Pros:
Bethel Park is a small 9 hole course composed of seven open holes, two wooded holes, and a practice basket. The course has concrete tees and a few of the holes have tee signs. The course features DISCatcher baskets. The wooded holes appear to be new, as part of a small redesign. They were actually two of the more interesting holes on the course.
The course is an excellent place for beginners to learn the basics of the game. None of the holes are overly challenging, and the course does make decent use of elevation on the middle holes. Intermediate and Advanced players who live in the area will still likely be able to have enjoyable rounds here, but they'd mostly be fine tuning certain aspects of their game.
Hole 3 is easily one of the more interesting holes on the course. It appears to be a split fairway these days, with the most obvious line being a 90 degree dogleg left and then up a steep hill. Before I threw I noticed from the tee there looked to be a small gap cut through the trees directly at the basket. I am glad I saw this, because at first I didn't realize which basket I was meant to be aiming for, and just assumed the arrow was a mando.
Holes 4 and 5 play in the woods, and are fairly tight fairways, throwing down and then up a hill.
Cons:
The course could definitely use some new signage, a lot of missing/incorrect tee signs. I almost missed Holes 4 & 5 because they aren't obvious at all. Hole 6 was the most obvious place to walk to after finishing up on Hole 3. It would have been a shame to miss them, because Hole 5 was one of my favorites on the course. Hole 4 was a bit overgrown, but still fun.
The par on the tee signs is a bit inflated, but that is probably fine for what the course is meant to be. But it would be a rude wake up call if someone starts playing here, then meanders over to Catawba Meadows for a round.
The concrete tees are all the size of postage stamps. They were barely large enough to throw standstills. This wasn't a problem on the holes where they were even to the ground or I was throwing standstills, but the other holes it was very obvious. At least they've prevented erosion, I guess.
Outside of 3, 4, and 5 - the holes are all pretty bland. Hole 2 was okay, but that was partially because there was a deer off to the side while I was playing the hole.
Holes 3 and 7 throw across a walking path, which even in this seemingly empty park I ended up waiting on people at both holes. Hole 6 (used to be Hole I think) is very close to a picnic area. It isn't much more than a jump putt off the tee, but could be problematic if there are ever two groups using these aspects of the park at the same time. Hole 3 is also a blind shot towards the same area. This might be why the line in the trees has been cut, in order to redesign a safer hole. I played both lines, and they are both fine.
The practice basket is a bit too close to Hole 9's basket. Not sure if the course really needs a practice basket, but from the tee I personally couldn't read which was the correct basket, and hadn't looked at them on my way in. I ended up throwing at the wrong one. Whoops!
Other Thoughts:
While Bethel Park likely won't offer much for more experienced players, it is a decent place for beginners in the area to get their first chance to chuck some plastic before graduating to one of the other, bigger courses nearby. For now I am going to give it a rating of 1.5 because it serves that purpose, but there are too many potential conflicts with other aspects of the course. While Hole 3 was interesting, I think the highlights of the course were the wooded holes, and would have loved to see more holes in the woods back there, if there were actually room on the park property for that.
Favorite Hole: 5