Pronounced swo NECK ee, this Salvation Army summer camp serves disadvantaged youth from southwestern Ohio and northeastern Kentucky with an amazing array of outdoor activities and beautiful facilities, just off I-71 at Ft. Ancient. The camp has 18 permanent DisCatcher baskets in great condition, and excellent signage guiding disc golfers through a half wooded, and half open field track, cleverly utilizing pavement, fence lines, mandos, and even pond OB to truly pose a challenge to the Intermediate level player.

Signature holes abound right from the start, with hole one having a shorter, island green for the kids, or a really tough peninsula green 346' down the drive. Hole two plays very tightly through a grove of trees, with two mandos to keep folks in the thick of it (and not trying to hyzer at the building on the right). After a couple more holes that play to the driveway encircled islands by the camp cabins (reminding me of the Armco Blue course designed by Johnny Sias, but with a little less elevation and distance), you really get into the woods on holes six through nine. Beware of kicking right on hole eight: that ravine is the beginning rill running down to the Fort Ancient valley!

Hole nine plays to a basket placed squarely under a climbing tower, which most folks commented on as a unique and fun ace-deuce run. Then ten plays through a set of guardian trees, uphill to the corner of the pond. Don't throw past the fence!! Hole eleven requires a 300 foot water carry, but they do allow for a drop zone 70 feet from the pin to save you a disc, but cost you that stroke, if you just want to walk over there. That bomber hole gets you loose for the longest holes on the course, which use the driveways, fence lines, obstacle course, and other amenities as OB, finishing in a loop with the 18th basket less than 100 feet from the first tee, if you want to go round again (you probably will!).

As mentioned above, the tee signs are nice, with hole layout, distances, and so on, and the posts have hooks for trash buckets (or bags?). The tees are all sturdy 4' x6' rubber mats which serve the purpose when dry, to accommodate your last couple of steps (but only hole 13 has a double set of mats making it the only tee that's really long enough to accommodate a full run up).

The shortish tees can get slick when wet. Combined with the hole distances, it would be awesome to see these done larger, and in concrete someday. The course tends to play a little on the 'flat' side, based on the parts of the camp they chose to use. Only holes 6 (slight dip) and 10 (uphill) really were noticeable on elevation changes. The intended lines of flight slightly favor folks who can shape left to right shots.

And obviously, playing through the heart of a summer camp, the course would obviously require a good deal of self-restraint when there are lots of folks on site. So keep in mind: the only times 'outsider' disc golfers will really be able to play at this private facility will be when invited. The good news here is that Matt Frye stated his intent to do more events and maybe even a regular league in the near future.

I saw three or four tee signs with A and B pin positions, so the hole distances may be a little more adaptable for the target audience (kids at the camp and maybe junior tournament players), but the layout we played at the 5/6/17 BYOP fundraiser was all longs to B positions, and it seemed to be a pretty challenging course for MA2 to MA1 players to play 'par three' disc golf (if you don't throw over 300', there are only going to be a couple of deuce opportunities to make up for the fours you're likely to take with a tree kick or pond error), so I hope it's not too discouraging for the kids. They do have a more appropriate set of pars laid out and posted, which might help them on that front.

Reviewer Background as of this writing: played 292 courses and written 276 reviews, with skills hovering around a 900 rating, with folks ranging from age 7 to 87, so I try to write reviews helpful to all.