Pros:
Tom Pearce Park is large sprawling county park located just outside Grants Pass, Oregon. It's squeezed in between the Rogue River on one side and the railroad tracks on the other. The course makes for a great stop on the drive down I-5 as well as a great compliment to the smaller 9 hole Riverside City Park course within the Grants Pass city limits.
One of the great features about this park/course is the wide range of terrain that you'll encounter, it varies from starting across a open mowed ball field to wooded to river basin to rocky outcrops. Very few courses features this kind of variety.
The course has long and short concrete tee pads. The tee signs are little wooden w/maps, hole # and distance, they're simple but very adequate. There is a $4 fee to enter the park but many cars were parked on the street just outside the gate.
The course has some very creative holes and basket placements. # 4 was a neat toss across a ditch and through the trees.
# 9 throwing from the raised box up by the RR tracks was a anhyser shot through the trees.
I liked everything about hole # 13. First it's a big sweeping hyser throw around the corner with one of the basket placements tucked cleverly up on the hillside into the trees. Big arms could reach this but with a couple of basket placements up there, it will always be exciting!
# 16 is a one of a kind type hole. You're throwing towards an old dam which looks like an old Roman aqueduct. It has the arched columns on the bottom and they serve as mandos. They're probably less that 200' from the tee box and are not all that difficult to hit. But even after getting through, the basket was in a nifty little rocky outcropping with steep a drop-off on one side.
Even from the longs, the course doesn't play all that difficult. I'd say it's intermediate level playing from the longs. Probably recreational level from the shorts.
Cons:
The first part of the course is pretty standard issue and mundane.
I didn't like the second part of the mando on # 16. Going through the bottom arches is great but having the option of throwing through the top part of dam would be too open to question as to whether you actually made to through the arch opening or not.
Other Thoughts:
Great solid course with a couple of really creative holes. The aqueduct hole could easily be made more difficult for tournies by forcing players to go through only one or two of the openings, That'd be a fun option, huh?
You definitely want to make this a stop on your drive up or down I-5. Just watch out for the Roman Legionnaires. I heard Maximus is leading them and they're taking prisoners in these parts.