Pros:
Great location, near vacation beaches.
Good DISCatchers and great tee signs.
Good mix of holes, left and right, with 4 Par 4s. You usually don't see that many Par 4s on a Niner, but there was enough room for them here.
Cons:
The tees were commonly rubber mats that weren't secured down very well. Since this is within a couple miles of the beach, I'm sure it gets a lot of rain. I imagine these are slick and uneven after a rain storm.
The rough is pretty unforgiving in several spots, off the normally narrow fairways and its tough to get out, once you find your disc.
Several of the fairways were pretty narrow, especially for long, multi-shot holes. The ditch that comes into play on several holes looked pretty bad, but was not real deep.
No restrooms, water or even Porta-potty anywhere, come prepared.
Other Thoughts:
This course is a great improvement over the nearby Hampstead park course (which is completely overgrown), but needs some more work. I guess the roughs will get tramped down as more rounds are played, but they are tough to deal with right now.
Be careful on #4, the basket is backed up to the fence at the property edge, and behind that, looks like Jurassic Park! No easy way to get over the fence, and then you are in waist to shoulder height weeds and grass. I'm so glad I didn't go long there.
#5 is pretty unique, a Par 4 that starts out requiring a sharp hyzer around several grain silos leftover from the farm that must have been on the property. I don't think I've had to throw around these before. You have to get as much distance as you can, because they are in the first third of the fairway, then the fairway narrows down.
#7 continues a trend I have noticed at beach courses. A short drive (putter or soft mid) then a 90 degree turn, then 1 or 2 more shots to the green. I don't have a problem with this type of hole, but it sure reminds me of #12 at Castle Hayne and #13 at Socastee in Myrtle Beach.
#9 should definitely give you some scoring separation, I think that is what the designer was going for. A 425' par 4, S-curve, tight fairway with trees in the middle right at the drive landing area, then across a weeded wet area, then a narrower fairway to a guarded basket. I'm not sure how big of a lead is needed to feel comfortable on that closer.
I'm glad we are getting more courses near the popular beaches of NC. For too many years, we've gone on beach trips without a place to play. This course is close to Wilmington, right at the Topsail beaches, and within an easy drive of others. A good start on a quality course.