Pros:
Covered Bridges is a forested course that plays short holes mainly towards and on hillsides with flatground bookenders. Average length is 228ft but a number of the forested technicals are in the mid to upper 100s with a few open grass distance holes raising the length number.
The terrain is highly enjoyable but rocky in parts and a bit of a hike up or along hillsides. Definitely not a place to enjoy during bad weather. A very compact Camp Sankanac with a small mix of Bootlegger's Cave perhaps, in Community Park form less than 1/3 the walk.
Despite the small distances, the challenges weren't meager. The forested straight tunnel #5, the short but steep upshot past a huge boulder on #6, #11 60 ft wide fairway bordered by cliff sides, or #12's short but supersteep downhill gap to wide-open 140' all combine to make this course much more fun and memorable than the average community DG park.
I had a blast here and am really envious of anyone that gets to call a park of this variety their home course.
Tee size was never a problem and navigation wasn't a breeze but still okay. Don't recall next basket signs. Despite crossing a bridge first thing to enter the park, water does not come into play at all on the course except on overshots at basket #16.
Cons:
Covered Bridge's big downside is that it plays into itself quite a bit. Especially after #7. A fair amount of backtracking and fairways right next to each other. Baskets 8&10 and tee9 all congregate in front left of #11's tee-off. #13 & 14 are side by side teeing off against each other, with #14's basket quite close to 13's tee. #15 & 17 are side by side as well. I was relieved to be wearing glasses already, otherwise I might have fetched my safety sunglasses if enough groups were around.
And the course is probably pretty busy. First time I came, I skipped over to another local course cause the parking lot was completely jampacked and everyone was playing. This time it during the rain remnants of Hurricane Ian, and I still stumbled onto three different player groups.
Last complaint, mostly for first timers, this course signs aren't always reality, which is problematic because despite the short distances involved, this course has its baskets hidden from the tee a lot. More than any other course I encountered.
#4 sign had nothing to do with actual basket placement. It showed a 150'ish basket way to the right up on the steep hillside, it actually is an 200'ish basket just past #5 tee, almost straight on but with a hump in the middle. Similarly, #6 upwards boulder shot is signed as if the basket was mere feet after the crest of the boulder and base remnants indicate this was once so. However, it has since been moved at least twenty-five feet back and way to the right. #13's (right after the big downhill putt) basket was located markedly to the left than signed as well. I didn't bother reading every sign, so there could be more.
As an aside, there are other hints to the course being edited after the fact. Sometimes the tees are angled strangely, such as #1, angled way to the right of it's open flatground basket - as if demanding the player make a extreme hyzer for some reason. Presumably, a basket was straight on, near the swamp, and too many lost a disc or two in that. Not a big deal, but noticeable.
Other Thoughts:
Out of OOOOO discs or XXXXX strikes:
Terrain: OOOOo - Phenonemal terrain and doubly so for a community course.
Execution: OOOO - Excellent. They extracted the best holes they could here and it makes for interesting play.
Upkeep: OOO. Good. There terrain is fine but some signs definitely need updating and possibly some tees reangled.
Difficulty: OOO - Intermediate. Distances are short but unusual shots or need for precise trajectories in the treed parts.
Fun Factor: OOOOo - Other than distance, this is probably the most State Park DG-like course I encountered in a community park. Great variety in compact form.
Crowded: XXXX. Yeah, along with the good comes the crowd. I have every reason to believe this place is heavily trafficked.
Overall: OOOO - I wish this was my home course to play short, quick rounds on.
Course almost loops. First two holes are open. Second plays slightly uphill into basket on hillside. #3, 4, 5 also play along same hillside. #6 shoots over it. Then is some field play. #7 is a fade towards hidden basket. Backtrack. #8, 9, 10 are longer back and forths on downsloping field up against another hillside. #11 plays on top of ridgeline. #12 is a steep gapped downhill putt to open. Cross little bridge. #13 & 14 are lightly treed short back and forths. #15-16-17 are heavily treed, bring you to the creek and back again. Backtrack to #13 tee and recross bridge. #18 is a trek to the fields and open with basket inside forest's edge.