The Valleydale Church is a nine-hole offering with so many parking lot fairways and interfering obstacles that creating a course here is akin to the unpardonable sin.

The baskets are Mach 5 and seem to catch well.

Holes #6 and #7 are a decent design; the baskets are on a nice grassy area and far from pavement. This is a section of the property that should have been utilized more and included additional holes.

Also, the church features the nicest bathrooms I have experienced in relation to a disc golf course. If you enter the upper lobby near the Hole #1 tee area, you'll see a nice Welcome sign and directions to the restrooms, which were large and in pristine condition.

The design is a disaster. Nearly every hole involves throwing from the parking lot and several of the fairways are nearly completely over pavement. I scuffed two of my drivers in the parking lot during my nine-hole round.

In addition to the prevalent pavement throughout, there are plenty of other issues. The Hole #1 basket is literally on the tree line. The Hole #2 tee area is on the entrance road and significantly slanted, making footing challenging. Holes #2 and #3 appear to be in transition and are full of tree debris, making traversability difficult. Hole #4 is nearly 300 feet over pavement, and with prickly bushes lining the road, there is very little room to land a disc safely. Hole #5 requires throwing over the parking spaces and then up a steep hill lined with bushes with little room behind the basket. Hole #6 prompts driving safely to the left to avoid throwing directly over parked cars. Hole #7 includes passing over a four-foot-high chain-link fence. Hole #8 goes over the parking lot for a couple hundred feet and then has some very rough areas along the tree line on the left. Hole #9 involves throwing along the parking lot boundary into the edge of the woods, which is not cleared out well.

Navigation would be nearly impossible without a map. No tee signs. There are no hole numbers near the tee areas. There are no navigational cues. The only indication of a tee area is a small, white depiction of the church's logo and an arrow painted on the pavement.

The course wouldn't be safe to play if there are many individuals using the church grounds. Even on a weekday morning, there were numerous vehicles parked near the church when I played.

The only thing worse about the design is the course trying to masquerade as an 18-hole layout. It's not. It's nine baskets with alternative locations, which might be necessary to utilize if there's occupied parking around the church due to activities and events.

The course starts near the upper lobby doors – look for the church logo painted on the road as part of the drop-off oval that includes a portico. Holes #2 and #3 are in the woods down the hill and closer to the main road, and then starting from Hole #4, the course winds around the church in a clockwise manner.

The Valleydale Church course needs to burn in hell. No amount of prayer will save this awful, wicked and disc-gouging design.