Pros:
- All that I Hoped it Would Be. I have seen enough video of the Vibram Open to have been set up for a huge disappointment... however, Maple Hill was all that I hoped it would be. All the memorable holes from the videos (1, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18) lived up to expectation.
- 4 Options. With each hole having two tee-pads (sometimes more) and two pins, Maple Hill had 4 options for play: red, white, blue and gold. Every tee-pad and pin had two color-coded flags designating the tee/pin for that hole. The system of flags - in combination with the tee-signs - worked really well, and I never had any trouble identifying what was what.
- Championship Level. Maple Hill has it all when it comes to "what a championship level course is supposed to be": long, extremely demanding golf with opportunities for punishment, multiple water holes, several other OB features, numerous Par 4's, and fantastic amenities.
- Pro-Shop. There was a huge pro-shop stocked with nearly everything you could probably ever want. They had a great selection of plastic from all the brands (Innova, Discraft, Lat64, MVP, Gateway, Legacy, DiscMania, etc...), and had bags, straps, towels and anything else DG related. They also had snacks and drinks for sale.
- Pyramids is Down the Street. It's nice to be able to bag two courses in a new state and not have to drive very far to do it. Pyramids DGC is just down the street (apparently the cousin to the owner of Maple Hill). It's a fun course and worth bagging since you're going to be so close to it anyway.
Cons:
- Par 61. My only complaint about Maple Hill was the seemingly low Par as compared to other "championship level" courses I've played and love: Harmon Hills, Idlewild, Iron Hill, Nevin, Renny Gold, Fly Boy and all 3 at the IDGC. I would have loved to have seen three or four more Par 4's, and a few Par 5's out there.
Other Thoughts:
- I was the First Person to Play the New Hole 16. As I was playing the course, I could hear some chainsaw work going on. When I finished Hole 15, I was unable to find the tee-pad of 16. I walked up to the person with the chainsaw (Dave) and asked where the Gold tee-pad was... he told me they had to remove the tee-pad and redesign the Hole... which was a bummer because the hole had a fairly demanding water crossing off the tee. However, he also told me that he had just finished cutting the new fairway and I would be the first person to play the new Hole - Bonus! I went back and played the old hole too... crushed both drives and had birdie looks at both.
- Overall... With all the hype I've heard, and all the video I've seen, I could have easily been disappointed in Maple Hill... but I wasn't. Maple Hill was definitely worth the hype of being one of the best courses in the country. When you combine an amazing piece of private property, with championship level golf, famous holes that live up to the hype, multiple water holes, massive bombers over Christmas trees, old rock wall OB features, a complete package of amenities, beautiful scenery, and more... you get a disc golf destination like no other. Any serious disc golf course bagger would be foolish to be anywhere within 200 miles of this course and not go out of their way to bag it.
My Score: a very proud 63 from the Golds