Pros:
An 18-hole course (19 with the practice hole) playing at a mountain ski resort. Differs from a lot of ski resort courses by playing from the resort up instead of the lifts down. This does result in it being free to play but I wonder if that will remain as the owners realize they may be leaving money on the table. All players much check in and sign a waiver at the upstairs bar and grill before playing and while there you should be able to pick up a map which will aid in navigation. There is a practice basket for putting at the foot of the giant wraparound deck that players can warm up on. From there, players then can choose to walk up the road to hole 1 or to throw the practice hole up the slope, a cool feature that actually makes this a 19-hole course and a good opportunity to let at least one rip before you start keeping score, because depending on where you are coming from the 7000 foot elevation is going to significantly alter the flight of the disc. The basket for the practice hole is an old single row of chain Discatcher newly repainted but the 18-hole course has all new 28 chain Discatchers. The first 5 holes play up the mountain in a forest grove alongside the ski patrol road. All five holes are fairly short but highly technical with baskets being placed in strategic positions for interesting results. The rock outcroppings are really used to help shape shots and make putting more challenging. At the top of hole 5 are gorgeous views of Lake Angela below, and a chance to catch your breath from all the uphill. Hole 6 is a little 252' downhill run that should have been quite easy work, but the strategic placement of the tee pad back from the edge and the little rock outcropping straight ahead and the low hanging grove of trees over the basket combine to make this a really interesting shot. From there the holes play back and forth the mountain while continuing to make the climb up. Hole 10 was a really cool throw over a gully to a basket up on a huge rock with quite the drop off in front, made for a very interesting hole. Hole 16 is the biggest hole on the course coming in at a 780-foot par 4. It is downhill but not so steep to make this an easy get. With OB on the left and a cliff face on the right with disc eating bushes at their feet it makes for a rather narrow gap as you throw down this corridor to a right dogleg. Overall, an interesting throw and quite challenging. Hole 18 is the true "top of the world" shot playing from the cliff ledge down to resort below. I actually got dejà vu when I first approached this hole it reminded me so much of the final hole at the Solitude Open playing down to a basket just in front of the resort or sometimes into the resort with the lift on the edge. Just a great finesse downhill throw, no driver needed to cover the 550-foot distance.
After the round we hit the bar and grill and were pleasantly surprised by pretty great food, now it might just be I was totally exhausted and hungry after the round, but it definitely hit the spot. Surprisingly this restaurant stays open year-round to deal with all the hikers in the area, as remote as it is it would have to be good to stay around very long.
Cons:
Con #1 I am woefully out of shape.
Con #2 I am woefully, woefully out of shape.
Con #3 There is no one to carry oxygen tanks around for me because I am woefully out of shape.
Con #4 There is no hostess to bring me water (or beer) around the course because I am so out of shape
Con #5 There is no one to drive me around on a quad while playing because I am really, really out of shape.
Con #6 No Benches for me to sit on because I am really out of shape, but wait that might actually be a real con.
But seriously real cons,
All kidding aside, this type of epic mountain golf may be too extreme for a number of players, (children, elderly, flatlanders in general, and the epically out of shape). There is a lot of uphill to get those couple of downhill shots in.
The Course is seasonal, obviously, it plays on the hills of a ski resort, after all.
Navigation and lack of signage. There are tee signs displaying hole number and sponsors but no hole maps at any of the tees. There were a few times I would have liked to know which way I was throwing, there is a lot of strenuous walking out here without adding more to check for basket location. They have done an excellent job of pointing you to the next tee using little pink sprinkler flags to mark the trails but there were a few times where it got a little confusing. They do give you a map in the beginning so a minor quibble, but still there.
Safety: "Top of the world" and splay problems. Donner 's Hole 18 suffers from the same problem that most "top of the worlds ala Delaveague, Solitude, and a host of others have and that is the huge splay pattern they produce from throws. Hole 18 is a huge "top of the world" throwing downhill at a very steep angle and as such it is extremely easy for a disc to glide and to overthrow your target or drift far off course. Unfortunately, this puts it into conflict with the practice hole and practice basket, and even the resort and restaurant itself, not to mention the parking lot if you really cook it. And like all the other "top of the worlds" leaves a choice of dealing with the huge splay problems or changing the epic hole to a more mundane one. I am not advocating for change just calling out a safety issue that is present. When you are down below keep an eye out on discs coming your way and on the top watch where you throw.
Other Thoughts:
The cons I listed are mostly nitpicking and if you like watching your disc fly, there are few places where you will get to enjoy doing that as much as here. Your enjoyment of this course is really going to come down to whether or not you enjoy mountain disc golf. Some people love it, some people hate it. I treat these ski resort courses as kind of a vacation from my normal throwing patterns. If this was my daily every day course, one I would probably have a stroke, I'm so out of shape, two, I probably wouldn't play nearly as much. This is more like an occasional dessert to be savored. And in that this course delivers.
I am on the fence with the overall rating of the course. I honestly would really love to give it about a 4.25. I do not think it is quite polished enough for a 4.5 but it is better than an average 4 star. This is where I wish the DGCR rating system would give a little more flexibility. I did give the course the bump to 4.5 one because I did not want the first review to rate it down, and two it has a bar and a grill on site, future pro shop, and all for free which is rare to find at most mountain resort courses, and 3 the course is brand new and will probably still improve.
I also cannot help but compare this to one of Getty's other courses Zephyr Cove in the way it plays and lays out and the general terrain of the area. They both play up for the first few holes to be rewarded by a short downhill and then you play back and forth until you get to the top of the world shot. You do not get the famous views of Lake Tahoe from this course but this one does have a bar and a grill.
This area is a hiker's paradise with a lot of history in this area, directly across the road from the resort is a parking area for hiking to beautiful lakes as well as the Central Pacific Snow Shed Tunnels, as well as a lot of other history. There is also a lot of rock climbing and mountain biking as the area is perfect for it.
On the final note, this is a dream mountain course. This is what Tahoe disc golf is all about. I wish every mountain resort had a course just like this one. This is absolutely beautiful! You cannot go wrong taking time out of your summer to play this course. This in an epic course and another jewel in the crown that is Tahoe Disc Golf.