Pros:
NEW UPDATE EDIT: They are quickly improving this course and I'm upping my rating by ANOTHER half star. They had a bobcat out there that has been doing a lot of brush clearing. Most of the largest patches of nettle are now gone. New this time ... There is a course map at the start, steps in several new places, a picnic table between 2 & 3 (who the heck got that up there?) and the walking paths are starting to wear in a bit. Someone is working their rear off. Thank You.
The course is in a good location that can use a course. There isn't much in the radius and the park itself offers some nice woodland in an easily accessible park. Someone has been working their tail off out here making this course look better as its' rapidly improving.
There are now turf tees on every hole. Each hole has two sets of baskets, generally playing Red for Rec and White for Amateur. They did a nice job of leveling those as well, which is a lesson many other courses can learn from here.
There are a couple of really great holes on this course. While the elevation on 2 is ridiculously steep, the drive itself is a great tunnel shot. It is also about 15 floors of straight up elevation so you quickly get a sense of what you are in for during the round. Hole 4 is starting to develop into something. As they clear brush that lane is showing a great drive possibility. They cleared almost all the worst rough off the left edge. This is now a beautiful elevated tee shot down through a valley, requiring some hyzer fade into the trees to hit the green. Needs a bit more brush clear, but is developing well. That 9th hole is fun to throw for sure. That's the course Ace Run (although Hole 1 is certainly possible too.
Cons:
Amenities are starting to show up, but there are not yet garbage cans along the way. That means I'm starting to see litter too. They desperately need a bench up on Hole 8 after asking you to walk up a mountain.
The brush is hit or miss. I played a round here last summer that the nettles were so thick and abundant that it literally "hurt" to throw off the fairway. Forgetting the actual physical irritation, there is still a lot of possibility of disc loss here while the course grows. Almost every hole is on elevation and a few are blind shots. It's a course I get very nervous about playing solo. They are improving this quickly, so this is much better than it used to be, but still does need work.
The fairways on the 2nd and 5th holes can be very treacherous mud slides on the wrong day. They are in process of steps on the 5th Hole and they make a big difference. Not sure they would help on 2 but there are spots there that start getting very steep. I also worry about the erosion and how we'll keep from damaging that hill.
I hate the 8th Hole. Maybe one day that grows into something that is a fun, score-separating type tourney hole. Right now it's just chuck and pray down the fairway. If you fade off to the right at all, your disc is gone. It's a steep hill with thick brush.
This hole in particular is my biggest issue with design here. You finish the 5th and walk right past the 8th/9th changeover to get to 6. You are now halfway up the biggest hill, but then after 6, you walk all the way to the bottom, just to play 7 and then walk straight up the largest hill. I think the intent was to put a 7th Hole out in the most visible part of the park, but it ended up creating large stretches of walk and asking you to walk down to the bottom of the hill and turn around and walk right back up it. They could have had you play 5, then play 8 reverse of what it is now, then play 7 reverse as well. The holes would have been more fun and the worst of the walk eliminated.
Other Thoughts:
It's on the verge of creating a tournament caliber 9-hole course in a darn near urban park, which could expose new crowds to the sport as well. It's probably always going to have a rep because it is one heck of a physical challenge but it's becoming a fun course.