Pros:
Yauger Disc Golf Course in Olympia is located in a large multi purpose park downtown. There are several baseball/soccer fields within the center of the park, with a concession stand (open during baseball season), horseshoe pits, a playground, and plenty of parking. Within just a few minutes from the park are several restaurants in which to eat at, as well as a grocery store. The park itself is wide open in the middle with fairly dense foliage surrounding the outside perimeter. It is mainly hear that several of the holes are located.
The course does a fairly good job balancing out wooded and open holes considering what room they had to work with. Signs are wooden poles with tee numbers as well as distance on them. Holes range from 147 - 433 feet, requiring disc golfers to shoot through tight alleys with extreme accuracy. Water hazards play a large part on this course, especially during the winter and spring time when the course floods like it did when I played. Tee pads are slowly becoming all cement (and well done), but currently are a mixture between both that and dirt. A few holes out in the open have alternate tee pads to avoid interfering with any ball sports going on at that time which is a plus.
Cons:
This course has some major design flaws. With crossing fairways several times throughout, several short holes which feel forced, and other sports continually interrupting play, this course is in need of a change. The course also tends to hold water during the rainy season as it pours in from all the local concrete neighborhoods. Because of this, holes become increasingly difficult to access or even unplayable which is a shame. The crossing fairways occur primarily in the front nine and can become quite dangerous for disc golfers and pedestrians alike. The multi use fields are used a lot during the warmer months cutting out several holes. Because of this, the course becomes more crowded with less room to move. More signs indicating where the next tee pad was located would help first timers as well. With the help of some new signs, increased cement tee pads, better catching baskets, and perhaps a new layout on some of these holes (perhaps even reducing the total number of holes on this course for better quality), this course could improve drastically. For now with all these issues, it is only a decent course.
Other Thoughts:
As other reviewers have stated, this is a tough course to grade. However, with as many issues as it currently has I know that Yauger has a lot of room to grow. The local club here in Olympia has done a tremendous job getting this course in the ground, and is constantly improving it. If they continue to make changes, there is not doubt that the ratings here will improve. There just is currently too much going against this place to be any higher then it is.
Sometimes it just makes sense to install only enough holes as the area can realistically hold. I feel Yauger forced an 18 hole course here in an area with little room to work. If this course was only 12 holes, many of the smaller holes could be redesigned and become more legit. With the continual hard work of the club this course will hopefully improve over time.