Pros:
-A variety of open, wooded, over the water, tunnel, gap, woods to open, open to wooded, and roller holes. There are down slope, up slope, and side slope holes.
-No.1 long tee hole a narrow tunnel shot, ranks as my most difficult and frightening hole for disc lost, for No. 1 holes on the courses I have played. Knocking out Dorey Park from a month ago.
-Solid three- hole stretch 13-15.
-The course from the short tees is a good teaching course for beginners and recreational players. From the long tees difficult for intermediate and advanced.
-From the tee I threw a variety of putters, fairway drivers, and drivers. Went thru about half of a 24- disc bag including approaches.
-Tee signs have map with next tee, hole number, distance, and par.
-Short tees are concrete in good shape. Some long tee pads were compact dirt and decent shape.
-Good navigation to the next concrete short tee.
-There are C1 and C2 whiskers. Did not notice until Hole 5 and saw them the rest of the way, and only saw a few C2 on the back 9.
-The course is separated by an elementary school from the rest of the park and has its own parking.
-Course map at the entrance gate.
Cons:
-Looked like maybe just once this year the course had been mowed. There was waste high grass on the lower slopes of the course, and some knee-high grass elsewhere in some places. This made the roller greens ineffective.
-Missing tee sign on one-hole, other tee signs had nasty clothing draped over them. A few tee signs had foliage growing over and around them.
-Some long tee pads not possible to find due to no markings, or not playable due to high grass or thick foliage grown over them. No. 10 long pad is gone due to road construction. No. 2 long tee sits in the middle of No. 1 long fairway, but worth it.
-Some fairways cross over and run close together and are blind tee throws. I wonder how often players are hit by a disc.
-No. 12 basket bent at the barrel, and No. 14 leaning over.
-High lost disc potential.
-After a sustained rain, course is likely to be swampy.
-Broken glass and trash on the course.
-A few dog walkers crossing fairways.
-For those passing thru the Richmond area or bagging. The course is 9 miles from I-295, and 6 miles from I-95 with heavy traffic, frequent stop lights, and currently construction, this part of the drive was agonizing. What was supposed to of been an 8am arrival, turned into an 820am from I-295. That much extra time.
Other Thoughts:
IMO with no or little course maintenance, some lost and unplayable long tee pads resulting in losing out on some long holes, and trash on the course. This course is on the back slide, and per my homework prior to playing has been for quite some time. Kudos to member Gottafixit for trying to rally the troops to cleanup the course on a wall post, but it does not look like there was a response?
However, there are those who love the layout including a local Pro I happened to play with in Virginia Beach a few days after playing the course. The course is difficult from the long tees and he had me thinking that perhaps I'll keep my eye on the course, and if there's a time when its cleaned up, I'll return for a rewrite on my review and a possible solid jump on my rating. Per my homework on the course, I did play 1 and 2 from the long tees for 2 extra holes and I already knew about the mess the course was in.
With the variety of the course layout, variety of disc played from my bag, A solid fun factor in the wooded portion of course my overall rating is anchored on a 4.5. It took 70 minutes to play the round, including searching for long tee pad's.
Notable Holes:
No. 5 Par 3 short tee at 245 feet is an up-hill tee throw between a wooded gap. The gap is about 50 feet out and 20 feet wide, the crest of the hill is about 75 feet out and the disc will disappear down slope, with also a right to left down slope across fairway. On the left is a tree line, and the basket is in the right tree line on top of the slope. Basket it about 15 feet in the tree line and protected in the front. If you can make the distance, best putting is side/back door. I found my straight drive in the left wood line.
No. 6 Par 3 short tee at 195 feet is a straight tunnel shot 15 feet wide and need 185 feet for a birdie look. Basket is protected by bushy tree. Would be a difficult ace run.
No. 13 Par 3 short tee at 370 feet is a lazy left at 200 feet, then a lazy right to a roller basket. From tee is a down slope at the 200- foot mark, where there is a waste area of debris. Then fairway drops steeper to the basket, and from the tee disc will disappear. From left to right is a down slope across fairway to basket. Clump of trees right of fairway at 220 feet. It's a scenic hole, but the high grass takes away the roller at the basket, there's also a tree line just 20 feet past the basket.
No. 14 Par 3 short tee at 290 feet is on the lower portion of the course. Straight down, with a slight right to left, fairway slopes down left to right. Heavy woods both sides about 25 feet down. Nasty brush on the right side. At the 240- foot mark sharp left turn to an elevated basket on a hill about 12 feet high, roller up hill and to the right. Levels out past basket. Again, the high grass makes the roller ineffective. Need to make the 240-foot mark or you will be blocked out on the left tree line.
No. 15 Par 3 short tee at 260 feet looks a little like 14 from the tee, but more of a lazy right to left and narrower at 20 feet. From the tee you are aiming to the nasty tree line on the right, and no straight shot to the basket. A slight slope across fairway left to right. Basket is at fairway height, and just 5 feet from the nasty stuff on the right. If grass was cut, could roll into brush.
Signature Hole:
No. 2. Long tee at 297 feet across a deep pond needing at least 247 feet to make it across into a 30- foot gap. A little elevation from tee, you're throwing from a gap, and dirt tee is solid footing. Basket sits in the open about 50 feet past pond and gap. Heavy tree line on both sides of gap. Very Scenic! If you cannot make distance, there is some shorter poke and hopes to the short No. 2 fairway.
Trouble Hole:
No 1. Par 3 long tee at 265 feet into a tunnel gap with heavy trees and canopy all the way down. Your birdie look is at 255 feet. The gap is no more than 20 feet wide all the way down. On your left is the heavy tree line with a roller to the lower short No. 1 fairway. On the right with the heavy tree line is the deep pond and only a few feet below the fairway. Nip a tree and your disc can go either way, and into the pond, you will never see it again. With the extreme lost disc potential, and no bail out. My first thought was "what a frightening" tee shot. I was not feeling charitable, so I threw easy putter all the way down.