They really put some thought in the course design here. Yes, we'll need to discuss that much of this course is fairway golf, but that by no means makes it easy. They did an admirable job of tucking baskets into corners and behind bunches of trees in ways that create challenges to make birdie putts, including an infamous claw tree basket on that 2nd Hole. In fact that was my lasting impression of this course was the "Green Complexes" which really do stand out. Each green has its' own unique look and there is often a good path in and a very wrong path in to those greens.

There are fun twists all over this course that I wasn't expecting. There is a guardian wall defending a basket. You get a hanging basket. There is a top notch hole coming out of nicely manicured woods into an open field green. There is a U-shaped mando hole that many may find gimmicky, but I liked. The 18th plays across a pond with some fun ornamental features. On top of all of that, there was a goat and a llama who came to watch to me putt and then drinks, snacks and ice cream. Are you kidding me?

There is a whole lot of this course that plays wide open. Previous comments on the nice greens aside, you could throw far left or right of center on many of these fairways with little repercussion to your birdie possibilities. I would imagine they use much more OB in tournaments, but I'm not a big fan of courses that have to create OB for challenge.

There is a feeling in the Back 9 that things start playing on top of each other. There are several holes in the same fairway grouping that felt less thought out than the majority of the course and were unremarkable.

I would imagine that there is a bathroom in the church, but if you aren't the most socially comfortable person, than I didn't see a bathroom option anywhere. The only water available was the paid resources at the midpoint as well. I didn't see fountains or anything close by. There were definitely benches to use now and then and the course was well maintained and clean.

Big long cement tees on almost every hole. Only #18 has a relatively short, circular shape tee. The rest of the tees are 5x16 feet and I'm not used to starting my shot standing fully on the tee.

Brooms, benches and shoe cleaners at most tees.

The course is set up in tournament condition all the time.

Nice big OB stakes, mando posts, drop zones

The one water carry is on the last hole, and it's a "cape" style carry with lots of ways to go around. It's probably 220 feet at its longest point.

I imagine the church would like you to donate a little something towards maintenance, but they don't directly ask you to do that.

The "Claw". This is the 2nd hole where sometimes they put the basket in a claw-like tree. While this looks cool, it has the effect of blocking pretty much all of the entrances to the basket. If you aren't standing right at the claw tapping in, or directly in front of the basket, you probably won't have a putt. (Update...I've now played in a second tournament here, and the "Claw" wasn't as bad as I remembered. It's still blockaded though, if you're in the wrong spot.)

I've heard the grass gets kind of high in the summer, but in the winter it's very pleasant. (Update: the grass was thigh high in the OB areas in late April. There isn't a lot of it though, and there are markers placed in the grass to give you a way to keep track of your disc. I threw one in there and it was pretty easy to find but you must keep an eye on it.)

I enjoyed this course a lot. The church clearly takes care of the course and keeps it clean and maintained. There isn't much in the way of rough, although you do continually play in and out of the woods. On holes that are mostly in the field, rest assured you have OB to deal with, or some sort of artificial obstacle, or both! There isn't anything sneaky or hidden here.

Like any really good course, there is tons of variety and challenge for pretty much any skill level. You definitely can take a beginner here, because there's almost nowhere to lose a disc other than the pond in front of 18 tee. If you can throw 100 feet there's a way across that. Or just go to the drop zone. There's no shame in playing the course from there. As for more advanced players, the course continually asks you to be really accurate if throwing 300+, is windy enough to make you ponder your disc choice, and wooded enough at times to make you hit lines.

The course starts with 3 holes in a field, with lurking OB. 1 and 3 are relatively friendly par 3s, but keep it straight. 2 is a moderate par 4 with a relatively easy drive, then a second shot into a grove of trees. 4 is a very short par 3 in the woods, with some built up objects in the way. LIke most holes here, you don't have to throw it miles, but you do need to be relatively accurate if you want a birdie. 5 is the same, a short par 4 that starts in the woods and ends in a field. Birdie is doable, with two great shots. Par is doable with 3 decent shots.

