Pros:
18 holes in a town park - split between some wooded areas and open areas near sports fields.
- Ample parking lot near tee 1/basket 18
- Kiosk at course start has an overall course map and provides a good place for postings - forgot to check if scorecards were available
- no practice basket, but basket #18 is right near tee #1, so it's a good spot for warm-up putting
- Concrete tee pads are nice, new, level and marked (drawn into the back of the concrete pad before it dried) - surrounded by wood frame filled with fines - does create a bit of a step up on some holes, but I found the concrete itself to be ample on all holes
- nice, detailed, colorful tee signs with good hole map, par, distance and arrow for next tee
- new, shiny DGA baskets that are easy to spot on all holes (only had to walk up 2 fairways to spot the pin - 4 and 7)
- good, accurate, detailed course map
- I really enjoyed most of the wooded holes - they were challenging, but had fair lines that needed some accuracy to hit - only 1 hole felt like Plinko - holes 1, 2, 5 (probably my favorite), 15, 16 are very fun
- Good variety of left and right holes - 4 has a hard right turn halfway up the fairway (tried a high thumber but the trees caught it), 6 has a hard left turn near the pin
- Water (the "intentional" kind in the form of a creek) comes into play on a few holes for an added challenge - mid-fariway on #3, don't go long on #7 and if you hug the right side on #13 you better have thrown it pretty far to clear
Cons:
- Mud, muddy and muddier - I realize that I played this course in late winter, so all of the Syracuse snow had melted and soaked into the ground, but I have never played on a course this wet - from start to finish, it was muddy in the woods and soggy on the grass - I could literally hear running water under my feet on the seemingly flat fields - bring extra shoes/socks for your feet and a towel for your discs - I can see the wood chips and gravel that have been laid to attempt to address this, but it didn't seem to do much
- even though the tee signs had "next tee" arrows for the following hole, I got turned around a couple times
- long walks from 10 to 11 and 14 to 15
- a bunch of the middle holes and some others were fairly uninteresting (7, 8, 11, 12, 18) with no real "features" across the fields - other open field holes at least had protected pins (9, 10, 17)
- park was pretty much empty when I played, but a few holes play near sports fields and rec areas, so I could see some interferences or long waits (3, 9, 10)
Other Thoughts:
- The hole map for #3 is definitely accurate, but you can clearly see basket #5 from the tee and it is tempting to erroneously throw at it - basket #3 is pretty much in a direct line down the left sideline of the football field tucked into the woods, on the other side of the tall-ish tree in the fairway
- New benches on maybe half (?) the holes
- A handful of garbage cans near some tees
- The "address" on the course info page is for the park's main entrance and parking lot, so use the "local directions" to get to the lot right at the hole #1
- I'm sure when summer activities are going on, there is a concession stand in there somewhere for mid-round drinks/food
I feel this is a solid course (earlier reviews/ratings are not indicative of the recent improvements on tees, baskets, etc.), but just in a tough spot when it comes to mud, drainage, etc. From reading the other reviews, it's already come a long way with the hard work of the town and the locals, but there's only so much you can do to fix the terrain without breaking the bank. I'd definitely like to play this again, hopefully when things are a bit drier, or even frozen.