Pros:
The first thing that struck me when I started playing this course was how well the designer(s) incorporated the natural landscape with the DG Course. It seems often that course designers will try to fight the landscape and things don't always mesh well. I would put Deven's Hill probably in the top 3 of best "meshed" courses I have ever played! After playing the round, I don't know that I could have improved much of anything in terms of design.
- Baskets in excellent shape
- Excellent signage along the course
- Fantastic terrain!
- Challenge! If you're tired of easy multiple under par types of courses, Deven's is a breath of fresh air.
- Very well thought out course design
- Wonderful tee signs that incorporate elevation gain/loss (very helpful on a mountain course)
- Very clean, hardly any trash
- Along with the signage leading you around the course, the designers placed the teepads far enough out of harms way, without leaving you any crazy walkouts, which is quite difficult given the terrain.
- Looking at the courses website, they seem to have a strong local contingent maintaining the course regularly.
- There is a huge multi-sport field at the parking lot to warm up your arm at.
- Porta-John at the parking lot to do your business at (and the cleanest porta-john I've ever used!)
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Cons:
It is kind of hard for me to come up any real "Cons". There were surely some out there, but from an overall standpoint, they just don't seem too important.
-Teepads: The teepads are all natural dirt. They didn't bother me too much as there aren't too many shots where a full power run-up is justified. However, some of the teepads had roots popping out of them in bad places, some had boulder tips, etc. I think the course could benefit from elevated teepads with maybe rubber flypad style pads on top, similiar to some of the holes at Maple Hill. Hole 18 especially could use some help. The front half of the pad had a big root AND a large boulder tip sticking out.
-The course could be a bit dangerous if you're not careful while you traverse down some of the hills. I would suggest that ppl don't play the course and drink too much, it might lead to a serious accident trying to get down some of the declines.
-I can't remember trash cans on the course, but I also don't remember any trash lying around?! Maybe the ppl of Deven's have figured out the "pack in, pack out" rule better than the DG community as a whole?
-I didn't see any water fountains near the course. It'd be a good idea to bring a snack and some water with you during the round.
- Deven's is not a good place for golfers that who are not in good physical shape. I wouldn't suggest it for anyone suffering from a heart condition either.
-Also, I can see A LOT of ppl having a problem with how difficult the course is. That is legitimate, I suppose. To those ppl, I would suggest that they refrain from playing Deven's, and go play one of the other 95% of courses that are, frankly, too simple.
Other Thoughts:
This is the kind of course where they need to send a professional photographer out there to get shots of the holes, including tee shots and greens. I think that proper, professional fotos would do way more justice than someone just writing about the course.
I've played nearly a hundred courses around the nation, and Deven's just made my top 10 list after only one round. That's pretty good considering I have a serious distaste for natural teepads.
Normally, I won't vote any course with natural teepads above a 4, but with how well this course was designed, and how much I enjoyed just about everything about it, I'm rating it 4.5.