Pros:
A true Labor of Love. A great staging ground for large groups and events. Tough lines and pin placements. Nice 'woodsy but fairly near town' location. Solid Prodigy baskets and turf tees. Mulch paths and signage make for easy nav. The camp setting FEATURES Disc Golf but also has lots to do. Awesome mid-course restrooms. Benches on every hole. Lots of upgrades, such as carved wooden mandos, mulched greens, rock and tree limb bordering ....like I say, a labor of love.
Cons:
Nearly dead flat. The raised 18th tee, emphasizing the headwind, and the gentle slope up to the 16th green are the only exceptions. Nearly all heavily wooded. Again, 16 and 18 let you air it out. The rest is tight to very tight. No water or terrain features beyond trees and more trees. Hole 17 is too gimmicky. Some holes, especially 6, are 'Poke and Hope'. (But more tight lines are still being cut).
Other Thoughts:
I just played Wilderness Ranch about 6 times total for the Arizona State Championships. There was adequate parking and facilities for over 75 vehicles. The course held up as a tough, if somewhat repetitive, test of skill. If you can hit a LOT of tight lines, have a wide variety of scrambling skills, and can make an obstructed putt or two, this relatively short course will reward you with lots of birdies. But there were pro players taking triples and even a few snowmen.
The setting is not quite wilderness, more like a 'Gentlemen Ranch'. But it's only about 10 to 25 minutes from most of the Pinetop-Lakeside-Showlow area.
The woods are nearly all pine with a mid level of canopy rewarding low, accurate shooters. Since that describes ALL of the first fifteen holes I have to emphasize that the shot quality is high but the variety is a bit repetitive. And some of the holes have denser 'shrub blinds' or 'jails': throw a bad drive in and you can really test your scrambling and 'yoga' skills.
I would have liked to see more use made of the huge open field and gentle upslope on the last 3 holes. As it is, there is one uphill putt. There are no downhill shots or putts. Depending on how you play 18, there are only 3 or 4 open shots on the whole course. I also thought 17 was gimmicky. It's the most spiky left to right shot you can imagine, and even if you hit it, you can easily cut roll back out of bounds.
Overall, I would give this course about a 4.1. I think it could round up to a 4.5 some day as they are still cutting lines and adding improvements. And remembering that casual play isn't about keeping score, the short tees especially are a very nice family outing and highly recommended. It's cart friendly, kid friendly and 'A Wonderful, Woodsy, Walk'.