Pros:
Eleanor Park is one of the many Johnny Sias courses in WV, and is on its way to being one of the better ones. That being said, its got a long, long way to go. Playing around the Putnam County Fairgrounds, the biggest complement I have heard for this course from the locals is the variety, and it did not disappoint in this category. There are about 10 park-style/open holes and 8 wooded holes. Brand new Pro28's are great, and the park is in the process of installing concrete tees. Many of the holes also have alternate pins. Eventually the course will have dual tees, but that could be a very long time as the shorts are not complete.
The course is a hike through a beautiful park. The open start plays along the park entrance, and holes 5 and 6 are definitely the highlights of the front, with 5 playing in a semi-wooded field and 6 playing across the creek and another field to a pin on a mound. On the back, hole 15 and 16 shine, as these are really the only two true par 4's on the course in my opinion. They have interesting trees in the fairway as well as a road on the left that I would presume is OB, making for some challenging shots.
Cons:
While it is undeniable that the course has plenty of variety, the variety within these holes are not the best. Every single wooded hole is on a right to left slope, and all are very short. With all of them occurring in a row, this stretch gets very monotonous. The course picks back up on 14, but 18 is a pretty poor finishing hole in my opinion (Wide open 500' with a really strange and completely unnecessary basket element where the pin is attached to a chain hanging off a pole at essentially normal basket height). The only holes on the course that I truly enjoyed were 1-7 and 14-17, which is just over half.
In my opinion, the course also has too many sloped greens or greens with a cliff behind them (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13). There are also a couple holes with serious safety concerns in my opinion. Hole 8 in the position I played it in had no line through the trees, and I'm assuming the pin is intended to be played over the nearby road. It is completely blind, and if I hadn't walked up to see the pin I could have caught a windshield. 10, for most arguably the signature hole, is a hole I just won't play. The basket is perched up on a boulder at least 10' high at as highest side. While it looks pretty, it is so unbelievably dangerous. There is now a sign on the hole that informs players to pick up their shot if it lands on the rock instead of playing from it, but I don't think that loophole will hold up in tournament play, and having a disclaimer that affects rules of play for safety should be proof enough that the hole is dangerous.
The only other complaint I have about the course is the maintenance. I have played a lot of "WV" courses where the wooded holes are on the sides of mountains, so I understand that it is hard to mow those holes. Still, these holes were not well kept and even some of the open holes needed a mowing. It's probably very difficult to mow the low-lying end holes, as even after a dry spell these will probably be wet. Also, the signs are apparently being "upgraded", but if the better version is like the ones on the earlier holes, it's hardly an upgrade (No map, just distance and par info for the pin placements). Navigation is also not great in some spots, namely 5-6, 12-14, and 15-17.
Other Thoughts:
Eleanor has fantastic variety, and may one day be a great course once all of the improvements are completed. If the orange flags are markings for the long tees, they may change the course enough to get the score to a 3.5. In its current state, it just isn't getting the attention it needs. Knee high grass in the woods, ponds in some of the open fairways, and greens that are not only frustratingly steep, but also very susceptible to erosion and mud caused by foot traffic really detract from the experience as a whole. The open holes are very refreshing (minus 18), but the wooded holes play like just about any other wooded mountainside course in the state. If you're on your way through or Valley Park is closed for some reason it's a totally fine alternative. Otherwise, I would give the course some time to reach its lofty aspirations and check it out once it's actually complete. I would give the course a 3.25 in its current state, but the course needs to be complete and better kept for me to justify rounding up instead of down.