Pros:
After finishing a couple of rounds up the road at La Mirada I had an hour or so to kill. So rather than throwing another 18 at that dream of a course, I decided to bag one more course before braving the wilds that are LAX. This was that course.
Equipment: The baskets were all in great condition, the signs are nice and sturdy, and the teepads were sufficiently long and grippy. All things that you want to see on any course. There aren't any equipment cons to list.
Navigation: I don't really have any navigation pros. They put "next tee" tape on the baskets? And the signs are very visible. See cons for the rest.
Design: The course designer does a good job of using the park without really encroaching on the activities of the other park users. The playgrounds, pavilion, and playfields are all safely away from the course. It's a fairly open park style course, but you still get fairly obvious lines to the left and right and you get mandos on a couple of the holes too. Elevation doesn't really come into play because it's a flat park. But there are still some semi-challenging looks and pin placements on rises. It's definitely a decent place to bring a first timer. That's what I always look for in a 9 hole. Nobody is looking to be extra challenged on a niner. So is it a good place to introduce people to the sport? This one does just fine in that regard.
Cons:
Equipment: No cons to list.
Navigation: There should be a map or something. The tee signs are all obvious, but the "next tee" tape wrapped around the pole of the basket is wildly inaccurate in some cases. One of them even points up and to the left. Not only is the next tee not up a tree, but it's to your right.
Design: I said above that the designer did a pretty good job. They did. But there are some flaws. The walking paths do come into play a bit more than they should. A couple of holes play too close to the street for an inaccurate backhand to be safely thrown. And the walkout from 6 to 7 is a bit much. Without the internet I probably wouldn't have found 7 at all. You just follow the path to your right after you hole out on 6 and walk almost all the way to the street. You'll see the tee sign to your left. My biggest complaint about this course had to be the double mando on 6 though. Not only is it unnecessary in the sense that it doesn't protect any fairways or park users, but it has a tree planted squarely in front of the opening. I guess there's a possibility of a thumber or some sort of roller, but the air shot is nearly gone. The double mando trees are too short to bomb over and actually know that you made the mandos, and the tree in front of the obvious line is too close for any kind of realistic S-curve. I just didn't see the point of it. I'm all about being challenged on the course, but this seemed like the work of a sadistic mind more than anything... Although I did read somewhere that Disney bought the park, so I guess some sadism is to be expected.
Other Thoughts:
All right. I'll just come out and say it. This park smells homeless. It smells like it passed out drunk, peed its pants, and then walked around in the hot California sun for three days just letting it dry and fester. I don't exactly know why that is. Sure there were homeless people on three of the holes. But I've played courses that were worse. I even walked my dog through a Seattle course once where he found a thong on the ground, sniffed it, and jumped like I'd kicked him. I hadn't kicked him. But I've never been to a park that smelled like this. It almost took away from the enjoyment. Almost. You should still stretch your legs out here and get a quick round in though if you're in the area and don't have time for La Mirada.