Pros:
Short-ish 18 hole course located on the north side of the Twin Cities.
Concrete teepads, all in were pretty solid repair. Possibly could have been a bit longer, but they served the purpose here. A few holes had multiple tees.
DGA baskets, all in good repair, and caught like you'd expect. One pin position per hole. There was some nice tucked baskets in various spots on the course.
Ham Lake has a decent array of distances, with nothing being too long. This is a par 3 course, for sure, but it's laid out well and has good flow. Tee signs at each hole, and navigation was pretty easy.
There's a lot to like here, especially if you think of it as a warmup for the big boys (BRP and VQ) up the road. It's not an overly tough course, but it has enough different shots to keep it interesting.
Nice use of the available terrain, with some small rolling hills, and plenty of trees and rough.
Cons:
One pin position wasn't awesome, but there's not a ton of extra space here for other expansion.
No water to speak of. Not a big deal in my book, especially for what this course is.
There's really nothing here in the way of 500' bomber type holes, if that's your thing.
Other Thoughts:
There's not much to dislike about this course, if you treat it for what it is, which is a short-ish, technical round. Plenty of fun factor, some tricky shots and approaches, and well thought out design.
There are far worse ways to spend an hour than to play a round here. I'd imagine it doesn't get a ton of traffic, being so close to more popular courses, and there's other things on site for the family to do if need be. Definitely worth a spin.