Pros:
description: most holes are quite tight and run around/through a giant ravine making a very creative course layout
multiple tees: small wooden markers with par and distance written on them allowing for slight variations of each hole.
hole design: first three holes are more open before you hit the woods and never leave them. hole one starts on the top of a giant sled hill and gives you a 381 foot downhill shot that you can weave through a fairway in some woods or swing out into the open far to the left over o.b. and hope to drop back right over a fence much closer to the basket.
holes in the woods provide a lot of variety. fairways run right and left, many holes have slight or drastic elevation, and holes run alongside or cross over the ravine. for instance, 9 is an awesome hole that tees off on one side of the ravine, over an island/plateau at the same height, and onto the other side of the ravine. 15 is my favorite hole of the course, teeing off along the side of the ridge, zig zagging 341 feet over the ravine to a basket probably 20 feet below the tee. another great hole is 12, which has a tremendous drop off behind the basket, easily 20 feet.
difficulty: high. chestnut is not very long, but the course is tight. with that said, the fairways are fair and can really test your concentration.
uniqueness: to design a course in this location was genius. the only other wooded courses in wny with so much variety are basil (rochester) and joralemon (check it out if you're ever in albany).
Cons:
tees: horrendous. natural tees that are very worn with roots nearby to avoid. concrete would be a HUGE help.
signs: old. not every tee has one. Need to be updated.
pars: to make every blue tee a par three (as listed on dgcr) seems a bit ridiculous to me for such a tight course. we play the blue tees but refer to the different pars written on the signs
crowds: you must show up early. we arrived around 12 on a saturday. horrible mistake. it was so busy, we skipped the first 9 and played the back, thinking the crowds might dwindle. when we returned to play the front, it was even more crowded then before with HUGE groups. that sucked.
Other Thoughts:
we try to take a trip to chestnut every year, if not more than once. Good course to play first, then pair with como