Pros:
A variety of shots through the woods. Nice, dual concrete tee pads. The fairways are groomed and well maintained, and the rough isnt really that rough. Usually its pretty easy to see the pin from the hole (orange on top). Several holes play up, down, or across giant hillside, which makes for some interesting shots. No water at all means less discs eaten. Very pretty. A few holes have little fairway, just a maze of big trees that you have to thread through to get to the pin. All the trees make for a more challenging approach and mid-range game, and accuracy makes a big difference in driving, since many holes are not that long, just uphill and tricky. Nice mixture of long and short holes. Nice views from the hilltop.
All concrete tees, dual tees on all but one or two holes. About half the holes (2,6,7,8,9,11,15,17) have an alt pin placement that I know of, and they do occasionally switch one up here and there, so check before throwing.
Cons:
No signs at the teepads to tell you the hole layout. The few blind shots are hard because you dont know where the pin is. (Hole #9 especially) Discs can be easy to lose in the long grass uphill from front nine, so watch for ticks in june if you go in after an errant throw. Bushes and terrain make discs easier to lose than you would think, so use a spotter.
Also, course navigation is confusing at points, and without a local, its easy to get turned around in several places and be unsure of where to go next.
Here's a guide to navigating the confusing spots:
Hole 1 is the basket uphill on the wooden tier. Both tee pads for 1 (pro and am) are in the raised flat area between the drainage field and the giant open hill past the soccer fields.
Take a left through the trees for hole 2.
After hole 7, walk down the path. Go past the first tee pad you come to. The second tee pad is hole 8, which plays to your left, around the giant pines.
After hole 12, walk up the hill to the small path to the left into the woods, NOT the wider path to the right.
After 13, Tee 14 is to the right.
After 14, take a left through the woods to get to 15.
At 15's basket, tee 16 is a left through the woods
At 16's basket, cut through the woods to your right to get to 17.
At 17, past the basket, in the back left corner of the area of scattered trees bounded by shule, is the path to hole 18.
In general, one of the things that holds Elver back has been maintenance. Compared to the other two Madison courses, its a little careworn. However, in Spring 2009 they are making great strides to correct this, adding terraces, hauling away trash, and laying down course sand on the walking paths between holes, and around tees. The course is getting a facelift that will continue throughout the year. Once that's done, along with new tee and navigation signs, this course will be a 3.5. It's every bit as fun as Heistand, and alot closer if you are on the West side.
UPDATE 08/2010- This year, Elver has gotten a serious facelift. Terraces have been added for erosion control around many baskets and tees. Sand has been put down on walkways between holes, and around tees. Teeposts at every hole, hole maps should be added soon. All very nicely done. Also, rough has been cleared on many holes, most notably hole 9, on the hillside and to the left. This makes it a better course, so Ive bumped it up to 3.5 from 3 as a result.
Found myself using only half my bag on this course, for several reasons. Most holes either long or short, so I either threw a driver then a putter, or the driver twice, then a putter. My midrange and hard hyzer discs only came out of the bag once each, and i didnt use my water disc at all. So bring a max d disc, fairway driver, tomahawk disc and a putter/approach disc, and go to town on this course. The layout is not too tricky that you cant play the whole course with those four easily.
Not to say that this course is not challenging, just that its the kind of challenging that has a definite learning curve, ie. the constant hilly terrain and trees just took a little getting used to for someone like me used to three varieties of dg course:
1)desert courses with some terrain
2)wide open flat with few trees.
3)wooded flat
This is none of the above. Welcome to Wisconsin DG.
Other Thoughts:
Print a course map and take it with you, and you will have a great time. Overall a nice, pretty course with a good replay factor, but nothing amazing, and not super tricky, though there is definitely a learning curve. Players of all skill levels should be able to enjoy this course, assuming the beginners are focused on finesse, not distance (if you bomb every throw w/ no control, this course might frustrate you, ie. bring long pants, bright discs and tick spray)
Gets really crowded once it opens in the spring, like the other two Madison courses do, so if you come on weekends or afternoons, expect to wait around a bit. Also, on holes 2-4, watch out for random people running around or sitting on the hill before throwing.