Pros:
1) Scorecard and maps available at the first tee. I like courses that think about the first timer or travelling disc golfer (such as myself). I do think ahead and print whatever I can about the course beforehand, but when I go out to new courses on the road I am on a mission, so many people will not think that up beforehand. This also helps the first timer local who does not know the course.
2) Basket positions listed on a sign at the first tee. It lists "baskets in SHORT positions". I like the standardization of this to leave all short positions for the winter, and all long for the summer, as opposed to the haphazard basket shifting I have seen on many courses.
3) There is a kiosk and a practice basket at the 1st tee area.
4) Garbage cans have lids on them that keeps any trash from blowing out, and also keeps the squirrels and such from entering the garbage. Imagine going to throw something in the garbage and a squirrel or racoon jumps up and latches onto your face. I might be afraid to go back to said course. This simple idea will keept hat from ever happening.
5) Pretty good cover on the ground. It is mostly 100% in the woods with very minimal turf areas therefore they rely on the leaves, pine straw, and mulch to cover the bare soil, since there is no way to grow turf in this dense of a wooded course. All in all it does a pretty good job of keeping the ground from being muddy and slick. You might actually suffer more from slipping on the pine straw than on the soil, but at lest it isn't muddy.
6) Very nice teesigns includes all of the needed info: Hole #, par, distance, all distances from both tees to both basket locations. There is a diagram also indicating the general lyout of the hole, something I value greatly on a tee sign.
7) Bridges are very well done and they do there job. They are safe and well put together and they do not show signs of shoddy craftsmanship as many courses tend to have (due to volunteer construction sometimes).
8) There is way more risk/reward on the long baskets. The shorts still have some basket locations that might create some spread of score distribution, but the longs have much more of that in play.
9) Overall the course has a decent variety in hole length. It has less 400' holes as some of the other Charlotte wooded courses making it the most accessible for more people, but it does have a decent variety. This will lead to different discs being thrown which is always a positive.
10) This course seems to be the fairest (some might think I mean easiest) of the densely wooded courses in the area. Charlotte has some incredibly tough and long wooded courses (nevin, hornets nest, renny) but this one requires the least amount of luck. You can shoot well here if you execute your shots and it doesn't take quite the precision it does on those other courses.
11) Well designed course with all skill levels in mind. Sure maybe a beginner wouldnt be "comfortable" here but it is a manageable course (at least as manageable as any course int he Charlotte area that I played. It would be a good step for a beginner golfer wanting more challenge, but who isn't quite ready to tackle renny, nevin, or hornets nest.
13) Dual pins and dual tees (on most holes). This is a great idea for multiple reasons. The first reason is variety of shot shaping is different based on the pins and also which tee you play. It also varies the length of the hole, which in turn varies the challenge. It also allows for a different course all the time. I am not sure if they stick to the long baskets all summer, and the shorts all winter, I am sure they mix it up, but it is nice to have an easier course setup for the winter when less people play, and you are not on the top of your game.
14) This course is the most wore in so it has very clearly defined fairways. I like this especially in a wooded courses because sometimes figuring out where the lanes are can be very difficult.
15) Dual concrete teepads are always a plus.
16) This course is far removed from other activities in the park although you might run across some walkers from time to time walking down the fairways or the occassional path thatintersects the course, but overall it isnt bad.
17) Excellent use of elevation on this course. This is a protypical Charlotte course with its elevation changes and its dense woods. Just what I consider to be awesome disc golf!
18) Very little undrebrush. Even if you get off the forgiving fairways by a little bit you won't have to worry too much about thorny vines or other such growth.
19) 18 solid holes of golf. As I said in the negatives nothing really stood out as that incredibly awesome hole, but there are zero throwaways on this course in my book, as so often happens on courses specifically due to routing or getting to another cool part of the property. This entire property could have disc golf weaved through it!!!!
20) Shelter and gazebo available for shelter and pinicking.
21) DGA baskets with yellow plate are the original course. The red normal #ed plates are the stout layout. Number plates are always nice, but even moreso when they face the tee like they do here!
22) Bathrooms near the parking lot.
23) Park has a nice variety of alternative things to do . . . horseshoes, playground, picnicking, volleyball, soccer, baseball, walking trails. This is always a positive especially if you are trying to play disc golf and keep the significant other happy too.
23) Next tee signs were helpful on 7 basket 8 tee.
24) All in all an enjoyable walk in the woods with or without the disc golf but it always makes it better!
