Pros:
The park is very nice with decent elevation and awesome woods. I really like the holes here and think they are very solid and fairly well balanced. I'll rundown each because I have comments (pro and con) of each.
#1 is a very sound and tight straight shot among a ton of tall pines. Play the road OB for more challenge.
#2 is a nice uphill hyzer forced by more of the parks huge pines. A pin further to the left would force more of a hyzer and also allow people to challenge themselves with a straight on throw or an anhyzer.
#3 is very short but has the only risky green on the course with a dropoff behind it. I'd suggest moving the tee back some for a 200-225' shot, right from the edge of the woods (moving #2 pin to the left would help with #3 tee further back).
#4 is an awesome wooded tunnel shot. A second tee could add huge distance challenge. The limbs should be cleared up 5-10' from where they are to open the tunnel a bit before it gets overgrown. This would offer a true run at the pin.
#5 probably is the best designed hole on the course with the most potential. It is a tight and hard hyzer with a wide open right fairway, cheater path down the middle, and dense rough on left. Clearing a few low branches would open the hole up well. The basket is nicely tucked near some pines.
#6 is also a great hole, in plays downhill through an open area flanked by a ridge and a playground. But there are large trees that require accuracy to hit the 316' shot to the pin. The pin is tucked over the edge of a small ridge in a great spot. An alternate basket on the edge would add great risk.
#7 is fairly bland 600' hole that is wide open off a slightly elevated tee.
#8 is a hyzer around a baseball field that is very bland and could be a huge interference problem.
#9 finishes up with a nice long anhyzer along the edge of the woods on the right and baseball on the left. It does not flow well though and you must cross #4, walk up #3 fairway and past hole 1 and 2 to get back to hole 1.
Cons:
To me, there are obvious signs of inexperience in this design. The tee pads are WAY to short! I would have like to play it before the pads went in. They may be about 5' wide, but are barely 8' long. Plus they were not installed completely flush so there is an edge you can roll an ankle on. A HUGE flaw is that most of the tee signs are at the front right edge of the pad. i.e. handsmacking signs and poles for any RHBH player getting too close to the front right edge (a few were less than a foot from the edge). That tee sign placement is horribly unacceptable! I would redesign holes 7 thru 9. The 600'+ #7 is no challenge because it's wide open, and no thrill because it's flat. #8 has too much opportunity for recreational players to interfere with the softball field. I'd suggest shortening #7 to just a 400' shot or so and place the basket near the trees by the road. Then move the tee for #8 up on top of the small hill and throw a long shot down to a basket near where the #8 tee is currently. I would then lengthen #9 by moving the tee back (or addin that second tee). #9 could be made a bit more challenging, or redesigned altogether to offer flow back to the parking lot. Installing a second set of tee pads here and alternate pins would truly introduce some design elements to make this a REALLY challenging course. There is plenty room for second pads for HUGE distance and additional skill/challenge. Additionally I saw some locations for alternate pins that had me thristing for some risky greens here!
There is no water hazard.
Other Thoughts:
I rated a 2.5 because it is only 9 holes and as a traveling player, I want something worth the drive. It is also only as high as a 2.5 because it has the potential to be better. I think it's really only a 2 because of all the cons I mention, but they can be compensated for. Fixing the tee sign location, installing longer pads, redesigning to make it flow a bit better, getting more risky green with alternate pins, and offering more challenge with second tees would all improve the rating. Installing 9 more holes in addition to all this, with more holes in the woods (like by the practice basket and across the park road) and better utilizing the hill/ridge, would probably yield a 3.5-4.
Contact me, I'd be more than happy to help with the design of what could be an AWESOME course! My brother-in-law lives a few blocks away and I'd be more than happy to help get something great installed there.
I continually think about how a redesign of the layout would yield such a great course. If the pines across the street could hold 9 more holes, this would be a NICE 18!!!!!!