Pros:
I am a big fan of wooded courses, and the challenges they provide. There is no shortage of this type of play at Veterans!
All concrete tee pads in good shape. Baskets are mostly in good condition, with the exception of 18's which was missing. Signage was hit and miss, but the course map (satellite view) is excellent. Facilities are nice, restrooms and parking available by first tee.
Course doesn't seem to be heavily trafficked, and holes are fairly spread out to help alleviate congestion.
My memorable holes:
1 - Very tight woods tunnel with gentle hyzer, very tough line to hit (for me anyway).
3 - Neat downhill shot that you have to try and stay short on so you don't go in the creek.
6 - Crazy anhyzer (RHBH) shot with a creek left, and slopes down from right to left. This is a very tough, and long, shot, the kind of hole that can make you scream for joy or cry on your mommy's shoulder.
10 - Simple yet tough. Long throw up over the hill, you think sure, put a bunch of anhyzer on it, and it will come back to center. Just make sure you don't completely turn it over or it will be in the outfield of the ball field!
12 - This is very tough shot off the tee. Uphill slightly. Tightly treed fairway. Turns right then back left. I don't know if it's even possible to drive close enough to have a putt. Only 200 feet (by the course info) and a par 3, but wow I could see myself bogying this hole often! I imagine this would be a very rewarding hole with the right shot.
15 - Long gentle hyzer. Back in the woods but surprisingly open for most of the fairway. You think you'll never get to the pin, but then there it is off in the trees on the left. I actually had a very good drive on this hole and ALMOST hit a deuce, man I was stoked, but I guess I'm happy with a three.
18 - I think this hole would have been really neat, forced anhyzer, up a hill, accuracy being key. Only to get to the pin and discover there is no basket but a stick in the hole. Oh well, at least I knew where the pin was supposed to be.
Cons:
Course navigation was obviously not a concern when this course was designed. Bring the map and you shouldn't have any issues finding the next tee, except maybe for 16. They did a pretty good job of hiding that one along the hiking/bike trails.
Some trimming of trees would help, and it would be a HUGE improvement to mow some of the wooded holes' fairways.
Hole signs almost non-existent.
Other Thoughts:
My rating of a 3.5 is based on the fact that the course is very well laid out and designed on most holes, but some just seem to really lack imagination (7, 10, etc). I really did have fun though, and since the course is mostly under tree cover, it helped protect me from the crazy heat.
Ways it could improve? Better signage for sure. Other than that, maybe they could redesign a couple holes that are plain-jane and spice them up a little. Those kind of things could make this a 4 or even 4.5 rated course.
This course seriously kind of reminds me of a mini-Idlewild. Very challenging wooded shots all over the place. Just not nearly as long, and some relatively easy field shots bring it down a little.
If you are in Lexington, I think this is one of the must-plays.