Has every obstacle and challenge one could hope for. Shorter and longer holes, wooded and open fields, water obstacles, narrow paths, inclines and declines, and tree love and hate.

Easy to lose a disc in the leaves.

It's a long course, so have plenty of time to do it all. It loops around the front half it you don't have enough time for the whole thing.

`
A well beat-in, terrific layout with a variety of wooded, open, flat, gently elevated and water holes. With excellent signage, baskets and navigation, two sets of large level paver tees that change up the challenge, and alternating pin positions to keep it interesting for regular visitors. Several on-course structures that improve the experience (the pyramid green on #6, the bulkhead walls below the basket of the water-carry #7, the terraced green on #15, the high hanging basket of #16). And a few new wrinkles: a long basket on #6, and a far-back Gold tee on #7.


The layout is divided into two loops that each begin and end near the parking lot (it's a bit of a walk back from #18, but it's well-marked). The spot where the two loops converge is as the woods open up to the large field - but the layout is smart, and there's no interference between any of the holes.


Despite Stafford's reputation as the #1 course in New Jersey, the two tees allow for a wide range of player abilities. The back tees add length and incorporate some gaps and angles. They add a bit of "pucker" to the two water carries. But relatively new players shouldn't be put off by Stafford's rep: the white tees are very manageable, with clear lines, wide fairways, and bailout routes on the water holes. There isn't much underbrush in the rough, and the mature trees are spaced out enough to give you lines toward the green. The sole par 5 is under 600' from the whites, and you can make the green with a series of well-thrown mids.


A lot of time passed and a lot of courses played since my first visit to Stafford five years ago. I wanted to be sure to get back there due to the recent controversy about its possible closure (though that seems settled now). There are now a lot of excellent recreational courses in New Jersey, but only a few in Stafford's class (watch out for The Grove as it beats in).


Finally, I want to mention the clear lines on each hole. Again, credit to the designer (and also to the maturity and upkeep of the course). At Stafford, you can stand on any tee and really see the fairways, the throwing lines, the likely trouble spots. You can immediately grasp the challenge you're facing, and get a sense of what the designer intended. You can't ask much more from a course.
`

Wow! Where do I even begin with this course? Stafford Woods is hands down one of the best, most fun courses I've ever played. I'm a big fan of heavily wooded courses. It makes me have to focus on my shot and hit my line, unlike playing an open course that's forgiving. At Stafford if you don't get off of the tee pad, you're in teouble and will have a tough hole. This course has come a long was, just recently as a matter of fact. They have some beautiful paver pads that are long enough I call them "Runways". Stafford has 2 different pad positions and 1 pin location. You can choose to either play shorts if you're a newer player, or longs if you want a real challenge. 2 over water shots, a hanging basket, a basket on top of a hill, it's a disc golfers paradise. If you have not played here yet, I highly recommend it! Go & Throw!!

Great variety of holes:
2 ponds holes
some up hill, some downhill, but nothing crazy steep.
mostly wooded, but only a few of them feel really tight
a few wide open field shots.
Most of them are short and easy, but that one par 5 will challenge even the most expert players.

Practice pins at the parking lot.
A port-a-potty and trash cans too.
Very well marked and easy to follow layout from hole to hole.

Wawa and other food sources are a 15 minute walk down the road or 2 minute drive.

Parking is not developed yet. You have to know where to turn off the main road or you'll never find this place. The lot is a mess and can fill up fast on nice weather weekends. Losing a disc in the pond is a real possibility if you can't throw straight 150 footers reliably, mostly for first timers or very fresh players. The pond is murky and last time I played it was covered in algae. So even splashing down 5 feet off shore can be a loss unless you saw exactly where it "landed". We lost a disc and even had a disc retriever but you can't see through the water so we dredged the bottom of the pond for a half hour and ended up finding a different disc. If you're planning to bring some newbies here, skip the water holes, (3 and 7) or take a floating disc.

A lot of trees were cut down to make the lanes in the wooded courses, but they were mostly cut about 2 inches above the ground. The result is little tree stumps waiting to catch your toes and trip you up. We've started yelling "STAFFORD!" whenever we trip and mark it on our scorecard. In our 3 man group, we average 5 "staffords" per round. Avoid flip flops or open toed sandals.

The walk back to the lot from hole 18 seems like a really long walk but the paths are clear of "staffords" so you can look at scorecards and use your phone without too much worry.

I've heard there's a guy that dives the pond and recovers discs, but even if your phone number is on there, he won't call. That's not real nice. Hole 4 is the most picturesque disc golf hole I've ever played. We call it the Serengeti hole. Hole 11 is aptly nick named "Hell Hole" on the back of the pins number plate. We've been playing every weekend for a couple months now, and this last time was our 3rd time playing here, and 8th time playing hole 11, and one of us finally got par from the short tee. It's never fun smacking a tree 10 feet out, but it's always fun when your friends do it too. Living just outside Philly, Sedgley woods is the only course within a half hour drive from us, but we consider Stafford our home course because it's easily our favorite within 45 minutes.

UPDATE: After writing this review, I received to private messages letting me know a couple things and I wanted to pass them on to you. They are currently expanding the parking lot which will be excellent. And they have a group of people that recover discs from the pond and return them. They don't call all the numbers though because there's apparently a lot of discs in there. I'm following their facebook page waiting for the next lost and found day to get my brother's Vibram Ibex back. I also got to play a few holes with a guy named Glen who said they are always working to improve the course. One of the PMs said he was working on the tree stumps and I do notice less and less of them every time I go out there. I might even take my own cordless saw out and nip a few next time I play.

These guys are seriously passionate about the course, and I can't imagine how great it will be when it's finished if it's as good as it is now.

This is the second ranking update I ahve given and it keeps getting better. So much has been improved int he last year! I won't go into hole-by-hole details, rather I will describe the feeling of playing here.
This was my first course. It got me hooked on DG. I branched out and played 14 other highly ranked places found on DGCR to see what other designers have created. And boy, am I glad I can call Stafford my home course. It continues to give me a fun challenge as I continue to play and get better.

Parking lot used to be an issue, but the township has helped out by widening the entryway.
The pond and lots of leaves means you can lose a disc at Stafford. Yet there is a very high chance of getting your plastic back via the drop box and members letting you pick through the lost and found.

The locals are what makes this great course happen. The South Jersey DG community takes great care of this course and they are always thinking ahead to the next improvement.

The course is beautiful and fun to play. It tests a variety of shots, from tight wooded lines to wide open distance drives. The course is relatively fair, if you miss your lines you are punished, while hitting the correct lines allow birdies. The course boasts seven par 4s and one par 5 in the current layout, and two shots over water, so strategy and risk/reward comes into play on many holes. The small amount of elevation is used well, and the hanging basket on hole 16 is interesting. The gold tees play at about a blue level, so a 950 rated player should expect to shoot close to par. The recent additions of beautiful tee signs add a nice touch!

I think that some of the shorter par 3s on the back nine get a little repetitive and don't flow well with the rest of the course. I would also like to see a few more opportunities for risk-reward decisions in the woods, relying on multiple lines or fairways on some holes. Ticks are a common occurrence, so make sure to check yourself when you get home!

This course is constantly improving and will keep getting better for years. Adam and the SJDG crew do a great job here. I uploaded photos for the course as an addition to my review!