Pros:
-three sets of tees marked with painted stones (red, blue, and yellow/gold)
-active maintenance (Shane was out mowing when I played); for a "rural" course, fairways/lines were not as rough as I expected, and the trees seemed trimmed appropriately
-although remote, there's an active disc golf community out here; Shane just hosted an MVP event last weekend and there are other tournaments - definitely a good course for competition and scoring separation
-good mix of holes (long, technical, wooded, open, etc.), with consistently good use of trees to shape lines and especially good basket placements and greens - e.g. holes 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, and 15 all had what I would call excellent greens and basket placement, and all of the others were good as well, using trees/brush/slopes/water as available
-absolutely not a "birdie or die" course, especially from golds; this made the high quality of the greens even more of an asset to the course
-good basket quality (they had one stolen in the past couple years, and were able to get funds to get all new Discatchers
-navigation was logical for a first timer, and the course map on DGCR is accurate (helped after hole 9 and after 13)
Some of my favorite holes:
1 - fairly long/open; gold tee behind trees which restrict line, basket on hilly surface by other trees
4 - long, (gold out and around) to one of those excellent basket placements I mentioned: a guarded green with both bushes near the basket and some trees farther out requiring skillful approaches
5 - first wooded shot with a very tough (but not exceedingly narrow) tunnel; uses a creek bed to effect before the green
8 - this was maybe my favorite, with some nasty stuff off to the left of the fairway and a guarded (by some rough/trees in front of and left of the basket) and treacherous (some slope away from the basket to punish long putt attempts or hot approaches) green
11 - nice hole which would probably be Mekusukey's signature; basket not visible from the gold tee, but up against the lake/pond and going past a classic windmill or some kind of farm structure
12 - straight shot up a road or path, basket in another guarded green off to the right of that fairway
14 - uphill over an intentionally rough upslope; wind definitely in play
15 - slight downhill; basket in a green amidst trees; choose a straight ahead gap or go around trees for a look
Cons:
-doesn't have concrete tee pads (surfaces were fine, but this might be different in wet conditions)
-currently no signs with distance
-no bathrooms on the course, can't remember if there were trashcans (really not a con to me)
-biggest problem: I don't live very close
-sometimes the gold tees were either not very far behind the blues or in slightly strange locations; e.g. in hole 4, it was nestled right behind an outcrop of trees. Having only played once, I have mixed feelings. It wasn't bad, but forced a shot out to the right instead of directly ahead from the tee. It made for a nice hole, but just seemed like a "different" tee placement. On others (e.g. 16) I didn't observe mandos, but moving the gold tee back actually allowed a wide outside line or an overhand shot. Shane mentioned that they plan to restrict to the tunnel shot in an upcoming tournament.
Other Thoughts:
There were several courses in the Shawnee/Seminole area that I had not played, so I took a day to make the drive from the Oklahoma City area. I knew that Mekusukey would be both the most challenging and most interesting, so I saved some energy for this one. I decided to play from the gold tees, and I shot a 61. I definitely left some strokes out there with poor approaches and missed putts, but overall I had some decent shots and a very fun round. The main downside was the heat (95-100 degrees), which meant I was exhausted and probably a bit dehydrated for the second half of the round. Even in that heat, Shane was out mowing by hole 14 and the course looked great for it. The long patch of grass he was mowing was the only unkempt area of the whole course. We were able to chat briefly and then even played the other Seminole course together. I happened to be wearing a Selah hat, so that led to a brief discussion about course design and John Houck, who happened to be up in Moore for a new design. This might be Shane's first course, but he did a great job and I'm glad he had the inspiration to use tribal land this way!
I was expecting it to be a little more raw/rugged, but I was very impressed with the condition of every hole. I did spend some time looking for discs off the fairway, and I was pleasantly surprised not to get any ticks or poison ivy or other bug bites. Maybe I just got lucky, but I think it reflects on the maintenance and the fact that this course was not as raw as I expected.
This was a really nice course, and I look forward to playing it again. I consciously gave it the same rating as some very nice courses in Norman/Oklahoma City that I play regularly. It might be a little bit more raw than some of my other 4.0 courses (no concrete tee pads and no signs), but it also has some positives (challenge level, hole diversity, course maintenance, much less busy) to balance that out. I have no complaints about the tee surfaces even without concrete, and I never threw to incorrect baskets. Navigation was no problem but I recall using the course map a couple times. It sounds kind of cliche, but it was a nice mix of technical and open shots, needing accuracy, line shaping, and some power. It was a very enjoyable and fairly challenging round of golf, and a course I would play regularly if it were within striking distance.
Rating discussion: As I said, I consciously rated it the same as my other 4.0 courses (currently Dolese and NE Lions in the OKC/Norman area). Perhaps I could rate it higher, but I didn't yet get the same "wow factor" vibe that I would associate with higher ratings. The holes were all pretty good/fair/challenging, but they didn't all stand out to me. Nevertheless, while revisiting my single round out there, I have tons of holes or shots I'd love to attempt again. (In disc golf, that's what keeps me coming back.) Courses tend to grow on me the more I play them, so I expect this would be an easy 4.5 after playing more here or with some small improvements. Thanks Shane and co! Keep up the good work and I'll be looking to get back out there.