Pros:
-A wooded course with mostly wide fairways, with upslope and down slope holes.
-Hole 3 one of my favorites I've played at its distance for the fun factor.
-A great course for beginners and recreational players. A course for intermediate and advanced players to work on short game and approaches from the tee.
-Tee boxes have a toe board on holes 1-5, and 9. Hole 6 solid and even with gravel. Tee signs have hole number, par, and distance.
-Good and easy navigation clockwise. Course map not necessary even for a first-time visit. Hole 1 from the parking lot is thru the left gate and stay on left trail for a short walk to tee.
-Ace Runs!
-Skip bounce is good, and grass is sparse. It's likely mowing is not needed much.
-Lost disc potential is small, except for No. 3.
Cons:
-Its repetitive short, wooded holes either going upslope or downslope and mostly wide fairways. Not going to be challenging enough for intermediate or advanced players.
-The tee boxes are dirt and rutted in, except hole 6 with smooth gravel.
-Hole 9 tee sign is missing, but the pole is still there, and toe board is just a few feet away.
-Any type of heavy rain, fairways are likely to turn to goo.
-Course access from I-95 is slow with a clutter of traffic lights. The course is on the other side of Roanoke Rapids.
Other Thoughts:
Lake Park is kind of just there. Nothing bad about it, and not exceptional, except for hole 3 which I really liked for the fun factor. Wooded courses are my favorite, but with the wider fairways just not challenging, except for a few holes that had a slight squeeze. The course is setup for the Beginner and the Recreational player who is having a day at the park or learning the game. If I lived in the area, I would bring my putters and mids to work on my short game and approaches. The rutted tee boxes are always a downer, and after about 6 holes I started to think about what I'm going to munch on during my 2-hour ride back home. It was my second course of the morning, and Lake Park had my mind wandering elsewhere except for Hole 3. The excitement level was missing for the most part, but still fun.
With the wooded layout, a great starting course for the new player, and Hole 3 my overall rating is at a 3.5. The time to play was at 20 minutes.
Notable Squeeze Fairways:
Holes 7-9 fairways shorten up a bit. Mostly designed for the Recreation/Beginner player to give a challenge, but could provide a problem for Intermediate and Advance on a wayward tee shot.
No. 7 is narrow at about 25 feet wide all the way to the basket, but manageable and reminded me of fairways I have played at other courses.
No. 8 has a 20-foot gap just off the tee box about 50 feet, and then opens.
No. 9 also has 20-foot gap about 100 feet out, and again opens to the basket.
Notable Ace Run:
No. 2. Par 3 at 120 feet out is a straight away tee shot with the basket sitting in a 15-foot gap between pine trees. If you are like me and waiting for your first ace, you are licking your chops. I hit the pines on the left.
Signature/Trouble Hole:
No. 3. Par 3 at 185 feet is a border line downslope elevated tee shot with a lazy dogleg left. This is only the second time I have picked a hole that has served as both my Signature and Trouble Hole. There is a direct line thru a gap, but its so small at about 10 feet between the tree line and two pine trees that it would not be worth it. The two pines are about 60 feet where the dogleg left begins. The tree line straight away on the right is only 145 feet away from tee, so you need to make your right to left turn before then, and at that point is when the fairway starts dropping. The basket sits leveled out in a 5 to 15- foot circle. It's what is behind the basket where the trouble begins if you overthrow. From the tee you see a line of pines just 5 feet behind the basket, behind the pines there's heavy canopy and pitch black from the tee. At the pines is a sharp drop of about 25 feet downhill and a fence about 8 feet tall. A hot disc could find itself hitting the fence or even going over it and goodbye. You are going to want to go for it and you should. I threw a mid and my second stellar shot of the day (the first at Halifax) that had the right to left line thinking this could be my first ace, and then I watch my disc fly right over the basket by a few feet, hit a pine and flopped down. Fun hole, and now a favorite!