Oh, so close!!!
6 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: 18 hole course set in nice, well kept local park. Scorecards and maps at practice basket. Nice touch.
Tee pads, signs and upkeep all very nice. Maintenance seems top notch. Grass was mowed short, and there was virtually no trash anywhere on course. Pretty nice, and very rare. Well done Hagerstown.
Nice variety. There are some nice long, open holes, and some very tight technical holes. Most of course is tight and wooded, but there is a few chances to really throw whatever you'd like.
Baskets were all in great shape. Basket positions were all pretty well done. When possible they were near slopes, on elevated areas or placed just the right distance from protective trees. Nothing too brutal, but nice touches.
Hole length variety from 766' to 211'. Course forces you to use all your shots. And that says a lot about a course.
Several multi path holes. Holes 6, 14 and 15 stand out as places where you have a couple options on how to approach the hole. These type of holes add some challenge and fun to the game. And make playing the course more interesting over a longer period of time.
Design does a great job of keeping course and players away from houses and play areas. Well done.
Cons: Man I so wanted to absolutely love this course. It is clean, varied and challenging. But every time it was close to greatness some minor flaw or angle crushed my spirit. Here's my examples:
Hole 5 - Nice little 211' ace run. But the tree on the right side hasn't been trimmed blocking any chance at an ace. Forced to lay up for a drop in two. Unless you can throw a roller and make it bounce in the basket!
Holes 9 and 10 were more luck than design. If there were about 1 strategic tree removed to open up a chance at a shot it would play totally different. As it stands it is either a lot of luck or play short and take what you can get.
16 felt a little tight off the tee which seemed to take away from the cool approach and basket area. The angle just doesn't quite work.
Other Thoughts: Overall this is a really nice course. There were several holes that would fit in the best of a John Houck or Stan McDaniel course. And that says a lot. I loved playing 14 and 15 back to back. 14 was really good, and 15 is exceptional. A nice downhill tee shot and a winding fairway on a 452' hole. Just gorgeous. 14 has multiple paths to the basket and a basket position atop a small steep hill. Fun stuff.
With a good handsaw, a pair of loppers and a couple hours this could be an even better course than it already is. And if I had them with me I would have gone to work. Because this course as good as it is, has more in the tank. But it is still more than worthy of your time if you are nearby.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.
More of the Same, Please
6 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros:
Two baskets (red short, yellow long) per hole.
Two tee locations (long-n-wide-flat concrete, with signs, at the longs, currently natural and signless at the shorts).
Variety - quite tight to wide open, and everything in-between; frequent elevation changes; variable lengths.
Cons:
A few of the wooded throwing lanes devolve into random chaos at the midpoint.
Dangerous (somewhat) down-up-down walking / future erosion issues for the ridge which hosts tees 13 and 15, and basket 14.
Other Thoughts:
The course is set at the back of a moderate-sized multi-purpose park, with food/petrol options available nearby on route 40. Starting and ending on a grassy hillside, where you may have to wait occasionally for a non-discing park user (kite flyers the last time we were there), the bulk (5-17) of the course is located in a wooded ridge, well away from most non-players. While the footprint of this wooded ridge isn't overly large, the fairways/throwing lanes don't overlap - very well designed, and easy to navigate.
In addition to the variety that two baskets/two tees offers a player, the course's greatest strength is its variety of elevation changes - roughly 1/3rd each for up/down /flat, with some elevation changes being constant the entire length of the fairway, while others happen early/middle/late in the fairway/throwing lane. While (initially) straight off the tee will serve you well on most holes, lefts or rights, typically later in the flight, will be needed on a good number of holes.
Favourite hole: too close to call between #14 and #15.
+ Number-14 gives you a choice of throwing either a left- or right-turning shot from the tee down moderate-sized fairways, with scattered trees towards the end. While the short basket sits at the bottom of a small cliff, the long basket is atop it, with a couple of large trees preventing it from being easily approached.
+ Number-15's tee sits atop the ridge, with hardwoods scattered below. Initially straight, then left, for both baskets, continuing far to the left for the short basket, but changing course to the right then straight to find the long basket.
The ~150 mile stretch of I81, from Creekside (Camp Hill, PA) to Signal View (Maurertown, VA) boasts many fine course, with Ditto Farms (Hagerstown, MD) at the approximate midpoint, and arguably the best of the strong bunch - remember this stretch of I81 (VA-WV-MD-PA) for your next road trip!
