This course will test even big arms. The several par 4's and many of the par 3s are on the long side, and this course is clearly geared towards intermediate to open players.
The course plays through the open fairways of the former ball golf course, utilizing the available terrain, water, and mature trees that line the former fairways to create some interesting challenges.
This course will test your controlled distance. On many holes, a good drive or two down an open fairway, then a long upshot through trees will be needed to shoot par.
This course does favor longer arms, but it also mixes it up. There are several holes where water is play, in the form of the ponds or bayou. This course does a good job setting up water crossings that you can carry, or go around. On a few holes (2 &18) you can shoot a gap over water for an ace run, or layup/go around for a safer par.
The many mature trees on the course lend nice obstacles to many holes by forcing tunnels to shoot through, but are fairer/less arbitrary than thick shule or tangles of smaller trees like you find on many courses.
The par 4s are especially interesting, forcing controlled distance and the additional level of strategy that comes with true multi-par holes. They are fair and birdie-able, but with some form of OB paths or water in play on every one, they are by no means easy pars (I have carded double bogeys on several of them)
Likewise, most of the par 3s are towards the longer end (350+), so unlike some Deuce-or-die courses, on this course you try for clean pars and work hard for birdie opportunities.
The few shorter "birdie" holes on the course where you can tee off with a midrange all are on the more technical side, with a tricky twist that makes them interesting and not "gimme" holes.
Hole 2 forces you to shoot through the trees lining the edge of a pond, to a hillside basket beyond, for a pucker shot off the tee every time.
Hole 4 is a blind curve left, with guardian trees in front of a hilltop basket, and the bayou lurking beyond..
Hole 7 is a throw over a pond, with OB paths left and beyond the basket
Hole 17 is a blind tunnel left with a sloping fairway and water behind and downhill from the basket
Hole 20 is a straight wooded tunnel
Despite the open ball golf fairways, many baskets are tucked through a tree gap, or on a hill, making late trouble, and rollaway upshots/putts a surprising risk here. This course does a great job maximizing the terrain and hugging the available trees wherever possible to make challenges that can really sneak up on you. You will need good, accurate upshots to score well on this course.
You will throw alot of drives to play this course, but the holes all have some intrigue on them, whether trees, elevation or water. Usually a combination of several. Some holes are better than other, but no hole (besides the two hill holes) feels completely repetitive, or like a bland "filler hole". and with the house-lined fairways, it does feel like you are playing at a country club.
Though there is some terrain in play, its more rolling in nature, and there is little thick shule, other than right around the ponds, so this is an easy course to bring a cart to. Even though its never crowded, expect to take awhile to play here, due to the length of the course, and amount of walking.
The flow is decent here. The amount of space here prevents the course from having to cram holes in too close together, and you can usually tell which basket you are throwing at. There are some walks across roads between holes, but again, because its built on a ball golf course, when in doubt just follow the concrete cart path and it will usually take you to the next hole.
The neighbors are all friendly and excited about disc golf. Its not uncommon to see people walking, jogging or riding their bikes down the concrete paths, and they tend to be very courteous and conscious of the disc golfer's presence, due to the course's history as a ball golf course. Unlike multi-use parks like TC Jester, where disc golfers can feel like their rounds are just a sideshow to the other park users, at White Oak disc golf is the main event, and any other users are the occasional sideshow, and they know it!