Pros:
- concrete tees, low to the ground
- benches marked with distances to the pin
- challenging layout
- a mix of right and left ending fairways
- numbered baskets
- each basket has a painted rung to direct players to the next hole
- the rough isn't too thick, which makes it easier to find discs off the fairway
- plenty of shade
- cart friendly
- course starts and ends at that the parking lot
- water coolers on site
- complex features many other recreation activities
- bathrooms with showers on complex grounds
- camping on location
- small pro shop is nearby at the marina
- some ace runs
- practice baskets at parking lot
Cons:
- navigation was tedious at times
- some fairways didn't have realistic lines to the basket
- not much fairway variety, course sort of a one trick pony
- tees were not uniform, some too short or narrow
- blind fairways, I had walk up too many of them
- basket blends in with the woods too much, hard to see
- mostly flat course
- not all holes have dual tees
- some tees had poor orientation toward their corresponding basket
- no course map
Other Thoughts:
Palmetto is a challenging course, regardless of it's relative short stature. The problem is that it sort of has an identity crisis. There's no way beginners would like this course, it's too narrow and technical. More experienced players would undoubtedly choose to throw the Pines or Oaks over Palmetto because they're longer and have better fairway variety. If I were to label it, I'd say it's an intermediate/advanced am type of course. It's perfect for brushing up on the fundamentals of developing or an already developed player, separating the fakers and the truly well rounded players.
Navigation was intuitive enough to get around the course, but it was not necessarily smooth. An online map, which wasn't available, would have helped. I added one. Most of the tee signs were missing or unreadable. At times it was hard to figure out which set to tee pads I was throwing from. On courses like this, you really rely on the information provided on tee signs. Not having them is pretty detrimental to the decision making of non locals. Luckily, there were distances listed on the benches, numbers on the posts that once held a readable fairway tee signs, numbered baskets, and a painted basket rung to indicate the direction of the next tee pad. I came here once before, in April, and was hoping that the poor signage was something that would be addressed as the season progressed. Clearly, this course is the most neglected of the three.
Palmetto's fairways were shorter and more technical than the Pines and Oaks courses. I actually prefer all of 3 of these courses over open field type courses. Unfortunately, these tight and technically themed fairways sometimes made for either poke and pray scenarios or drives that required unreasonable hyzer line attempts. As with the other 2 courses, I had a difficult time finding the baskets from the tees. I don't mind walking up the occasional fairway to put an eye on the basket, but having to do it more than half the time starts to eat away at both the fun factor and the flow of gameplay. These baskets could use also use more color to help them jump out at you.
All 3 courses at Blue Angels are similar to each other in style, which makes having multiple courses at the same facility less of a bonus to me. Still, 3 $ is a hell of a low price to pay for an all day disc golf pass. Additionally, the complex has many other activities if you should decide that disc golf is not your forte. A short drive passed the course will take you to a marina with food, drinks, and discs available for purchase. You can even take a post round dip at a beachside pavilion. I myself brought an extra change of cloths and took a shower in one of the beach side bathrooms.
I have Pines and Oaks listed as strong 3s. Palmetto was shorter, had a handful of poke and pray shots, and provided less variety than that of its counterparts. As a result, I have it rated as a 2.5. I'm not so sure it would receive the same amount of fanfare if it were a lone course elsewhere.