Pros:
- picturesque, well maintained park
- variety of mature and young trees
- nice incorporation of various water hazards
- decent parking area with garbage cans
- quality Prodigy baskets
- navigation is generally straightforward
- hole numbers on baskets
- 2 pin positions per hole (only 1 in place at a time)
- interesting hole length variety (200 ft or 400-500 ft, no in between!)
- no notable safety hazards
- area is generally devoted to disc golf
Cons:
- mostly flat and too open to present a real challenge
- tee signs are basic and have no maps
- gravel tees
- repetitive back and forth holes for a good chunk of course
- some next tee signs could help due to openness of course
- not many forced lines or real technical obstacles
Other Thoughts:
Strathroy Lions is a newer course and the first disc golf I played in Ontario. This course is probably between a 1.5 and a 2; there is not much technical challenge and a fair amount of it is pretty vanilla. However, there are some unique aspects and the potential for it to be better.
The course plays through the park and incorporates both a pond and a creek to some degree, as well as a larger river hazard to the left on holes 8 and 9. There is another pond back behind hole 6 that would be cool to incorporate, and the water hazards could be made trickier.
There is a fair amount of this park that is low-lying and seems like it could become waterlogged. However, it was fairly dry while I was there. While the area is mostly disc golf centric, there is a path through the middle of the park to a back portion that a few people walked down. Otherwise, it was pretty quiet while I was there. The course plays relatively quickly, though there are some long holes mixed in with the shorter ones. Holes 4-6 that cross over the pond, creek, and back were some of the most interesting, with a lot of the rest just being back and forth throws in the open area of the park.
Overall, I think this course has potential and could be a 2.5 or slightly higher with some further incorporation of the water hazards. If you are driving from Michigan to London, ON or vice versa, this is right on the path to stop for a quick round, but nothing to go out of the way for.