Two new (Veteran) baskets per hole.
Two tee locations (long 5'x15' concrete, short toeboard) per hole.

The elevation changes, ranging from mild to moderate, represent the entire gamut.

Most holes have a walking path, typically quite visible, in/near play.
Many holes have another's tee/fairway/basket relatively near.

Some of the concrete tee are too smooth and/or too flush to the ground, so can be slippery.

Some drainage issues near holes 8-9, currently being addressed.

This course is set in a multi-purpose park, and is intertwined with walking paths in its near entirety. The park is very popular, the course more so, therefore if you come to play on a mild weekend day, expect a very slow game, as the course will be packed, and the walking paths will be in frequent use by non-players.

From the tee, only a few holes would be considered tight - some are openish, and most provide decent-sized throwing lanes. A few holes let you choose which window you'd prefer to hit.

Approach shots will tend to be more challenging, as most baskets are guarded by some number of trees (only one hole is poke-n-prayish), and/or the greens can be a bit fast.

Depending upon tee/basket choice, distances can vary greatly, from a sub-100' ace run, to 500'+, although most will fall into the 225-425' range.

Favourite hole: #13. A valley shot, with the baskets being higher than the tees. Scattered trees early/mid create window choices from both tees, then trees late offer a couple windows to approach the baskets.

There are a lot of good holes here, unfortunately crammed a bit upon each other, and with the (nearly) omnipresent walking path. A great play when not crowded, not so much when a traffic jam.

All new baskets - 2 on every hole. Really good, new tee pads. A ton of clearing was done. It's well maintained. There's still some good elevation changes, although less than old Rockburn. If you play to the long baskets, new Rockburn is still a challenging course.

There remains a lot of other Park users on the course - nothing new here. In fact, there could be more park users than before - the park seems more popular now that a lot of clearing has been done. There are places where you have to wait for pedestrians and there are places where you could hit pedestrians. The course has been here for years, so most non-DGers on the course know they're walking on a DG course. Most are very polite and they tend to yield to the DGers rather than demand the reverse.

If you know anything about Park planning, you know that most Park managers do not want traffic in and around moving water, creek beds, etc. They especially don't want people crossing creeks via large rocks or wooden platforms. Old Rockburn had all of that, including creeks that you had to cross. It's not surprising that eventually, Park management put a halt to it. I've always been surprised they allowed it in the first place.

So.... with the mandate to remove the holes and foot traffic near the creeks, you had to figure that the re-design was already facing an uphill battle. I believe that by removing access to the creek areas, there was a less desirable plot of land to work with. I also believe that the maximum value was reached with what was left to work with and that's why I gave it a 3.5 rating. Add 2 new baskets and concrete tees on each hole into the mix and the trade-off isn't that bad. New Rockburn has GREAT amenities with the re-design, but it's not as good as old Rockburn.

Last time I played new Rockburn was a Sunny day in mid-January and the course was packed with pedestrians. Nearly all of them yielded to the DGers because the course has been here for years and the locals know the deal. My experience with Rockburn is that it has the coolest pedestrians - they don't have the attitude that your playing DG on their hiking trail.

New Rockburn is still a good course and I'll drive 45 minutes to play there every single time I get the call from my crew saying "we're playing Rockburn". Sure, I'll miss old Rockburn - especially the old back 9; everyone I've talked to misses the old back 9. But everyone also LOVES the new baskets and new tees and Rockburn remains a better-than-average course. Despite the course being a little less than what it used to be, my prediction is that it's going to become even more popular than it was.