Holes 6-9 are pretty tough although they don't really look it. 6 is the only hole that plays along a public street and is the only hole you really must play a left to right shot, from the open into the woods. . The course is extremely friendly to the right-hand, backhand player, except for here. Hole 7 is a shorter woods par 3 with multiple lines, you'd better commit to the one you pick though because there's a llama watching you. 8 is probably the most controversial hole. It's a very short par 4 on the card, with no elevation change, but 4 is a very good score. You start with a woods shot through very narrow lines, then you have an open field J-shaped shot around a mando post to a basket blocked in every direction by trees. They pack in a lot of challenge in 400 feet.

If there's a lull, it would be holes 10-12 which are pretty much just standard holes in an empty field. There is OB to keep things interesting, and 11 has an island green, but there isn't much to look at. The wind is the only challenge.

13-18 are a fine finish. 13 plays through a gap in the tree line to a basket near the parking lot. You definitely can go to your car from here if needed. 14 is an easy looking dogleg left that viciously punishes someone trying to cut the corner. 15 is a fun, moderate par 4, 16 a friendly little par 3 in the woods. 17 has a flag on the tee sign saying "stupid tree". Yeah, it's the one directly in the middle of the fairway. 17 is a surly par 3, downhill and not crazy long, but there's just no really great way to get to the basket. Just pick one side or the other of the stupid tree and throw it hard because you have to get over the OB creek which is farther away than it looks. And then 18 brings you back to your car with a fun shot over a small pond. 18 isn't really much of a hole, but with all the little extras, the shoe cleaner, the broom, the circular tee, the nice stairs.... it's just a fun ending.

No, it's not some big grand course like Muddy Run and the professional tour isn't going to come here, but it's a really well maintained public park equivalent course with lots of fun shots, and the course continually transitions between open fields into tight corners of trees, often on the same hole. It is excellent.

As for difficulty, Even par at a PDGA C-tier event over the weekend was rated 920 so even though it's not long and the pars are fair, and you're not going to shoot millions over par unless you go OB a lot, it's tough to shoot even par. (Update: I played a tournament there in April. Even par was rated 956. In the second round, the wind and rain calmed down, even par was 920. It can be a beast when there's some wind, even though it's not crazy long)

A card mate in a local tournament recommended this course to me during our round together. I decided to check it out the next day after the tournament.

It's a lovely course, spread out among (what used to be) rolling farmland. There are long holes to air out your bomb shots as well as tight woods shots. Uphill, flat, and downhill shots for good balance. There is a series of meadows to play with a dense forest pocket in one section and 3 water features.

The course is largely peaceful but can get busy, it appears. I like that some holes have alternate baskets.

I like that there are several bailouts for pond hole #18 if you cannot throw 280 feet: You can throw directly across the water from the teepad to shorten the water carry; you can throw a mild turnover up the near side of the pond (landing near the drop zone); or you can start at the drop zone, taking the penalty.

The church provides restrooms indoors most days and has a bulletin board at the start of the course with a dropbox for lost discs, maps of the course, a list of lost discs, as well as proposed additions and changes to holes.

On my second visit here, I had time to warm up and discovered more about the practice basket. It has markers at 5-foot intervals out (from 5 feet to 40 or 45 feet) to practice short-to-long putts. Most courses don't have such although I have encountered similar on other courses. This is a great feature to really dial in your putting before or after the round. Or just dial in your putting and not play a round.

It can get windy in the meadows which can do wicked things with your disc.

I don't like the tall grass OB areas. I think they are too easy to get in, especially on windy days. Perhaps they can be smaller islands? The grass was cut down when I first played. On the second visit, some holes had the tall grass and 1 or 2 rows of white poles. Not sure what to make of that; maybe the OB varies by tournament.

I'm still confused about some of the pars; there's a 3/4 on some of the hole signs. When is the par 3? When is the par 4? I'm not sure what to make of that compared with what's on DGCR and UDisc. Maybe par varies by tournament also?

I think the 434' alternate basket #2A should be a par 4 and the long 557' basket should be par 5 (imho).

