Pros:
I came to Dragan Field expecting two things based on the reviews and its location in Southern Maine. 1. Generous Pars. 2. A lot of muck.
It delivered on the first, which can be either a pro or a con, but I was very happy that it failed to meet my second expectation. It had been raining for a few days and my shoes were still wet from Pleasant Hill the day before. After seventeen holes, my shoes had actually dried out while playing Dragan Field.
Beyond that, it was a really fantastic course. It wasn't an wide open course but it wasn't a woods course either. A ton of the fairways were just nicely shaped, original holes, that have a bunch of replay value.
When i say its not open or woodsy, what I mean is that a lot of the holes feel open, but require you to hit specific gaps as there trees on the fairways, probably planted there specifically to force your shot. This is an old course, so I feel safe in saying that this course wasn't cut out of the woods in some places, but that the trees were grown to give each hole a unique character.
Short par threes that seem too easy if you see the distance but then make you think when you have to play it. (Hole 3) is short but there is an immense OB of woods in the middle of the fairway. You have to throw it about 1540 feet and THEN hook it sharply if you want a chance at two. Awesomely, you can try going left or right. (Hole 10) is real short lengthwise but the tee faces a twenty foot cliff. Throw it up and over the cliff, then another 150 feet where the cage sits on a raised platform.
There's a few strangely shaped fairways that require you to first go one way, then the other to stay on the fairway. Hole 6 is the most obvious example.
Great signage, with a ton of info on the tees, and almost unnecessary arrows pointing the way at the cages. Great flowage for most of the holes.
Cons:
I mentioned earlier that my shoes had dried out by hole seventeen. Well hole eighteen quickly undid all the sun's good work. Could not find a place to walk up that fairway.
I'm not sure if the generous pars in the area are really a con, but they should be noted. Really, it's all relative though. You shoot what you shoot on that course and where you fall compared to an arbitrary number doesn't really matter. It's fun to struggle to stay under par, sure, but it's more fun to compete against your own best score from the same course, no matter where the par is set.
The balance of holes going right to left was a bit high for my taste. RHBH guys will obviously love it but I like a few par threes to swing right so I have a chance at par.
Several of the holes do suffer from my least favorite feature in a course, the too-small tee pad. In most cases there was space on the side, but I'd rather see natural then cement that I can fall off of.
There are a few times where the tees are near a different fairway. Someone putting on eight is in the crosshairs for someone driving on six, for example.
One last quibble, hole eleven does shoot downwards towards a few small ponds, where you can not see them from the tee. This isn't a fun challenging water shot. This is a spot where from the tee, you could hit water and not be able to tell if your disc actually went into the water or not. Didn't happen to me, but when I saw the water there was a moment of panic.