Pros:
1) Course is very well designed and though out. It uses the property to its full capacity. The only thing I would have liked is to see a basket down in one of those pits on the first hole. Not sire if those fill with water in the rainy season, but it would be a cool placement to set one down in that low spot.
2) Short tees were shoveled off in winter. (long tees were not).
3) Dual tees truly do create 18 different holes. Most of them have a totally different angle to play, and different obstacles to avoid. There really are only a couple that are simply in a straight line (like #2, but it is an additional 175' . . . and #7 which is an additional 235' which basically simply gets the forward tee even with the mando). Normally I would say 2 tees on a 9 hole course does not make an 18 holer, but this is as good of a representation of the design concept. Granted the back 9 will play much much easier because it is the forward tees and a massive footage difference (1020' shorter)
4) 4x4 or plank in the groundat the front of each tee. This is always a good idea because it generally will keep soil from moving out of the front of the tee as well as creating a front line for a natural tee . . . so you can call footfault on your buddy all day long.
5) Very nice variety in topography. This is a very gentle sloping rolling terrain. It is set almost in the middle of a bowl and there are rolling hills all around that middle section of the course. The design took all of those contours into consideration and whoever did the design did a great job in incorporating that into the mix.
6) Nice DGA baskets with number plates . . . it is always nice to see them installed correctly with the plate facing the tee too. It can save on a lot of confusion with difficult to find baskets!
Cons:
1) Stock DGA signs missing lots of info/diagrahms. I like those signs for how standard they are, but they need more info than just a distance. Not sure if they were finished yet, perhaps that is a later step since the course is new this year. I will not consider this a negative in terms of the disc rating, but I wanted to list it in case they never get changed. I will edit this when I see proof they have improved.
2) Course was under 6 inches of snow, but i was able to see all sorts of compaction issues, thin turf on some of the mounds where the snow had blown off, erosion around many of the tees. Those are real negatives, not sure when the course was originally installed, but if this layout has only been in the ground for 1 year, it will continue to get worse. Some maintenance is needed to get things back to par (oh wait what is par) . . . er should I say square one instead of par.
3) Dirt tees would leave a lot to be desired if played in a wet season. In winter though when shoveled they are actually not bad at all, although they aren't all that level in some spots.
4) The effort was there by people putting plastic garbage bags out there, but I doubt many people (probably only the locals who end up taking those bags off the course) will take the time to put their cans and such in the bag. It was an effort but the bag even looks bad tied around the teesign. Pack it in pack it out is still a better policy, but I do give them credit for taking the time to even put the bags out there.
5) A few area on the course do have some wild rose and other unwanted underbrush, but at least they don't have buckthorn in play anywhere.
6) WARNING: Seasonal con only. Long tees were not shoveled clear of snow. Short tees were however. I cannot knock the course rating down for this because it is all volunteer labor, but I would have loved to have the same shoveled spot on the long tees as the short tees. No biggie just worth mentioning to those playing in winter.
Other Thoughts:
Again another solid 9 holer . . . but this one plays like an 18 hole course. I had to play both tees because I could tell from the layout map that the tee greatly changed the hole shape and thus shot selection. This type of concept could go a long way in furthering effective and efficient disc golf design. It requires way less land than an 18 hole course, less overhead initially because you only need 9 baskets, main tee signs could be on one set of tees and a simple post like they use here on the other tee with just a distance and hole #.
This is listed as a 2009 course but I think it had been there for a long time as the Brockway block course. Not sure if the course was redesigned or anything, but it certainly seems to have had some use. I couldn't tell how bad the turf and fairways were because of the snow but I did see signs of compaction and erosion. When dirt is sprayed all over the snow in spots you know there is an issue. Short tees were shoveled and dirt was visible underneath also, not sure if this was by design or just from use over the years. I just cant imagine a course intentionally starting with dirt tees or if at one point there was grass on them!
Good course, good forward and outside of the box thinking. It makes efficient use of the land while providing you with 18 very unique holes. No two are the same here, and there is great variety in distances and shot selection. the rolling terrain and well placed trees (or should I say well placed baskets around the existing trees). I had a good time and was glad I had time to get here to end my saturday run of 5 courses.
WARNING: Please keep in mind I cannot see everything about this course with 6 inches of snow on the ground. If something is amiss with my reviews please let me know. I think my analysis is accurate on everything I see, but if the turf issues, erosion, tees, and such which are not visible now are really really bad please let me know and I will adjust accordingly, but I feel like it feels like a solid 3 disc rated course. I will adjust my rating if I am able to return in season and I see differently.