Pros:
1) Excellent distance variation on holes
2) Good mix of left to right, right to left, and straight shots . . . including a few holes with options
3) Nice mix of open, mildly wooded, and tight wooded holes
4) Nice new baskets.
5) Uses some very diverse land really well to take advantage of key features
6) Water is in play on a few holes that not enough of our WI and MN courses are generally lacking.
7) You will need your putters off the tee, mid ranges, and drivers for a handful of the holes making it a truly diverse course.
8) Some unique features on this course like a large fallen mature tree as an obstacle.
Cons:
1) Obviously will be fixed with time and money . . . natural teepads currently.
2)Two or three holes play too closely to the roads. I was there on a mid to late fall day and there was a lot of traffic. The goal should be to avoid interaction with roads and sidewalks and other park patrons AT ALL COSTS.
3) Some holes will become more and more dangerous as the course beats in . . . its only been a few weeks since it opened and I can see at least 3-4 serious safety concerns happening within the next year or so as brush breaks down.
4) I think it is #3 and #4 . . . the two holes by the river . . are very close to a playground area and look like they will be a constant nightmare for disc golfers having to wait for other patrons. They cannot exactly close off that section of the lawn between the playground and the river to say you cannot go here . . . I am all for trying to incorporate the river if possible . . but it shouldn't be forced at the expense of safety and long term irritation for disc golfers.
5) I acknowledge that the course is very new and will need to break in before being truly judged . . . but a few of the lines seem out of character for skill level or just seem TOO TOUGH and reliant on luck versus skill.
6) Natural teepads always leave something to be desired. I KNOW it will take time and money and they will eventually have a full time permanent solution to the teepads so I am trying to forgive this currently.
7) For the potential of the property I would have liked to see some Par 4's even at the expense of shortening some Par 3's. The average distance between holes is somewhere in the 280' range with very little variance from the norm. I would rather see some 180' tight technical holes . . and some 300-450' tight wooded holes to add to the overall par/challenge of the course.
Other Thoughts:
I thoroughly enjoyed playing this course . . . as I have explained above enjoyment of throwing the holes doesn't always correlate to best design possible.
Either way I know one of the guys in charge and his heart is on having disc golf locally, improving his local courses, etc . . . and I hope this course considers the sustainability as it moves forward but it started out with a pretty fundamentally strong design of the holes.