Pros:
- What a gorgeous piece of land for disc golf! Secluded from all other park activities.
- Multiple pins for every hole - at least three, sometimes four. Great varieties of layouts available. Makes for good distance variation, as well as shot variation. I drove FH, BH, hyzer, and anhyzer multiple times all over the course.
- Benches at every tee pad. Some made of logs and stumps, others are obviously whatever the Camden Crew could get their hands on. Love it.
- Good signage. Looks very new, and has a lot of thought put into them. Each sign includes par and distance for each pin placement, along with a map of the hole. Also, pictures of what the hole looks like from the pad or fairway, with the pin positions indicated. So if you can see the basket, you can see on the picture which pin position it is. Very nice.
- HUGE tee pads. Like, 10' x 10'. This is great (and needed), since there is such a variety of pin positions, on some holes a normal 4 ft wide pad just wouldn't cut it.
- Massive elevation on many holes, as the course cuts along/through/across two ravines with deep creek beds at the bottoms. I played the day after a heavy rain, and the water in the creek beds was manageable when discs made their way down there. I was not afraid of losing a disc under water, or it being washed away.
- Great upkeep on the whole course. Can't say enough about it. Lots of underbrush is obviously kept clear. I would not call any of the underbrush dense, in the slightest.
- Great bridges, walk-overs, and steps in most of the right places. With so many holes crossing the ravines and swells, they've taken the time to put in log and paver steps to get you down into the creekbeds, which I'm sure get a lot of use. There's also evidence of spade-cut steps as well, directly into the sidewalls of the ravines.
- Fantastic warm-up area with putting-accuracy baskets, and regular baskets.
- Many memorable holes, and a handful of epic ones. A strength of this course is that there really are no true filler holes. Each one seems to have been designed with specific shots and shapes in mind.
- Just entering the woods, and seeing hole #1 in front of you is a grand experience. You suddenly realize the type of course you are about to encounter. Fantastic starter hole over a deep gully. Number 10 is a similar hole, but does not feel in the least bit repetitive.
- #4 is the signature hole on the course in my opinion. Long, downhill shot over the ravine, but wonderfully green, and open enough to let you see your disc flight the whole way. Etched in my memory.
- #7 is a daunting hole from the bottom of the same gully up the hill right next to #4. Easier than it looks, but there is always the chance of a roll-away if you hit something.
- #8 is a nice long hole that finally gives you a chance to grip and rip without too much chance of hitting a tree within 100 feet of the pad. Still plenty of timber guarding the last half of the hole, but a clean, powerful drive can get you a long ways on this hole.
- #12 may harbor the steepest of descents of any hole on the course. Many pin positions here, allowing for short ace-runs at the bottom of the hill, or longer rips to get across the valley.
- #13 is the only wide open hole on the course, but that doesn't make it a cake-walk. Massive downhill par 4 that requires a huge 400 foot left to right turning shot to get even a look at an open approach.
Cons:
- My list of qualms, that obviously don't bother me all that much, but should be noted:
- Navigation can be a bit tricky if you don't pay attention to the tee sign. There are a few 'next tee' signs by baskets, but since there are so many pin placements, they're not always near the pin. If you make note of the indicated path on the tee sign, you'll have no problems.
- On some blind/longer holes, it can be difficult to tell which pin placement is in. The signs have done a pretty good job of making this obvious, but from time to time it takes a little dissection.
- I played the day after a heavy rain, and well-worn paths on hillsides were definitely slick. Fairways were all still in great shape, however.
- Just one porta-john on site in the parking lot, and no water available.
- As with all damp, wooded courses, I imagine bugs are a major issue in the spring. And of course poison ivy, which will never be eradicated from any wooded course.
Other Thoughts:
- I played on a mixed pin set-up, including some very short A pins, as well as a few of the longer C/D pins. It made for a wonderful round. I imagine this course would be very arduous if in a completely 'long' layout.
- While I found the course highly demanding, I did not find it ridiculously punishing. Losing focus could mean a wayward shot or inopportune deflection into the woods, but all were reasonably recoverable. Yes, it is a high-level course, but not just for the sake of being as difficult as possible. Players with just one solid BH or FH hyzer drive will struggle here, however.
- Finally, kudos to the Camden Crew of volunteers who keep this free course in tip-top shape. The obvious upkeep on this course is what pushed this course to the max rating for me, my small qualms aside. Well done.