Pros:
Unique park terrain. There is a decent amount of elevation and it's utilized fairly well. Open space is used well in conjunction with driving around sporadic trees or driving into or out of the woods line.
The wind will definitely impact your game, as it did mine today. I'd call it more open than wooded. Some neat views of a quarry.
Greens are well protected on a lot of holes, so no boring wide open blast away putting here.
Decent range of distances on the holes, ranging from 347' to 131'.
Some quasi water hazard OB, adjacent proerty line OB, and ball diamond OB.
Good balance of left, right, and both routes on holes.
Neat terraced green on hole 4 despite the short distance.
Hole 10 is a brutal (awesome) hole that requires shot placement through a maze of trees to the fairway turning point, then a dead on upshot to a well protected green.
Fairly quiet area and clean park. Not a lot of punks, litterers, and vandals, probably because only one small subdivision is close by.
Tee signs are nice and simple but effective and distances seem to be accurate.
Cons:
Only one set of tees, and many of the holes, despite the range of distances, are purely putter holes. 400'+ and more in the 260-320' range are missing and substituted for some 160, 130, 140' holes. Too many short holes.
Gravel tees are rutted and worn, they are marked with small 4x4 red squares at the front edges.
Holes 5 and 6 play pretty close to one another, so do the greens for 4 and 7 - could be interfernce areas.
Some subjective cons...
I think a more teasing hyzer route should be available on hole 6.
I thought it would be nice to see more holes created in the woods between 9 and the end of the course. I suppose it is too wet though. Lots of sloppy wet ground in that area especially with hole 9 and 10.
While the greens are well protected and not boring open ones, they're not really placed on any slopes that would be considered really risky.
It would be nice to be able to use the small pond off to the right of #9 - especially if a long tee were installed.
Other Thoughts:
With a second set of tees, in a lot of cases though the existing tees is just a tweener tee and a longer and shorter would be needed, the park could have even more to offer for a wider range of players. I did not have a good putter driver on today, so the course was "too short" for me, my own lack of good putter drives, but it speaks to the skill level that the course caters too. The short holes are very short and well below midrange range for an advanced player.
I wonder how well this course will be maintained? While the greens are nicely protected and routes are tree filled, it appears like they would get out of control and almost eliminate the hole unless things were kept in check. (like hole 11, 12, and many of the low limbs around the greens on 1, 8, 9, and 11)
The course is worth a stop, so it's not Passable (1.5). It's very neat in some instances, but with the cons I mentioned, and some concievably easy upgrades like a second set of gravel tees, it's just not at the same level of other 2.5 disc courses I've played (and not that close to a 3). I see it as a solid 2, with enough character and uniqueness to draw in travelers and not disappoint them much. The ace runs are always welcome scattered in with the rest of the course.
I agree, it is the best in Wausau.