Pros:
-The course is conveniently located in the center of Houston next to the med center. It is one of the only courses inside the 610 loop so it is especially convenient for people who live near downtown.
-The course is the perfect difficulty for a beginner. The holes are relatively open but have some trees that must be accounted for, and none of the holes are too long.
-The course can be scenic when the conditions are good.
Cons:
-If you want to get a hole in one this is the course to do it on. Just about every hole can be reached with one throw so an experienced player can probably get a hole in one from playing no more than ten or twenty times. There is not much reason however to want to play the course repeatedly.
-The primary issues with the course stem from the fact that it is in poor repair from years of neglect. There are no tee boxes anywhere so it is impossible for anyone to navigate the course unless they are with someone who has played there before. Several of the baskets are damaged and one is missing altogether which technically makes this a 8 hole course. Also the grounds are not regularly maintained, so when I played most recently I had to walk through more than a foot of brush even in the middle of the fairways.
-The next biggest issue after the general disrepair is that the course is very rarely is playable condition due to standing water. The course is located in what is clearly a water retention basin, so it will continue to be muddy even after the surrounding areas have dried completely. If it has rained any time in the last week the course will likely be too muddy to play on.
-The third major issue is that a pedestrian walkway passes through the center of the course. None of the holes cross this path so if you have accurate throws you are not in danger of hitting anyone, but several of the holes do closely parallel the path so an inexperienced player might hit someone. On average I have to pause once or twice each time I play the course to let a pedestrian get out of the way.
-Some of the specific holes are poorly designed; the basket on hole 2 is in the middle of a small thicket so it is not visible from more than 20 yards away, the basket on hole 7 is next to a road so a disk might get run over, the basket on hole 4 is bent making the put from one direction much easier than the other, the best approach path on hole 5 goes over the pedestrian walkway for 40 meters so if anyone is there you cannot throw, and hole 9 is on the edge of an intramural field so I once could not throw because some runners were stretching next to the basket.
-Finally, while one of the pros of this course is that it is good for beginners, a major con is that it presents no challenge for an experienced player. I played this course many times for a rice physical fitness class and never scored over par on any hole.
Other Thoughts:
-While this course is still not playable, the people at Rice have recently remembered that it exists and they are beginning to take some steps to improve it. Many of the baskets have been fixed and made more visible and the grounds are now occasionally mowed to make playing easier. I believe there are even plans in place to replace the hole 1 basket, move some of the other problematic baskets, and replace the tee boxes. Right now the course is frankly bad but if these changes are made it has the potential to be an entirely competent pitch and putt style course. The course will never be championship quality, but it does have potential.