Pros:
With rec-friendly distances, abundant ace runs, and a convenient city location, Riverwalk has quickly become very popular. The course plays along both sides of the greenway bordering a small stream, passing through two pleasant and well-used community parks.
Mown grass fairways are mostly flat and open, but a fair number of holes require hitting gaps or shaping lines between mature trees. Hole #8 even throws off a decent-sized hill, with the OB stream long and left of the basket.
Two decent turf tees on every hole. Most of the long tees just add distance, but a few offer a dramatically different angle to the hole.
Post-mounted tee signs at each teepad. Tee post tops are painted green for long or red for short. I wish more courses did this. Tee signs include a hole map, tee locations, OB areas, distances, direction to the next tee, and a QR code for a hole fly-over. Nicely done.
Yellow-banded DisCatcher Pro 28 baskets are easy to spot, mounted level, catch great, and include the hole # and spoke-mounted next-tee arrows. One pin position per hole.
Ample parking and a practice basket near hole 1. Indoor bathrooms and drinking water available between holes 10 and 11, and (I think) at the pavilion near hole #3.
Cons:
The course is mostly flat, and more than half of the holes are wide open. Big bombers may find the course length a little too rec-friendly, with the long tees playing a little over 5,200' and the longest hole merely 345' (short tee) or 408' (long tee).
Moderately long walks between a few of the holes, necessitated by the land available for the course. Sometimes I skip hole #2 to avoid backtracking the length of the fairway, followed by walking past a baseball field and skate park to reach the next tee. Despite the between-hole walks, this is still a pretty quick spin.
You will cross moderately busy roads several times between holes. Bring everything you need because the course does not loop back to the parking lot until the end.
Active walking path in play on several holes, and the park can get busy on nice evenings and weekends. That said, designers did what they could to separate fairways and walking paths.
Some of the rough bordering the stream is pretty thick, but with lots of play it is already starting to beat in. Watch out for poison ivy in this rough. Sneaky disc loss opportunity on hole #10, where an OB fenced area lurks in the bushes right of the fairway (ask me how I know).
The course is located within the 100-year floodplain, so heavy rains could render the course sloppy or unplayable.
Minor quibble: The sign for #8 lists the short tee as 252'. Pretty sure this is actually about 350' because the short tee is roughly 60' short of the 408' long tee.
Other Thoughts:
Despite higher rated courses nearby, I often find myself playing Riverwalk when I want to enjoy a relaxing evening round with lots of birdie opportunities and a few ace runs.
Designers made good use of the limited site features available, but I would love to see trees planted on the more open holes to improve the level of challenge over time.
Some may prefer to park at Monocacy Village Park and start playing on hole #10. I often do this because I like to finish on #9, which is the longest and one of the more wooded holes on the course. If you are pressed for time there are also shorter loops that you can play.
Close to downtown Frederick so lots of breweries and restaurants nearby if you get hungry or thirsty after your round.