From the moment I exited the car, it was clear that the maintenance of this course was beyond reproach. For maintenance, this course is only surpassed by a few of the nicest pay-to-play courses I've been to, like Bryant Lake, Token Creek, and Blue ribbon Pines. The beauty of the oaks: its free, you just have to register at the visitor's center the first time you play.
Anyways, three sets of rubber tees on each hole (often only two tees, but sometimes white uses long, sometimes short). These are the nicest rubber tees I have ever played on, probably even better than concrete. All raised high and dry off ground on a bed of gravel, perfectly level and flat, with wooden frame around them. We watched a parks worker in a lawn tractor putting in/ redoing one of the tees, repeatedly (for 15 minutes) running back and forth over the sand underneath the rubber to compact it and make it perfect. That's what I'm talkin about!
Nice tee sign at the white tee pad on every hole, gives a good hole map. Usually pretty easy to tell which basket you are throwing at.
The course plays through a mostly flat area of GIANT majestic oak trees, and a few tiny creeks. Its actually quite scenic. Great place to have a picnic, they even have benches on almost every hole, and some tables spaced periodically throughout the park.
Crazy flow, with holes nicely close together, without too much concern of hitting someone on another hole, or crossing fairways. A testament to good course design. Makes good use of the available trees, including a few fallen trees, to mix up the challenges a bit.
Many of the holes are weaving between trees to a basket, like on Anna Page, or Lemon Lake-Red. If you like those two courses, this is your spot. Though many of the holes are cut from the same mold, it gives you a range of lines to play on each hole, and different looks from hole to hole, so it never gets boring.
Don't misunderstand, this course has variety. In the middle nine, it emerges into a big field with some rolling hills for a few long open holes, and the start of the third nine takes you on a merry romp through some scary wooded fairways that give Dretzka a run for it's money.
Another thing that this course uses well are the ravines. In fact, almost all the best holes on this course involve a river valley in some way. For example, hole 2 is a blind downhill drive to a well protected basket tucked into a creek hillside to the left. Very distinct hole, just what you want.
The signature hole, however, is probably hole 13. This monster takes you out of the large field and back into the trees. You shoot downhill, into the trees that start before the ravine, to a well-shielded basket on the topmost section of a multilevel terrace on the opposing side of the ravine. Very very cool looking hole, not quite as hard as it looks (or maybe I just got lucky)
26 is another hole of note, mainly just because it is distinct. You shoot at a wall of thin, tall trees past a small ravine. They wrap around the basket like a castle wall almost 180 degrees. You either have to go a ways around to the left to curve around the treewall edge, try to tomahawk above wall but below larger oaks around, or pick one of several small gaps in the wall and go for it. The basket is on uneven ground past the wall, to boot. Just mean, but I like it.
The Oaks is a very enjoyable experience to play. Every hole offers some challenge and fun, with a sprinkling of wow! holes in the mix to keep you on your toes.
This is a course with 20ish good holes and 7excellent ones. Great facilities, great experience, nice mix of distances, especially with the 3 tees so pros can be pushed as well as beginners. The different tees do give different looks, sometimes bringing several more oaks into play on each step up.