Pros:
-great use of the trees and elevation
-rubber fly mats, new tee signs, old baskets
-good mix of shorter and longer holes, open and wooded
-the big hill is used well with holes playing up, down, and across
-the new layout flows well, it splits up the walks up and down the hill better, and the new holes are decent
Cons:
-still has some filler holes
-still gets really busy and crowded with players and pedestrians
-still no alternate tees or pin locations
-still closed during the winter
-it's a real bummer that they lost hole 16, that hole was a lot of fun and one of my favorites on the course
Other Thoughts:
Ellison Park got itself a face lift but little has really changed other than the order of the holes. The large hill is still the predominate feature of the course and the hole at the top of the hill (old hole 7, new hole 12) is still the signature hole.
A few of the holes are tweaked with a new basket position (8, 18; old 15, 3) or tee location (16, 18; old 4, 3) and old holes 6, 8, and 16 are gone, replaced with new holes. Hole 10 plays to old hole 8's basket but from the opposite direction.
The course still has a bunch of great features. The patches of trees are used well, providing trouble near the tee or basket, or a major obstacle to avoid in the fairway. The tee shots go uphill, downhill, and across adding variety to all the elevated looks that make up half the course.
The rubber fly mats that were installed for Am Worlds a few years back are still in great shape or the course is much easier to play than it was in the days of awful, rutted tees. This is still the most-played course in Rochester and the closest to downtown. It's probably the best course to bring beginners as well. Ellison is a solid course that is a lot of fun. My old review gave it a 3.5 but I think 3.0 is more accurate.
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