Pros:
Woodlands Park is an 18 hole fairly vanilla course set within a fairly large, busy, and well maintained city park. There is a course map and practice basket near hole 1 teepad. While there are trees on several holes, there are more open field shots than anything. Someone who can throw a hyzer out 300' to within circle one consistently could get to double digits under par.
PROS:
>Well maintained park setting, though I personally like more trees in my park setting courses.
> Good teepads and baskets.
>Virtually non-existent lost disc risk.
Cons:
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>Teepad for #5 is 30' from #4 basket, and is blind from #4 teepad--be careful on both those holes.
> Quite busy park, with a walking path that snakes throughout the course, had to be patient several times.
> Fairly repetitive feeling after the 1st 3 holes, which are 3 of the best on the course. Many similar distance holes, many plain open field shots. Just a very low shot variety, only one tee required a true left to right shot. For the rest, a fairly straight or light fade left does just fine.
Other Thoughts:
BASICS:
>Teepads--Concrete, decent length, good condition.
>Baskets--Older DGA but good condition.
># holes--18
>Setting--City park--very busy, but other than the walking path, most activities are set apart from the holes, though with many holes being basically open field shots, others sometimes will walk across your fairway-look before you throw.
>Elevation--Other than an 8' or so hill, used on one shot, course is virtually flat.
>Distance of holes--198' - 412'. 2 par 4's in the 410' range, rest are par 3's. 13 holes are between 240' and 290'.
>Free/pay to play, type of course--Free city park.
>Ease of getting to--Very easy, few minutes off I-75.
AMENITIES:
>Parking--Plenty near hole 1, but I can see even those spots filling up if there is an event there.
>Bathrooms--Port-a-johns.
>Water/food nearby--Lots of fast food nearby.
>Clubhouse/disc shop--No.
>Benches--No.
>Trash cans--A few sprinkled throughout park.
>Bag holders--No.
>Tee signs--Basic hole # and distance imprinted on teepad. Other than hole 1, I believe all baskets were clearly visible from the teepad. The basket you CAN see from #1 teepad is NOT the right one. #1 basket is to the left, between a few trees. The distance is about the same, so it is easy to confuse.
>Next tee direction/signs--Arrows on baskets to next tee, not too much difficulty finding the next tee.
>Wheelchair/cart friendly--Yes, very.
COURSE PLAY:
>Shot variety--Quite limited. Nearly all holes are straight to light fade for the RHBH player. Not much distance variety either, with 13 of the18 holes being between 240' and 290'. It frankly gets repetitive feeling.
>Layout, long walks (inc back to car), loops--Course is somewhat of a large figure 8, but one is never far from where you start.
>Total distance walked--1.9 miles.
>Ease of finding next tee--Pretty easy.
>General difficulty--On the easier side, not many challenges. Two of the three holes over 310' are par 4 open field shots.
>Mud/water issues--Seems like it would stay pretty dry.
>Water or O/B to contend with--No, do not know if local rules play walking path or beyond as O/B.
>Difficult rough/lost disc risk--Zero. (unless you leave it on the ground like I have done twice this year).
>Scrape/scratch risk--Zero.
>How busy was course/park--Very, on a beautiful late MO afternoon. A few other groups playing DG as well.
OVERALL:
>Fun/enjoyment factor, would I play again? No--too little shot and distance variety.
>Who will this course challenge? Beginners and some rec players.
>Is it worth a drive? Not really.
>Anything unique? Not really.
>Would be a half star higher with--Better variety--maybe move some baskets around to better take advantage of trees, force some lines other than straight. Maybe some distance variety too? Probably not much can be done with how busy the rest of the park stays.
I am in my 50s, 90 or so courses played, 875ish.