This course is conveniantly right off I-95. There are 2 practice baskets to warm up on so you can putt and throw at one and then putt and throw back at the other. Cool! Plenty of trees around those practice baskets. Trust me you will need that practice. There are 2 sets of concrete tees on every hole. These are huge concrete tees in a deep forrest. Not very often do you see such perfect tees in such a difficult setting. The course is by far the most challenging course and I doubt there is a more difficult course out there. Many seem to describe this course on a whole rather than appreciate each hole for what it offers. I suppose this is because it might be like trying to describe 18 boxers who beat your ass...the punches all begin to feel the same after awhile. Tyson upper cut me, then Ali stung me, then Holyfield head butted me, then Foreman bombed me, then Sugar Ray humiliated, I can't keep it straight I am just in pain.LOL! These are the meanies in all their wicked glory!
#1 a 605 foot drive downhill anhyzer to a protected pin....this fairway is wide open and fair but as all do on here it punishes you if your off of it.
#2 One of the only birdie/par chances on the course a downhill Hyzer to a pin with random trees to negotiate but not impossible...easiest hole on course.
#3 Fun 660 drive through relatively open field to a well placed pin. Consider this the open hole!
#4 Another relatively open 675 downhill shot to a fast protected green! Your done with grass hope you enjoyed it..haha
#5 690 foot tight uphill drive makes it feel like 1000 feet due to 55 foot elevation gain to a boulder laden protected pin perched way up there. I loved this hole.
#6 Nice fairway here 625 with option to go right or left early..then it plays very fair to a protected green. A par/birdy hole.
#7 Wild 370 downhill fairway to a basket tucked behind trees you have the choice to go right or left around trees to reach basket..Killer Fun hole here!
#8 605 uphill journey with twist in middle of fairway..40 feet of elevation gain makes it play longer.
#9 555 only flat hole on course but it's very hard with plenty of trouble off fairway
#10 675 A long couple of drives up to a basket this is just about sheer long distance control
#11 630 Another long one that will just break your spirit if you let it...this is where most players start to emotionally breakdown I think
#12 520 Fun downhill hyzer basket is down around the bend
#13 360 a controlled downhill drive to basket this one is a birdie/par chance
#14 370 simpler hole but still tree laden
#15 480 uphill with a big lane and a tight window option..gently hyzers to the left I found this a fun hole.
#16 515 Tree whipping make it stop!
#17 860 What many say is the penultimate signature hole on course..Its long uphill, tight, and plays to a wonderful basket atop an elevated bank on top of the hill...It can be conquered!
#18 460 finish your day down a reasonable fairway to a rocky green..then walk out of the forrest and finally relax. The combination of elevation, distance, and woods makes this the one course I want to play every year and one that has left a deep impression on me.

At times it seems those responsible maybe have bitten off more than they can chew. That is the amount of work is a herculean effort and once one fairway is cleared another is quickly overgrown. I played it in the early spring and found it dense I cannot imagine this place in July.

This course is so underrated. This course is relentless in what it demands of you. You don't come here for a pleasant day of disc golf. You come here mentally prepared to play the most difficult course ever built. I have played some tough wooded courses with epic length, but this is far and away the most difficult. Don't take that as a bad thing. It is fair. Yes this course is fair. Other reviewers seem to think it is not fair but it is if you play within yourself and keep your emotions intact you will be amazed at the player you can be. There are no breather holes here. It seems to get harder and harder with each hole. The woods are huge hardwoods with elevation gains/drops of 30-50 feet on many of the holes. The fairways are not terribly tight...they are just long. Some players cannot adjust to reaching for their fairway driver on shot 2. Often I think players are disheartened by hitting a tree early but recovery can be just as satisfying early as hitting a tree late can be frustrating. One has to really keep focused here. I am not an expert player but I really enjoyed my round here. It is a completely different experience. People rave about Paw Paw but thoise fairways are far worse and unfair than these. The woods begin to engulf you after awhile and your looking for that open field hole or that little gimme 3 but it never comes. I think the mental beating is what irks people here. I loved it. It gets to be a bit like the Blair Witch project out there...you can lose your mind and in the end your just relieved to be out of those woods no matter how it ended. Whenever I am on I-95 in this area of Delaware I swear I can hear Iron Hill teasing me..."come on bitch come here and get your beating...yeah keep driving bitch you can't handle me" like Tim I want to beat this course one day.

UPDATE 6/14/2011 - Haven't had time to rewrite my entire review yet (originally a 3.5 rating), but based on the last few times I've seen this course, I think it deserves a 4.5, with the potential long term to hit 5.0 if it continues to improve. This is the biggest challenge -- and greatest design -- of any course I know of. Every hole is fair, and every hole is a challenge. It's a course that will make most courses look like putt-putt in comparison. (END UPDATE)

This course has AMAZING potential. Give it a few years and it is likely to be one of the signature, go-to courses on the East Coast... for pro-level players or masochists, that is.

I'm not saying that less-experienced/skilled played shouldn't play here -- it will hone your game -- but I'm saying ALL PLAYERS should mentally prepare for this course. It will wreck you if you're not prepared for an epic struggle against the trees.

The teeboxes here are brand new and beautiful -- grippy, textured concrete with lots of room and space is cleared around the teeboxes so you have clearance for your throwing motions and follow through (at least, this is true now -- we'll see where they put up teesigns... hopefully not in the way of the throwing motion).

