Pros:
This is a long, tough course on the beautiful campus of Pineland Farms.
I learned that Pineland Farms is the re-purposed grounds of the former Maine State Hospital which now features businesses, farm operations and miles of hiking/biking trails. And, two 18-hole disc golf courses! Checking in and paying ($5 single round or $8 all day) at the pro shop was quick and friendly.
The Patriot Course is by far the tougher of the two courses. With an average hole length of 400' and plenty of elevation this is a course that will tire you out. There is a good mix of tight wooded holes, wide open holes, and some nice combinations.
Many of the holes follow existing trails, some of which are in dense woods. This gives some unusually long, densely wooded holes which are challenging to say the least.
Don't let the first hole fool you. It is a 298' throw across open ground to an unguarded basket. I birdied it and thought "This might not be so tough". Wrong. It gets much more challenging, and quickly!
Hole 4 is a standout 625' par 4 that tees from an elevated pad and has you throwing to a downhill landing area. While fairly open you will very much need to avoid the dense edges. Your second shot is somewhat uphill around a corner of trees to the pin. The pin offers a great look at some of the farm building in the complex.
Hole 5 works you back up the opposite direction, finishing in the woods.
Holes 7 - 13 are the holes in the woods that predominantly follow the roads and trails. Lines are tight and you really want to stay in the fairways. In many cases you'll not see the baskets from the tees. Accuracy is much more important than distance in this stretch.
The course opens up some starting with Hole 14 but continues to be challenging with some remaining long holes.
Baskets are Innova DisCatchers with their visible yellow band. Tee pads are some sort of masonry/rock panels that worked well for me, even in the wet conditions I played in. Tee signs at each pad include the expected information including hole number, length, par, and a "next tee" arrow. Hole diagrams were too general to be particularly useful (see cons).
Very good navigation with well-developed trails and abundant "next hole" arrows.
Cons:
I generally find holes that use existing trails and roads as fairways to be compromises, and this course is no exception. Let's face it, roads and trails are built for a purpose and that purpose isn't to create interesting disc golf holes. That being said this course handles it better than most, with some good pin positions and tree removal to open things up a bit.
The tee signs have oddly vague hole diagrams on them. While they may show a slight left or right turn for the hole they in no way give an accurate diagram of hole shape. For this reason you'll end up walking up (in some cases WAY up) fairways in order to locate baskets. Even on holes that play up roads and paths you'll find yourself walking up to determine exactly where the basket is placed.
Other Thoughts:
While I found this to be an excellent course, it ended up being a bit of a grind. I played the Minuteman course as a warm-up, and by the time I finished this one I was flat tired. This is a long hilly course that offers only a single set of tees, so you play the long layout every time!