Other Thoughts:
Here is what I personally like and how this course stacks up in my list of 18 hole courses (over 260 played so far)....tied for 10th place:
1) Holes with good risk/reward. Fair, but harsh punishment for bad decisions or execution. == A
(Amazing in this category overall - very appropriate for Blue level players. All the open holes provide a challenge, even though punishment is minimal for mistakes. Several of the wooded holes are on the "plinko" side (gaps too narrow to navigate by skill - luck factors in a little too much for my liking), but only hole 24 is a true "poke and hope" fairway.)
2) Holes that have rewarding birdie opportunities for me (I rate only from the long tees). I'm a Blue level player (950ish skill) who throws 300' accurately, 360' max. == A
(This course is almost perfect in this regard. The 2-3 must-have/gimme birdies are balanced out by hard Par 3s. In my book, my only very minor quibble is 11 (353' - hard 3) & 18 (389' - easy 4) holes in the woods are tweener holes almost always leaving a non-challenging upshot since they are too tight to go for, so conservative play will almost always get you within 100-150'.)
3) More wooded than open - lots of variety of shots required caused by hole shape and topography. == A+
(Perfection! As stated in #1, the open holes force accurate landing even if specific flight paths are not forced. The wooded portions force you to make a wide variety of specific shot shapes. And, you are bound to be majorly tested in your creative recovery game.)
4) Natural beauty (Appalachian beauty preferred) and seclusion. == A+
(The front is a beautiful manicured park, but very remote and isolated from other activities - other than the first and last 2 holes. The back/wooded section (13 holes) is as beautifully wooded as anywhere I have ever been! And, completely secluded from civilization and road noise. Stunning!)
5) Bonus points for multi-throw holes with defined landing zones, good risk/reward and multiple options to play them. == 2 bonus points (out of a possible 5)
(The 5 Par 4s are appreciated, but 2 of them were very short (4 & 18), and the long open ones (9 & 26) did not necessarily reward great placement on the drive. I was very fortunately to run into Greg Kurtz (designer - very much enjoyed meeting you and the gang) and he asked me for thoughts/suggestions....after hearing me out on my effusive praise. I mentioned the only improvement I can think of is adding better Par 4s that have defined landing zones which reward ideal placement within, and make it a real challenge to achieve par if you are in a non-ideal part of the landing zone. There seems to be room in the park for this....but that is my impression only.)
PS: I grade courses on a school grading system...60-100 with no F's and the average/center point being a B-....been doing that for a long time and started transferring my ratings list to the similar 11 level rating system here when this cool/amazing site came online.
I gave this course a grade of 96....which is the low end of an A+, but translates a 5.0 on the DGCR scale. This course benefited slightly by having 27 holes - filler holes are forgivable and more variety is possible.