Pros:
Signal View is a course that has potential to be good. Judging by its lack of upkeep, I'm thinking the course isn't going to be consistently meeting its expectations.
- In a vacuum, I like most of the course's holes; its overall design, and the flow of the course throughout the park. In the grand scheme, the parts are greater than the sum, leading to some frustrations.
- The first 6 holes were a solid beginning to your round. #1 is a great warm-up hole: a 363-foot uphill layout that lets you stretch your arm right off the bat. Rough on the left, and some well-placed trees closer to the basket add in a little more challenge.
- Hole #4 is a fun downhill, wooded layout. #5 is a dogleg right that plays up a hill once you're around the bend. #6 is then another slight downhill that starts open and ends in the woods. Unfortunately, it's a while before you get another stretch of good holes.
- The front nine plays mostly in the woods. The back nine is mostly in the open. On a 90-degree summer day, I felt that stark contrast in the layout.
- Course does require players to pull out all the different shots, and discs, throughout the round. Based on the course design, you may only need a certain disc one time during your round, but you'll be glad it's in the bag when you need it.
- The course only plays 5432 feet from the white (normal) tees. I say only because the course feels much longer. Between the elevation variances, and some thick field grass that eliminates skip shots or rollers, it felt considerably longer than that.
- #17 is a fun shot simply because of the pond you must throw over or around. The last 5 holes are all open layouts. The pond is about the only thing that gives any of the closing holes any identity.
Cons:
The course hasn't gotten a lot of attention and/or regular maintenance. That, or some holes are just poorly designed. I'm looking at #7 as the biggest culprit. The fairway is either designed to only be a couple feet wide, or the underbrush has grown up that there isn't a true landing area for tee shots. I guess it's good it only took me 5 minutes to find my disc 15 feet to the right of the 5-foot wide fairway.
- The baskets all have the incorrect numbers on them. Once you start playing, you figure it out. At first, I had to keep checking out my map to make sure I was on the correct hole/throwing to the correct basket.
- The grass in the open-field (mainly #15 - 18) is of the thick, heavy variety. Why's that matter? It means no skip shots; no rollers; no bounces. Once the disc hits the ground, it's stopped. Also, you'll feel it as you walk through the grass as you're taking bigger steps just to make your way through it.
- What is Par? Well, according to the designers, par is 2 on holes #4 & 9. #4 is a downhill, 239-footer; #9 is a slight uphill hole (either 309 feet according to this site or approx. 240 feet according to the tee sign). Why aren't #2 or 3 par 2s when both are shorter layouts? It's simply a gimmick and a bad attempt at one, at that.
- For a course that wasn't that long - average hole length 302 feet - there are a lot of blind tee shots. Just off the top of my head, I had to scout the basket on holes #3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12 & 13. If the fairways were in better shape, perhaps I'd be okay if my disc went off-line. Instead, this made for a very slow round.
Other Thoughts:
This is another above average course along the northern Virginia I-81 corridor. For such a sparsely populated area, it's impressive how many courses are in this region. And they're all good to very good. The downside is that it's hard for the local disc golf clubs to keep up maintenance at these courses. That's evident at Signal View.
- The course has a couple of distinct feels throughout the round, based on terrain and typography. The first 8 holes are a typical wooded course. Holes #9 - 13 are slightly wooded with a different type of tree and look. #14 - 18 are your wide-open holes. By the time I'm trudging along on #16, the first couple holes were a distant memory.
- A simple way out breaking up the open holes? After hole #1, make the current #16 - 17 your next two holes, then begin your stretch in the woods. You'd then finish the course with only 3 open holes, breaking up the monotony. There would be almost no additional walking (if any) and it'd make for a better flow throughout.
- I thought #11 could be the course's signature hole. Signage is needed to know exactly where you're throwing as there seems to be several openings in the tree line, any of which could be the fairway. Either scout it first, or take your chances. Simple arrows could help improve the feel of this hole.
- Signal View seems a course that should be highly regarded. With a couple of workdays, lots of man hours and, ongoing attention, this is the makings of a 4.0 rated course. In its current makeup, it's far from that.