The course map -- available on this site -- is incredibly helpful. Print one before you go. It's missing some basic information (like hole lengths), but it does include topographic lines showing elevation changes in the terrain -- a feature I've never seen on a disc golf course map before -- and it is helpful in knowing where you are going to be going, especially on long par-5 holes where you can't see the basket. It's great to see how the elevation will change, and to know that you've got 60' of downhill or 40' of uphill or whatever the case may be. Unfortunately, the map is not entirely to scale, and hasn't been updated with the newer pin placements (you can't tell, for instance, that hole 17 is ~1000' and the longest hole on the course -- it looks much shorter than that on the map).

The front nine are a great set of holes -- a good mix of shots with some open areas for big drives and lots of elevation change, along with a couple of chances early on for really long deuces if you carve some of the alleys just right. The front nine will try your patience in places, but it is well balanced and a truly enjoyable experience. The back nine... well, check the "cons" section.

The park has been radically renovated in the past year. The disc golf course opened up in June 2008, and has been making huge strides thanks to the work of local golfers. The course will host a PDGA B-Tier in June 2009 (King of the Hill), by which time I expect the course to be in great shape. It won't be fully broken in by then, but by then I would expect volunteer work from the locals to have completed signs, all pin placements, and continued to clear fairways. It should be an awesome course by June at it's one-year anniversary. I'll re-review then.

Other pros of this being a new park are that the whole park has been redone. There is a dog park, areas for families, restrooms, lots of paved parking, etc... the city has spent a lot of money giving this place a makeover, and disc golf is a big part of the transformation.

This course is new and still relatively untamed. And long. Long. LONG. Through dense trees. At times, this course will make you wonder why you play this sport. Especially on the back nine.

As mentioned earlier, the front nine is excellent -- incredibly challenging, but balanced and fair. The back nine is just a beating. It's a guy from American's Most Wanted dragging you out into the woods and beating you senseless with a large branch and tossing you into the thorns where no one will ever find you. It's the hardest 9-holes I've ever played. And hard isn't a bad thing -- I'm a disc golf masochist. But the back nine here is both stupid hard AND repetitive.

A few of the back nine holes feel like holes you already played on the front nine. The rest of the back nine feel like other holes on the back nine. You're mental game will get weary, and that's dangerous, because you'll end up off the fairway and fighting your way back, racking up an extra stroke of two every time.

The woods on the back are just thick. Fortunately, there isn't a lot of underbrush that will eat discs -- there just isn't a lot of space between the trees to throw once you are off the fairway. And the safe landing areas are often hard to see from the teebox.

IMHO, you're best advised to throw your straightest Roc. Over and Over and Over. And herein lies the problem -- lack of shot variety on the back. Most holes require straight shots up super-tight fairways, up and down elevation. Lots of long holes with low ceilings where drivers are just a bad idea. This would be great for a couple of holes, but gets really old. I'm hoping in a few years, some more room will open up and lanes will be more clearly defined and you can actually use your drivers to open up more shot options.

The lack of teesigns is a huge drawback -- especially since the map (while it does help navigate) doesn't give you a sense of the length of the holes. First time players will often either need to go look for the basket or retee after they discover they've thrown down the wrong line. Playing through a few times will help, but teesigns should provide this information.

Another drawback (in some ways) is that this course takes a long time to play. There were enough times we had to look for discs off the fairway that even with just two of us moving pretty quickly, it took several hours to play the course. Carts would be useless here. And you will get a full workout going up and down the hill and through rough terrain. Wear trail shoes or boots or suffer. And I'd plan to budget 2.5 hours for 18 holes your first time through -- more if playing with more people.

Back in August 2008, my brother and I did a roadtrip of top-courses in the PA/NY/NJ/DE area. We played the hardest layouts everywhere we went and hit Codorus, Quaker's Challenge, Jordan Creek. Little Lehigh Valley, Nockamixon, Tinicum, Campgaw, Warwick, Tyler State Park and Iron Hill. And of those courses, Iron Hill was definitely the hardest course we played, as well as the most frustrating. I shot a 72 and felt like I played well; probably ~980-level golf (though it is hard to say for sure, since no tournaments have been held here yet).

My understanding talking with the locals is that the course record so far is a 61... and they're making the course longer by adding more deep pin placements.. I'd guess SSA out there is ~ a 69, and there are more places there to blow-up and take a snowman or worse than any other course I've played anywhere in the country. Iron Hills will crush your mental game if you're not careful...

Of course, we played in August, with the thorns/bushes/leaves/etc... a their fullest. I'm guessing that playing in the winter would make the course 3-4 strokes easier. But it really is unreal what this course does to your mental game.

Especially with hole 17. I was having a great round, and thought I was easily going to come in under 70, but then fell apart and took a 9 on hole 17. That hole is ridiculous. Probably ~1000' curving uphill through tight fairways with dense trees on all sides. I'd almost say it is a PRO PAR 6. And I've never said that about a hole before. A five would feel like a birdie. And I think a four would be a field ace on that hole. It's crazy (but in a good way).

When I left the course. All I wanted to do was come back and get revenge on it. And I think this course will inspire that emotion in a lot of people -- the desire to find the willpower to conquer one of the hardest courses ever put in the ground. Enjoy your trip.