Pros:
Yet another excellent course in Atlanta, Parker's Pasture delivers skill-demanding but manageable woods golfing.
-Terrain and Nature: Holes range from moderately to heavily wooded--nothing pasture-like here. Lots of elevation change, especially at the beginning and end of the course, add to gameplay and ambience. Really beautiful surroundings including a lovely creek. Dedicated to disc golf, the Pasture is secluded enough to feature wild deer during my round.
-Amenities: Still a young course, but the Pasture has most of the basics. Good concrete tees. Signage so far only has hole and par. Next tee signage was very good--I didn't consult a map my whole round. DISCatchers, though no practice basket.
-Shot Shaping/Gameplay: Very good for a woods course. Plenty of length, including several par 4's and one par 5. There are some tighter holes that are very demanding (I'm looking at you, 12), but on others the woods expand enough to air out real drives (like the down-then-up (5), meandering (8), and the longer-than-it-looks par 5 on (15)). There are no truly open holes, but the looser fairways on some of these give enough variety to make the Pasture work. There are straight plays, gently turning plays, and at least one dogleg both directions. There are some huge downhill shots (I love the 420 ft cascading downhill shot on (3)) and fighting uphill shots (prime example being (17), which offers both forehand and straight options with 40+ feet of elevation). Several split fairways (like (2) and (18)), and quite a few holes with a little bit of flexibility for shot selection. Fast greens with creeks behind make (7) and (13) more intimidating.
-Multi-Tees: Two full tees per hole. These give variety both in terms of different skill levels and in terms of different shot shapes from the tee. Clearly color-coded to avoid confusion (Green = long, red = short). The red tees make this course enjoyable for less-skilled players who would be suffering on the green tees.
-Scramble-ability: Most holes at Parker's Pasture offer you the chance to redeem a mildly bad tee shot if you have good chops for scrambling. In this way, it's unlike the tighter woods courses that only offer you a pitchout if your drive leaks off the fairway. UPDATE: After playing two more times, this is really only true on (1)-(7) and (16)-(18). The loop (8)-(14) and also (15) have scary rough.
Cons:
A few smaller things.
-Newness: The only place Parker's Pasture shows its newness is in the tee signage. The current signs only have par and distance, which required me to look down the fairway a couple of times, but really this is minor since I could catch a glimpse of most baskets from the tee. The Pasture deserves good maps with each sign, and I suspect those will be forthcoming once the designers have created some secondary pin placements. Also, from about (8) and on there was only a sign at one of the two tees for each hole, though I had no difficulty locating the other tee.
-Strange Holes: Holes (10)-(12) have some sketchy design. The lines are awkward, and I don't see how you could even get in the circle on (10) and (11). Hole (12) is a beautiful, very difficult hole requiring a flexing tunnel shot--with a property line about 3 feet off the fairway on the right. Upon 2nd and 3rd plays through Parker's Pasture, this stretch made me think twice about my 4.0, but I decided the course still deserves it despite the hiccup.
-Rough: The region (8)-(15) has some truly scary rough if you find yourself off the fairway. I guess I didn't find any of it my first playthrough, but after 3 times I'm painfully aware of its thickness.
-Woods: There are no truly open shots. This doesn't take much off of the Pasture at all, because there are generous fairways and scrambles here.
-Hills: Some very steep, terraced slopes make the Pasture a bit of a workout. They could use some stairs on the terraced holes, especially (3), transition from (4) to (5), (5), and (17).
Other Thoughts:
Parker's Pasture bears several similarities to another new Atlanta course, the Tracks at McDonough. I find the Pasture currently superior for good multi-tee placements, more breathable fairways, and the breathtaking elevation plays of (3) and (5). I highly recommended this excellent woods course for anyone who's comfortable throwing with trees in sight.
-No 9 & 9: Hole 9 finishes very far from parking. However, if you want an abbreviated round you could easily play (1)-(7) and then (15)-(18) for 11 holes, leaving out the loop of holes (8)-(14) on the other side of the creek.
-Navigation: Neither great nor terrible. As mentioned above, I didn't consult a map during my first round, but I also took the wrong path on a couple of hole transitions and realized within a couple hundred feet. Without maps, some of the longer holes may require tromping ahead to scout out.