Pros:
Avery Preserve DG course is located on the outskirts of an enormous, beautiful park. Here are the main "pros" of the course:
*Fun Holes! Good distance variety and a lot of interesting lines to hit
*Very pretty area. I came here in December and thought it was scenic. There are lots of unique natural features of this course I can only imagine how it must have looked a couple months ago in autumn.
*Water comes into play (kind of)
*Located out of the way of the rest of the park... there is a nice, isolated feeling about this course. You won't have to be mindful of other park users, and you won't have a lot of distractions. Just you, your buddies, the nice scenery and disc golf.
Cons:
Avery Preserve is an unfortunate case of a disc golf course getting snubbed by those responsible for maintaining it. There are lots of cons:
*There are natural teepads here that are poorly marked, uneven, and with trees behind them that don't allow for good runups.
*There is horrible signage. There is no sign that even acknowledges this course's existence, so unless you read about it here or see it from the road, you will have no idea where to go. Once you are on the course, only a few of the holes have signs, leading to confusion.
*There is so much poop on this course that I found it necessary to mention it here. I don't like it when people don't pick up after their dogs, but I suppose that can also be attributed to the complete lack of garbage cans on the course.
Rant: The people responsible for maintaining this disc golf course should be ashamed of themselves. The park around this course is huge and very beautiful, and it makes absolutely no sense to approve the installation of such a course in such a potentially awesome location without devoting at least a minimal amount of effort in maintaining it. As it is, Avery Preserve is an eyesore to disc golfers and non-disc golfers alike. It does not generate much positive benefit for the community and it detracts from the overall quality of park. With minimal effort (heck just make a sign that says that the course exists for cryin out loud!) the people responsible for this course could make it a positive asset to the park and the community simply by generating awareness. With a bit more than minimal effort (garbage cans, tee pads, hole signs, expansion), this course could attract a lot of devoted disc golfers who in turn could want to further improve it for their own sake, but as it is no avid disc golfer would choose to play here. Unfortunately, if another governing body in the area is debating installing a course, they may conclude from Avery Preserve that disc golf is not a good investment of their funds, despite the fact that it really could be an awesome course.
Other Thoughts:
Properly maintained, I'd give this course a 3 or a 3.5. Expanded (and well maintained), this course could notch a 4. As is, it's nothing more than a practice course.
If you visit this course READ THIS:
*Parking is unmarked. It's pretty much a ditch along side of the road, located right next to baseball fields. Hole 1 is through the trees that are beyond right field of the field closest to the road.
*Once you've played hole 6, turn right 120 degrees and walk. You will eventually get to the tee for hole 7.