In Short: This is Texas disc golf at it's best.
The terrain really captures the heart of Texas in it's look and feel. The course creates that atmosphere and proclaims it loud and without any apology. Some of the best Texas courses (like the two courses at Lester Lorch in Cedar Hill), are rolling green and beautiful and feel more like the Carolinas than they do like Texas... On the other hand, the setting for East Metro Park includes rugged hills, abundant cacti (cactuses), mesquite trees (and lots of other, larger trees), dry grass, dusty trails, rocky creekbeds, wild wind, blazing sun, circling buzzards, and 18 holes of knock-your-socks off disc golf that will leave you begging for more.
The Michael Olse-designed course features a beginner and pro layout and separate concrete tees for each on most holes. Signage is excellent throughout most of the course, and it's easy to tell from the tees where the baskets are going to be. It appears that thousands of hours of work have gone into designing the course, defining the fairways, building steps and bridges, and generally bringing the most out of what might otherwise seem to be just another lonely stretch of desolate Texas hill country.
The course is an unusual mix of short, medium and long holes. Pro tees range in length from 170' to 805', with six holes 250' or less, six holes between 251-550', and the remaining six holes over 550'. So there are plenty of deuce opportunities, even from the pro tees, but none of them are gimmes. The shorter holes tend to be tight shots near creekbeds and down narrow alleys of trees; the longer holes tend to have wide, fair alleys with plenty of room to air-it-out, but dense underbrush that will penalize any big shots that aren't well placed. The mix of tee shots is awesome -- and appropriate for players of all skill levels, thanks to the two sets of tees -- but it will challenge even the best players in the world to stay on their game on every shot.
Memorable holes include #8 -- 805' feet downhill in a medium-sized fairway with dense brush on both sides -- a hole that is better for a Roc than for a driver, but taunts your greed and leaves you wishing you had better sense. #10, which is 550+' out of a lightly treed cage into an open field with an approach into trees to fast-sloping green with sharp dropoffs on three sides. #17, which is 640' uphill and around an L-shaped left turn with hundreds of cacti lining the fairway and helping guard the approach to the basket. And, not to leave out the short holes, #5 - A 192' shot over a creekbed and down a densely-tree lined peninsula with more creekbed on both sides; this hole will make you want to laugh, cry, then rip ever putter and midrange in your bag up the tight fairway, trying for glory.
East Metro Park is more than just a stellar disc golf course. We didn't fully explore the options, but the basketball and tennis pavilions near the start of the course were fantastic -- among the best I've seen at any park anywhere. Playground and restroom facilities are brand new, convenient, and well-designed. The fishing pond (catch-and-release only) is beautiful with the cool water adding some moisture to the hot, dry Texas wind. This is a park I wish I had had more time to explore, but a family could easily make this an all-day destination.
I know there are pros I'm forgetting, but I know a lot of the minutiae are covered in some of the other reviews, so I'm not too worried about all the fine points. I think capturing the feel of the place is perhaps most important and is the angle that hasn't been achieved yet in reviews for this course.
I'll make it simple: If someone were visiting Texas and could only play one course in the state, East Metro Park (Manor) would be the best course I know of to show them what Texas disc golf can and should be. The rugged glory is very different from the lush, green beauty of courses in other parts of the country, but this course is boldly, unashamedly Texas, and that's something it can be proud of.