Pros:
Plays like two different courses, the front nine is more open, and the back is more heavily wooded, with most of the elevation.
There is a nice variety of long and short holes, a couple of ace opportunities, and a couple of multi-shot holes.
The tee pads are all concrete, except for #9, which is brick, and works just the same. There are long tee options for holes 7, 12, and 18.
The baskets are DISCatchers, all in good shape. There is no practice basket, but the course is seldom crowded, so you can usually warm-up putting on basket #5.
There are trash cans at several holes spread throughout the course, and rock "benches" at every tee.
You are never far from the parking lot, or the bathrooms, and the course plays back by them five times. The bathrooms are always open, and are heated and have A/C. There is also a water fountain with cold water at the bathrooms for those hot summer days.
The course is easy to get to from I-85 and Hwy. 321. There are two convenience stores, a Hardee's, Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins, and New Papa John's Pizza right by the park.
Some areas of the park offer nice views down to the lake, especially in the late fall and winter.
As of 8/13/2010, there are now proper tee signs in place on all 18 holes.
Cons:
One of the biggest problems with Rankin for first time players is the lack of signs on the back nine. There are great signs on the front (a couple have been recently vandalized but will be fixed soon ).
The fairways for holes 4, 5, 7, and 8 will be wet after rainy weather, especially 4 & 5.
There is a creek along holes 4, 5, and 7 that can eat discs, but isn't too bad. The OB shule to the left of the fairway on 6 will eat discs, especially in the summer. The rest of the course isn't too hard to keep up with errant throws.
Hole #9 could be dangerous, with either pin position being near a playground, and close to parking for the main building. Occasionally, there will be a car parked a little too close for comfort to the basket on #9.
There currently are multiple pin positions for eight holes, but there isn't a good system in place to let you know where they are, other than just seeing them, but some holes are blind, so you can't. Extra baskets for the alternate positions would be nice instead of having to move them to change things up, and a warm-up one would be icing on the cake.
Rankin Lake Park has a reputation for shady adult liasons, but this type of shady activity has decreased a lot recently, partly ( I like to think ) because of traffic from disc golfers, and probably more so because of a crack down by Gastonia's finest.
Other Thoughts:
I'm trying to give an honest appraisal of my home course. I think it's a little underrated. It's not the hardest course, nor the easiest, but it's got a lot of variety. I'm glad it's so close.