alternate tees, provides a lot of variety with regard to the course layout.
Specific to the course itself, there are a mix of different fairway types (wooded, open, and both wooded/open) frequently incorporating a variety of distances, elevations, and fairway shapes.
Somewhat detailed tee signs on the primary/permanant tees (distance, fairway, and expected flight path) are a big plus. Most of the alternate tees had laminated signs showing distance and par. Additional signage included next tee signs on many of the holes, making navigation a lot less difficult.
In terms of ammenities a the course, bathrooms were located centrally near the first, middle, and last holes. A big thumbs up for the maintenance of DG course at Anson Nixon park as the course was CLEAN without a scrap of litter to be found.
Cons:
Being a multiuse park (tennis, soccer, playgrounds, etc.), stray throws can be very dangerous for pedestrians at times when the course plays near walking & biking paths. While one of the fields is being regraded there are temporary holes set up that could be dangerous to players as the temporary holes require players/throws to cross fairways.
While the concrete tees were nice from a footing perspective, they were small by most standards and won't accommodate a typically run up. For the alternate tees, they're succeptable to all the cons of natural tees including being muddy when wet and rutted after lots of use.
Despite the variety of lengths, distances felt repetitive among many of the holes. Along these lines, a few long bomber holes would have been great.
One thing that kept blindsiding me was that the baskets were located in positions not depicted on tee signs so any distance or projected flight path shown on the tee sign goes out the window. Speaking of the signage, some of the next tee signs were small and somewhat hidden. While it wasn't difficult to find the next tees in most circumstances, more prominant next tee signs would have been helpful. That said, given the current layout, some additional direction for the first half of the back nine would be very useful.
Despite having water on site, this natural aspect was not incorporated into the design of the course and would have added a nice risk vs. reward factor to the some of the more vanilla holes.
Without knowing what the constraints were for the development of the course, you need to assume that the designers used what land they had available, but the design featured a lot of mandos (which I assume are saftey mandos).
Other Thoughts:
This review only minimally takes into account the current construction within the park and my rating is not impacted by the work being performed.
The locals that I ran into were really friendly and quite helpful. This is always a welcome aspect at any course.
With regard to the pros and cons that I have listed, there really isn't anything wrong with Anson Nixon Park, but there didn't really seem to be anything that really sets it apart or puts it on a pedestal above other courses of similar lengths and layouts. I considered a 2.5 rating, but given the work that is constantly being performed at the course and the different playing options that were available (rotating baskets and multiple tees), I opted to give this course the benefit of the doubt and gave it a 3.0.
My overall thought is that this is a fun course that makes for good local play, especially when a trip to DE or elsewhere isn't an option. I enjoyed playing here and if I was in the area I'd play it again.