Scrumchulescent
5 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: Excellent course with tons of narrow fairways and obstacles providing plenty of risk/reward shots. The tee pads are some of the best I have played on. The course is also settled in a valley so wind has never been a factor on any of the times I have played here. Tons of vegetation but not overpowering to the point where I have ever lost any discs here. Did I mention there were tons of trees? I dig the narrow fairways, it makes you take a little off your throws and become more accurate. The distance on the holes was good too, not too short, not too long, just right for a good time.
Cons: I honesty can't think of any at the moment. The course is very easy to navigate without a map if you are a first timer, there are well walked paths to follow so you wont get confused.
Other Thoughts: I'd say this is the best course in central Maryland. It is everything a disc golf course should be. Get out and enjoy it
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.
Winter
1 Helpful / 6 Not
Pros: it was a beautiful course. i loved the way it was laid out. i also enjoy the fact that it is a 27 hole course.
Cons: i can't really think of any cons but this wants me to type more so i am
Other Thoughts: it was middle of winter. it was very cold and about a foot of snow on the ground
1 of 7 people found this review helpful.
Play It Over and Over Again
12 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: 27 Holes. Multiple pin placements. Multiple tees (3-4 depending on the hole - includes special novice tees which can be used for a fun ace run). Great variety - open holes, wooded holes, aces possible but not easy. Pin locations rotated frequently so each trip is slightly different. Park is beautiful; course is isolated in its own area. Good local following. Course well-maintained - despite no trash cans, I never see any trash on the course. Three 9-hole loops so you can mix and match as time permits. New tee signs are very nice. Two practice baskets. There are discs available at the Ranger station and at the boat house in the summer. Course plays very differently in the different seasons - come back frequently.
Cons: Not all the new tee signs were there and they are inconsistently placed - some at red tees and some at white. Can get very crowded especially on weekends. I was told by one of the tournament directors that spectators were not welcome which seems bizarre to me. Hole 16 from the red tee seems to have no decent line - I guess you can thumb it or roll it or go very wide right (if you are RHFH) but there seems to be a bit too much chance involved.
Other Thoughts: This is my home course which I have been playing since it opened (so I may be a bit biased). I'm one of those who loved the old 18-hole layout and it took a while for me to warm to the new 27-hole course. They are currently installing the blue tees to complement the red and white tees.
Some notes:
- you will notice red bands around trees with small white arrows on them. These are not mandos - these are pointing to the location of the novice tees. It confused me at first.
- the stretch of road on Clopper (Rte 117) between the 270 exit and the park entrance is a favorite spot for a Montgomery County speed trap - drive appropriately.
- old holes 3, 9 and 14 are sorely missed. Each of them could have been the signature hole - none of the current holes (except perhaps #10) have the majesty of these old ones.
12 of 12 people found this review helpful.
Seneca Creek
9 Helpful / 1 Not
Pros: Excellent course condition for January. The weather has been pretty gusty around these parts so I was impressed that the fairways were all clean of debris. This is a beautiful wooded course even in the winter.
Excellent tee box locations. The concrete tee boxes while covered with about an inch of snow were not too difficult to get footing.
Tee box markers: Wow! Really nice tee box markers. Multiple layout of baskets, etc..Just very nicely done. Sign attached to a set of poles.
I think the layout is challenging yet forgiving. The shot can be difficult but if you can make a good throw you are rewarded for your efforts. Less is more on this course.
Lots of trees!
27 Holes!
The course is located in an area designated for disc golf. So no real hikers or recreationists impeding play.Our goup realy took our time and we finished in under 2 1/2 hours.
Practice baskets to warm up on are located next to parking lot.
No fee to enter park this time of year. Park opens at 10am. We got there at 9:35am and the gate was locked.
Cons: The snow on the ground made it cumbersome at times to get around the course.
The out of bounds markers are usually very obvious however the poor weather has covered the OB strings with debris. You just need to really watch out for this along the water holes in the front 9.
Hole #7 does not have a tee box marker. After completing hole #6 follow the "yellow" sign for Hole #7 (attached to the tree located behind #6 basket) up the slight grade and you will see the tee box to use for #7. Not a big deal, we walked around for maybe 5-7 minutes before we realized where we needed to be from previous visits to course.
Some of the baskets looked to be a bit beat up.
Other Thoughts: This is a "pack it in,pack it out" course so there are no trash cans on the course itself. There is a trash can at the bulletin board.
An up to date course map was available at the bulletin board. If I am not mistaken the course had a little different of a layout than the last time I played in 2010. The map really was helpful to locate Hole #7 (see above).
Great course.
9 of 10 people found this review helpful.
Wow
1 Helpful / 13 Not
Pros: Easily one of the most beautiful courses out there.
Short, long, open and tunnel holes.
Good pro shop.
27 holes that will keep you busy for a long time.
Cons: None.
Other Thoughts: I love this place and wish I still lived in the area to play it more.
1 of 14 people found this review helpful.
Great Course
19 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: This course is located in a very large, and very nice state park that offers tons of ameneties and non DG related activities. Bathroom at the parking lot.
