Pros:
After a second trip, I've changed my mind. Pickerington isn't as friendly to beginners as I first thought. It remains forgiving from the short tees, with short to medium length at most. But the thorn-filled woods can come into play on almost every hole. It doesn't matter so much which type of fade or hook you put on your shot, as long as you can keep it straight.
The difficulty increases significantly from the long tees. My son and I played from a mix of short and long, and finished our 18 in two relaxed hours, with at least half a dozen trips into the thickets to chase our worst throws.
There's only one major slope on the parkland, but it's used to very good effect. The first four holes gradually work their way down the hill. 5-8 play along the base. 9 and 10 take a steeper line up and down. 11-16 are flat again. 17 and 18 are two tough uphills to close out the round.
Short tee drives are almost always have a clear path, with a few well-defined trees as obstacles. Beginners can stick with their most reliable shot and trajectory most of the time. Extremely thick brush lines the fairway on most holes, however. If you throw too far off line be prepared for some nasty thorns.
The basket placement when we visited was excellent. Although beginners could once again survive with their most reliable shot, it helps a lot to consider the best angle of approach. Many baskets were tucked tight against protective brush/woods either right or left. There were a couple baskets set into the trees, and two baskets set onto challenging, but very playable ledges.
One of the best visual features of Pickerington is the fairway grass. It was cut fairly short in early July. Very green and clean. The cement tees are standard and perfectly level: both long and short.
Favorite holes:
#4 - downhill for the drive, with woods on the left to restrict the best line of sight to the basket. Your approach needs to hold a fairly broad ledge, with the basket near the back-left edge.
#10 - significant downhill. Woods on the left. Scattered trees in the fairway and around the basket make this a blind shot, with a bit of luck required to get the drive close.
#11 - Short, flat and straight. Open drive, but then it shoots at least 60 feet into the woods for the approach/putt.
#17 - An extreme drive over out-of-bounds brush from the high platform long tee. From there it's another 250 feet uphill.
Cons:
Some of the thickest thorns we've ever seen on a disc golf course. There were a few times we could see our disc stuck in a patch less than 10 feet away, with no easy way to get there, let along swing through a recovery toss. Our fault for finding the rough.
Course navigation isn't always intuitive, and the walks to the next tee aren't always marked. You need to swing around the 7th tee to get from 11 to 12. And you have to walk the length of the 5th hole, and more, in order to get from 16 to 17. Be sure to pick up a scorecard: it includes a map of the overall routing.
Other Thoughts:
Depending upon your level of play: the short tees may seem too easy, while the long tees can add a stroke to several holes. We couldn't bring ourselves to accept the 300 foot handicap from the short tee on 13, and stuck with the long tees from that point on. Second round we played the shorts throughout.
The course still seems new, and the signage is limited, but functional. Metal posts with small green number signs on the short tees - the long tee posts are still waiting for signs.
Most holes play straight: doglegs on #8, #9, #12, and #15 from the long tee - makes for a very tough drive.