Pros:
+ Practice basket, lost disc box and scorecard bin (empty during my visit) are nearby hole1.
+ The course spreads out within a huge county park. It is well looked after.
+ 'Next' metal arrows are inside the baskets to guide players.
+ Three tee areas per hole. Long and short were paved concrete. Novice tees are marked by two colored rocks on the ground.
+ Wingnut system in place to tell players which pin positions are in play, but...
Cons:
- ...Most of those wingnuts were missing during my visit.
- The back nine were rather repetitive with quite a few holes that feel copy-pasted.
-/~ Entrance fee at the gate.
- Despite some bumps and grooves in the beginning, the course plays largely flat and with no real distinguishing features, save one...
Other Thoughts:
This review is based on the long tee to short basket layout.
I thought that holes11 and 14 were equally dull in that they are both flat and straightforward with overly generously wide tunnels. I liked how hole9 played because it felt like an obstacle course in the middle of the woods with the curious slanted trees coupled with the uneven terrain. I thought hole3 looked the coolest because it had a nice contrast between wide open brighter and dense wooded darker.
Regarding Kinder Farms as a whole, it was a delightful surprise. When I first arrived to this regional county park, I took one look at the land in front of me and presumed that it was going to be a run-of-the-mill municipally maintained circuit with a hodge podge of tee pads, hand-me-down baskets and scraggly fairways. Not so! I am happy to say that my presumptions were wrong and ashamed to say that I had presumptions. The infrastructure here is solid. The maintainence and upkeep are great.
The holes themselves aren't particularly demanding. That could just be a characteristic of the layout I chose to play, but I suspect that the course overall was planned to be a forgiving experience for the recreational to intermediate players. Of course, absolute novices can play here, too. (Some holes from the novice tees are shorter than 100 feet!) But the configuration of wooded fairways lend themselves more appropriately to the middling difficulties.
Having said that, I should reiterate that the holes get kind of bland and repititious after hole9. How many times can we really be asked to throw down flat tree corridors of various density and width before it all begins to feel samey, right? They are crafted well, mind you, but that doesn't change how dull it feels to play the same kind of hole three times in a row.
But the course at Kinder Farms still gets a strong recommendation from me because of its well-carved fairways, available difficulty options, infrastructure, calm setting and economical land usage. This is a great example of course designers making the most of the land they've been granted.
And! As an extra hidden bonus, snoop around among the trees and bushes on the left side of hole2. I won't spoil it here, but there is a bewildering surprise there that boggles the mind. The people in charge of the park MUST know that it's there, right? ....Right?
Anyway, in conclusion, the course at Kinder Farms has a nice layout that stands out from the average crowd with its setting and great attention to detail even if the disc golfing leaves a little to be desired. I wouldn't go so far to call it a destination course, but if you one day find yourself anywhere near the area, do yourself a favor and stop by. It's well worth the $8 spent at the gate.
P.S. I did the research and found out that this piece of land got its name from a family that immigrated to the Millersville, MD area from Germany. Equipped with that knowledge, I think I can safely assert that the name of this park rhymes with 'tinder,' 'hinder' and 'cinder' because it is likely a word with a German pronunciation. (Think 'kindergarten.') As a previous review mentioned, seeing a word that can be pronounced more than one way can really get into a person's head. Hopefully, this clears up the issue.