First outing, I was somewhat rushed around by other players and did not see a long basket for #10. Still didn't find it on the second outing. Edge of property? Where would it fit? I believe there's a typo (297 not 397) here on DGCR. UDisc only has 297.

First visit, I did not see a short basket for #15A at 377', only the 558' basket. I found the short basket for no. 15 on the second visit; it has a mando into a very protected and deep green. Said green is distinctly more interesting than the long 15 green. I also didn't see a long basket for 16A, but I wasn't looking. I played the shortest format for the most part, barring no. 13A where I did play the long basket at 383 feet (first visit). Played the "parking lot" no. 13 basket on the second visit. More challenging than it looks with the mando and screen of trees before the "island" green.

I think it's great that churches provide some parkland for the communities like this. In addition to the disc golf course, there is a playground for little kids, a picnic area with a 3-basket mini disc golf course for small kids, and the softball field.

While it's not an onerously long drive from Newark, it's not an insignificant drive from Wilmington or Philadelphia or Baltimore. So I would recommend pairing it with other Newark-area courses on a day trip. Or pair it with Longwood Gardens!

Finally, perhaps don't park your vehicle so close to the no. 18 basket. People driving hard to clear the pond sometimes land on the pavement! I witnessed this twice or thrice while I was sitting in my car. A disc could definitely hit vehicles parked on the low end of the parking lot.

Broken Chains is a solid 18 hole course behind the Christian Life Center, a Church and Christian Preschool.

It starts off at the parking lot, with an open shot towards the basket, which is on a steeper bank to provide some risk when driving from the left or putting on the right.

Much of the terrain is open grass and all around flat with hints of elevation, which segues into forest. It has four fully open holes, six holes where it starts open and only tucks the basket into woods, six mostly/fully forested holes with generous fairways, and the last one is over water.

The mix of holes, especially when it's starting in forest is reasonable and outnumbered several rather pedestrian holes, but repetition in the tucked in holes started to wear in the middle, with the only variation being distance.

The tees are some of the best I have seen. 5' wide and guessing 16' in length, nearly flush with the ground all over. I had to chuckle when they kept that length throughout, even on a wide open 225' #11.

Navigation between holes was mostly fine. Many baskets had next arrows and there were other signs. I only had to whip out my phone twice.

+#2, a downhill long distance, open until it gets to the basket tucked into a grove on the right, which quickly becomes a theme here.

+#7, had a snack and refrigerated drink station, which I haven't seen before. Bring some $ and show some love if the course is to your liking.

+#13, wide open tee and basket, with smattering of forest in the middle to shake things up.

#14 was even better, another tucked in basket, but with some personality as the hole was downhill, dried up stream, and basket on mound protected by a troop of trees.

#18 is your typical pond risk reward throw and a good ender as any.

While the navigation was easy, the (routed?) wooden signs left something lacking. They are basically just straight arrows on white background, with distance indicated. With tucked in holes, I was left wondering exactly which nook the basket was in.

The signs could have used a few landmarks to show exactly where I was supposed to be throwing at and to give general context. During #6, for example, I ended up putting into #15's basket, which is almost in the same spot.

-#3 felt like a filler open hole despite a suspended basket.

-#8 has the around the corner mando, when throwing a spike hyzer over the trees would be a much more interesting option for those that can hack it.

-The open field hosting the #9,10,11,12 loop needs a few trees on the fairway to introduce some variety into this corner of the course. A collection of four fully open holes, two with tucked in baskets. Especially short #11, in particular, felt like a filler hole.

Out of XXXXX:

Terrain: XXx - Typical. Mostly flat. Forest without tons of brush. Nothing special by itself but very sizeable for a private course.
Execution: XXXx - Very good. Thought and work and resources was obviously put into this place.
Upkeep: N/A - Too new but seems well maintained.
Difficulty: XXX - Moderate. Just over community course level, with its spurts of length but nothing overwhelmingly hard throughout.
Fun Factor: XXXx - Very good. I had a good time and would definitely play here again if I were in the area.
Overall: XXXx - Very good.