Pros:
- 9 DISCatchers in good repair. Not all well mounted, think a couple got a little wonky when they were moved and remounted. Nothing agregious.
- 9 Concrete or asphalt tees. Asphalt tees use a portion of the walking path. Tees are kind of short but not much run-up required on this course.
- Water in play on many holes adds some risk reward.
- Nice tee signs with all the necessary Hole info.
- Park is well kept. Grass wasn't tall and was actually being mowed while we played. Bridges are in very good repair.
- The elevated basket mounted on the old stump on 6 was neat.
- Hole 9 is a cool shot through a low hanging tree area, over the creek, and into a green that also has a low ceiling. (See also cons)
- The small amount of available elevation was used fairly well.
-Easy enough to navigate even without an updated course map. Holes 1, 2, and 9 remained unchanged.
- Free to play.
Cons:
- The redesign took what looked to be a solid intermediate/advance course and made it half intermediate/advanced half pitch n putt. Not sure who the intended skill set for this course is any more. I liked a couple-three holes but the rest were too short and easy to be more than pitch ups. With the water so close on some of those it doesn't even give you the option to ace run. It's murky water so retrieval would be difficult.
- Holes 5 & 6 are both right about 105'. Again, not sure what the intended skill level is as Hole 9 as described above is not an easy play.
- Hole 9. Probably the coolest golf shot. However, it crosses right over and walking path and bridge.
- User conflict is awful here. We played mid-day on a Monday and had to wait multiple times and ask a few people if we could throw certain holes. We saw 10-15 various kids(not a camp or some type of organized group) fishing in the pond and along the creek that the entire course runs right along. Other park users were just hanging out in the shade on the course.
- While the original holes that didn't change have some nice old trees to contend with the new redesigned holes don't offer much challenge and those that have the most trees in the way are the 105' holes 5 & 6.
Other Thoughts:
This course was quite the let down considering the early reviews ratings and mention of a longer back nine being planned for installation in 2015. Well, it looks like they went the opposite direction and gutted much of what seemingly had made this play well. Which, given the multi-use traffic we saw on a random Monday, isn't surprising. The course isn't bad, I just feel with the redesign, it doesn't play to a specific skill level. Intermediate would be the closest although some of the holes are just so simple even that seems a stretch. While the park and course are certainly well maintained, I wouldn't go out of your way to bag this. Either play during off peak park hours or plan to wait/skip holes/ask people to play through. Couple fun Ace runs, couple tough-ish shots and a bunch of holes that just don't feel like they fit together. I won't play this one again if I return to the area.