Pros:
East Clayton is a stand-out course in Johnston County. Over time, as more people give it a try and/or update earlier ratings when the course was rougher and dealing with construction, I expect the rating to go up. I certainly think it's top 25 worthy in North Carolina. It's most certainly better than a few top 25 courses I've played.
+ CHALLENGING. This is absolutely one of the toughest courses in the Triangle. If you want to test your game, this is probably the best track around to do that. And I'm talking about the White tees and the Blue tees.
+ The alt tees are really well done. Many are from completely different angles to the holes -- not just shorter versions of the Blue tees. Hole 1 is a great example of this. From the Blue tee, it's 370 feet over a retention pond. From the White tees, you walk around the retention pond and the fairway is wooded, shorter, and basically perpendicular to the Blue layout.
+ This course made me play so many different discs and every shot I could come up with and then some. There's great variety. I thought it was very lefty/righty neutral.
+ The setting here is really nice. The park is pretty and well maintained.
+ While this course is extremely challenging and heavily wooded, I thought the fairways were fair. Longer holes have wider fairways. There are true par 4's on both layouts and some par 5's on the Blue layout. And these are true par 4's and 5's with landing zones for the 2nd and 3rd shots (not just par 3's with extended distance).
+ The tee pads are large, level, rubber pads on top of wood and gravel foundations. They are very well done.
+ Navigation was simple and intuitive. There is good signage from both sets of tees, Next Tee signs, marked pathways to each hole. You'll have no problem as a first-timer here.
+ New baskets, and I love the recently installed markers for circle 1, helping you see precisely if you are inside the circle or not for putting.
+ Not a ton of elevation, but some. There are some nice, sweeping downhill hzyer holes (always one of my favorite types of holes).
+ Fun and interesting greens, including some baskets on elevated rocks with good risk/reward decisions.
+ This course is up there on the fun factor scale for me.
Cons:
I struggle to find much to nit-pick at this course. I think many of the previous reviewers who dinged East Clayton for construction, missing holes, or not-beaten-in fairways should give it another shot. It's one of the best taken care of parks and courses in the Triangle.
- If hole 1 played over a nice looking pond instead of a mud pit retention pond, it would likely be one of the most memorable holes in the Triangle.
Other Thoughts:
There's not much to quibble with on this course. Trying to think about the course this most reminds me of and it's a tall task. I don't think I'm over-selling it to say that Castle Hayne, which is a classic NC course near Wilmington, is the most similar to me (types of holes, lengths, variety, the density of the woods, punishing rough, mix of par 4's). The big difference being the feel of the courses (Castle Hayne being flatter, beachier, and probably even tougher rough). I got a similar feeling after playing those two courses too: BEATEN DOWN. Go see if you can tackle it!