Pros:
+ Tee signs are colorful, prominent and very informative with the necessary information and a diagram.
+ All eighteen tee areas have either solid contiguous concrete or tesselated concrete tiles. For the most part, they are flat, sturdy and reliable.
+ Some nice elevation features spliced amongst this otherwise mostly level course.
+ The course plays in a popular park with lots of nice scenery and well-kept grounds. But...
Cons:
- The course plays in a popular park with lots of other park goers and disc golfers.
- Too many of the holes border, criss-cross and otherwise intrude upon each other. Combined with the previous con, this results in a big problem!
-/+ The holes aren't terribly long.
- The wooded holes and the hilly areas have some nasty slip and trip hazards.
Other Thoughts:
My favorite hole here to play is hole12 because of its nice downhill tee off among a peppering of trees at an ace run distance. My favorite hole to look at was hole6 because of Pride Rock, as the locals call it. The biggest surprise was hole4 and its laughably small gap in that tunnel of trees and slanted fairway. Still, I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't intrigued by the challenge!
As for a least favorite hole, let me lump that into the two biggest complaints that I have about this course. The first is that many of the fairways border one another and/or criss-cross each other. The second is that this is a very popular course for players of *all* levels. I think you already know where I'm going with this. I played here with a friend of mine who lives a few minutes away. Each of us was nearly thwacked with an errant throw or an impatient approach at least twice. Fairway2 goes right past tee3. Holes7 through 10 are a tangled web of intermingling fairways. Fairway11 whizzes right past tee9. Holes13 through 15 are another nexus of trouble. It probably isn't so bad when a player is alone, but if there are groups especially during, say, a tournament or a particularly nice day, then it is necessary to keep one's head on a swivel.
This is a direct result of some of the course's features feeling stuffed into the landscape. More than a few of the holes felt jammed in because the planners were absolutely determined to make this place into an 18-hole course at any cost. This is seen in many of the holes' distances and close quarters arrangement. The longest hole just barely brushes against 400 feet, which is fine if the course is meant to be accessible and enjoyed by people of all skill levels. In that respect, the course definitely hits the mark. But the course also hits other players.
Forgetting that fact for this paragraph, I do want to say that the challenges on their own are quite nice. From a pure disc golfing standpoint, the course has some nice features. The most prominent is obviously hole6. 'Pride Rock,' worthy of its name, is a massive uphill heave that really has to be seen to be believed. Hole9 is a fun downhill throw, and hole11 is a short and intimidating fairway that can result in a rollaway if the player is too aggressive. The kind of balanced disc golf that many players like is here, but I imagine that coming here early in the morning or during a bad weather day would be preferable.
So, in closing, the course at Covered Bridges has some very cool moments that are diluted by the fact that players will always need to keep their eyes, ears and spider senses open. The shorter distances and (mostly) simpler fairway features lead me to believe that it is aimed towards newer players, and that's okay. Just practice your "Fore!"