Pros:
New Baskets
Nice Concrete Tee Pads (Long Tees Only)
Great Layout
Great Pin Placements
Great Variety of Shot Types
Distances Vary
Water in Play on Several Holes
Tape on Spokes of the Basket Point to Next Tee
Practice Basket Near 1st and 18th Hole
Front Nine and Back Nine End Near the Parking Lot
Great Scenery
Ample Parking
Restrooms Near First Hole and Ninth Hole
Cons:
Lacks Trash Cans (Resulting in litter on course)
Needs Permanent Tee Signs (Some are missing or broken.)
Short Tees Are Not Marked/Hard to Find
Not Beginner Friendly/Not for All Skill Levels
Many Downed Trees and Driftwood Littering the Course
Other Thoughts:
This is a great new addition to the central Ohio courses and my new favorite in the area. Located along Williams Lake in Alum Creek State Park, the designers made great use of the terrain. The lake itself comes into play on several holes and provides beautiful scenery throughout the course.
One great feature of the course is that it is set up so that playing 9 or 18 holes is easy with a nice figure-8 design, holes 9 and 18 ending back at the parking lot. The walking distances from hole-to-hole aren't bad, and navigation is a breeze with something as simple as orange tape that they put on the spokes of the basket pointing in the direction of the next tee pad.
The variety this course has is amazing. Both a good variety of shot types and distances make this course both challenging and a lot of fun. While the park doesn't have a lot of elevation the designers did a great job of using what is there to its fullest extent. I think there was enough to keep the variety there, and until I thought about this review I didn't even notice the lack of any big uphill or downhill shots.
One thing that doesn't vary on this course are the trees. There are trees in play on every hole with most holes being, what I would consider moderately to heavily wooded. If you don't enjoy tight technical courses, then this probably isn't the course for you. One thing that does stand out about this course is that as tight and technical as it is, they didn't spare any distance. Don't get me wrong, there are some short, aceable shots throughout the course, but there are also some huge shots to contend with as well with the longest hole nearing the 600 foot mark.
The only real cons that I can think of are with the maintenance and amenities the course lacks. With all of the flooding that took place this spring there is a lot of drift wood and downed trees littering the course. Not only is it unsightly, they definitely affect your game stopping skip shots, gouging discs, and just making it hard to walk both on and off the fairways. The next thing I would address are the lack of trash cans. The course isn't the longest I have played, but it's not the shortest either so putting in a couple trashcans could really help cut down on the litter. Many times you see empty bottles and cans near the tee pads and on the fairways that many times were probably just set down and forgotten. The last con that I noticed are that some of the tee signs were washed away in the flooding and haven't been replaced. While this isn't the worst thing in the world some nice permanent tee signs would go a long way to raising both the enjoyment and asthetics of the course.
Overall The Player's Course is a solid and really well-designed course. With a little bit of maintenance and some updates, tee signs, marking the short tees and maybe even getting in concrete on the shorts, this course could be one of the best in the state by far. If you are in the area hit this one up, you won't regret it, it's challenging, fun, and an all around good time.