Pros:
Mostly wooded holes that have plenty of elevation, and they use it very well. Starting with the first hole, the tee is in a powerline ROW, over the crest of the hill and downhill toward the lake, basket right in the middle of the ROW.
Good DISCatcher baskets, but the natural tees hold the rating down on this one.
The 3 main water holes 2,3 and 17 can provide as much challenge as you want. They all have alternative tees with no water carry.
9 additional holes have been added, interspersed along the Front 9. A few of these are open holes, but most continue in the heavily wooded terrain.
Good flow of holes around this nice, medium sized park, with lake views, past campgrounds, horseshoe pits, picnic shelters and boat launch. You really get a tour of all the facilities here, without interfering with any of them.
Very creative tee signs, not a great hole map, but they do have elevation change!
Park office right at the first tee, with restrooms and water available.
Practice basket is provided, even though it is in a small area, on a hillside.
Cons:
Natural tees. While most holes were technical and fairly short, they weren't a huge issue, but a more solid surface would be much better.
The flow of several of the additional 9 appears to be a little awkward, so I only played a couple of those, more on that later.
One basket was a little close to a camping area (if it was truely a campsite). #17, basket sits on a gradual downslope (toward the lake) with many trees along the shoreline. The day I was there, someone was camping right near the basket, with their wet clothes drying on the basket! He was sitting right there, so I didn't play the hole and didn't even approach.
Really, not any other Cons.
Other Thoughts:
Really fun course to play, this was my third of the 3 North Central North Carolina monster courses. I have to agree with the current ratings, this ranks in the middle of The Kraken and Rockness Monster.
Mayo Lake is a typical lake created for flood control, water supply and power, so several rivers flow into the lake. This provides steep ravines along these valleys, one that was used very well was on #3. The tee shot crosses the inlet, up a steep hill with the basket 40-50 feet up the hill, the hillside was cleared pretty well. I threw this one and it was a thrill to see my tee shot land on the hillside, and not catch an edge and rollaway.
The only open holes (of the original 18) were #1, 5 and 8. #5 uses the same powerline ROW, first level, then downhill. #8 uses a smaller ROW, with a bend to the right, great use of that space.
The technical, wooded holes offered just about every combination of hole you could ask for level, uphill, downhill, left turning, right turning, just about every hole is different and they are mixed in very well. #6 seemed to be about the only one that didn't have sufficiently cleared fairway.
As I was heading out, I saw the road to the section of the course where #5 was. I played it so bad the first time through, I wanted another shot at it. Didn't do much better the second time around. Since I was there, I decided to play the C and D holes. C is a 535' downhiller, wide open with great grass, crosses a gravel drive then narrows near the basket. I threw a good enough drive, faded a bit, but short of the gravel road, then the second shot was probably the most straight, long throw I've made in a while, and it nested right below the basket! Walked down, picked it up from under the basket and dropped it in for a 3, perfect birdie there. After playing D, I walked past the tee sign for C, 535' - Par 3!! I played it perfectly ... and got a Par!!
I see this year that a Local club will be having a rotating league, here, at Rockness and a private course, this is the type of course that you will want to play a lot, the variety is great, and there are challenging holes. The elevation here gives you quite a workout, but you will be happy with what you accomplished.