Pros:
A dual pad 9er with good variety and a preponderance of grass and trees.
-Amenities: Concrete tees, signs with all info and map, Mach X baskets. Brooms, bag hooks, and trash cans at most tees. Practice basket and course kiosk/pay station.
-Foliage: To me, Mast sticks out most for the relatively high quantity of trees in play. Most holes have at least two hands of trees in play. This is a feature that I have found lacking in some desert and/or Southwest courses, which often feature more scrubby trees. Here though, there's a medium amount of shaping with plenty of grass.
-Dual Pads/Multi-Pins: Two pads per hole are a mixed bag of different shape, extra distance, and no real difference on one or two. The rotating pin positions will do a good job of keeping it fresh for repeat players. One small con is that I didn't see any system for indicating which pin positions were in play.
-"Friendly": Easy to navigate, well kept, beginner friendly, hard to lose discs.
-Shot Shaping/Gameplay: A good variety of par -3s from ace runs to strategic placements. The course plays perfectly for someone with about 300' of distance, as this creates some placement holes, some easy birdies, and lots of throws on the edge of their range. Trees are used almost constantly - some tunnels, some crashing through the canopy shots, and some tree lines creating a fairway border. A dry creek bed would also be a great addition to (5)-(8) if it filled up. The lines required range from simple to very nuanced. As an intermediate player, this was a lot of fun to have some holes that needed dissection but also some relief via shorter holes.
Cons:
To be honest, this is one of the few 9er s I can think of that doesn't feel like it needed more holes. Nonetheless, there are some clear limitations.
-All 3s: I've said it many times and I'll say it again - a course with some multi-shot holes is almost always superior to an exclusively drive and putt course. Mast offers a solid variety of distance and shape, but it doesn't offer true par-4s for anyone at MA3 level or above.
-Difficulty: There's a ceiling to the skill level of those likely to enjoy Mast, and I think it might exclude MA1. Someone with a clean 350' drive can dice this course. On the other hand, it hits a sweet spot for skill levels just below that.
-Capacity: As a 9er that gets played twice by many in one go, I don't see Mast holding a large number of groups successfully. There's usually some navigating around groups for me on a weekday morning.
-Basket Visibility: The grey DGA baskets need some neon to stick out amongst the trees. Pin position indicators would be a valid substitute.
-Fee: $4 per day fee. As far as pay-to-play goes, I'm happy with that.
Other Thoughts:
Mast is my go-to out of the San Diego trio of Morley, Greg Rogers, and Mast. This could be due to its more treeful nature, since it reflects my original southeastern courses better than a lot of other courses in California. On the other hand, it could be because it struck a chord with me on my first play, and has solid and reasonably challenging lines. The definitely correct reason is that it's not the 2nd busiest course in the world (unlike Morley).
Is it a better course than Morley? Definitely not. It's also inferior to Kit Carson in Escondido. Overall, it rides right on the line between Typical and Good. But it should be a satisfying day of golf for most throwers, and it's an asset to the community.
~Similar Courses: Wills Park (Alpharetta, GA); A miniature MetCenter (Austin, TX); Steeplechase Park (Kyle, TX); Rob Wallace Park (Midland, NC).