Pros:
Great use of terrain, and enough elevation change to force you to choose the right shot.
All concrete tee pads, plenty of length and in great shape. Older Mach baskets are in very good condition. Tee signs are mostly there. Other facilities are adequate, and park upkeep seems to be very good.
My memorable holes:
1 - Wow this hole is longer than it looks. 450+ feet downhill then back up, but the basket is protected unless you take the big hyzer route, which I couldn't quite make.
3 - Keep it low with anhyzer. Oh and stay under the limbs. And make sure to avoid the trees. Tough shot uphill almost 300 feet with trees, but very rewarding feeling to deuce it.
4 - Not at lot of options for lanes, but a high thumber cleared the trees directly in front of me and landed safely a little right of the basket with a good open look. If you try to go straight through you will most likely get knocked down by foliage.
6 - Deceiving on the distance, just under 300 feet, but plays up hill, with houses (and obligatory chain-link-fenced yards) left, plenty to trees protecting the route to the basket.
10 - Not for the faint of heart, LARGE trees about 250 feet out, and no discernable rout to the basket. I played safe and went straight out and around the biggest tree, which left me an open upshot under the canopy, up the hill to the right.
12 - Down a hill and back up again, looks like a slow sweeping hyzer will get you close to the basket on the opposite slope. That is if you can get past the line of trees that rounds the bottom of the slope that the basket is on.
15 - I loved this hole! Huge hyzer shot down a hill to a basket protected by small trees. Be careful though, the green is very fast and you can skip 20, 30, or more feet further when your shot hits earth.
18 - Apparently a dogwood tree was recently cut down in the middle of the fairway which probably made this a much tougher hole, as it would have blocked a big hyzer shot that would allow you to circle around the big stand of trees protecting the basket. As such, it was a hole that let me stretch my arm and overthrow the hole. Up over a rise, then back down to the basket, I was at least able to lay up under the basket on my upshot for a thankful 3.
Cons:
Tee signs. Many missing and some positions a little inaccurate, but it's a work in progress, so it is continually improving.
Tree debris from the ice storm earlier this year is still in progress, changing the play on a couple of holes, but not very bad.
No map! This course needs a map to aid navigation since all signs are not present. I will be working with locals to see if we can get this taken care of soon.
Other Thoughts:
My rating of a 4 is based on the fact that this is a very good course, despite the currently rough-around-the-edges feel. I'm told by a local that many improvements will be made later this year as far as pin and tee placement, which should make this course outstanding. I will definitely be making it out to this one more often, as I see it has the potential to really help my game.
This is another of Kentucky's must play, despite some of the lower ratings listed, this truly is a hidden and underestimated gem..