First off, wow. This course really, really impressed me. Dirt tees are marked by twin colored concrete circles in the ground. Teeposts at middle tee. I really liked the nice tee signs built into the sides of the teeposts, which contain good hole maps, and all tee locations and distances (helps). Three sets of tees, with enough difference to make them play differently from each, even though some holes combine 2 or all 3 tees into one spot. In the instances where the tees are all the same, however, this is fine because its the tee you'd want to shoot from anyways, on some mind-blowing holes.
As an added bonus, every hole on this course has a name, which I have only seen on one other course (Lambs Creek at Pioneer Bar north of Menomonie, WI), and on both courses the holes were all interesting enough to warrant names. The interesting thing here is all the hole monkers have someone's last name in them, such as "Delasso's Delta" or "Slope of Saenz". No recognizable ones, but still, makes me wonder who they were named for and adds further character.
Another nice thing about this course is the flow. Short walks between holes, but enough room that you don't worry about hitting people on another hole off the tee. Also, Holes 1 & 10 start by the parking lot, and holes 9 and 18 end by it, which is a really nice feature that speaks to good course design. (also great for getting more cold drinks from the car mid-round)
This course is not the longest course out there. It is very tough because it forces many very specific and unique technical challenges.
This course throws several things at you that you just don't see anywhere else, and many things that you may see elsewhere, only cranked up a notch. Other times, it just has interesting holes.
This course is seriously like the twelve days of Christmas, for technical challenges
Twelve of these holes would be signature holes on any other course, the kind you tell your friends about later, and that someone who plays this course will still remember in 5 years.
On two holes, you shoot off a wooded hilltop, over a valley with an OB abandoned road at the bottom, to a basket on the opposing hilltop (see photos). In both cases, you are shooting into a tree window on the other hilltop, just to avoid rolling into the valley of death. And in another case, you shoot into a hollow at the bottom of the valley, sandwiches between two roads and a hillside, with woods everywhere.
They also like to not only protect the baskets amidst many trees, but they put several baskets on the edge of the abyss. On at least two holes, less than 2 ft past the pin, the fairway drops off sharply, into nasty ravines, and on several more holes the basket is on the top of an incline, to make rollaways more common. not only that, but this course will have a right curve downhill fairway, ending in a basket at the edge of a dropoff.
I would say this course had gimmicky holes, but there's no gimmick, these holes are just legitimately nuts from start to finish.
On hole 10 the basket nestled between and under two trees, which are hidden by a line of long grass on a raised ridge off to one side of the gravel field of a fairway.
On another hole, you have a 15 ft cliff straight up on the right side of the left-sloping fairway, which drops away on the wooded left side. Cars rush by 20 ft below, on the road you can see glimpses of through the trees. The basket is a left, down-sloping curve off the tee, and the washed out dirt fairway plays very fast. Think about that.
Though this is like the mother of octuplets choosing a favorite child, I'd say the signature hole is hole 13, Carey's Stonehenge. Off the tee, you are basically forced to tomahawk up onto a heavily wooded hillside, with the basket up and directly in front of you. Old concrete bench supports jut from the ground in a 20 ft circle around the basket, which is fairly close to the edge of the dropoff into the abandoned road valley.
This is a new course, and it will only get better. On three holes, there are stands of little trees (in the middle of the fairways, of course) protected by orange plastic ski fences, which create a 3 ft wall that blocks discs. Extra challenging, just as the trees once they're big enough not to need the protection.
The holes on this course are a real testament to great course design. Even the ones that are less insane are well done with multiple opportunities and much intrigue. Shot placement and selection are both key on this one. Every single hole on this course is very good, its just that some get out shined by the weird, unique ones. Even the holes on this course that would not quite be signature holes on other courses would still probably rank among your favorite holes on those courses. Here, you get spoiled rotten.
One thing this course is great at is punishing errors. After two rounds, one from whites one from red tees, I realized i had several double bogeys each round, all from different holes. As short as this course is, you would have to play a mentally tough and extremely focused round to shoot in the low 50's here, from any tee.
With so many insane holes, you really have to check this course out for yourself to believe it. PLAY THIS COURSE if you are anywhere remotely nearby. It is SOOO worth it.
I can't say enough nice things about the holes on this course, but they are jaw-dropping and amazing and you will not forget them.