First time playing Ceraland!
Hole 1: Challenging starting hole, gap off tee is fair, great par 4 that gives you a variety of looks for your second shot depending on where you end up
Hole 2: Great Par 4, two landing areas gives you two routes to the basket
Hole 3: Not sure about this hole...gap is very fair off the tee, but once you get to the middle of the hole there just isn't very much room to land anywhere. Also, if creek on right is played OB it isn't really well defined. Clearing the first landing area a bit may make this hole more playable and give you a chance to make a rewarding second shot with a FH or turnover.
Hole 4: At first I thought this wasn't a very good hole with a very hard right turn as well as going uphill, but we were able to get a turnover fairway driver up to a 45 ft putt. I think a big sidearm player could probably also get close enough for a putt. Not my favorite, but not a bad hole. Trimming some of the branches off the left side of the tree you have to get around would make it a more rewarding a fair hole IMO.
Hole 5: One of my favorites! Downhill, gap to hit across the creek with OB street long is a fun hole to throw. Rewards a well thrown putter or mid, but you try to throw a driver and you will have a hard time hitting the gap or not skipping long and OB. The creek isn't terribly well defined as OB though, so some cleanup of brush and rocks in there might help with that.
Hole 6: Decent Par 4. Not a lot of reason to try to take the right side tunnel, just putting it out in the open far left gives you your best angle at the elevated surrounded basket which is cool.
Hole 7: My favorite hole on the course. Smaller version of some of the Ledgestone Open Eureka lake holes. Hit a landing zone 250ish out and then have a beautiful second shot over the water. Probably a Par 4 on the easier side, but nonetheless a very fun and gorgeous hole to throw.
Hole 8: Great Par 4 (listed as Par 5). Very fair gap off the tee which will put you in a lot of different types of second shots depending on where you land. Listed as a Par 5 on uDisc, this is definitely a par 4. Playing partner and I both took 3s with 2 good shots that certainly didn't feel like Eagles.
Hole 9: A good downhill short Par 3 mixed in here is refreshing, but the main center line was clogged with low hanging branches. I like the options of being able to take a few different routes to get there, but the low branches on the middle line need to be trimmed up, or there is no point taking the center route. Not a ton...maybe give 10 more feet of clearance up so there still is a low ceiling on that line, but a shot is available there.
Hole 10: Fun Par 5. Finally get to air shot out a little, although accuracy is still at a premium. We thought we might have lines down some of the other tunnels, but there really is a premium on staying in the middle of the main middle tunnel. The tree lines create some very nice natural OB that swat down any attempts to get to the basket from the outside of the main tunnel. Only thing (and this is nitpicky) is to move the basket out just a little from behind the line of trees so that it can be a little more visible down the main tunnel. I could see this hole being an easier Par 5 to score on for pros as they could potentially throw two 450 shots and get an Eagle 3, but maybe that Eagle would be well earned there. For a player of my 350-400 ft arm speed, it's a fantastic Par 5.
Hole 11: Another decent Par 3 that you feel like you need to get. Nothing special here, but you need these kinds of holes mixed in on a course this big. Somewhat low ceiling and tree on the right side still makes it challenging.
Hole 12: Really, REALLY great Par 5. Throw as far as you can, with a little bit of a premium on finishing right. Then throw uphill turning right to the main tunnel down to the basket. Then we had options on our 3rd shots to go straight at the basket, or throw a RHBH hyzer out over the road and skip back towards the basket, all at the same time the basket is on a very tricky downhill slope at the end. Super challenging, but a REALLY great hole.
Hole 13: Not a fan of the tee shot here. Really feel like you are throwing at a wall of trees off the tee and just hoping you miss one. After that, the second shot is challenging uphill, with plenty of different options to the basket. Get rid of one or two trees in the little creek line off the tee and you have yourself a really great Par 4.
Hole 14: A great risk reward tee shot here over the water. How much do you want to try to bite off to give yourself an angle to get up to the basket? We didn't quite know where the basket was playing the first time, so we laid up short just inside the tree line, but playing it again, I would try to bite off more of the water carry and get up to the more open left side off the tee near the dead tree. Another good Par 4.
Hole 15: Another placement shot Par 4. It's a good hole, but at this point we've already seen so many of these.
Hole 16: Kindof a longer version of Hole 9 with probably 3 different options off the tee...flex FH is available as is something straight down the pipe. I took the low skipping hyzer with a fairway driver down the right side gap and flared down past it to about 35 feet. I like this as get-able, but not super easy Par 3.
Hole 17: I really like this Par 3. It asks you to throw a very defined line. A RHBH hyzer that flips up to flat but then has good finish back to the left all while going uphill. The nice thing about this hole is that there is at least a little height to work with on your line here, which makes the 355ft, Par 3 very fair and rewards a good shot with a chance at a two.
Hole 18: Just a little disappointed with the finishing hole here, because I'm not sure what it's asking me to do. Beautiful and fun shot to throw from the tee (again, another great risk/reward with how much of the water carry do you want to try to bite off).....but where am I trying to place it? Tiny gap with awkward angle to basket on left side even if you get through it, and no line to go through if you get to the right. I love the placement of the basket down in the cove back down towards the water, but I think the gaps to get into that cove need to be widened on the left side and cut out of the wall of trees on the right side. With these clearings, this could be a really amazing finishing hole. When we first stepped up to the tee we thought this was a bit like a smaller version of Winthrop Gold Hole 18 that they finish on for USDGC. Open up the gap a little down to the basket and I think it could still be that.
Overall First Impressions of Ceraland Lakeside:
This course has so much potential to be one of the best courses in the state. Once permanent tee pads go in here, it will be infinitely more playable just like BC3 has become, where you get to throw all these amazing shots and not worry about footing. Long Tee signposts are in some weird spots currently, where players might not sure which side of the sign to throw from, and sometimes it seems like the sign is right in what should be the middle of the teepad. In the meantime, adding a couple painted markers like BC3 or painted stones would help define the tee area until pads can be poured
I like most of the low ceiling shots, but I think some trimming is needed on some of the lower hanging branches as outlined above. Players would still be forces to throw some low lines, but have a higher likelihood of being rewarded for a good shot instead if nicking a random branch. Really only Holes 13 and 18 need some strategic clearing of some trees to make them less flukey and more playable, and Hole 3 might need just a tiny bit of widening in the middle of the fairway to create a reasonable landing zone.
Thanks for putting in the work to design and install this course! I gave almost an entire year of my life to Deer Run, and I understand all the time and effort that goes into a project like this. The land, water, and elevation usage are all FANTASTIC. It is a perfect piece of property for a discgolf course. Looking forward to going back and playing it again soon!