-Seneca Creek is extremely well taken care of. Each fairway was clear and there were no branches or debris on the course. Zero litter. The local club puts a lot of work into the course and it shows.
-Most holes have three different pin placements and the pins make the holes radically different. Some adding more than 100 feet to the hole.
-27 Holes. At least two tees and 3 pins per hole makes for an infinite variety of play.
-Good Fairways. Each hole had distinct fairways and clear routes to the hole.
-Great elevation. Even though this is not the hilliest area in the country there are plenty of elevation changes on this course without any brutal up hill shots.
-Nice variety of open(ish) and wooded holes.
-Benches at almost every hole. This is very nice when you are playing long tees to B or C pins or trying to get in all 27.
-Aesthetically pleasing. Seneca is a very beautiful course. Very green, with a nice creek and good looking cedar trees and mature hardwoods all around. Not much in the way of thorns, prickers, or whatever you call them in your area.
-All three nines loop back to the parking lot so you can mix and match your nines and always have a short walk to the car.
Cons: This course heavily favors lefties and RHFH. Playing short tees to short pins I threw 16 RHFH shots from the tee.
-Lack of garbage cans. There did not seem to be any even in the parking lot area.
-No water near the course. There is some in other areas of the park but not at the DG course.
-Tees. You can tell alot of work went into the tees but a solid slab of concrete would be a litte safer that narrow brick tees.
Other Thoughts: This course is not very far away from Washington DC and is just off of interestate I270 making it very convenient to get to. The locals are awesome and the course offers so much variety that I would love to play it another twenty times.
The course itself not that strenuous of a walk but there is no water at the course so be prepared, bring water and bug spray.
This is a great course through the cedars.
19 of 19 people found this review helpful.
Tightest drives we've ever played
20 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: My family qualifies as long-term novices. We've played only 3 DC courses thus far, and this is my favorite.
Great concept to have 27 well-designed holes in 3 separate loops. If you don't have the time or energy for all 27 you can pick your starting point and work from there. My son and I started on 10, and played a combination of white and red tees, covering all 3 loops.
Good challenge with a huge emphasis on accuracy. It would help a lot to have more shot selection than we can produce - including a reliable roller, a backhand drive with a flat low trajectory, and a strong tomahawk recovery shot. Many of the holes, from both long and short tee, have trunks and branches tight against the tee boxes which can disrupt your drive. We noticed this especially on #6, #11, #15, #20, #21.
Holes in the grassy areas provide inviting landing areas, but you can't just let the drive or approach drop anywhere. Depending upon basket placement, you can be directed back into the woods, and a potentially blocked putt. That was the case on #8, #9, #14, #19, #23.
The flags above the baskets are a huge help, especially with so many basket placements to consider.
Favorite holes:
The entire stretch from #12-14.
12 drops sharply off the tee, inviting a longer drive. The fairway curls back uphill to the right.
Trees at 13 pinch the aim of your drive left, but a creek and OB line the entire left side of the fairway. Great natural setting, demanding accuracy with each shot. My choice for toughest hole on the course.
From the long tee at 14 you need to clear a horseshoe bend in the creek. Not especially hard to do, but it's a great view. As close as this course comes to a signature shot.
#20
I liked how the trees frame the fairway for the drive, and the very sharp dogleg right design, with a gradual downhill slope to the basket.
#22
Another gradual downhill that invites a longer drive. The angle of attack consistently tightens as you approach the basket, back into the woods.
Cons: The following observations definitely won't be cons for everyone.
Even though it's relatively short, the course isn't beginner friendly. On most holes, one wayward shot invites another three or four pinballs through the trees.
Most tee boxes are narrow, and made of rough cement blocks. It's a bit tougher to get the best footing for a run-up. More important, when the trees are tight against the tees, a narrow tee box makes the shot selection and angle even more limiting/exacting for the drive.
Baskets are a bit worn, and a few of them seemed to sit especially low to the ground. Not a big deal: from the DG postings, I realize there's no set standard for basket height. And with all the basket placements this course offers, the situation can change from one visit to the next.
Bring bug spray for warm weather. 85 degrees when we played, and we felt we were chewing our way through swarms of gnats. Bugs seemed much less of an issue on the more wooded sections.
Fairways can get overgrown in the summer, and there's lots of blind shots that increase the opportunities for lost discs. This was most obvious on 14. We lost track of a couple throws that were as accurate as we could hope for.
First-time course navigation can be difficult. There's currently no map on the on-site bulletin board. That could be an easy future fix. I downloaded the DG course review map after the fact, and it's very helpful. It shows why we stumbled from 12 to 6, and why we veered to 13 after playing 25. The signage wasn't consistent, but otherwise OK. The longest basket-to-tee walks, from 13 through 16, were fairly obvious.
No clear sign to the first tees. My son and I started on 10 because it's the first tee we found. Tee signs typically refer to blue and red, with red as the long tee. Once on course, it's pretty clear that the white tees - often marked by plastic cups - are long, and reds are short.
Other Thoughts: Seneca Creek looks like a great park overall. Lots of space, which permits the course to stake out its own territory. My daughters took a kayak out on the lake, while my son and I golfed.