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.
Ditto the Black Rock
7 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: 18 hole course with 4 playable layouts for each hole. Dual tees, concrete at the long tees, currently natural short tees, and dual Discatcher baskets on each hole, red baskets are short and yellow are long. Great variety of hole distances and fairway shapes with a couple par 4s. Nice tee signs and navigation is fairly easy. Excellent use of the rolling elevation and terrain providing some unique holes and challenges and a lot of fun. Nice mix of mostly woods and some open areas. Some of the baskets are on fast greens and protected by trees or ridges or in ground bunkers. Restrooms on site although they appear to be locked in the winter. Playground.
Cons: Just some nit picking... Poison ivy in the rough, some muddy fairways. The course plays close to neighbors yards the first few holes. A couple of holes didn't have a legit "fairway" so to speak.
Other Thoughts: Ditto is one of my favorite courses in MD, right on par with Seneca Creek and Patapsco, but they are all quite different from each other. Ditto has more interesting elevation changes and unique terrain features that gives it a higher fun factor IMO. Ditto is quite suitable for beginners with the short tees and baskets and little worry about losing discs. Pros are going to enjoy this course as well from the long tees to the long baskets with it's fast greens and technical shots as well as a couple bombs. With Whispering Falls only 20 minutes away this area is becoming a hot bed of great golf.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.
This Will Be Great
14 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: 2 Brand new Innova Discatchers on all holes. Nice tee signs at every hole. Cement pads on all tees including a fan tee on #14 so you can choose between the two obvious lines. Nice variety of hole lengths. A few long open holes but mostly medium or short technical holes through the woods. Fairways have been cleared of large trees. Good variety of shapes - you can use all your throws here. The park is beautiful and has lots of parking and has restrooms. Back nine features one great hole after another - loved #10, #13, #14, #15 in particular. Hole #1 is wide open; second is mostly open which allows you to get some warmup. Number #4 is 766 feet of wide open for those who like to show off their big arm. It had rained a little the previous evening but the only wet spot was the grass leading up to the 18th tee. Four ways to play allow for tailoring to your group (or mood).
Cons: Navigation was tricky on a couple of transitions (#s 9 and 10). Number #4 is 766 feet of wide open which won't be fun for smaller arms. No trash cans or next tee signs.
Other Thoughts: I revisited again (May 2015). The course is really great now. The fairways and paths between holes are well beat in. People have put a lot of work into it and it is a proud addition to the I-81 corridor (it will remind you of Whispering Falls and Poor House Farm but prettier than either of those). When I got to #10, I thought "This will be my favorite hole" - long and straight but narrow and slightly downhill. Then I got to #13 and thought "No, this is it" - big downhill through the woods with scattered trees (plus I deuced it). Then I played #14 - uphill with the basket perched up on a ledge that forces you to land your disc nearby for a par - awesome. Then I played #15 - throw off that same ledge and curve it along the valley with scattered trees to a basket at the edge of the thicker woods. #18 Long finishes uphill with a 584-foot job that actually wasn't as hard as that sounds.
I went on a Saturday morning at 10 AM and was the only player on the course. I played long tees to short baskets and then went around again playing long to long. It was a great time and I will be coming back frequently; Hagerstown businesses can count on an uptick as I ate locally and did a little food shopping as well. Visited again (8/10/19) and still love the course. Undergrowth was minimal; grass was mowed - really like the choice of basket placements giving me a choice for what I was in the mood for on each hole. Ate locally again.
14 of 14 people found this review helpful.
Date: 5/8/2013
Designer Response by: ferretdance03
We are still in the very early stages with the course. Signage along with two concrete tees per hole will hopefully be installed by Fall 2013. A temporary signage solution is being worked on as we speak. We are expecting the second set of baskets, to give us a permanent short/long layout late 2013, early 2014. The county is doing their best to keep up with mowing/ivy eradication. Keep in mind they also are responsible for many multi-use facilities throughout the county as well as baseball, soccer and lacrosse fields. Trash cans, benches and next tee signs have been on our list since the start. Not sure we can help you with the insects though.
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3 / 157ft. 
1 
12/28/2013 
3/28/2014
Review By: sidewinder22 
This review was updated on 7/21/2015
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