Pros:
Renaissance - Pro Players is the newest layout that has been designed for Renaissance Park. This layout helps serve as a pseudo-replacement for the now defunct Renaissance - Grey. I am going to try my hardest to not let my rose-tinted nostalgia goggles skew my opnion of Pro Players, despite having loved the Grey Course. While this course won't maul you the way Renny Gold will, its teeth are much sharper than RenSke's! If I lived on the west side of Charlotte, this would probably become one of my favorite courses to play because as much as I love playing Renny Gold, it's definitely not the kind of course people want to, or have time to play daily (myself included).
The park hosts a bunch of volleyball courts, tennis courts, biking trails, has restrooms to use, plentiful parking etc. The course has concrete tees on every hole (except 18, which as a rubber tee), color-coded DISCatcher baskets, and tee signs that include a map, distance, par, and the Hole number.
What Pro Players does really well, is streamline the Renaissance experience. Pro Players features many of the classic Renaissance tropes people who love the Gold course have come to enjoy. Tight must make gaps, daunting greens that require nerves of steel when putting, and a fun mix between open holes and technical wooded ones. It also manages to shave off portions of Gold that can become frustrating to play, such as low lying sections that hold water for a while after the rain.
The holes manage to do enough to distinguish themselves from the Gold course, that it doesn't feel like you are just playing the short tees of a longer course. This is apparent from Hole 1, when you are playing a brand new hole, to a basket that is only used on Pro Players. Just like other Renny courses, you'll need a variety of shots to score well here.
There is a lot of work being done to the disc golf courses at Renaissance Park. The course features new wooden bridges, new stairs to Hole 18's green, new benches, etc. If these improvements continue, I'd be a very happy golfer.
Navigation is almost a non-issue at this point. Unless you think you know better than the countless signs directing you to the next tee, it would be pretty hard to get lost here. But Pro Players does still overlap with Gold, so there is always going to be room for improvement. In the meantime, if you want to get a condensed version of the Renny experience, Pro Players is the course for you.
Cons:
Pro Players largely suffers from the same things the other Renny courses suffer from. The rough here, is very rough. And while most holes do their best to avoid some of the worst areas of the park, there is no escaping the gorge of doom. Every so often work is done to fight back this area of the course, but there doesn't seem to be a long term solution for keeping the course tournament ready.
Some of the tee signs are a bit inaccurate. Hole 4, for instance, is listed as a unique Par 3, but plays the same as Renny Gold's #3, which is a par 4. I prefer to play the par 4 anyway, so it's not a huge deal to me. I don't even remember Hole 18 having a tee sign. If I wasn't familiar with the course, I wouldn't have been able to find it - and I wouldn't have known that it plays as an island green.
Some of the concrete tees could use a facelift. Some are rough and uneven, though that is also what makes them easy to play from when wet.
Many of the holes on Pro Players are actually just one hole from Gold that has been cut into two holes. This was done with mixed results. Holes 17 & 18 ended up turning out real well. Hole 16 on the other hand is clearly nothing more than a filler hole. The gap you're forced to try to hit doesn't really exist and just feels uninspired. It is also a shame that Gold #14 wasn't featured at all on the course, it has a really interesting putting green.
Pro Players's gravest sin though is how it overlaps with Renaissance Gold. It is what causes confusion when you're in the woods behind Hold 3 - and is what creates a hold up while playing on a summer day. Said woods can also be a bit of a hazard to the unwary golfer who doesn't understand the way the two courses are laid out. The fact that Renaissance Gold is a bit of a staple in my eyes, this definitely brings the rating of this course down for me.
Other Thoughts:
Pro Players was designed with the purpose of streamlining Renny Gold's layout so that the park could do a better job hosting tournaments. I think it does a pretty good job of this, but personally still think that Renaissance Gold winds up being the better, more interesting course. If a PDGA Major is ever held at Renaissance Park, I'd rather watch the pros playing Gold.
However, it also managed to create a bite-sized version of the course that is both fun, and manageable for daily play. If Pro Players was on property by itself it would probably deserve a higher rating, but I don't think I could give it more than a 3.5 with the way Hole 8's fairway literally throws over a fairway from the Gold course.
I hope improvements are continued to be had here, because this park is already what I would call a must visit destination for disc golfers, and the option for a quicker round is very much appreciated!
Favorite Holes: 3, 8, 10, & 18