Absolutely balanced 9 hole course. The course sets up a shot for everywhich way you lean. Hole 8 is daunting from the tee but richly rewarding.

Needs a garbage can at hole 5, 6, or 7, otherwise it seems trash begins to pile up. Actually wrote this review to help encourage that garbage can come into play.

This course pairs very well with the front 9 at buffumville dam. The 2 courses are just minutes away from each other.

What I personally like and how this course stacks up in my list of 9 hole courses:

1) Holes with good risk/reward. Fair, but harsh punishment for bad decisions or execution. == B
(The course has several long wooded holes that are classic DG holes (4 & 7) and some shorter technical holes (2 & 3). These add some good teeth to the course.)

2) Holes that have rewarding birdie opportunities for me. I'm a Blue level player (950ish skill) who throws 300' accurately, 360' max. == C+
(Overall this course is a little long for me - 1, 4, 5 & 9 are "downside holes" - I have no hope to reach them with my drives, but are short enough where the upshot is a gimme.....so my only scoring variation is by me screwing up. 2 is very short (albeit very pretty and fun), so over half the course is ho-hum in this area.)

3) More wooded than open - lots of variety of shots required caused by hole shape and topography == A-
(As stated in #1, 2, 3, 4 & 7 are classic wooded hole and are balance out well by some longer open holes. Down hill bomber hole (8) is my favorite as the creek that crosses the hole does mess with you (especially if you are not comfortable consistently reaching 300'). There is some nice use of elevation to keep things interesting in this area.)

4) Natural beauty (Appalachian beauty preferred) and seclusion. == B+
(The superb beauty of the woods and pond/swamp and stream is somewhat offset by the stark and imposing dry dam. Seclusion is wonderful as the course sits in the back of the park you are playing behind the dam and you can not see any houses (other than on hole 1 and at basket 9 you do see the park houses.) It is a great place to just get away and unwind!)

5) Bonus points for multi-throw holes with defined landing zones, good risk/reward and multiple options to play them. == D+
(Small bonus points for having hole 9 as a par-5 3-throw hole - probably 800' and uphill, although it is marked as 600'. Not a great hole, but narrow enough between the woods on the left and the rocks of the dam on the right (if you play those as OB) to force 3 accurate drives.)

This course has kinda bad flow between hole 5 and 7-8 which are across the creek. It was made worse since I played after a huge rain and snow-melt and the water was very high (7-8' above normal levels), so the bridge to tee 6 was under water.....and baskets 4 & 5 were in the lake.

It is a pity that this course is not a full 18 since the land is perfect for a course and most the existing holes are great holes. The map that is in the files section shows plans for expansion......great news!

It's all about feeding the addiction, so I ranked this course subjectively based on my own "personal addiction factor". The grades above tell how well this course will draw me back to itself again and again and again. See my profile for specifics on my rating philosophy.

I fancy myself as a connoisseur of good course design and I am a competitive Blue level (950-ish rated) with mid-level power (accurate to 300' with max D of 360'). Since I have played a decent number of courses (150+ 18-hole, 90+ 9-hole as of late 2009), my hope is that players/explorers who have similar addiction tastes will find my ratings list helpful as they choose courses to play and explore.

I fully expect others with different tastes/philosophies to disagree with me.....and that's the fun of things here.