Pros:
The greatest challenge, and pleasure, of GH is navigating through the trees. This course emphasizes control and accuracy over a big arm and long throws. After the first two holes, which do themselves have trees in play, you really go deep into the woods until you get to #18 that brings you out of the deep woods again. Hole #1 starts right at the edge of the parking lot and #18 holes out back at the parking lot.
I love the shot-making and thought that goes into navigating this course. There are big uphill throws (#4 for example) and a couple super steep downhill throws (#3 and #6 are lots of fun). There are shots that require a RHBH hyzers, straight shots and anhyzers. And several holes set up great for a tomahawk or some other overhead throw. The sheer length of the holes from the first tees isn't overwhelming, but you must choose a good path or YOU WILL find the trees. Actually, even if you do choose a good path, it's highly likely that you will find trees at some point. The fairways for the most part, though, are clearly defined and most have multiple options for approaching the pins.
This course is an excellent cardio workout as you traverse many ravines and crest many hills while playing. And you really do feel like you're in the middle of nowhere for a lot of the time.
Cons:
There are very few opportunities to really air out your shots. And I'm not saying that because I'm a big arm either. (If I make a level, open throw and get it out over 300' I'm very happy.) Now I only played from the white tees, but there were only about four opportunities for me to throw at full throttle with a driver, including #1 & #18 so there are only about two holes in the woods to really let it rip. I hate to even list this as a negative, as this course is about much more than distance. But in order to judge the course fairly, this could be a real downer for some of players. And if you have to have water on your course, I don't remember seeing any. The course plays over what appeared to be wet weather stream beds, but I didn't see any standing water on the course at all. If this seems really nit picky, it is, so don't let it stop you from checking out the course. So to add a little more variety to the course, some more open holes and some water could be nice.
The only other negative that I can think of is that since so much of the course is in the woods, a couple holes really seem to play similarly. #7 & #8 are both slightly uphill, blind tee shots that really feel a lot alike. And #13 & #14 play very much alike, having you throw across the same valley "out and back." Again, I'm being very picky here. And if the holes mentioned didn't happen to both be back to back sets of holes, I'd probably never have even thought about it.
Other Thoughts:
Recommendation: If you're considering playing this course by yourself, please think again. It's very easy to lose track of discs here as several tee shots play totally blind. And if there are leaves on the ground, it can be a bugger to find even your well placed shots sometimes.
I saw it mentioned somewhere that the par 3 on each of the holes seemed a little unfair at GH. The way that I see it is that if par is supposed to mean that the best players should regularly be able to make par on the hole, then par 3 seems to suit this course just fine. I played the course four times, each time from the white tees. The best that I scored for 18 was 1 under par and the worst was only 3 over par. #18 was by far the hardest hole for me. I made two bogies and a triple bogie on it... yet somehow, I managed a par once. So if I can do it once, the best should certainly be able to do dit regularly. Now maybe if I'd have played from the longer tees I'd be singing a different story here.
So if you can't tell, I really like this course a lot. Actually, it's probably my favorite course. I can't give it a five, though, as a little more variety (ie. more open holes and some water) might make it even better. It's about a four and a half hour drive for me to GH but it's definitely a course that I'd make the road-trip for and spend a couple of days on the course. And I might very well change my mind about not getting to air out my shots enough if I tried the longer tees. And if I want to just let it fly a little, I'd just head up to Roanoke and play Fishburn Park. Anyway, I would absolutely recommend this course to anyone who wants a change from wide open, grip it and rip it, type courses. If you like playing courses that require a very accurate short to mid-range game, this ought to suit your tastes just fine. Enjoy.