Pros:
Totally unique among over 350 disc golf courses that I have played. You will not get Farmview mixed up with any other course from your past.
Emphasizes risk / reward - whether your arm is big or small - Every hole has a clear landing area and trouble spots lurking.
Course design and wind will test many facets of your game. Players have to deal with non-typical course conditions. Farmview is a berm dominated course with defined fairways throughout. 13 holes are partially or completely delineated by the berms. The other 5 holes are shaped by pine trees. Two of those have other types of trees sprinkled about in a tight fairway.
Dry everywhere. Just days after heavy rains in the area, Farmview was driest of the 7 courses that I played in this region.
The Farmview complex is exclusively for disc golf.
Course upkeep is strong. Groomed fairways with grass mowed nicely for my visits. Top notch baskets.
Poison ivy has been eliminated.
Amenities: Covered pavilion/ shelter area with chairs, picnic tables, large refrigerator, charcoal grill and course map. Putting range. Course ready wagons are available for those that carry anything heavy or bulky. Scorecards & marker to label your discs etc. On-site parking within 20 meters of pavillion. Night golf.
Regulars pride themselves in finding lost discs - one was returned to me as I chatted in the shelter after my round.
Farmview is constantly improving as Kevin gradually enhances the course experience. One example, since my last visit: the back 9 now has nice, large tee pads of interlocking walkway stones.
Cons:
Potential to spend time looking for discs: particularly if the vegetation on the berms is thick or if windy conditions are not respected.
Sparse shade at mid-day in the summer.
No seat stumps or benches. The only on- course places to sit are 2 picnic tables, which admittedly, are very well placed. For me, a course can get away with rest spots after only 5 holes, if you never have to wait on the tee for other golfers (or anybody else).
A few discs and cold pop are available on-site, but often not much more. Bring your own provisions or stop in Newmarket beforehand.
Other Thoughts:
Championship caliber course that intends to be different from what you normally play. This course only wants to be itself, not what others want it to be.
The berms are a very different type of rough. During summer, the feschu grass that is prevalent on the berm slopes is thick and long. Once I landed about 7 feet into the tall, thick rough. Normally it is hard to find a disc that far into tall grass. But taking only one step into the rough, I found myself searching at eye level for my disc a few feet in front of me. If one is more than a few feet into the berms, the ground rises up to meet you. Therefore discs are easier to find as compared to any other course that far into thick rough.
Farmview is a very clean, private course. Players contribute to this by packing out your own stuff during a round. I would rather that staff time be spent keeping the fairways mowed and other disc golf related matters moving forward, rather than by emptying on - course trash cans.
Farmview is a superior disc golf course to Toronto Island in hole quality, course design and risk/reward tradeoffs for a variety of skill levels. Plus, Farmview can be played on summer weekends without interference from other park users. No way anybody plays multiple, uninterrupted, full rounds at Centennial, Seton, White Spruce or Toronto Island on Canada Day, as I did.
Our game is very different from the round ball version, but TV coverage of the top ball golf events (US & British Open) seems to talk a lot about courses that have unique topography and wind that make it tough to get good scores on what look like easy holes (considering the moderate distance and general lack of obstacles). The announcers there claim such courses to be the truest test of golf acumen. Farmview is similar to the championship courses that host those tournys. The course conditions matter. If one cannot adjust their game to the course, disappointing scores could result, even for good players.
Discussion of course ratings:
A course with no tee signs and a bunch of OB gets a 5 rating ? Surprisingly, in this case, yeah ! What I would consider to be major deficiencies at many DGC's are not an issue at Farmview. Navigation is straightforward. Tee areas are obvious, marked by large rocks. Map / scorecards are provided with accurate distances from the only tee on each hole. Mowed fairways make landing areas visible from the tee and nearly every pin visible with a short walk. In these ways, absence of tee signs is overcome. My usual preference is very few (or zero) holes with OB areas for any particular course. But, OB areas are part of the fabric of Farmview: an element to be dealt with that demands more of your game and makes it tough to score well here for many skill levels. The course is fair, there are only a few 'thin' fairways, so a full round could be played without going OB. The berms have kept several of my poorly executed shots from going out.
Farmview is the only DGC in the area, has manicured fairways, is impeccably clean, has 18 nice baskets, good flow, many amenities, offers a challenging round and is exclusive to disc golfers, yet gets rated 1.5, "Passable". Have any of you have ever rated a course with all these qualities as merely 'passable' ?
Rank the course on its own merits, not on one's ability to play it well.
A reviewer on this site should use the 'Description' field to comment on the course itself, rather than be a comment to justify the rating given. If 1.5 is a fair rating, why the need to justify it in the title ? Justify such a low rating in the pro's and con's.