Pros:
- Quick game*
- Location. Close to Stamford/Merritt Parkway
- Great signage
- Freeeeeee!
- Hole 12
- Clearly marked multiple tees (white, blue and red)
- Someone is working to improve this course
- Potential
* unless, like me, you have terrible accuracy, and your discs often end up in the rough ...
Cons:
- Unforgiving Rough. Full disclosure: I suck at disc golf ... but I've played my fair share of courses and this one features some of the most difficult disc retrieval challenges that I've encountered yet. A few drives, which strayed only a few meters from the fairway into the rough, were almost unrecoverable due to thick brambles and dense foliage. Even after spotting them, the discs were difficult to recover due to thick, thorny ground cover.
- Tees. I'm not opposed to natural tees. They can be quite charming. And I love that the Waveny course has three well-marked tee options for most holes that provide wonderfully diverse skill options for each hole. But some of the tees on the Waveny course are unacceptable. A good measure of leveling and root removal needs to be done. Or some tees need to be relocated.
- Exiting The Course. Twelve holes. Sure. Kind of an odd number, but more is always better, whether it's 12, 18 or 36. Hole 12 is actually one of the best on the course. But once it's done, you either have to take a long walk along the side of the road to get back to the parking area, or (as I elected to do) orienteer your way back along the overgrown and often dead-ending trails through the course to get back to your car. It seems like a trail could be blazed from the 12th basket back to the course entrance that parallels the road while staying in the woods, making for a much simpler and enjoyable exit.
Other Thoughts:
*Update: This course has continued to improve since my first review. So take, some of what's written below as outdated. This course is still a little rough around the edges but efforts made to upgrade it really have made it a more enjoyable course to play. *
New to the game, I've been playing my way through all of the courses in the area. Waveny is the closest to my job and would be a very convenient course to play before and after work ... but I've stayed away due to the negative reviews on this site.
I went there today hoping to be pleasantly surprised. I wasn't. The previous reviews are accurate. It was quite an adventure in the woods.
BUT ... I see potential in the Waveny course. It offers challenging but realistic holes for beginner/intermediate players. And it's fun! The course design isn't bad. The variety is there: some technical tree play, a few open 250-300 ft bombers, some interesting doglegs (not much elevation to work with though). And, it's a little wild. Nice and empty. I love Cranbury Park, but I hate waiting at tee boxes for the (lovely and fully-entitled to take advantage of their public spaces) people walking their dogs to clear out of the fairways. This is not a problem at Waveny. There are no hiking trails or dog parks in the disc golf area. You feel like you're tromping around through the woods all by your lonesome ... that's fairly unique for the region.
Playing there today, I started to notice the piles of logs and branches stacked off to the side of fairway, particularly on the last few holes ... someone is working to keep the course up to some sort of standard. Good on you. I hope that the town/park authority is offering some kind of support in these efforts.
In my opinion, the only thing holding this course back from an extra star or two is a few days/weeks of volunteer maintenance.
Step 1: Improve the trails. Add signs to help you navigate the course. e.g. "Hole 1 ->", "<- Hole 5", "<- Parking Lot"
Step 2: Tee maintenance. Level 'em out. Take care of exposed roots. Upgrade tee maps if financially feasible.
Step 3: Do some strategic rough thinning.
I like the idea of having a course so close to work. I'll keep playing at Waveny when I don't feel like playing Cranbury ... but would be stoked to see some work continue to happen. And I'd be more than open to volunteering if anyone is recruiting.