Pros:
Disclaimer
As the course designer, I went back and forth about whether or not to review the Flying Armadillo Gold Mini Course. I'm not sure if other designers review their own courses, but there's some information about the course I'd like to pass along and don't see a better option than including it in a review. I should also mention that this is my first and only DGCR review so far, so please take my rating with a grain of salt.
Background
The original idea for the course came from the Blockhouse Tiki Course, which is a short, par 2 putt-putt type course intended as a warm up before playing one of their full size courses. Like the Tiki, the Gold Mini course includes 18 holes, is full of fun obstacles, and includes lights for night play. I have not had the opportunity to play the Tiki, but from what I can gather there are some differences as well, including a longer total course length and more elaborate obstacles on the Gold Mini course.
In addition to providing a great way to warm up, the Gold Mini course was also intended as a fun course for kids and adults just learning the game. For that reason, the first half dozen holes were designed to allow new players to practice basic disc golf shots such as throwing around an obstacle, throwing left and right dogleg fairways, a high hyzer, a long straight shot, and throwing through a tunnel.
After that, we added a roller ramp to practice roller shots, holes to practice throwing at different heights (the sunken basket, lighthouse basket, elevated island hole, and hanging basket), plinko type holes to practice tight wooded throws (the tank hole, the persimmon hole, and the sign hole), the Alamo Hole cause it's fun to throw inside a building, the pond hole to practice throwing over a water hazard, and the ultimate gimmick hole because, well, it's just plain fun to try and ricochet a shot off a car hood for an ace.
Par
The full size course at the Flying Armadillo includes blue, white, and red level tee pads, yet the mini course is a gold level course, a designation typically reserved for very long, professional level courses. We gave the mini course a gold level designation though because it's a par 2 course with an average hole length of over 100 feet. The Close Range Par Guidelines indicate that only gold level players can consistently get up and down in two strokes at a distance of over 100 feet. At the time of this review, the best score on the course is a par, made by a top player and with 2 aces on his card. And of course, kids and new players can play the course as a par 3 if that better suits their level of play.
Pros
As far as I can tell, there are no other courses quite like this anywhere. The Blockhouse Tiki course was similar, but is currently closed to the public. The Gold Mini course provides scorecards and has tee signs on every hole with a map and a tip for playing the hole in the form of a short limerick. Many of the holes include benches and metal yard art sculptures can be found throughout the course. In fact, some of the obstacles on the course could be considered sculptures themselves.
Cons:
Cons
The tee pads are all natural, which is ok for a mini course, but concrete tees would be better. We'll be adding round concrete pads as soon as the big course is complete and we have more time. The Pond Hole currently has a hole, but no pond. We plan to add a pool liner and fill it with water in the near future. Also, only about half the holes have benches, but we're slowly adding more each month.
Other Thoughts:
Rating
Coming up with a fair rating for the Gold Mini course is challenging. Should It be compared to other full size disc golf courses, like Selah Ranch? To me, this would be like comparing apples to oranges, but if that's the standard I would have to give the Gold Mini course a 1.0 or 1.5 rating at best. If, on the other hand, I compare it to other par 2 mini courses, then it's rating should be much higher since it is the premier mini course in the country, at least as far as I can tell. As you might guess, I'm going with the second option and giving the Gold Mini Course a rating of 4.5. As good as the course is though, it still needs some finishing touches to deserve a better rating, and besides, I don't think any course deserves a 5.0 rating because every course can be improved upon and no course is perfect.
Summary
The Flying Armadillo Gold Mini course is very challenging, par 2 course full of unique and interesting obstacles. Every hole can be aced (in fact, every hole has been aced at least once), but none are easy aces. Whether you are a new player just learning the game or an experienced player shooting for aces, the mini course is fun, fun, fun.