Pros:
Where to start. If you like a challenging course then this one is for you. Hole #1 is an open field shot with a slight downhill ending in a clump of trees to the right. The rough to the right is brutal and the field mowing to the left can hide discs just as well. Congratulations, you just played one of the easier holes here at Hickory. And so it begins a two hour romp through one of the toughest courses around. As you meander through tight wooded holes and deceptively open holes you can't help but think man when does this get easier?
It does when you get back to your vehicle and realize you have just made it through alive.
I like the long tight wooded holes because they make you throw different -S- lines while still being fair.
The open holes with those pesky Berry Traps(these things are 20 to 25 foot circles of very thick sticker bushes 8 to 10 feet high)stragically placed make each shot a sphincter twitcher.
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Cons:
Beginners and beer drinkers are going to think this is just an awful course and probable not return. It is not (NOT) a fun course for leisure play. No trash cans, no concrete teepads,one short fairly easy hole(15),no benches,no teesigns and lots of places to loose plastic.You have snakes and poison Ivy and nettles(this is just in the fairway)and stickers/thick brush roughs on both sides of narrow fairways.
Other Thoughts:
This is a work in progress and will take lots of upkeep but it has a potential for being one of the best courses around. This could end up a 4.5 rated course when it gets beat down and concrete pads are in.
Pros and Advanced are going to love this place. It rewards excellent and precise.One nice throw on a par four and you are putting for an eagle. Miss early and you could be looking at a 5 or 6.
You have another course at Campus Lake that the hackers can have fun on and there are very good restuarants here in Carbondale that cater to almost any taste.