Pros:
- moderately wooded with some decent obstacles
- massive concrete tees
- typical park amenities such as restrooms, ample parking, and garbage cans
- next tee indicators on baskets help some with navigation
- excellent variety of hole lengths
- a few more open holes mixed in for variety
- disc golf is fairly well separated from other park amenities despite walking paths nearby
Cons:
- fairly repetitive back and forth holes without a ton of uniqueness
- entirely flat
- tee signs and baskets are very basic but serviceable enough
- navigation can be a bit unclear
- some fairways play a little too close in beginning back and forth holes
- course sign is near hole 3 tee which is confusing
- most baskets don't have hole numbers
- hole 7 throws a bit near walking path and swingsets
- hole 9 ends very far from beginning of course
Other Thoughts:
Raintree Park is a decent enough park, but there really isn't anything unique about this course. The highlight for me was the copious population of black squirrels which we do not have in Illinois. The equipment here looks a bit worn out with respect to the baskets and tee signs, but there are no deal breakers. The tees are probably the largest concrete tees I've ever seen, and while this is better than small tees, I almost listed this as a con; aesthetically, these are oversized and kind of an eyesore for the park.
The first several holes play back and forth in the woods before traveling out to the end of the park. By hole 9 you are hooking back, but still end a surprising distance from hole 1. Why not put in a 10th or 11th hole to make this a better loop? Seems it would have been prudent to save half the budget on the concrete overload and buy a few more baskets!
There are a few minor safety hazards with playground equipment and walking paths but nothing too egregious. As is always the case in these multi-use parks, you have to maintain some level of vigilance. The actual disc golf here is pretty pedestrian; there are no water hazards, no elevation change, and a lot of holes that look alike. The variety of distances add some appeal, and the holes are moderately wooded enough that it's not a completely trivial course, but I wouldn't want to play 18 holes of this. You could certainly play most of it with a midrange and a putter, there's only a few holes where you need a distance driver and not a ton in the way of forced specialty shots.
I can definitely see many people rating this course a 2, but once I listed out all the cons I felt like it wasn't quite in that category with some other 9 hole courses I've played. Nothing wrong with a quick stop here if you're in the Detroit metro, but there are way better courses nearby - I recommend Bald Mountain in Orion Charter Township.