Pros:
-Brand Spankin' New Chainstar baskets! (all well seated and level!)
-Despite some unfortunate walk-outs, the course has great flow
-Some really fun and well though out tee-shots
-Challenging enough for higher skilled players to enjoy, but not so challenging to frustrate newer players.
-Elevation: Plenty of it, and used quite well.
-Well thought out green locations, well sheltered at times, and some are on the hillsides, forcing you to think a bit more about your upshot/drive than normal.
-Tee Signs! Every hole has a brand new tee-sign with hole distances.
-Great variety of shots, I was throwing backhand/forehand, and I could see a roller becoming handy in dry weather.
-Great variety of distances, from 160' all the way to a very difficult 415' hole with OB on both sides.
-Some holes have alternate positions already.
-No Kiosk, but hole 1 has a mailbox on the tee-sign with scorecards in it. And the scorecards have maps on them to help you navigate the walk-outs.
-Beautiful park in general.
-HUGE sheltered gazebo for tournaments/picnics/barbecues, etc
-Picnic tables spread out here and there around the course to take a break on.
-Restrooms open from early spring to fall.
-Course designed, prepped, and installed by the local disc golf community of Portland/Vancouver!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cons:
-Natural Tee pads! They suck, but they'll have to do for now. I think plans for concrete pads are in the works for Spring, at least I hope.
-The walk-outs are a pain the butt, but when you play the course, you'll see that it really wasn't avoidable. The course designer crunched pretty hard to figure out a viable option against this, and there just isn't one.
-There is a homeless camp very near the teepad for hole 4, there is a good chance they will not like us invading their area and will probably move further away. Either way, I spoke with them for a while today and they are cool, they enjoyed watching us drive and seem to be in good spirits overall.
-Only 12 holes (There is an 18 hole tournament layout in the works, though).
Other Thoughts:
This course is great. I'm really excited for the Vancouver DG community. Until Leverich, they have only had two courses, both were only 9 hole courses and neither one really offered much variety or challenge. Leverich, on the other hand, is a fantastic 12 hole course. So much variety in holes that it won't get boring very quickly, and it's a great course for dedicated practice. Like I mentioned earlier, there are holes from below 200' all the way to above 400'. All the holes follow the flow of the terrain perfectly, and many of the greens are molded onto the sides of the hills, forcing more contemplation, rather than just throwing it. Hole 11 is a really fun shot that is less than 200' but you're throwing essentially straight up a two story building and then hooking to the left.
Another thing is the travel time to get to Leverich. Leverich is right off of exit 2 on 5N. I live in SW Portland and it's actually faster for me to get to Leverich than to Pier Park (at least without traffic)! And I'm sure you can expect less crowding than Pier anytime, anyday.
Bottomline, it's been a long time coming for a nice course for Vancouver! Couverites no longer have to cross the river for good golf. Huge credit goes to Steve Carson for making all of this happen. Without Steve's vision/legwork, Leverich would not have happened!