Pros:
Front 9:
-Easy for beginners to follow
-Nice brick tee pads
-Holes get easier and easier to play, thus boosting confidence in new players
-DISCatcher baskets
-A 'fun' course to bring a beginner to
Back 9:
-Long, long throws
-More DISCatcher baskets
-Holes 6 - 9 are disc golf exclusive
-Lost discs are rare
-Holes 1 - 5 lit up enough for night play
Cons:
-The front and back 9 are a good half mile apart from each other.
-Natural tee pads on the back 9
-Back 9 goes through potentially busy areas
-Front 9 not compelling enough to maintain any interest from experienced golfers
Other Thoughts:
These courses sit in a large multi-use park on the outskirts of Saugus. While the majority of the park is grass, the courses are mostly on dirt, save for holes 1 to 5 on the back 9. Hazards are more prominent on the shorter front 9 while the back 9 has less obstruction but much more distance.
Seriously, these two 9 hole courses are polar opposites from each other. They are numbered separately, there is a ten minute walk in between them, and they play differently. For reviewing purposes, they really are two separate courses.
The front nine is a great beginners course to practice disc control on. Hole 1 is the longest hole, with each one progressively getting shorter. Hole 9 can't be more than 80 feet long.
New since my last visit are concrete tees. The vertical post is gone but the pad is very easy to see. The number of the hole is made out of different colored bricks on the pad, and it's very cool and different.
While short, each hole has its own personality and challenge. A few of them have a row of trees about halfway between the tee and pin which add challenge. Elevation and bushes also come into play at times, however the elevation does not exceed more than 15 foot on any one hole.
As others have stated, the front 9 is a great place to introduce somebody to the sport, and to have a good casual time at.
The newly constructed back nine at the opposite end of the park is a completely different breed. Currently, tee signs are not present and the pads are just 2x4's and a worn spot in the grass. We had a map and had no issues navigating.
The back 9 holes were all quite long and much more more difficult to par. While more open, a few trees exist on the first few holes to help force lines. High shots can pretty much clear all of the trees but they are not always ideal. The forced lower shots are generally the best route to the pin and are satisfying. Holes 1 to 5 play very much like holes at Prado.
Holes 6 to 9 exist outside of the fenced part of the park in some kind of flat dusty wasteland. I am not sure what this land is for, but it's for DG now and nobody else seems to be back there.
Hole 6 is very, very long. The tee pad sits just outside of the fenced in park and the basket is about 700 feet away around a right turning dogleg. Throws too far to the right will go into residential back yards, which look undesirable to say the least for wall jumping.
7, 8, and 9 are all just wide open field shots with a slight elevation gain or loss. Nothing really to write home about other than long, wide open 'watch it fly' holes. The ground is uneven and feels like a construction zone so rollers would not be ideal out here, but any other throw involving the sky should do just fine.
Hole '18' is a good mile from Hole '1' just so you know. Not far enough to car shuttle it between the few courses, but far enough to warrant lots and lots of walking. I hope DG takes off in this area and they find a better way to connect these two completely unrelated courses that happen to be in the same park.