Pros:
Hippodrome is set on a very nice and spacious piece of land with panoramic views of downtown Augusta in the distance. The course offers excellent variety of hole style with open/wooded, up/down/flat, and left/right/straight. Each hole is also given a unique name. There are 3 sets of tees- so the course can play really short, but the longs provide a good variety of length for those that want it- (works well for a game we play that utilizes all 3 tees where your score on the previous hole dictates which tee to use on the next hole.) There is also the added challenge of mandos, OB islands, ponds, and fences on some holes. The baskets were in good shape, were all there, and were easy to spot from the tee (*see Other Thoughts for more about the baskets).
It is on the same property as Pine Valley offering 2 decent 18-hole courses for the price of one. The land is used only for disc golf, so you do not have to worry about other activities interfering like you do on many parks courses.
Cons:
Tees are natural and marked by a generic post. Navigation was an issue in several spots for us- the hole numbers did not line up as they got off by 2 for most of the round. A couple of times we had to hunt for the next hole. We were using a map, but it did not match up. I asked a local mid-round and he said they change the layout often but don't mark it well (not sure if this is true, but that is what it was like!)
There is no parking lot- instructions are to park on the grass?- that just seems weird. The kiosk where you pay looked old and rundown. These things don't make this course very inviting when you first arrive. Be sure to bring plenty of water and snacks with you as you will not be coming back to the car for a while.
Cons for some- pay to play, and many baskets not at a normal height*.
Other Thoughts:
*Baskets- as others have said, many of the baskets at Hippodrome are gimmicky. There are elevated baskets on a mound and on barrels, there are hanging baskets from a tree and a noose, one is located inside of a hog pen, and there is even a half-buried basket. This made for a fun and entertaining round, but I would not want to this to be my home course as it is not representative of 99% of the baskets out there. It was hard to take this course seriously, and I enjoyed the extra details giving each hole some character, but it just reminded me of a miniature golf course, all it was missing was a windmill and a clown's mouth!
It is pay to play (honor system). $5/day might be a little steep to play here regularly, but you can play both courses, and it seemed to deter the casual player to the other local courses. We played on a Saturday afternoon in March with perfect weather and we only saw 1 other group of 3 while we played both Hippo and Pine.
Hippodrome is not a bad course, however, it did not live up to the expectations I had for it based on its famed reputation. Throw in Pine Valley and all the other Augusta courses, as well as IDGC, and you do have a solid disc golf destination overall.