Pros:
-Challenging course
-Great scenery
-Multiple tees (Sometimes hard to see)
-Well made tee signs
Cons:
-Be prepared to hit trees, lots of them
-Occasionally hard to see baskets
-Sometimes holes run close to walking / bike paths
Other Thoughts:
Basil Marella is perhaps my favorite course in the Greater Rochester area. Several people I have talked to do not like it because of all the trees, but that is the reason I love it. This very technical, challenging course is the perfect place to play to work on your flight lines and have a great day of disc golf.
This course is in a heavily wooded area, making a straight shot to the basket difficult. Many of the holes have a clear flight line through the trees, making a good initial throw a must. Since there are so many trees, and since I am still working on my distance driving, I generally use a fairway driver for most of my tee shots. This lets me work on my lines and get a good throw to most of the baskets. If you are a more experienced player, using a distance driver would be just fine. There are a few holes where I can break out the distance driver, but most have a pretty tight fairway through the trees you have to aim for.
One of the best things about this course is the fact that it is in the woods. It really cuts down on the noise from the roads that run nearby and makes for a beautiful day of disc golf in the shade. However, this is a double edged sword as it makes some of the baskets difficult, if not impossible, to see from the tee pad. Hole #5 is the worst culprit of this, as you have to curve to the right of the tee pad. The first time I just had to throw blind and hope I could see the basket from where I landed. Further more, it can make it difficult to find the next tee pad, but if you keep your eyes open, you can see where you need to go. On a few holes, there are also small white signs with a number placed onto the trees to show you how to get to the next hole.
Having multiple tees is also a big plus in my opinion, making this technical course more welcoming to newer players. There are red, yellow, and blue tees on each hole, with most of the concrete tee pads acting as the red and yellow tee boxes. The blue tees are marked by small, painted posts in the ground along the hole. You can easily spot most of them, but they are a bit hard to spot on a couple holes.
Overall, Basil Marella is an excellent place to play. If you are looking to get out and practice your disc control, I highly suggest playing here. Bring a map if it is your first time, and remember to double back to the bridge (You will use it to get to hole 13) to get across the creek when throwing on 17. There isn't a clear path across the creek, so going back to the bridge is your best bet. Just remember where your disc fell.