Pros:
- Solid teepads & baskets
- Very informative tee signs
- Innovative use of O.B. areas
- Interesting "island" greens
- Views of Mt. Shasta
Cons:
- Flat terrain (with a few exceptions)
- Many holes are quite similar
- Some flow issues
- Very dusty at the end of the dry season
Other Thoughts:
This course sits on typical dry Cascades forest: sandy soil full of sagebrush and ponderosa pines. The land is very flat for the most part, and there's no permanent water, so the course designers have marked off out-of-bounds areas by laying yellow rope around ditches, roads, small ravines, etc. -- it's a clever way to make the best of otherwise monotonous terrain.
One of the most interesting uses of the O.B. areas is a couple of "island" greens; you must throw across a gully to a circle around the basket marked with ropes and a wooden retaining wall. On another hole, ropes mark a 90-foot-wide dry streambed as O.B., so you have to lay up short of the ropes unless you can consistently drive 360 feet. And one hole has a basket mounted on a 12-foot-high "pyramid."
Navigating the course can be a bit tricky for a first-timer, though. For example, after throwing your drive on #8, you go over to the #9 teepad and throw that drive... then finish out both holes. This saves you from having to cross the gully three times, but it's a bit odd, and could be a problem if the course is busy. (The good news is that as of September 2009, the holes are now numbered #1 through #18 again; before, hole #1 was missing, and there was a "14a.")
Fortunately, there are excellent tee signs at every hole that not only show the trees, roads, and location of the next tee, they also explain any weirdness or "house rules" that might be in play. And to keep it interesting, each hole has its own name, with most taken from classic TV ("Gilligan's Island," "Hawaii Five-O," "Oscar the Grouch," etc.)
Overall, definitely worth the very short detour off of I-5 if you're passing through the area.