Pros:
Beautiful park, well kept. The park itself has a lot to offer (tennis courts, picnic areas, azalea gardens, and more) It's on the National Register of Historic Places.
Practice basket by the parking lot & info sign.
Yellow and Blue tees for your difficulty level. The Yellow (easier) tees are still challenging.
Long and short shots (Yellows range from 150' - 690', Blues from 202'-701')
Elevation changes.
Water hazards for everyone. There is one hole for each tee color where you have to tee off and throw over the water (for blue it's 16, for yellow it's 18) and everyone has to get over the canal on 11.
The park smells good. Something must always be in bloom somewhere on the grounds, because the place just smells good.
I love the colored spokes on the top of the baskets pointing you in the direction of the next tee (except the basket for 5 has been moved a bit, and the spokes aren't quite going the right direction to get you to 6)
Cons:
Not enough trash cans or benches.
Natural tees.
Crossing fairway. 4 & 11 cross each other. These are two of the longest holes on the course (11 is the longest), so I would imagine the crossing here can really cause bottlenecks on the front and back nine on a busy day.
Every shot is straight. Where are the doglegs??
The ice-cream man. That's right; the ice-cream man drives in a big circle around the outer park road. Over and over again. And as if the song the truck plays isn't bad enough, it also says "hello" in a voice that's like a cross between Curly from the Three Stooges and a parrot. Obnoxious.
Other Thoughts:
If your disc goes in the water at 16, I hope you've got a retriever of some sort. Signs are posted "No swimming, or wading".
I kinda want signage and I kinda don't. The par and distance are marked on most of the tee blocks and the painted spokes on the baskets point you to the next tee. And since every shot is straight, you don't really need a diagram sign. That being said, sometimes the tee blocks are hard to spot, and an actual sign would be easier to see. Which is also why I don't want the signage, this park is beautiful and multifunctional. It's not just here for the sole use of disc golfers. Signs sticking up all over the place may take away some of the beauty of the landscape. Maps are available in the links section here. I recommend printing one out, at the very least it will make it clear when you need to cross the road for your next hole.
About the multifunctional park...I've played Bryan twice now; once on a Saturday afternoon, once on a Tuesday evening. On Saturday the park is crowded with people oblivious to discs. I had the fear that I was going to hit someone. And like I said, they are oblivious, you may yell "Four" or "Heads up" but they may or may not realize you mean them. Be Careful! On Tuesday evening, the park was much less crowded, mostly disc golfers and dog walkers. Way more conducive to throwing a round.
I like this course. It's beautiful. But if you've got distance, if you can "grip it and rip it" there's not much challenge here for you. This course is made for people who can throw far and straight. Yes, there are trees to be avoided, but it is a very open course. And it is relatively easy to recover from an errant throw, or evil tree bounce.
If you find yourself in the Richmond area, Bryan Park is definitely worth a stop. And since it is just off of 95, it's easy to get to even if you're just passing through.