Pros:
1) Nice kiosk with a course map of the course at the first tee. There is also a picnic table and a garbage can available. It looks like a nice place to hang out and watch people throw in between rounds.
2) Large boulders mark the first few tees which helps you navigate those first fee holes.
3) Dual tees are always a good idea (and while they do not all have dual tees right now, they plan to do that eventually.
4) Chainstars are my favorite basket to play on . . . if only they were a little more visible in the woods.
5) Attractive directionals on a few of the holes (unfortunately one was broken already). Basically it is a 2" thick section of a tree with the number painted (and perhaps even routered) along with an arrow for the direction of the tee.
6) Excellent variety of foliage density and hole type. There is fairly open prairie, to somewhat open holes with a handful of trees and obstacles, to my personal favorite densely wooded. There was even water in play on two holes when I played. I doubt in the summer that these areas hold much water, but I played right as everything was thawing.
7) Excellent amount of shot shaping needed on this course. You need to be able to throw a nice hyzer or Flex shot on #1, a bomb anhyzer on #2, a nice uphill approach on #3, a downhill acerun on #4, a straight shot through the woods up a hill on #5, a long gentle hyzer down a long tunnel on #6, #7 is almost a duplicate of #5, a big anhyzer or a skip flick shot on #8, a nice gentle stall shot on #9, and a big sharp hyzer or stall shot on #10. I have never played a course with more shot variety on 10 holes. This is the saving grace of the entire course because it is designed so well in regards to the challenge and variety. You will not get bored which is something that is hard to do on a disc golf course design. More often than not a property only features one type of shot, or one density of foliage, etc etc etc. This property has a little of absolutely everything.
8) Distance variety is tremendous here with holes in the 100's, 200's, and 300's from the shorts, and throw in the added bonus of one in the 400's from the longs. This is outstanding variety in my opinion and keeps you from being bored. It also helps test all of your skills.
Cons:
1) Normally concrete tees are always a plus, and I am not sure of the material used for these tees but it seems almost like granite . . . or the smoothest concrete I have ever seen. They are so smooth that even winter boots do not grip well on them, when perfectly dry. Before the course is completed, I would highly recommend switching material or perhaps coming up with a way to make those smooth tees better. The problem here is I like consistency, all tees on a course should be the same in my opinion.
2) The long tees are wood framed gravel . . . which I assume will be changed to match the rest of the course because we all know the people playing the longer tees will require better footing than gravel will provide (at least over a long period of time).
3) Because a few of these baskets are blind (either tough to see, or just over a hill) I highly recommend flags (on top of the baskets, if not a powder coating to the upper rim and basket to help them stand out in the woods) to make these baskets distinguishable from the tee.
4) Blind shots are always frustrating to me and here there were plenty. I did not see the basket from the tee on #2, #3 (may have been visible but I didn't see it), #5, #6, and #7. That's a lot of holes to not know for sure where you are throwing. Sure you can walk up the fairway, but in my mind if it isn't plain as day where the fairway goes and where the basket sits, something needs to be done to indicate the basket placement. I actually threw two shots on these hole, one for what I figured would be a left pin and one that would be for a right pin and depending on where the basket actually was, I played the appropriately thrown shot. It just isn't worth the time to run up a couple hundred feet just to see a basket sometimes.
5) #6 short tee is in a terrible place. I know sometimes it takes a season to know where an area should be avoided, and this is one of those spots. It will collect water in the fall and early winter, freeze up and be solid ice all winter. The tee should have been elevated slightly or perhaps move the short tee back where the long tee is (high enough on the hill to not freeze over) and the long tee can be moved further back.
6) I saw barbed wire in a couple of places and definitely in play or where people would walk. This is something that should always be scouted and removed before a course opens up.
7) No signage presently but I know this will be taken care of eventually.
Other Thoughts:
This is a great course, it just needs some time for the volunteer effort to catch up with the fabulous design. The only thing that really bothered me was the choice to use the tee material that they did. It makes me think that it was a material that they got donated and took it because they didn't have the funding to have anything better. I suggest taking it all out and starting over with concrete, or perhaps coming up with a unique way to make that material better (I am recommending one of those ideas I have seen from my extensive travels to one of the designers immediately following this review). The tee placement on #6 is also one thing that probably could have been avoided, although it is entirely possible I saw this location at the absolute worst time to see it, however, I think the situation of the teepad being buried in water and ice could have been avoided by simply avoiding the low area. I would love to come back up there and visit with them as they continue to expand the course on the property to the west of the current course. I hope I would have some input that might help them in their decision making process that might help them avoid hours of labor or perhaps some of the funds that they have been able to put towards the course.
So, speaking from a purely disc golf and design standpoint, this course is excellent and perhaps even a 4 disc course or better. But with the issues I encountered it gets knocked down slightly. I play courses based on their disc golf and not necessarily their amenities and infrastructure, so I would gladly play here every day of the week, but the negatives are valid and bring down the course a little bit. I want to make sure these comments are not taken too negatively (especially since I just played a round with one of the designers), but these are all things that I feel need to be mentioned. I realize it is a lot of volunteer effort to get this course in, and I appreciate the work they are doing to keep improving the course. I know this because I volunteer a lot of time myself to bettering courses in my area with little to no appreciation for the efforts. With all of this said . . . it is a good course, that just needs some more time and work to keep it good and improve it to great. It is quite possible if the additional holes help to make this a great course, but I was unsure where the property ends, so I didn't even bother going down the new fairway that had been made. I look forward to returning to play this course again, and I can't wait to see what the other portion of the property holds for more variety.