Pros:
-Grade A treatment from check-in to cart return. It plays like a day at the golf course and feels like it too.
-Hole variance. From 200-600+ ft, these holes demand every shot in the bag. Course uses elevation, water, defined OB and cart paths to make things interesting. Good mix of backhand vs forehand tee shots.
-Caddy book. Provides a map with OB rules for each hole, as well as an overall course map.
-Signature holes. From the "island hop" par 4 to the 636 ft par 3 boomer to the hole #1 peninsula green, there were five or six holes here that I will both remember and long to play again.
-Two Words: Golf Carts.
Cons:
-Pay to play. I'm not opposed to this at all given the course quality, but holding disc golf to a standard of a free sport means that any time I pay to play it will inevitably be a con. Though in this case totally worth it.
-Poorly defined OB. So a course official informed us that the "natural grass" was OB. This made sense, except on holes where there were unkempt patches of neglected "natural grass" in and around the green. Given that there was a caddy book which marked these semi-frequent islands as "in bounds," that's how we played it. But frankly it was unclear and made us uneasy keeping score.
-Tees. Short and simple, for a course of this caliber, the tees were garbage.
-Navigation. Despite an awesome caddy book and individual hole maps, we missed badly on a few tees and almost played the wrong hole once.
Other Thoughts:
Hole #3: Splash. Splash. Splash. Splash. Four tee shots in the water. A forehand, a forehand flex, a hyzer flip and a spike hyzer. Hole 3 took each of us in the drink. Four intermediate/advanced players with totally different styles. It was raining though, and each shot was short. We laughed. Forget the cons, forget losing a disc; this course is worth you booking the next available tee time.
Dragons Breath plays like something you would watch on Jomez or SpinTV Disc Golf. The first few holes test your nerve over water. The middle section of the course demands touch shots on holes with elevation change, and planning when avoiding the bunkers. Sand traps are a bitch on this course. You think you've thrown a perfect shot, and all of a sudden you're putting from the sand after a penalty stroke. Some hole highlights:
-Hole #12: So imagine a golf course with 4 tee pads on a hole. Now back up 100 feet behind those pads and use them as the only in-bounds islands for a 280 foot par 4. You throw from the back, and can land on two tee-pad-islands or the tee-pad green. Yet if you fail, you move back to the last island you crossed fully in bounds. It's a challenge, a heart-stopper, and a brilliant disc golf hole.
-Hole #6: makes you feel like you're playing in the USDGC. 600 ft downhill par 3 with a massive fairway landing zone begging for the longest shot you've got. I threw a 475 ft forehand flex then stared at the daunting uphill approach past 2 guardian bunkers and gulped. Made the par.
-Hole #16: not a spectacular hole, but one of my two birdies. A touch forehand flex and playing plinko down the trees guarding the green.
All in all, the dragon beat me. I played in the inaugural day event, and took a +14. It was pouring, and slick, so minus my two quadrupole bogeys it was a solid round. Overall, my biggest complaint is that Dragons Breath is the only course where i run into the problem of getting distracted on my current hole by the awe of the next beauty looming in front of me. So despite the poor play, and lost disc, I'd say that's a first-world problem to have.