Pros:
The location is the number one pro. It is remote, peaceful, quiet, beautiful, and it even smells great. 100% under a canopy of large old growth forest, this property is amazing and throws in a lake and pond to boot!
The curved tree on #2 looks like it was made for a disc course. Great job of incorporating it into the design.
There are two to three tees on every hole (#8 has just one tee for all). This spread in skill/challenge is great for courses.
Memorable holes galore on this course. #8 is a short putter drive over a bridge and at a pin perched on the edge of the lake (here's a tip, the water is shallow and clear, run at the pin!). #17 is a downhill 400' throw across a NASTY pond and the pin is perched 10' from the other edge. There is also a bunch of low branches which force you to 'tunnel' through the downhill and straight at the pond while trying to get enough lift to get over. #10 and 11 are decently long hyzers (RHBH) almost entirely over the lake. Lots of reeds and weeds make finding waterlogged discs tough (I shanked my surge in on #10 cus it had too little LSS). There is no decent short bailout area, and the greens each slope back down to the water. #9 is probably the most difficult water hole because you need to be straight and accurate through a 20' wide, 175' long wooded tunnel before sweeping over the lake (shallow bay) and finishing left to the pin very near the edge. #15 is a great short hole from atop one side of a ravine, throwing across the low spot to the elevated pin on the other side with a pond 5' behind it (hint, DON'T go long here). #16 has a great 120 degree dogleg left design. You can pitch up to the short tee and then down the main fairway for 275', you could try and punch through the narrow openings in the trees straight at the pin like I did (and missed). #18 green is under a ton of huge old trees that frame it perfectly.
OB water and fairway edges are in play on a number of holes.
There are no benches and trash cans. Yes this is a pro because sitting on a bench just promotes lazy losers to begin vandalizing or tagging things, and trash cans in this period of cutbacks especially in parks are NOT NECESSARY. Why pay a parks employee for his time to collect your trash when you can take it home yourself (afterall you had room to bring it in) and you can also recycle it then!
Cons:
Only one pin placement. While many of the pins were extremely risky, having alternate pins just increases variety and shot shaping that much more and makes for an even more rounded experience in terms of available variety.
Most of the tees were unfortunately above grade. These can cause you to roll your ankle off the front and they limit longer approaches from the back. However, most are long and wide enough and texture is good.
Unfortunately many of the holes are all the same repetitive, non glamorous wooded style. Essentially every hole is wooded and the only mix you'll get is via distance or right/left/straight turn. But that balance within the wooded holes is very good. If you crave variety of all kinds of holes like I do (at least 1-2 of every type of hole imaginable), then Buckhorn falls short.
Other Thoughts:
I played blue tees here, and there was just one pin location. Once again I'm torn on this rating, but at a different threshold. I'm thinking 3.75 would be perfect, but need to fit this into the existing scale. While Buckhorn is an excellent course that offers plenty of challenge, a ton of watery risk, and some very unique features, I'm afraid that it is variety that I crave on my courses. You don't get any big elevation here, but there are lots of neat wooded ravines and ridges. You have 6 holes with water definitely in play. You have the very long wooded holes 4 and 6 and some short narrow ones. You get a more than 90 degree bend in fairway 16 but a peak at an alternate fairway throwing straight at the pin through a 4' gap. Oh wait, I can't forget to state once again that Buckhorn is remote, quiet, peaceful, and beautiful. Yeah, I guess for a 100% wooded course Buckhorn offers some amazing variety and plenty of great risk that I love. It's not like it's flat. It doesn't feel as repetitive as Valley Springs. Having an alternate pin location on each hole would have made it a 4 without question, but lack of long/huge downhill and a few open rippers would still keep it from a 4.5. More holes here along the access roads would allow you to open it up a bit and rip on some. Maybe a second 18 could even work its way into a clear area somewhere and also utilize more elevation. Then we'd be looking at a destination course.
There are cross country mountain bike trails all over the park as well.
I'd say this is a Blue skill level course (from the long tees). There are plenty of forced shot types with the water and all the trees. I never play as well my first time through a course, but it did challenge me much more than others in the area with a mix of length, water OB, and tight woods.
(The order of favorites on my Raleigh trip is as follows - UNC, Leigh Farms, Harris Lake, Cedar Hills, Zebulon, Middle Creek, and Valley Springs. UNC and Leigh farms were runaway winners but with vastly different reasons. Harris Lake was repetitive being almost all wooded, but real fun to play and lots of risk. Cedar Hills, Zeb, and Middle creek were all tied around the average for different reasons. Valley Springs was very fun, but repetitively grueling.)