Pros:
- Plenty of free parking right by where your round starts and ends (though the parking lot is really rough/eroded).
- Long concrete tees are the best kind of tees.
- Although many of the baskets are showing signs of age (mostly rust, slight tilt on a couple), they're still in decent enough shape for you to not really notice. The baskets for #1 and #2 were also moved (it looks like a while ago), and they've been replaced by very new looking yellow baskets, which are obviously in great shape.
- The eastern half of the course has a decent amount of shade from the really tall, beautiful old cottonwoods and other broad leaf trees.
- You get a number of bomb opportunities with few hazards, in particular on #7 and #9.
- Being in a city park, you can expect for the fairways to frequently be mowed, and only #15 and #18 have any real rough to speak of.
Cons:
- Not a whole lot of topography in play, mostly flat on the floodplain of the Red River. Almost feels like playing in Florida it's so flat.
- Pretty sunny, open layout, so bring your sunscreen in summer. And this makes for a few pretty boring, flat, field holes (#1 being the worst, #3 and #7 aren't much more interesting).
- Signs of seasonal floods are abundant, including partial dirt/sand covering on a few tees, some rust damage to many of the baskets, and the fact that only two tee signs are left (the ones for #3 and #12).
- Speaking of the lack of tee signs, any chance they could be replaced anytime soon? Even a wood post or something just saying the hole number would aid navigation for those of us coming to play Woodlawn for the first time. As it stands, make sure you print out or refer to the course map and you'll be fine; without it you'll be scratching your head after many holes.
- There's so much vegetation growing directly in front of the tee on #15 now that you really can't use the tee, you have to throw from adjacent to it.
Other Thoughts:
- #18 is by far the best hole here. It's an average length par 5 (the only par 5 of the course) which involves a number of trees in your path, but you get a totally fair, somewhat wide, slightly left-curving fairway through them. Basket is placed near the line of rough and trees to your left on the top of a short hill, which can either help your approach shot stick there or roll you away to make your putt more challenging. If you can send a long tee shot down the fairway then your approach can definitely setup a feasible chance for a satisfying eagle.
- Since holes #1 and #2 were rearranged, I revised the course map and re-uploaded it here. To start your round, you'll see the tee for #4 right next to the parking lot, so you could start there. If you prefer to start at #1, it's tee is by two little flags on an extension of the sidewalk adjacent to the playground.
- Add tee signs and it would raise my rating. At that point, it would be a typical 3 star course.