Roland Park - Old Layout reviews
6
0
WTF 2+ years drive by
Reviewed:
Updated:
Played on:Nov 3, 2008
Played the course:2-4 times
Pros:
The park has some beautiful views from the tops of hills overlooking farmland in the Lancaster area. It is really neat to see all the rolling hills.
There is diversity in the holes, as is mentioned below. There are lots of open holes and lots of tight holes.
The open holes really let you wing it and the longest tee shots are all slightly downhill, which gives you a bit more distance and makes you feel like you have a bigger arm. It was fun throwing far downhill like that.
Also, I think the progression of the course is nice. The first 3 holes are open, the next 9 or so are the wooded, and the last 9 are wide open. It gives you a little warm-up before asking you to chuck a disc 400 feet.
There is diversity in the holes, as is mentioned below. There are lots of open holes and lots of tight holes.
The open holes really let you wing it and the longest tee shots are all slightly downhill, which gives you a bit more distance and makes you feel like you have a bigger arm. It was fun throwing far downhill like that.
Also, I think the progression of the course is nice. The first 3 holes are open, the next 9 or so are the wooded, and the last 9 are wide open. It gives you a little warm-up before asking you to chuck a disc 400 feet.
Cons:
There wasn't anything special about this course. None of the holes were awe-inspiring and even the drive over the pond was anticlimactic. The tee pads are tiny. The open holes, while fun, were too open. Imagine a field and a basket in the middle of it. That is what 4 holes were like on the back 9 (#13, 15, 16, 20).
Navigating the open holes was easy (there is nothing to confuse you - everything is wide open), but the woodsy holes were a pain in the neck. There are multiple tee pads for some holes (silver and gold) yet I never knew which pad I was using. I could only find one tee pad usually, because it had a sign. There were occasional times I *thought* I saw another tee pad, but didn't know if it really was one or not. Clearly marking the teepads would be helpful.
The baskets have an arrow hanging pointing to the next tee, which was generally helpful except for the times where the arrows were wrong and had me walking backwards. Some of the baskets were twisted and pointing to the middle of the woods. The numbers on the baskets did not match with the numbers on the tee signs. On several of them, a Sharpie was used to write over the stuck on number. Why don't people care enough to put the right number on a basket?
Occasionally there were alternate pins on holes, meaning there were 2 baskets to shoot for. But only 2 holes that I saw had this and I had no indication that there were alternate baskets until I saw them walking to my tee shot.
One basket was completely out of the ground and just sitting in a big block on concrete. It was supposed to be in the ground, but it wasn't.
Navigating the open holes was easy (there is nothing to confuse you - everything is wide open), but the woodsy holes were a pain in the neck. There are multiple tee pads for some holes (silver and gold) yet I never knew which pad I was using. I could only find one tee pad usually, because it had a sign. There were occasional times I *thought* I saw another tee pad, but didn't know if it really was one or not. Clearly marking the teepads would be helpful.
The baskets have an arrow hanging pointing to the next tee, which was generally helpful except for the times where the arrows were wrong and had me walking backwards. Some of the baskets were twisted and pointing to the middle of the woods. The numbers on the baskets did not match with the numbers on the tee signs. On several of them, a Sharpie was used to write over the stuck on number. Why don't people care enough to put the right number on a basket?
Occasionally there were alternate pins on holes, meaning there were 2 baskets to shoot for. But only 2 holes that I saw had this and I had no indication that there were alternate baskets until I saw them walking to my tee shot.
One basket was completely out of the ground and just sitting in a big block on concrete. It was supposed to be in the ground, but it wasn't.
Other Thoughts:
I guess I didn't drink the same kool-aid the other reviews did, but I didn't really enjoy myself on this course. The woodsy section, while easy to find a place to throw from toward a basket, was just confusing. The lack on consistency bothered me.
Overall, I felt a lot of things were wrong with this course. It is nice having 21 holes and alternate tee pads (on a few), but I couldn't navigate them. It didn't seem like anyone cared about the course. It could be drastically improved with just a little bit of care and attention to detail. Lots of little things were wrong (the arrows, the basket numbers, lack of designated tee pads in the woods). If a local went with you, I am sure you could have a good time, but you shouldn't need a local to show you the super secret gold tee for hole #11.
Overall, I felt a lot of things were wrong with this course. It is nice having 21 holes and alternate tee pads (on a few), but I couldn't navigate them. It didn't seem like anyone cared about the course. It could be drastically improved with just a little bit of care and attention to detail. Lots of little things were wrong (the arrows, the basket numbers, lack of designated tee pads in the woods). If a local went with you, I am sure you could have a good time, but you shouldn't need a local to show you the super secret gold tee for hole #11.
