Pros:
All concrete tee pads, plenty of length and great texture. Tee signs are nothing short of AWESOME, with full-color, framed, accurate maps of the hole, and multiple bag hooks. Baskets are Mach 3 and in great condition, with multiple hole locations on most holes. A color coded flag (matched to the tee sign) aid great in locating the pin position from the tee. One great thing that I noticed is that usually on a challenging course you have a lot of blind holes. That is not the case here, but that took nothing away from the experience at all. Every hole also has at least one bench if I recall correctly.
Parking is available right at the first hole, but not a lot. If the park is busy you might have to park a little further away and walk. Port-o-john available at the first tee. Map on kiosk at first tee is very helpful, and noted that holes 2 and 3 were currently OOP due to construction, but told how to play the two alternates to make a full 18.
This course had to be designed by a DG'er for DG'ers. Course layout is superb. The park has lots of elevation change and the course makes great use of that, as well as drop-off threats, tunnel shots, multiple uphills, peninsula shots, etc. There is nothing better than playing a course that has such balance and challenge.
My memorable holes:
1 - It's not often that right off the bat you have a great hole. The terrain drops down significantly right after the tee, then the basket on the hill sloping up from left to right, just lower than the tee. This looked fairly straightforward, but when you actually walk the hole, the hill looks completely different, might be better to walk this one the first time.
5 - Not too long of a hole, but the basket is protected by low trees, and if you try to go high and hyzer out, you could go down the STEEP hill covered with trees and mud.
7 - Uphill and off to the left. Cross the small ravine and back up a small rise, trees protecting on all sides, tough to drive!
13 - Basket is a good amount higher than the tee, and you have to throw over a dip in the land then uphill. Can't get a good hyzer angle due to trees on the right, very tough shot.
14 - The peninsula shot. Long and straight, and drops off left onto 17's fairway, so you have to keep it pretty straight, as well as long.
15 - Throw from the open into a stand of trees, and the basket was up a hill on the right protected by a LOT of trees. You could go big hyzer way left and drop in on the basket, but this is not advised as you would be crossing 14's fairway. There is no mando preventing this, but I would not recommend it. I felt lucky to take a 5 on this one..
Cons:
Not much. I would definitely suggest adding some "next tee" signs on the basket. I know this can be difficult with multiple pin positions, but you could do like Rankin Lake Park in Shelby, NC. They have multiple arrows on the bottom of the pin that, depending on what position the basket is located, point the correct way to the next tee.
The only other cons I can think of are:
-Not much parking close to the first tee.
-No formal restrooms or water fountains that I saw.
-Sometimes you play close to a road and have to watch for cars
-There is not much variance in length, great variety of type, but most are around 300.
Other Thoughts:
My rating of a 4 shows the great challenge and fun that this course provides. I love wooded technical holes as well as more open city-park-style holes. This course delivers that and then some. It does fall a little short in that there are not a lot of holes much over 300 feet, the hole lengths on here lists only 4 holes more than 325 feet, and most of the other 14 are less than 300.
If you are somewhat out of shape like I am, this course will give you one heck of a workout. It is almost all hilly, and some climbs are a little steep and sustained, many holes play uphill.
If you are in KC, this is a definite must play. With the exception of my being winded by the terrain, this is the most fun I've had on a DG course in LONG time.