Pros:
It's a great workout for a short course. There are 5 ravines on the Minuteman that you throw over and have to climb down and then back up to cross. On a hot day with a full bag it is a pretty good workout, and as I said in the title, I usually like to play it twice in a day. To me, that workout is a good thing.
The layout uses the widely varied terrain very well. There is a great mix of shots required. Up and down hills, dog legs left and right. Baskets on mounds or the edges of steep sided ravines. Mostly well defined fairways on the wooded holes, but a couple of tight lines. A few wide open field shots, but mostly Maine woods Golf at its finest. The pars are generous, but appropriate to the designer's intentions. This is a beginner/intermediate level course at a facility where there is a monster sleeping right next door.
Pineland's facilities are great and the food is wonderful compared to what you can get at most courses. The staff at the Pro shop is always friendly and helpful, and I think the deserve a lot of credit for the extra effort they make to return lost discs promptly. They have called me every time I have lost a disc there. The sell Innova and Trilogy, which happen to be what I throw so I have bought several of discs there, and I find their prices quite fair. In short, Pineland is managed by a Disc Golfer who understands the game.
I primarily throw RHBH.
Hole 1. Par 3. Short, straight, steep down hill toss with a basket obscured by trees. Spin that disc or you will fade out too hard.
2. Par 3. Sharp little hyzer off a slightly elevated tee. You'll need a skip to get all the way to the Pin, but the roots and rocks may get you first.
3. Par 3. Gentle anny through some tight trees and up over the crest of a small hill. Basket is on the back side of the slope. This one of the toughest lines on the course.
4. Short, up hill par 4 with the pin tucked between a few trees. If you clear the early trees on the left you should have an easy Birdie.
5. Par 3. First ace run. Pretty open, short and straight. Just don't fade it too much and you should be looking at a Bird
6. Par 3. Love this hole. Sling a sharp anny out over the marshy gully and be sure it stalls and banks hard right or you will not have enough glide to get to the pin, which is right on the edge of the gully.
7. Par 4. First open field shot. It is a 300' pump up a decent sized slope to a basket on a mound at the very top of the hill. It's usually pretty windy so that factors into the equation here.
8. Par 4. First ravine. This is a stall shot with a stable disc. Hang it up there and let it fade hard left. You want to cross the ditch and clear the first ridge, but since the basket is on the back side of the down slope, you can easily over shoot and the thicket is very nasty. Plenty of death putts available if you don't get it close.
9. Par 3. Second ravine. Just a fun little putter or mid range toss. Over a steep sided trench, with a V shaped tree in the middle of the line. Definite Ace run.
10. Par 4. The bomber hole. At 445' it lets you uncork one, but don't fade it too much or you will be revisiting the aforementioned ravine. The pin is also right on the edge of said ravine. 50 foot roll-aways are almost guaranteed if you blow by the basket.
11. Par 3. Another short, straight one. This time with a low ceiling and ravine 3 to carry. Pin is on the peak of the next hill so anything long is long gone into the nasties.
12. Par 3. Another gentle turnover shot, through a small gap to the Pin out in a field. This one is over a "ravinette" A large clump of small trees obstructs the view to the basket.
13. Par 4. This one is seriously downhill, with the basket nestled at the bottom near the edge of some really nasty woods. It is an easy birdie if you can stick the landing, but there is almost no shot once you enter the woods.
14. Par 3. What do you know? Another ravine. This sign on this one says the distance is 190 but the sign is wrong. The distances on 14 and 15 are reversed. This is the shorter of the 2 and should say 150. 15 says 150 something and is actually more like 190. At any rate, you have to shape an anny over a deep gulch and land it gently or you are way down the back side of the hill.
15. Par 3. Pretty similar, but the shot is longer and the death putt is less scary when you overshoot.
16. Par 3. A cool open shot to a pin on top of a haystack shaped hill. Ace run but the swirling winds make it tougher than it looks.
17. Par 3. Another fun, sharp anny through the woods. Basket is behind a little stream bed and sheltered by a couple of guardians. Tons of spin can park your disc, as long as you don't turn it too soon.
18. Par 4. This one requires a pretty decent uphill crank. A mild hyzer that clears the debris field gets you a long look at an Eagle. A good finishing hole, but not spectacular.
Cons:
My cons are all pretty minor. The rubber mat tee pads do slide away with steady use and have to be dragged back into place now and then. They don't always mow the fields as much as I would like. I have lost a couple of discs in the tall grass in a wide open field because it was a couple of feet tall. This is a fairly new course and is well maintained but there are a few places where it is nearly impossible to find a disc. Who do you blame when you huck your disc into the weeds? I usually blame the idiot who threw it.
Other Thoughts:
The place is beautiful. Both course are great designs and make fantastic use of the land. The people are top notch. The price is very reasonable. The facility as a whole is exceptional, not because of the Disc Golf courses, but still it is great to have good food and nice restrooms. The Pro Shop is small, but has plenty of Discs at fair prices. I, for one, couldn't ask for much more.