Pros:
This course is set in a stunningly beautiful and insanely huge state park with lots of other activities available. The course itself is well separated from any other activities so chances of injury to non-players is nil.
Each hole is marked with a tall 4x4 sporting a plaque with hole number and distance. The main 18 tee markers also house plaques with information on native vegetation and wild life. The main 18 and the alternate 2 also have short but level cement pads with great footing. Scorecards with a rudimentary map and pencils are available at the course kiosk.
Course flow is really nice with well-worn paths, good signage, and the scorecard map making navigation pretty painless. Even the cut-off and alternate holes for a round of 9 is well marked and obvious! Each hole is unique with a great combination and fairly even distribution of short, long, open, wooded, right, left, curvy, and straight holes. Many make exceptional use of the abundant and sometimes extreme terrain changes in the park. Distances of 177 to 544 offer fun and challenge enough for everyone. In general, the new 6 in the middle of the course offer the longest distances, the most evil and heavily wooded layouts, and the most extreme terrain changes, while 1-5 offers a chance to warm-up the arms and "get in-the-groove". #8B looks deceptively simple but a stand of trees in the middle of the fairway, a basket tucked into another stand of trees, a slight downhill, and prevailing winds makes it more difficult than you'd think. The tight trees and curving fairway of #9B will truly challenge your disc control and line choice. The fun continues through the entire course, right down to #24 with its narrow S-shaped fairway to a lightly wooded opening and basket tucked up next to a large bush.
Plenty of trash cans and several benches and picnic tables keep the full 24 clean and user friendly . The practice basket and picnic tables at the parking lot are a nice touch.
Cons:
Holes 1-4 are all of similar distances and parallel to each other in a semi open field, making them both a bit monotonous and slightly dangerous given the large groups of kids that play here who have distance but no control. There are also several places where the tee box of the next hole is directly in line with the basket of the previous, again giving overthrows a chance to be dangerous to others.
The new 6 have a very different feel from the rest of the course. The terrain is more rugged, the distances are huge, the foliage is dense, and the elevation changes are big! These holes are so much more difficult than the rest of the course, it's almost like playing a whole different course. No cement tee pads or distance markers have been installed here yet. Truly, this section reminds me a lot of the wooded section of Myles Kimmerly, but without the polish.....massive thinning of the forest on most of these holes is going to be necessary to make this section enjoyable (rather than just challenging and frustrating) to all but the biggest and most accurate arms. Gobs of "toss-and-pray" play here right now.
Other Thoughts:
There is a charge of $6 a day or $24 a year for entrance via a State Parks sticker. This sticker allows access to all Michigan State Parks for the day/year. Set to go into place October 1, 2010 is the "Parks Passport" bill that will add $10 to the cost of each Michigan Vehicle license plates, but will allow any car with Michigan tags free entrance into all State Parks. Either way, once in the park, play is free.
Shelters, water, and restrooms are spaced throughout the park although I didn't see any of the above at or around the course itself.
If you choose to play the new 6, you'll want sturdy shoes or hikers for the extreme elevation changes, and I'm thinking bug spray will be a necessity as these holes play around the edge of a swampy area/shallow pond.
Admittedly, we were there on Easter Sunday, but it appears that large groups of "young people" descend on this course regularly. We encountered lots of rude and destructive people during our short stay here. Other players threw in on us and almost hit me 3 times, large groups refused to let others play through, and generally loud and obnoxious behavior was rampant. (just sayin')