Pros:
Strawberry Fields is a 12 hole disc golf course located just minutes off I-5 in the city of Marysville, WA. The course is located in a beautiful multi-use park, which includes a soccer field, walking trail, and massive dog park. The park amenities include a water fountain (near the soccer field), bathrooms, garbage cans, and a few benches, including one by hole one.
The course itself is wide open, with holes winding around and across several acres, and little to no elevation or obstacles. Distance of holes vary from 166-600 feet, with all par 3's except hole five which is a par 4. However, with the exception of hole seven (166 ft.), the average hole length on the course is around 450 feet. As the other reviewer stated, this course challenges people through distance alone!
Navigation on the course is straight forward, with a new sign pointing players toward tee one, large wooden tee posts with metal tee signs, and bark/mowed paths linking players from hole to hole. Maneuverability and flow is not an issue. Baskets are Mach 3, very new, and catch great. Tee pads have wooden frames with gravel packed on top. Tee signs are metal, and include distance, par, pin location (straight), and mando's if necessary. The local parks dept. and Christian from local Boy Scout Troop 419 did a nice job providing and installing the supplies needed to build a course, it is just the design that is flawed.
Cons:
The course has a lot of issues regarding design. First, the hole length is absolutely ridiculous for it's target audience, families and casual golfers. With gravel tee pads, no elevation or obstacles, and tall grass, distance holes make little sense. A pitch n' putt would have made a lot more sense, and the few obstacles they do have on this course would have gone a lot further.
Strawberry Fields is a family park and therefore will be filled with families. Nobody learning the game in their right mind would want to learn a sport where the object to the game is to throw gut wrenchingly far throws on every hole. On top of that, to then lose it in the brambles along the perimeter, or even worse, in the tall grass on the fairway. No thanks.
Second, the mando's on holes ten,and eleven were ridiculous! To throw a 90 degree turn around one tiny pine tree with nothing else out there is ridiculous. There is no chance to birdie, and no real way to judge if you clear the mando or not unless you throw is four feet high.
Last, the design on hole seven is confusing and pointless. To have the pin located directly right of the tee 166 feet with a mando having players throw directly out in to a field rather than toward the basket is crazy. Hole seven is the worst disc golf hole ever made. Period.
Other Thoughts:
I always appreciate the work and effort that goes in to building a new course, along with the blood, sweat, and tears that goes in to the course being installed. However, it is unfortunate to see good equipment go to waste. I can understand if this is the only park that Marysville had to offer up for disc golf but use the land you have sensibly. If the land is wide open, make it more of an instructional course where new players can learn the game and be successful. Don't make pro caliber holes, regarding distance, with little else. It is not the proper venue. Seek out another piece of land in Snohomish County and carry out the dream. I hope one day they will either plant a whole lot more trees, or do a complete redesign.