Pros:
+ Adequate tees/tee markers
+ Baskets in good condition
+ Lots of land, with a decent walk (some bridges, the stream, etc.)
+ A somewhat mixed layout
+ Minimal tree coverage for your choice of easy lines to hit
+ Great multi-use park with facilities and whatnot
Cons:
- Erosion in front of tees seems to be a problem
- Half of the holes are too close, with many chances of getting hit or hitting someone
- Lots of holes seemed to be filler holes (short, straight, boring)
- Confusing layout with no directional signs
- What the heck is up with the spike sticking out of the ground next to #10's tee pad?!
Other Thoughts:
I liked my round mainly because of a friendly stranger who joined me, but overall, the pitfalls of the course were obvious. I fit a quick round in here on a beautiful Saturday in September. As an intermediate thrower, I was pretty happy shooting a par for the course. Plenty of short, filler holes to birdie and more than make up for missed putts. Not a very challenging course.
Disc golf course layout and design is huge for me. It is the most important part of a course in my opinion. Forget the baskets/tees, I can throw from grass to rusty pins all day and have fun. But if I have to throw a neutral midrange on almost every hole, I get bored. Anyway, Firefighters' layout is pretty bad. Half the holes are annoying and unimaginative, and even awful sometimes. The rest were average or good. Based on the way the course is set up, I'm assuming that the city didn't want to devote the necessary land to DG, which is fine, but there was so much more space that could have been utilized to spread the fairways out a bit and make it flow better. Directional signage would really, really help.
I don't like hole-by-hole breakdowns or rundowns, but before I go into detail of why I disliked the layout so much, suffice it to say the course flows from OK, to gross, back to OK, and finishes with one really good hole. Here are some more details: The first five holes were pretty good/average. None of them were bad. Holes #6-10 are designed poorly with the fairways/pins cramped together, and that's also when the layout got confusing. There's also a big risk of hitting someone or getting hit if it's as busy as it was when I went. Although #10 was fun to throw, you walk over the bridge, throw 50% blindly through an easy gap, and walk back over that same bridge. Try not to hit anyone. #11 was a good hole with a smaller chance of hitting someone. #12-17 were better holes with a still-confusing layout. #18 is the best hole on the course with a bridge, stream to throw over and then avoid landing in/near, and a basket with a little bit of tree coverage. Great way to end a pretty tame round.
Overall, it is a decent course. Unfortunately, I think Raintree is a better 9-hole course than Firefighters is an 18-hole course. I'd still rather play Firefighters just because it's a full-sized course, but hopefully you get what I mean.
Thanks for reading!