Pros:
I know that many, if not most reading this consider me and ones like me to be dumb mass dinosaurs who don''t appreciate or understand the nuances of modern disc golf. Granted, we came to the sport in an era when DG courses were allowed to be a visible, intregal part of the parks in which they were placed, rather than being relegated to the woods and forests and sewer runs where they are most often placed today.
Rotary is a grand exception to that practice, with holes of open air and green green grass, with just enough truly wooded holes and holes with trees well placed in play to NOT be boring or monotonous. Every shot is a golf shot as every shot is made during a round of golf. This course allows driving for show, so that you can putt for dough. And dependent on one's skill level and distance off of the tee, Rotary can well test one's fairway game, with a vaiety of distances and approaches to the basket on the Par 4's, as well as the longer Par 3's, which most of them are.
Equipment is excellent and amenities are outstanding. New DisCatchers and big beautiful concrete pads at the long tees, and superb signange. Well spaced and placed benches, along with trash and recycling receptacles spread throughout. And this course has the two most magnificent amenities that I've encountered on a disc golf course; two permanently constructed water stations at the 10th and 15th tees, complete with paper cup dispensers. The one at 10 was pretty much empty, but I was able to reach between the slats to tilt the cooler forward to get a couple of cups of cool water. The one at 15 had plenty of very cool, maybe even cold water, which was SO much better than what I had in my water bottle. .
Cons:
Course skill level designation and par assignation. This is NOT a Blue Gold course, unless it is meant to be the the most ridiculously easy Blue Gold course ever constructed, especially considering the Par assignations like calling Long 5 a Gold Par 4. Though much of the fairway does run alongside a bordering forest, it is primarily an open hole and shouldn't be rated as a 4, even if designated as Blue. Guess that that might fall into that tweener category, but I believe more in tough one step lower par assignation that I do in easy one step up assignation. The Par assignation of 3 for the short #7 is also miscalculated. That is a HEAVILY wooded hole, so that even at just 275 feet, it qualifies as a Red Par 4, and Rotary IS a Red/Blue course. I've played it twice, both times from the shorts, and have shot a little under par both rounds. I am not, as I've never been, nor ever shall be, of a skill level to break par on a legitimate Blue layout. Well, maybe once in a Blue Moon. But certainly not the first two times I play it, with only one bogey during those 36 holes.
The blue discs marking the short tees are adequate, and are generally easily findable, as they are well marked on the signs at the back pads. I do hope that Cabarrus P&R, the course named sponsor, and/or a local players' association will replace them with pads at some soon future date. But they are all well placed on level ground and generally give not only shorter, but variously angled runs to the baskets.. .
Other Thoughts:
Though this type of ball golf style, mostly wide open course is not all that popular and well received, for my personal preferences and proclivites, Rotary is damned near a perfect disc golf course, in a very pretty, picturesque park with TONS of other activities, from ballfields and tennis courts to picnic shelters and playgrounds, to boats on the water. For somebody who learned the sport on courses such as Hahamogna Park, La Mirada, Bryan Park, Cedarock, Johnson Street and Barber Park, Rotary Club DGC is a most welcomed addition to the North Carolina DG scene. I wish it were closer to home.
If the short tee discs are replaced with pads, with similar signage as that at the back tees, with the occasional bench and receptacles and the color designations change to Blue/Red and both levels are reassigned to Par 60, this would be an absolute, beyond phenominal 5 in my book.