Pros:
Volunteer park is a great start towards building a nice beginner course. Located about 45 minutes NW of Tacoma (and 1:20 from Seattle) and right of the peninsula highway, its not quite as far away as it might initially seem. Your first visit should confirm the excitement that the community parks department has around their new disc golf course. They've got a disc golf banner posted in the parking lot, custom stickers which adorn the baskets, and trash cans all over the course just for disc golf (some placed right on the putting greens!).
The main pro of this course is that the current holes, although not great in challenge, are just plain fun to play. Hole 6 is a great example of the fun factor here. It's a short (<200') right to left around pretty thick woods and a large pine on the right. The basket is out in an open field between the tree line and a ballfield. Its just an easy little hyzer for RHBH or a high sidearm turnover, but if you miss or clip a tree branch, you'll likely be looking up at the basket for your short tree-obstructed approach amongst thick rough and some thorns (you'll also likely hear your group mates up on the green snickering as you struggle through the shule J - its all part of the fun out here!). This is one of several holes that look somewhat unpolished, but are still quite enjoyable to play.
Hole 4 is another example of a fun hole with a design that went a little wonky. You tee off down a winding access road which turns sharply right at about 100', then straightens out for another 100' with the basket tucked up on the right side of the road. Because of the horseshoe shape and the tall trees which prevent an up and over shot, its almost never going to be parked and at the same time probably rarely going to be 4'd from even a halfway decent drive. Again, fun to throw but the shots are way too simplistic and short for what is essentially a forced three shot hole.
Navigation - Other than finding the first hole (we never did find the first teepad), navigation is aided by the West Sound standard yellow next tee markers which, as usual, are quite helpful. We had no help and didn't consult DGCR prior to visiting but were still able to find all holes without a problem. The walk from 1's basket to hole 2 is quite long for a hole which is pretty much a wide open field and you'll be interfering with both hole 9's fairway and walking almost directly down 2's fairway to reach the tee.
Enthusiasm - From the looks of it, the park is really excited to have disc golf arrive in Lakebay. Hopefully this will mean ongoing maintenance and perhaps expansion at some later point, until then its up to the golfers to get out there in numbers and give this course a try.
Single use - A big plus about this park is that you probably aren't going to be interfering with too many other activities as you play the course. On holes 6 and 8, you may have to watch for children playing in the grass between the treeline and ballfields but other than that, you'll probably be seeing nothing but green lights off the tee.
Cons:
The rough is VERY rough - Land one on the hillside on holes 7 or 8 and you are in for a world of pain. Not so much because of thorns or anything (although there are some), but because the rough is just so thick you've really got to do a full body push through it.
Challenge - While the course is quite punishing in terms of the rough, the actual shots themselves are pretty straightforward. Its time to work on the basics; a really long gliding turnover will serve you especially well on holes 1, 8, and 9. As a complement, a long controlled hyzer on holes 2 and 3 will net a few more birdies early in the round. On the whole though, silver to gold level players won't find too much to get the heart thumping out here.
If there is ever a desire to expand or improve this course beyond what it currently is, I think holes 2 and 4 are prime targets for a little revision. Hole 2 because the walk interferes with 9's fairway and hole 4 because its not going to see much score separation (see above). The area to the left of 6's pin would be an interesting place for a hole with the little cinder block terraces...
Other Thoughts:
Course tip: Instead of playing down the extremely tight fairway on hole 8, I threw the big bomber turnover up and over the pines straight left of the teepad. You essentially throw over the sport fields and the rough and cross back over onto the fairway right near the pin. You'll need about 350' of snap or so on it and a turnover disc that will hold the whole way. Just make sure to send a spotter out and you may avoid some bonus strokes on this hole!
I think with some slight revisions, I would be willing to rate this course up to a 2.0. The rough is ridiculous but I didn't factor it too much into my review - it will eventually clear out. My main concerns however are the previously stated holes 2, 4, and 8 - whose "regular" fairway is far too tight and quite unnatural.