Pros:
***A lot of these reviews are pretty outdated. There is an 18 hole layout, and there is also a way to play it where you combine every other hole (tee 1 to pin 2, tee 3 to pin 4 etc). There is only one basket per hole, making 18 in total (some earlier reviews indicate two baskets per hole).***
Pros:
*Great use of trees as obstacles on the majority of holes. There really aren't any holes that are so totally wide open that you don't have to think about your shot shape due to trees. Even though there is really only one hole that I would consider to be truly a "wooded" hole (hole 8), every single hole has trees to contend with at least to some degree (with the possible exceptions of 2 and 17, the island hole). I find wide open bomber holes dreadfully boring, so I really appreciate this.
*Good mix of holes that favor righties vs lefties. I think most courses tend to favor righties, but this one has numerous holes that are going to favor lefties.
*Most holes are not super long, but even the shorter ones are challenging because of all the trees. 11 and 16 are both pretty long, but not impossible to par for an average player.
*The rough on most holes is not that bad. There are a few holes where if you go off the fairway, good luck scrambling for a par (hole 7 is like this), but on most holes the underbrush is sufficiently thin that you can usually find a way to scramble to save a par if you go off the fairway.
*It's almost never crowded. I've had to wait on / contend with ball golfers, but in close to 20 rounds played I have not had to wait in disc golfers one single time. Madison has popular city / county courses that require annual passes, so I think the $5 per round at NS really does keep a lot of people away, which works well for me! It's a bot more crowded in the winter when all or most of the city / county courses
Cons:
*I personally don't really like playing courses with water hazards. At NS you have the potential to go into some water on over half of the holes. So bring your disc retriever! Through much of the season the riverbeds are essentially dry, but after a good amount of rain in the area, they fill up and they're not big, so the water moves swiftly.
*There is goose crap everywhere, and it can get especially bad on holes 7, 14 and 15. But that's not really the fault of anyone, just a hazard of playing the course.
*This is either a pro or a con, depending on how you think of it, but this course can be TOUGH!!! I have yet to par it. There are just so few birdie opportunities. I've birdied 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 13 15 and 17. I think I will eventually birdie 7, 9 and14, but birdieing 2, 6, 11, 12, 16 and 18 seems next to impossible for a mere mortal like me. I frequently have an entire round without a single birdie, and there are holes where even a par feels like an accomplishment (especially11).
*Personally I think that hole 11 should be a par 4. Arguably holes 2 and 16 as well, but definitely hole 11. It's long and if you hit an early tree, your ability to end up at 3 is essentially nil.
*The tee pads could definitely be bigger on a lot of the holes. Most are pretty small. On some holes it doesn't matter because I do a standstill drive, but on plenty of them I really wish I had a few more feet for my runup.
Other Thoughts:
Overall, I really like this course. It's kind of a hidden gem, because I feel like it's underutilized in comparison to how good it is. But I'm okay with that, because it means I never have to wait to play.