Well-made, level tee-pads. The concrete needed to be set in gravel, elevated to avoid sinking unevenly, and walled in with rubber weatherproofed walls that could protect New Orleans. Unfortunately the soft ground in some areas dictated that as necessity. There are plans to level off some of the more elevated and run-up pads in the future.

Good mix of shots. Open bombs, technical wooded holes, up, down, left and right. The course planners are constantly looking for ways to stretch out the course and re-place the pins for a more unique round. Clay is still a work in progress.

Toughest scoring course in CNY. True par is now 58 for AMs and usually seen as 56 for pros. If you want to improve all facets of your game, Clay is the course to do it.

Bugs! There are times in the summer where I will avoid it for months. Deer flies are worse than mosquitos at points.

Swampy areas are not nearly as common as just 6-months ago thanks to the TREMENDOUS efforts of the town. They have added significant drainage and dirt bridges in the worst spots. But in wet weeks, you'll still want to bring extra socks.

A couple of the holes still play very close to heavily used park property. During the football months, we sometimes have to create an alternate fairway for hole #3 because it borders too close to a practice field. Hole #9 has a set of tennis courts pretty much erasing any fairway to the right of the tee until you get 300' out. Hole #11s teebox is right on the back corner of a baseball fence, and believe me, I have had players yell for me to duck.

Ivy is still an issue, but not on the fairways anymore. If you go into the woods on a shot, just be careful. Eventually a bigger effort will be made to clear that stuff out, but it's not top on the list right now.

I've played Clay Park since it was 9 swampy holes. Considering the CNYDGA and the town can only work on it half the year because of Upstate NY weather, it's amazing what this course has become in just a few short years. And it's only going to get better. New tee signs, new pin placements, and more strategic wood-clearing will only add to the growing challenge and beauty of the Clay Park course. Being sandwiched between Rochester, which has enough championship-caliber courses to host the Worlds (twice!), and the Albany area, whose courses define the phrase "signature holes," sometimes Syracuse gets overlooked. But I think Clay has the potential to be a true championship course. Put it this way; Emac played with us for best-shot DOUBLES and posted a 49. If that doesn't suggest a genuine challenge, I don't know what does.

Really nice course. Great variety in terms of scenery, there are wooded holes with hardwood trees, some marshy holes cut into dense underbrush as well as some open holes. The lengths also vary, which is nice. I really like the layout and design overall. The tees and baskets are new; there are signs that show where the next tee boxes are and other than two holes, the walks to the next tee are simple. It's at a park, but the holes don't interfere with the park goers and there is only one place where you may walk past people, it's the walk from hole 10 to 11.

The three or so holes that play near the swamp are filled with flying bugs that dive bomb your hair and face. They don't bite, they just annoy; wear a hat. The cement tee boxes are elevated which can be complicated for those who have long run ups. It's been a dry summer, but if it rains a lot, the course can get a little swampy in some places (nothing too serious). When it rains a lot, mosquitoes will be lingering at certain holes so bring bug spray if it's been wet. There is also poison ivy in some of the denser areas off the fairways, so be careful looking for errant discs.

I believe the current rating of this corse is undersated. This is probably because it was receiving reviews prior to its completion. The more recent reviews have been much higher. Best free course I've played in CNY, hands down.

- variety of hole design; Most of the holes have a unique look which keeps the round interesting including many great basket placements. I never get bored playing this course
- signs for each tee including cement tee pads with the number of the tee on them
- Excellent mix of open and wooded holes
- variety in lengths of holes: There are some longer wide open holes for those who like to blast with mostly medium length holes with 1 or 2 short ones.

- some long walks between holes 10 and 11 and 14 and 15 I think
- Tee 7 can be hard to find even with a map
- no real good way to just play back 9 or front 9. Not a big deal unless your short for time

I live in Rochester and look forward to playing this course every time I go to Syracuse. This course is a lot of fun despite being in a park. Other park users never seem to get in the way of my rounds.I really like the variety in this course. I feel I can see lots of different looks all in one course. Highly reccomended

There is a good blend between woods and open holes. This course is a lot of fun and doesn't require any hiking; it's all flat!

The nice new tee-boxes are too high and make it dangerous to get aggressive on the long shots; it is understandable because of the marshy ground. Some woods holes need to have fairways manicured a little better. Some holes have no "good" choice.

Benefits the longer armed players.