Pros:
New equipment, excellent grounds maintenance, great views of Lake Montebello and the surrounding skyline. New tees (short, regular, long) and basket relocations make course great for any skill level. Three holes in woods with permanent double basket locations and 2 more wooded holes with dramatic elevation changes make for a challenging course.
Cons:
There is a walk of a couple hundred yards from 18's basket back to Hole 1, but one can park midway between if that's an issue.
Poison ivy, grape ivy and multi-flora rose are a constant battle in the wooded areas, but we spray when we can.
Other Thoughts:
There is a variable breeze coming across the lake almost all of the time.
All construction has been completed and the affected areas have been remediated!!
The original course layout has been modified considerably, thanks to Glen Hatfield, and many comments by previous reviewers no longer apply. For example, Holes 2, 3 and 4 now play through woods north of the basket for Hole 1; the parallel counterflow fairways for original Holes 2, 3 and 4 have been eliminated. Also, original Holes 13, 14, 15, 17 and 18 have been redesigned, improving the course flow, increasing the difficulty and decreasing the distance from Hole 18's basket back to Hole 1.
The redesign of Holes 15 and 17 takes the Water Treatment Plant fence out of play.
Each hole has red (short), white (original) and blue (long) tees. Playing the blue tees will add ~500' to the course length, likely making it >8000'.
The "natural" tees remain, and with the reality that Lake Montebello is the principal water treatment facility for Baltimore, future construction might occur anywhere, so it's unlikely that concrete pads (or even Fly 18 pads) will be installed. Meanwhile, when dry, the tee areas are fine. If it has rained, then the tees might get muddy with heavy use. In that case, "liberal tees" apply, i.e., move over to the side and throw (just like you would with a fairway lie)..
New wooded Holes 2, 3 and 4 and the two holes (7 and 8) on the Herring Run side of the course add a dimension to the course that was absent from the original design.
(Btw, the fence that a couple of reviewers had characterized as "barbed wire" pervading the whole course, only comes into play on Hole 14 (original Hole 12). Any reasonably-skilled player should be able to throw a low drive on Hole 14 that avoids the fence. The basket location for Hole 1 has been moved considerably farther from the fence, taking it virtually out of play.)