Very beautiful and expansive course. Despite sitting next to the loud I-95 highway, it's a very peaceful setting. Probably because there are few people there. You can play your game without much (if any) interruption. There are two quiet, secret lagoons (reservoirs actually, for the ball golf course's water system – no doubt) that don't come into play but are lovely to look at as are many of the fairways ... especially signature fairway no. 10 with its terraced tees and deeply rolling, sloping, wide fairway.

It's a very challenging course, primarily because of the elevation and the navigation among the holes themselves. The fairways are often pretty straightforward (just a matter of flexing around a lot of trees – smirk), but getting to them (or getting up or down from them) will also be a major challenge.

Some fairways have distinct interest: the pro-level and absolutely-brutal, long-uphill no. 8; the aforementioned, turning/diving no. 10; the tight, down-then-up, steep no. 15; the rather magnificent, ascending, and get-able no. 16 (from white and blue tees anyway); and the hard-gravity pull of falling no. 18 (which ends with uphill throws to definite rollaway greens).

It's also encouraging to have easier holes sprinkled among the tougher ones to just give you something of a break. That is the case from the white tees and some of the blue tees. Maybe less so from the gold tees? I don't know.

The warm-up area has two practice baskets and two driving nets. One rarely sees the latter at a disc golf course.

All pads are now finished and there are now excellent hole signs (as well as a big course map sign/kiosk in the practice area). I cannot remember much about the directional signs from my most-recent visit. I know there are at least a few that are more permanent.

There are lots of benches, creatively made from tree stumps (thank you!) and partial staircases cut into the descending part of the fairways no. 10 and 18 (th-th-thank you, thank you!).

This course is indeed a Clark's Run South (basically) for us locals. I most assuredly appreciate it.

I had alot of construction-phase cons in fall 2022/winter 2023 that no longer apply. The course is now finished. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was in June 2023. So my complaints have been trimmed down here.

Of course, none of us like paying greens fees. While $10 is not the end of the world, $20 for all day probably isn't a popular choice. Personally, I can't see navigating this track but once in a day. But then again, I'm middle-aged and have one weak foot. Young Billy goats are likely perfectly in their element and can fully take advantage of their $20 greens fee. For you, said can be a bargain with multiple play.

I myself did not see the basket from the tee most of the time on my first outing. I was playing the white (or blue) tee. The blue band on the short basket does indeed blend in with the landscape (surprising as that may sound). Of course, I know where they are now, but the newcomer may have a similar issue on the first outing. If you see the yellow/gold basket (which you probably will), you might be able to look around and find the blue basket ahead of it somewhere.

If you come in the late fall, you're going to have a whole lot of leaves to contend with, and you're going to spend a lot of time looking for your disc unless it's some very obvious color that contrasts well with the brown, orange, yellow, and red leaves. Is there such a disc? No, I don't believe there is such a color that routinely defeats fall leaves...unfortunately.

Slipping, sliding, and falling definitely are possible at nos. 1 (descending fairway), 13 (same), and 16 (between the gold and blue tees). Straining (possibly sliding backwards) will be the issue for nos. 10 (green up to 11), 15 (green up to dirt road headed towards 16), and 18 (green up to the course exit). NB: Getting out of the massive valley of no. 18 is no joke.

There is no way there will be stairs in all of these places (I realize that$$), but hopefully in the slickest and/or steepest places, additional partial staircases can be cut in over the very, very long run. Perhaps where sliding and falling happens the most.

This steepness means that you should give yourself sufficient time to get around the course (come early!). It took me 4 hours the first time I played Forest Valley. I was probably a little faster the second and third times around, since I then knew where I was going.

All that time was spent not only because of all the elevation but also because of backtracking to find the right tee (first outing) and spending a lot of time looking for discs lost under the leaves (all outings). The first (elevation) and third (lost disc) issues here are to be expected, and the second thing (where's the tee?) has been resolved with signage.

This is indeed an awesome course. One to be sought and played if you are visiting, passing through, or live in the DMV. A regular fall pro-am tournament has set in here. I imagine the gold tees to the gold baskets (I will never play this format) could be approaching the DGPT realm. Seriously, especially if the aforementioned staircases are added. Maybe it is not as challenging as Lake Marshall, but I would be surprised if it does not kick most all amateur butts.

You want to play the small, adjacent family course as warm-up or cool-down. Like Scattersville at Clark's Run, it's a nice morale booster after the main course has shredded you to pieces.

Forest Valley is on a beautiful tract of land in a surprisingly peaceful setting.

I imagine it will never be crowded outside of tournaments, due to the fact that it is a pay-to-play course and also so challenging to navigate. For those of us who like to play in peace and quiet without people "pushing us around", running over us, and/or throwing discs over our heads, I'm all for it!

Hooray Forest Valley!!