Pros:
- I Got to Bag NJ. Mercer County Park DGC certainly wasn't the best course I've ever played; but, it had tee-pads, tee-signs, and baskets... and therefore, qualifies as a course, making NJ my 24th state played.
- Along My Route. I was on a 10 day road-trip to bag at least one course in each state in the Northeast. Due to timeframes and drive times, Mercer County Park became my NJ course by necessity. It was decently close to the I-95 and was easy to bag and get moving north again (after eating some Thai food).
- Ploy Siam. It can't be a good thing when the reviewer is talking about the Thai Restaurant they stumbled upon about a mile-and-a-half away from the course in the "Pros" section instead of the course. Ploy Siam was FANTASTIC... (a little pricey, but worth it). I had the Yellow Curry: Amazing! The "broth" was thick and had deep curry flavors, and was decently spicy. My girlfriend had Pad Siew: also amazing. Because they actually used Chinese broccoli, instead of the standard broccoli, she was sold. Thom Ka soup: very tasty!
- There were 3 Decent Holes (Maybe). That might be an overstatement; but Holes 2, 6, and 8 we decent enough holes. They were at least approachable as actual disc golf holes.
Cons:
- Unrealistic Flight Paths. Several of the holes had particularly wonky flight paths: early turns followed by long straights, triple s-turn flight paths, and some blind spike hyzers with extremely dense -- your disc might as well be lost -- rough. Clearly the course was designed by a non-disc golfer.
- Huge Park / Tiny Course. Mercer County Park is HUGE. When I initially pulled into the park I saw expansive grass fields with sporadic large trees and was extremely hopeful for the course I was about to play... however, it was not to be; someone crammed this 9-hole course onto a postage stamp in the center of the park. 200-300 acre park minimum and the course uses about 3 acres, maybe.
Other Thoughts:
- Thick Rough. The rough at Mercer is as thick as I've ever seen. If you go deep in the woods, you might as well forget about getting your disc back. Use a spotter. I had my girlfriend spotting for me and we spent twenty minutes looking for one of my discs that was more or less on the edge of the rough, but in the open (and I'm pretty good about finding discs).
- Overall. A non-disc golfer built the course (I hope). The holes either have an extremely awkward flight path or are a little stretched out in length for their own good, especially considering the thickness of the rough. One upside is that the course is in an extremely large park, and there is plenty of land in the park to have a killer course -- if enough local disc golfers can get together and persuade the park department about expanding the course. Aside from that, the best part about the course is that it's close to the I-95 and provides the opportunity to bag a course in NJ. If bagging new courses / states played is your thing, and Mercer is all you have time for, by all means stop... otherwise, keep driving. (unless you like Thai food)