Pros:
Quiet and peaceful park. Nearly 100% wooded (maybe 8-10 aren't under a canopy).
Hole #2 has a beautiful design. You throw out and over a ridge that slopes downward toward the pin. A few trees mid-fairway dictate accuracy. Then the ridge slopes back upward toward the pin and the pin is on a slight slope with more drastic slope off the left side. It's probably the second longest hole and is very picturesque (not is nice as one of the last holes at Jack Lake though - I talked about it in my review).
A neat OB kind of marsh that can come into play on #4 and 5.
Hole #6 is a nice long hole that requires excellent shot selection to bend around a clump of trees that juts out from the right edge of the fairway, while a row a dense trees blocks the left edge close to the tee to keep you from drawing out a RHBH anny.
Hole #7 has a great tee 'framed' under a canopy of low pin branches.
Hole #14 has an excellent guarded green with trees all around.
Hole #15 requires good shot execution, similar to the flight path of #6, but not as long and all under the trees.
Nice DISCatchers! The yellow bands are great for wooded courses and they catch very well.
Cons:
Tees are unimproved and undeveloped right now. They are like Jack Lake, but at least they have stakes at the front edge to define a tee area. Even if that tee area is sloped, lumpy, rooted, or full of stumps. Some of the tees just plain suck!
Just one tee. A second tee would add some needed distance (or reduce some for the ams).
Tee signs, or lack of. There is no depiction of the hole, no distance, nothing. Just a 4x4 post in the ground, and with one tee only, sometimes the direction you need to throw may not be obvious without walking down the fairway. Fortunately the lengths are short.
Not having distance marked on a wooded course bugs me. All the trees and branches throw off my depth perception and greatly impacts my shot selection. I found myself blowing past pins with mids (which speaks of the short distance of this course too).
Just one pin placement. None of the greens are very risky at all, although many are well protected by trees. I did look around a 50' radius of most pins and saw lots of opportunity for risky alternate pin placements on slopes, mounds, near water/marsh, etc.
Hole 18 does not finish near Hole 1. It's not too far away though.
Hole #2 tee is awful. There is a big stump and thick roots!
Hole #14 tee is sloped bad and poorly positioned.
Hole 12, 13, 14 are very short and not entirely tight.
Other Thoughts:
Navigation to the course is bad. I tried to update the directions. Mostly, the sign at the entrance does not say Buck Lake, it says something like Alman Reccreation Area - Oneida County Parks. Then, once you pull in there, you'll see pin 17 immediately on your right, but hole #1 starts way back by the hiking trails. But, the drive in off Hwy G on Hixon Lake LANE is a awesome gravel road through the trees. It will get your heart pumping. It is a fun, quiet, and peaceful time. Don't expect Buck Lake to come into play though! The course is very short, even considering that fairways are narrow and pinballish. The layout does not appear like any additional longer tees will be incorporated, hopefully something will be done to the existing tees. Seriously, shovel them out to level, cut out roots, and just install some crusher dust (road base). This is my advice to all up and coming courses. The road base is an excellent surface once compacted, and is very cheap! All in all, it's a 100% wooded course, in a remote area, that is quiet, scenic and beautiful. Considering Jack Lake, Treehaven, and Black Bear Creek are all the same type of courses (solid 3-disc mainly wooded courses), you could make a trip out of these 4 to make it worth your while. IMO this course is more beautiful than Treehaven given the mix of woods and brush present, it is not as varied as Jack Lake, and is not as unique and fun as Black Bear Creek.