There were yellow brick frames set into most if not all fairways. They seemed to be ultra-short tee boxes. If that's correct, they were almost too easy for anybody above the level of my youngest daughter. Or maybe they're non-stop ace runs for local competitions. That of course can be a plus, but it would help if the tees get some kind of clarification/visibility.
Seems like a huge difference between summer and winter golf on this course. It may be psychological more than anything else - but between all the bugs and sweat and encroaching leaves and brush, we may have benefited from better timing. On the other hand, it was nice to see all the greenery, and it was clear enough for us to spot a few deer along the left side of the 23rd hole.
20 of 20 people found this review helpful.
Excellent and scenic course!
11 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: 27 absolutely solid holes with multiple concrete paver tees and pins can make this course anywhere from fairly easy in all shorts to a beat-down long to long. 3 loops of 9 hole back to the parking lot. Rolling hills provide lots of elevation changes. Nice tee signs with pin indication. This is a pretty technical course that rewards accuracy over distance. Bad shots are punished, but if you have good trick shots you can get out of trouble. Well maintained course with defined fairways and groomed grounds for rollers. Great course for tournaments, often forget there are other people on the course and feels like its just your card playing. Disc-golf only area of park. Map in parking lot. Porta-potties. Scenic views and lots of wildlife.
Cons: Navigation can be a little tricky in a few places for first timers, but overall flows well. Tees can get slippery when wet, and some tees are bit too grippy. Holes by the river can hold water and be muddy. Not many holes to let loose a driver and can be repetitive. No trash cans.
Other Thoughts: One of my favorite courses in the long to long layout. $3 to enter park on weekends. The whole park is beautiful and the disc-golf only area makes this course feel really secluded. One of the few courses that the 2 meter rule is always in effect with disc-eating cedar trees on a number of holes. Get ready to roll around the cedars instead of trying to throw air shots. This course is highly recommended to play if you are anywhere near the DC area!
11 of 11 people found this review helpful.
Great course!
7 Helpful / 1 Not
Pros: Great course with some very interesting holes. It's got some really tricky holes back in the woods, with some very technically challenging/tricky parts. Frequently I don't even bother with distance and just try to keep it in the fairway. It can get ugly if you're off the fairway. There's quite a bit of replay value, as you can alternate tees for some different looks.
It's a beautiful course that's nestled back in the woods. The underbrush walks the fine line between well-groomed (so no poison ivy), but still very natural. I've seen tons of deer, snakes, toads--you name it. It can be quite a bit of a walk, so be prepared for that. This is hands-down one of my favorite courses to play.
Cons: Some of the signage is non-existent. Hole 12 is actually Hole 7 (I think). Definitely print out a map of the course before you go, it is the only way to find some of the holes.
Other Thoughts: Be careful on weekends, it can get quite crowded, especially if you are playing with a smaller, faster moving group. Big groups show up and can slow things down, though everyone is very nice about it. It's just that when you're the 3rd of 4th group in line waiting, it is hard to play through if you're a smaller group.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.
A Walk Amongst The Deer
16 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: Isolated in it's own corner of the park, Seneca Creek players will feel they have their own little slice of wonder. Many of the holes play along the creek while the rest are on meticulously mowed fairways spotted with conifers, hardwoods and those disc-gobbling cedars. Lots of variety with elevation, and fairway width (they can get quite narrow, and are never too open). The pin placements (at least two per hole) are very creative and rarely give you a predictable approach. I love the fact that there are just enough trees in the fairways to make you shape your shots on both drives and approaches (and often putts too!) My favorite hole is #22 which is a slight downhill dogleg right that will force you to shape a shot for the first 250 ft. for an accurate landing- because your approach to the pin is heavily blocked by thin trees to the right and left and a very narrow opening in the middle - with a few more trees there for good measure. Otherwise the green is pretty open. Another favorite comes on the next hole where you go slightly uphill and right in a reasonably open fairway. Then you enter a narrow tunnel lined with thin trees (sound familiar?) going downhill to a pin with a drop off behind it garnering great caution! Fun, fun. Dual tee pads allow for dual challenges. Navigation is excellent as there are well marked tees and arrows to point you the right direction. Tee pads are nice and grippy concrete.
The neat thing about this course is the beautiful topography and how the designers have utilized it effectively. It allows all types of throws from rollers to power to finesse. A really nice touch is that each loop of 9 (3 of them) ends up back at the parking lot so that you can mix up your round conveniently.
Cons: Although the tee signs are very nice and have little hooks with a bead indicating which pin location is current, they need to find something other than the bead as the indicator. Most of them (beads) were missing the recent time I played. They should put something that is not easily removed by vandals.
There's a few occasions where you will wander to the wrong tee pad - just use the map that's on the links/files for this course.
Other Thoughts: I seem to always see deer when I come here - what a bonus! Also the peace and quiet is wonderful - there were 15 or 20 cars in the lot but I felt like I had the course to myself.
16 of 16 people found this review helpful.
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5+ 
3/17/2011 
3/19/2011
Review By: Crooow 
This review was updated on 3/20/2011
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