Pros:
• Elevation throughout the park.
• "Next Tee" signs on every basket.
• Several long downhill shots where you can air it out.
• Some challenging "Mandos"
• Huge park.
• Many tight shots due to narrow fairways with multiple OB areas.
• Good workout for overweight old guys like me.
Cons:
• Grass tees
• 3 holes very close to a busy road; be ready to run and retrieve your wayward throws before your precious plastic gets squashed.
• Too many baskets are located out in the open. There are few obstacles to your approach shots.
• Nasty thick corn field along the very long and narrow hole 7. Send out a spotter or risk losing a disc. (my friend lost his Boss in the corn).
• Too many long holes for my liking.
• Only two holes with any Ace chance, and they're even on the long side (270-280) for small arms.
• Small, widely scattered trees don't provide much obstruction (should get better as they mature).
Other Thoughts:
Mallard Park covers a large area on the north side of Lake Lowell. The designers took advantage of this and made a massive, spacious course. Big arms might LOVE this course because it is heavy on long shots (Multiple >400', 1 >500', 2 >600', and 1 >700'). I do wish that they would have mixed in more <300' holes for weak arms like mine. I shot +2 and felt pretty good about it. There are many OB areas and a few Mandos that make this otherwise wide-open course more of a challenge than it looks. Because the park is new, the trees are very small and don't create much of an obstacle. This will change as the trees mature, but they are quite widely spaced, so it will never be considered heavily wooded.
The park was crowded on the day we were there, but there is so much space here that we had few conflicts with other users. The layout meanders all over the park, but if you print a map before you go, you'll navigate without trouble. The baskets were the new DGA Mach X (I think) and very nice. I hope that they will be able to make permanent tee pads in the future; the grass/mud is going to get slick in the winter.
Adding short tees on a few holes might be a great idea here because of the multitude of long holes. Another possible improvement would be to reposition some of the baskets to more obstructed locations behind the trees. Too many baskets are just sitting out in the open grass. I rarely had to shape my approach shots at all. Planting some more trees would probably be better than moving the baskets. Hopefully the local club players can collaborate with the city on some course improvements over time.
This course could be an instant hit with the big arms; they can air it out all day! The addition of Mallard Park and nearby Lake Lowell Park should help ease the crowding at Ann Morrison by giving players some other options. It is definitely worth a trip to if you're in the area.