Pros:
Lots of variety here - yes with this many holes you still get variety out of a predominantly long wooded course. There are a wonderful mix of uphill/downhill/crosshill/rolling hills, insanely wooded/wide open, water hazards including longer water carries, etc.
Risky greens. I love the risk associated with many of the greens and approaches which are right on the creek or one of the ponds. Many of the wooded holes also have greens that are
Balance. Good mix of long/short, and left/right/straight/s-curves.
Water hazards. Personally I love water hazards. I love forced crossings with bail out zones that accommodate lack of distance. I love the 'tight off the tee' semi-hidden muck hole on the lettered loop. It's nice to have a water hazard that generally makes a disc un-recoverable - that type of challenge really changes the mindset of some players and I love to see how they react and change up their selection.
Beautiful physical terrain with sweeping views, huge majestic trees, sharp drastic elevation along creek bed ravines, and lots of woods and waters style beauty. Definitely the physical type of terrain ideal for a disc golf course.
Multiple tees and multiple pins. I love the variety this introduces and allows players to mix up the skill levels needed, as well as allow groups of varying skills to play and enjoy together.
Cons:
The biggest downer was the shear repetitiveness of the wooded holes. I am the kind of player who LOVES wooded courses, but I was completely taken aback at how much this course started to wear on me. I wasn't necessarily on my game, but not throwing too bad. After eyeing some of the almost ridiculous lines off the tee, I stepped up and ripped drive after drive down the tunnels, watching and oohing and ahhing, only to get kicked into the brush by one tree or another. So, that brings up a secondary supporting con - the rough (and course in general) has a big poison ivy/oak problem. I've stated in my reviews before that I am a travelling player. I take time out of business trips and family vacations to play what appears to be superbly enticing courses. Idlewild did look superbly enticing, but when playing through with the family while on the way to Florida, worrying about quarantining our shoes and clothes due to poison ivy is a huge turnoff. Back to my original frustration regarding the layout, it just became too much and it took me far too long to admit the defeat. After a while, I began throwing a buzzz or other straight midrange disc anywhere from 2-3 times on the long wooded holes, then plunking in an easy putt for a 4. I found no real reward in ripping a driver down the fairway to achieve the perfect s-curve and maybe take a 2 or 3. To the contrary, the risk was high and punishment became awful as we tip-toed through poison ivy and thick brush.
The turf greens looked really neat in the pictures and were actually part of the draw to play the course, but in person they look REALLY tacky. The ugly bright green turf applied over a flattened green, and lined with ugly concrete bollards was just that - UGLY. I'm a fan of natural courses, so not having the natural sloping banks along the stream, keeping them really risky, was a turnoff. I'm sure with the number of players at the course, erosion was a concern, and I give the crews credit for addressing it though.
No huge downhill bomber. Yes, you may argue that you can really rip a disc down hole #1, and I agree, I'm talking the ski hill style downhill hole is missing.
The signs were nice but I didn't feel they really depicted the hole or the pin placements. With the number of pins and long blind holes, I found myself very often walking a few hundred feet down the fairway to get a better look.
Despite touting multiple tees, this really isn't the case as many holes have just one finished tee. I personally find this frustrating in trying to play a certain type of round at a specific skill level. Say I'm playing with my wife who is throwing the short tees, and I'm playing the long tees - when they're shared or often just one tee, or jump around from one to two to three tees, it's frustrating and not at all a consistent skill based complete round - calling a single tee both a red and a white/blue level tee and hole design is nonsense and a copout.
There is also a mix of basket types out here and some were just plain old junk, homemade (looking) with single rows of chains. 24 common baskets would be much nicer.
1001' across a field. Let me tell you again, with super tick grass off the runway, throwing a buzz three times down the middle, then going for a 40' putt, missing and taking a five, is WAY better than the minimal amount of reward in ripping two 450' drives and MAYBE making a 100' putt for a three!!!
Other Thoughts:
Overall, I was thoroughly excited to play Idlewild, and as the round started, that excitement kept building for the first few holes and as I looked around at other holes. Then we got to the letter holes and half of them were completely passable. The first downhill hole was nice, the mucky watering hole was great, and the carry across the pond was great - the others were bland and useless, including the one (or two?) after original hole 3 which are entirely boring.
After getting the lettered holes out of the way and entering the woods is when things picked up again because I love watching discs sail wonderfully through the trees. But as we kept getting beat down by the fortress of trees, and searching through discs in thick brush and poisonous plants, the wonder began to wear and even the ace run wooded holes on the unique a neat ridges and valleys couldn't raise my spirits much. Eventually I accepted the beatdown and threw straight down the middle for an uninspired and lackluster round. All the shiny polish wore off and Idlewild became a chore. We were happy to leave and continue on our way.
So, all the hype and all the enticement still exists, however playing the course fails to live up to the hype and hysteria. I understand the appeal completely, and I get the references to "Championship Calibur". It takes a GREAT player to concquer this course. Unfortunately with 400-600' holes playing s-curves through the woods, some luck is bound to play a role in any round. My luck was bad, I was far from championship style, and I decided to play lame-duck golf to avoid the punishment, and I still scored decent (deaming 4s and 5s decent enough compared to penalty of kicking deep into the brush and taking 6s and 7s). Idlewild was beautiful, challenging, decently balanced, and full of variety - it just wasn't fun!