Pros:
Juniper Hills Park is a large park. Actually finding the course was challenging enough. The directions on the DGCR sheet helped. The terrain is high desert with Juniper trees and lots of scrub sage brush. Luckily, I didn't get bothered by what called cheatgrass. I hate those little barbed things that you have to pick off your shoes and socks, one at a time.
We now have concrete tee pads, Yes! There is a garbage can at # 1. The signs give you the #, distance, map and a sponsor. There are skinny round logs at each hole serving as benches. There are alternate natural pads allowing to play and second 9 and a third round for 27 holes total. Unfortunately, I only had time to play the front 9.
# 1 plays 255' mostly flat. # 2 is 261' up a small hill. # 3 is a 204' hyser shot. # 4 is another slight uphill hole at 277'.
I vote # 5 as the signature hole but only by a slight margin over # 7's big bomber hole. About # 5, it's 305' slightly twisting downhill and eerily similar to my Signature hole back (# 13)at Coyote's Den in Redmond. I must be impressed with these types of holes.
# 6 is up and over a smallish hill 317'. # 7 is a fun 478' big air throw to an open basket but you need to turn your drive over to the right. # 8 is a level 404' and then # 9 finishes up with a 382' flat hole.
The course serves up a nice variety of uphill, downhill and flat holes.
Cons:
The skinny log benches didn't do my tired behind any favors. All I can figure is the golfers in Madras must have skinny butts. I did, however, enjoy the flat bench on # 8.
High desert terrain is not my favorite.
I hate cheatgrass, when it's present.
Not easy to locate for traveling players but easy to navigate once you get started.
I'm sure wind can be a factor.
Other Thoughts:
All in all, a nice solid course. I wish I had had the time to play, at least another 9, just to form an opinion. It sounds like the old tee pads were a problem. Sand or wood chips are both terrible material for tee boxes especially when they receive any amount of play. Madras is off the beaten track a spell but some people must pass this way on the way down to Bend and Sunriver.