Finally Sedgley Woods is not the only course in downtown Philly!! Definitely excited anytime we get a new course in the South Jersey and Philly area! That being said, this place was really hard to find (see below for helpful directions to 1st tee). It's still a work in progress that honestly could benefit from some additional fine tuning. Starting with the good things:

- So far this place is nowhere near as well known or ridiculously busy as Sedgley Woods always is. If you want to play a quick round in town, go here and skip the half-day-long Sedgley queue.
- Strong variety between open field bomb opportunities (#4 and #9), fairly standard moderate woods holes (#1 and #7), and a super-dense woods challenge (#6).
- Plenty of parking either by the open field or at the apartment complex paralleling hole #9.
- Navigation after the first hole is pretty intuitive.
- Located just a couple mile drive from Sedgley Woods if you want to combine the two courses for a 36 hole day.

- HOW TO FIND 1ST TEE: This was a nightmare, I never would have found it if there hadn't been someone else there who told me precisely where to go. First step: drive down Edgley Ave. until you see a basket pretty close to the street on your right (it's for #9). Right after that basket take the short gravel road to the right to a gravel parking area with an old faint yellow house straight ahead of you and a large field to your left. This is where you can park. The first tee is literally on the patio/sidewalk right against the southeast corner of the house (yes, you read that right, it's truly bizarre).
- Annoyingly repetitive doglegs: #2, 3, and 5 are all the same hole, a hard right dogleg around trees lining the edge of the field. You're essentially forced to throw forehands again and again and again here... and that's a third of all the holes here! UGH...
- #1 and #6 need some additional clear cutting. #6 especially will shock you because you've had four straight open holes then "BAM!": solid woods with a 3ft hole through a 100 spindly trees that you have to nail. This is one heck of a stark contrast from #5, and makes it feel almost out of place here.
- The elevated basket on #6. Sorry, but I always find these gimmicky, and it adds even more difficulty to an already difficult hole.
- The baskets are single-chain practice Discatchers. Maybe obvious to say it, but it sucks getting robbed of a birdie by the light chains - I'm talking to you basket #5!
- Most tee signs are already gone, and most tees are dirt swaths with roots that are a little hard to find because they haven't been worn in much yet. Hope concrete tees are coming sometime soon.

- To me, the best hole is probably #8. It requires a long, gentle left turn along the field margin into a mulched area in the trees around the basket. Seems like a great hole layout to reward accuracy. Also this basket feels more 'established' as a hole due to the clearing of undergrowth and mulched landing area. Hope that's a sign of things to come with further course construction here.

- Props to the builders for establishing this course to diversify the downtown Philly disc golf scene! With just a few further installation efforts on tees, signs, and hopefully some hole redesigning, this course is sure to improve with time.

Cleverly designed to take advantage of woods surrounding a large open field



A good combination of open and wooded holes - credit to the designers for figuring out a way to create a 9 hole course in this space



+ The map for hole #1 shows it to play as a left dogleg down a narrow biking trail, but on the November day I played, I found a window for a forehand route using the open field to the left. With a little bit of clearing, this hole could offer a good player's choice


+ Hole #6 is a short, deeply wooded hole where you throw across a valley and back up to a basket perched up on a stump. Clever design, although the woods haven't been cleared quite enough to make the sightlines you need for an ace run. It's still a little bit of a poke-and-hope


+ Hole #7 has the potential to be the best hole on the course. It's 250' gradual dogleg left, with a few mature oak trees defining the bend of the fairway

- Because 6 of the 9 holes are a counterclockwise loop around the edge of the playing field, there's a lot of left-to-right shot shaping. Holes 2,3 and 5 differ in lengths, but they all play across the open field with right doglegs to baskets tucked into the woods line. "Oh, this shot again..."


- Navigation is a little tough: Laminated signs are stuck to trees, and the transition from the initial loop to the last 3 holes requires some wandering (but please make sure to notice the hilariously-signed "beer garden" between holes 6 and 7)


- The course intersects with a bike trail during the initial loop. Be on the lookout, because they come upon you quickly and quietly

~ Find parking by the abandoned yellow building - the closest "lot" in the park is really just a dirt pulloff in a pretty rundown area of the park


COURSE AMENITIES:
New baskets (although they're lightweight portable DisCatchers); tees are just marked spots on the ground (the first tee is on the concrete apron at the back corner of the yellow building). Not really cart-friendly: it's flat, but a lot of the wooded playing areas are barely recognizable as a course.


~ One of the genuine pleasures of bagging is finding the little-known or new courses that reflect a lot of hard work and love of the game by dedicated volunteers. The Philadelphia Area Disc Alliance is building something casual and fun here, but right now the course is still in the early stages




RECOMMENDED COMBINATIONS:
It's just across the river from the legendary Sedgley Woods, so you could play 36 holes of urban disc golf. Or for a change of pace, cross over to New Jersey and play the object course in Camden County Park in a nice old suburban neighborhood where you're trying to hit trees on purpose