Pros:
• Classic New England Wooded course set in a beautiful rolling Western/Central Massachusetts forest. Towering oaks and pines, poplars, birch, rock walls, and some giant "glacial erratic" boulders throughout.
• Large, level, grippy tee boxes on every hole, rubber pad on stone dust, always with smooth run-up and follow-through area framed by heavy timbers. These are well build and will hold up.
• Two wonderful Prodigy baskets per hole. They catch very well, and are color coded and easily visible: Green for the "short", blue for the "long" position. All were well mounted, a few creatively mounted on boulders. On one hole where the baskets were "blind" downhill, tall extension flags were easily visible.
• All of the greens were free of gimmicks, usually the 10 meter circle was clear. A few greens were strategically placed on slopes to force the risk / reward decision: Go for the birdie and risk a tough par save, or play safe and lay-up.
• Trash cans, benches and/or picnic tables, brushes, and good signage on every tee.
• Navigation is easy... baskets have a little hanging sign pointing to the "next tee". First time I've seen these type signs cable tied to the bottom of the basket, very effective.
• Lots of interesting elevation changes. Several uphill holes that play much longer that the posted distance, downhill holes where you disc seems to fly forever (if you can avoid the ever-present trees), and a few "up and down" or "down and up" holes.
• Good variety of holes... long open bombers (#18), short ace runs (#8), doglegs left and right, up and down... I don't think it favors any particular style and is a good test of golf skills.
• The short baskets provide a tough but fair challenge to a rec level player. Every fairway has a well-defined line that a rec play should be able to hit with a well-placed drive, but loose concentration or grip-lock one and it will catch an early tree.
• Off fairways are cleared of underbrush. If you do shank one well off the fairway you almost always have some kind of line to though a recovery shot.
• At the time I played the course (early December, one week after the grand opening) the biggest risk to lost discs was the oak leave ground cover. Once or twice our group had a disc partially bury under the leaves. We had to be almost on top of the disc to find it. That said, since the course doesn't have a thick undergrowth, so this course should be reasonably good for novice players.
• A solid blue-level course but can still be enjoyed by rec players and even beginners
• The wetlands and swampy areas have bridges, some well-engineered and a few just some logs dropped in strategic spots.
• Out of bounds are always marked by classical hundred year old stone walls.
• Owner and family wonderful, dedicated to providing a first class disc golf experience.
• Course clean, free of litter, and I'm guessing the local cadre of dedicated players and the owner will make sure it stays that way.
• A sign-in shed with a good selection of Dynamic Discs available for sale, along with water. I'd love to see some light snacks and other drinks available for sale, I suspect that is coming. The day I played it was a "cash only" operation, they will have the ability to take credit cards soon.
• Porto-potty, picnic table, and "bulls-eye" style practice basket available near the parking lot.
• Parking lot holds 30 cars, adequate for all but the busiest days.
• Feels like you are in a very rural area, but good cell coverage and restaurants, gas, and convenience stores not too far away.
Cons:
• One glaring safety issue: The course was fairly crowded, but we were staying a full hole ahead of the group behind us most of the way. On hole #16 we had to wait a few minutes for the group in front of us to clear the hole. We teed off, all caught trees of some sort, and had to do some searching for one of the errant shots buried under the oak leaves. As one of my partners was setting up for his approach shot, a disc came whizzing over our heads. From where we were standing we couldn't be seen from the tee box. I gave a yell, but two more discs whizzed by our group before a slightly embarrassed and apologetic group of good young players walked down the hill. I don't blame that group, I'm sure that had no idea they had caught up to us. I talked to the owner and he took this seriously and I'm sure will address this. A "gong" might help, or even a "periscope" or some big well placed concave mirrors might resolve this.
• It's southern New England, so tics and poison ivy always something to watch out for. I didn't see much PI, but I'm sure it's there.
• This is an area of glacial till, so there is an endless supply of rocks. My Zuca cart was bouncing around the whole way. With the exception of the few open holes (#1 and #18), you have to walk with caution. Solid hiking boots or a good set of Keens recommended. Bad sneakers won't cut it here. Some of the rocky "landing areas" make it tough to do a run-up shot difficult, probably a bigger problem for a rec player still facing a long approach that the big arms who have a shorter "stand still" approach.
• Lots of good and interesting holes, but I'm not sure a "signature" hole jumped out at me. I'll reserve judgement on this until I play the course again on a fine spring day.
• A very minor quibble, but something I see at many courses: This course is really designed for advanced players (900 - 1000 PDGA rated). A rec player should always play the short baskets... but on several of the holes the short baskets are par 3 while the long basket is a par 4 (#2, 5, 9, &18). Most of these "shorts" fall into a "par 4" range according the PDGA guidelines. I "get" that these should be par 3's for a blue level course, but I'd like to see the holes marked as a par four for a Red Level course. So to have a rec friendly layout wouldn't even take a re-design of the course or placement of addition tees, just an updated scorecard with a new line. I've had this discussion with several designers (who are invariably 950+ rated players) who look at me blankly and say "it's just par, what difference does it make?" To me it's a big difference. Take the 9th hole. To the short basket its 290' or so with a big elevation gain, nearly 50', plus the basket is a dogleg right, tucked away behind some trees on top of the ridge. My drive was OK, caught the hill at about 180' down the fairway. That meant I had to try to turn one hard right, maybe going 120' up the hill then somehow getting 60 or 70' to the right to the basket. I threw an OK mid with a good line, made the turn and left me with 50' "par" putt. This is a pretty low percentage shot for any rec player, but I gave it a run and came up just short. I dropped in for my four, a bogie on the card. But was it really a bogie? Not to my skill level. It was an OK drive, I hit a fairly narrow gap, I just didn't get a lot of distance. I made a good approach shot but just didn't have the arm to make the turn and get it all the way to the basket. Then I gave a long putt a good run but it wasn't realistic to get it to drop. Sound like a par, doesn't it?
Other Thoughts:
• Went back and forth between a rating of 4 and 4 1/2. This place is special and is a joy to play. When I looked back at how I rated courses like Borderlands and Crane Hill, I decided on going with a 4 ½, based on the onsite presence of dedicated owners who made the experience a little more special. On the chilly December day I played, they were tending a roaring fire pit, a welcome warmup for everyone coming off the 18th green.
• For a course opened for only a week it is remarkably "finished": tee boxes, signage, cleared fairways, all the tree stumps cut level to the fairways, and all the dropped trees cut up in neat stacks well of the fairways.
• $10 may scare off some, but really a good value for the experience. $100 season passes for the locals.