Cons:
1) The course is definitely the most wore in. It has some areas where the soil is bare and has been worn down due to compaction and traffic. I didn't notice them to be too slick or slippery even after the recent rains they had, but it is still worth noting on course conditioning.
2) Unfortunately it looks like on Hle #1 the tree that was in the middle of the fairway has fallen down. i am not sure if it is by design or not but the mirror image shot down the right fairway still has the tree there. That creates a clear advantage to those shooting up the left fairway as opposed to the right. It isn't a huge negative, but it would be a better hole if both avenues had the same single tree in the fairway.
3) Stumps and roots are plentiful on this course and could cause you to trip and/or fall. Just be sure to keeo your eyes on the ground!
4) Lacks some of the challenge the other courses have. This can be viewed as a positive and a negative, but for this mention it is a negative. I have given the course props for being more fair and good for beginners so it gets two thumbs up for its challenge and 1 thumb down. Overall this nets out to a positive but I had to mention it here too.
5) Althought he course does have a couple shorter and a couple longer holes I think the variety could have been better handled. I would like to see some more holes in the 300-400' range and a couple more shorter acerun holes. It is the variety that is the spice of life as so many say, and some of the holes tend to be a little monotonous in distance.
6) I am listing this as a negative because for about 9 holes I though my car may be towed. There is a sign on the 10th tee that says violaters will be towed at owners expense. I am not sure what it is referring to, but because I got there before sunup I thought maybe I missed a sign that tells me to check in or to pay for park usage. So I played my last 9 holes in a hurry to try and beat whoever might be in charge of towing my car away. I still am not sure what it meant, the only thing I can think of is that parking by the 10th tee is not permitted and people may have done so int he past to get in a quick 9 or something.
7) Mulch could be used in a few spots to cover bare soil and handle some erosion issues. There aren't many places I would recommend this but around some of the tees and baskets it would be nice.
8) Apparently vandalism or breakins are a common occurrence. If you look to your left as you leave your car and head towards the 1st tee you will see the sign. It stood out to me even before I read some of the other reviews.
9) Course is known as the most played (probably for all the reasons I like the course), so it definitely will be crowded in summer and with lots of kids around.
10) No real signature holes, just a bunch of good holes. Nothing really wowed me (except my ace on #2 of course).
11) A few spots where directionals would help the first timer. Next tee signs would have been helpful on 5-6 and 9-10 for the first timer.
12) Long walk from 18 back to the lot, and if you are navigationally challenged you might not know where the lot is when you finish #18 so a simple sign would help here too.
Other Thoughts:
Overall I had a great day. I got an ace on my second hole of the day, and thoroughly enjoyed my round at this course. I had a much easier time playing well here and was surprised by my scores (+2 from the longs, and -8 from the shorts (helped by an ace)). There are by far way less true par 4's on this course than the others mentioned which makes a big difference. Most of the holes are duecable with a well executed shot fromt he shorts, and the longs require a bit more length and a bit more precision. All in all a very well designed course that can accomodate a lot of differing skill levels. It is another awesome course in another awesome park for Mecklenberg County. I have said it in the other reviews that this is the county you want to live in if you love disc golf. There are all sorts of activities int his park and the course is 100% removed from civilization. I love walking through the woods and hearing nothing and seeing nothing. You do cross or pass a road here and there but they are all park roads with minimal traffic.
I have a feeling this course is rated 3.5 only because the other courses in the area are so awesome. I would be more than happy to play this course any given day of the week, in fact I only wish Milwaukee had some more courses like this. I have to give it a 4 because I do not think it is far behind the other more well known and harder courses int he Charlotte area. As an outsider I think it is a great course and like I said I would be happy to play it every day. I have given the course a 4 because I feel that given the two layouts and the two pads this course has some great variety. Sure I only got to play the short baskets, but I think the added challenge of the longs and I tried to pay attention to where they are, will only make this course better than its 3.5 disc rating it has overall.
I am not sure if I have said this before, but I almost feel like after playing all the awesome courses in Charlotte that I need to go and knock every other course I have played and rated down about 1/2 a disc. This is such an awesome town, with some incredible disc golf and I think if I were to retire and still be playing disc golf . . . I might have to come to Charlotte!!!! I like our WI courses but they just happen to lack that "thing" that Charlotte has. I will miss you, but I may make it a yearly stop on my winter trip to Florida!!!