Pros:
An absolutely beautiful course built on an old ball golf course, Evergreen made the change very well. The holes tend to be long (two 800+ft), but most are reasonable, and a few pretty short. And as Ricky Wysocki showed at the Texas Championships, they are all birdieable.
In suit with a pro course, the teepads are excellent, full-size concrete pads, the baskets are in great condition, and being on an old ball course, the greens are phenomenal. This park also drains incredibly well. I played after a couple days of steady light rain, and there were no puddles, and no mud on the fairways.
Basket 15 is on a brick embankment, with the cliff side facing the basket. Either you have a super high layup, or you throw onto the green and risk missing the basket and walking all the way back down. Messes with your mind.
There are many iconic holes on this course, and in 18 holes you never feel a sense of redundancy, or that you played that hole already. I think that's pretty incredible in an 18 hole course of this size.
The layout over the former ball course is fluid, and fits together nicely. The only chance you have to throw into another player would be an exTREMEly errant drive from maybe one or two holes. It's nearly impossible, especially at this level of play
Here's the biggest pro: The open yet challenging holes. When you walk up to the tee for the first time it seems like just another open drive, but when you start to plan it out, you begin to think, "I bet I could make it to the basket if I just..." and you go for it. This is a course that will grow you as a player.
Cons:
I think all the cons it has are in the process of being improved:
There is no signage at the tees, or at the beginning of the course. But small mounts for signs are in place with distances on them.
A lot of the fairways and approaches are fairly open, but some small trees have been planted, and after they grow in it should be an even more fun course.
Some of the water on this course, you have to throw to blind. There's some small hills that hides how far inland the pond cuts in behind it. So you think you'll have a great drive, to walk up the dune and see you're in water.
Wind can be a factor on this course. That generally goes for every course, but it's particular openness, and adjacency to the Houston Ship Channel, makes this course particularly prone to a good breeze.
This is not a course for beginners and learners. Some holes already have shorter tee pads, and I bet they'll do that for all of the holes.
Other Thoughts:
The water in this course is a huge factor, but then again it's not. You are never forced to throw over water, except on 8 and 9, and that's a shallow, narrow creek. The holes by the big ponds have ways around. My friend Cody Miller only gave me one piece of advice before I played the course: "don't be a hero." That didn't stop me from losing a disc...
This is a wonderful course, worth a drive out of the way to try it out. Once it's all spruced up with signage and shorter teepads, it would be an easy 4.5, maybe 5 disc course
This is a pro-level course. It is not for beginners (yet, but maybe once the rest of the tee pads are in).
UPDATE: It seems all the pads that will be in are in, and all of the long ones have signs. So as promised I am adjusting my review from a 4 to a 4.5, because even though the signs probably don't have the right distances (and 14 says it's an over 800' par 3), the course is still great and was already close to a 4.5 even under construction.