I got to play this course Sunday with the Flying Palmers, and I enjoyed it tremendously. I really like the surrounding terrain here. Lots of Osage Orage and buckbrush out there to make me feel like I was in the woods after deer, which I should have been this weekend. From my point of view, the beauty of the surroundings are a big slice of what makes a course enjoyable. I enjoy WW and BVP because of the breathtaking scenery, and Cliff Drive is my favorite because you get put in the woods. Shawnee Mission has a different feel than the rest. It's a bit like going bird hunting, as you are close to woods the whole time, but you are walking the field. And the the fields have nice hedgerows and brushy islands here and there to make you feel less like you are just walking across a ball golf course.
I'm not sure how many folks would agree with me, but I'd like to see this park keep its rough edges, and make it a bit unique among KC courses. Instead of struggling with the Parks people to get all the fairways mowed flat like WyCO, you could just take a queue from courses like Sioux Passage in STL and have narrow, defined fairways between tall-grass OB. I am not one who likes losing discs in tall grass, nor picking up socks full of chiggers, but I think the personality it would lend the course to keep it as wild as possible would more than make up for it.
Everyone involved did a fantastic job working with the terrain to pick out the shots, and walking the course is a really pleasant interaction with nature. I hope we are able to balance preserving as much of the natural landscape as possible while satisfying the masses as the course goes forward.
Thanks to everyone for putting in another great course in KC, and for doing it five minutes from my workplace!