Pros:
* Fun hole layout
* Relatively short
* Easy to navigate
* Still a challenge even though I've played it probably 250+ times (the only course in town...)
Cons:
* CROWDED- being the only basket course in Bend, it gets very crowded on summer afternoons/evenings. Plus, since its the only course, you have this wide spectrum of players, from the never-played-before family of four, to the super-group of 8 hucksters playing doubles, to the group of trailer trash that decided to take a break from making meth.
*No hole signs
*The "concrete" tees are really pavers, and not all are even, and they can be a little slick when it rains (which doesn't happen all that much in the High Desert) ...
*Its only 9-holes
*Recent course changes have altered three of the better holes, all for the worse, IMO
*On much of the course, you can see undeveloped land that would make great holes, for a full 18, and you can't wrap your head around why the college wouldn't just make more holes...
Other Thoughts:
You know how at some courses, you can tell someone (the local disc club, the park management, the owner, etc) really cares for it... well its the opposite here. It seems as though the college would be just fine if the course were to go away, and with good reason.
The course is often crowded and litter filled. The players take up parking spots, which are a precious commodity on any college campus. And some unsavory characters are very blatant with their shady behavior. The course brings nothing but headaches for the college, and it shows in their quickness in closing the course at the first "HIGH" fire warning, and keeping it closed for as long as possible (I recently went up to play after a freak early october snow, and the course was still closed due to "extreme fire danger", regardless that much of the course was under 2 inches of snow)
And some other reviewer stated they're building a back 9.... nope, sorry. They originally wanted to, that's why the course map has 18 mapped out, but for some reason or another, only 9 got built, and the college soon realized that may have been a mistake. Yes, there are 9 with objects as baskets and natural tee's, but its just a step above walking around the woods and picking a tree to throw at.
The real shame is the course itself is a GREAT beginner/intermediate course, that if it didn't have the ugly situation surrounding it, it would easily get another disc rating from me, and if it had a full 18, i might even give it a 4....
I figured I might as well add something about how the course plays. First, park in the NW (far right upon entering the lot) corner of the lot right after the library. First tee is just NW of that corner....
Hole 1: Short, but significant up hill. Either a right or left fairway to a guarded pin. (Warning, watch for drives off of 9 to the basket which is just to the right of #1 tee)
Hole 2: Short dogleg right. Deal with trees 10 ft off the dead center of the tee.
Hole 3: Long, slight downhill. Tree right off the right corner of tee, and track and beyond is OB.
Hole 4: Medium, downhill with a couple of tree "walls" to deal with, including a guarded pin.
Hole 5: Long, flat, comparatively open for the course.
Hole 6: Long, uphill. One tree wall at about 220 or so, after that its open to a guarded pin.
Hole 7: Short, uphill. One gnarly, beaten juniper smack dab in the middle of the perfect flight path.
Hole 8: Long, uphill. One of the only blind shots on the course. Beware, the pin is right on the edge of a gradual, long hill. Roll-aways punished....
Hole 9: Short, downhill. Other than getting through the trees that the pin is set in, and avoiding players coming up #1 fairway, its a pretty easy putter Ace run.
Even though I have my gripes about the situation surrounding the course, I still think the course itself is a fun challenge.
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