Iron Hill. Please Read Before You Play

[reposado]

if you play straight through without stopping you can play all four layouts in under 12 hours.

i have no doubt that i would play all four layouts in under six. which is why i wanted a time relative to other courses, ideally NC courses.

but i only have time for one course (as i drive from NC to CT) and someone will be in the car waiting, so i dont want to take too long.

 

[paulw]

if you play straight through without stopping you can play all four layouts in under 12 hours.

I have hundreds of rounds in at IH and I've only seen the one layout -- ?

(There's odd flat places that I've heard are decoys for trap doors that lead to a slide that takes you right to the first tee at White Clay or Lums if you step on them, and "distractor baskets" that cause your disc to explode if you putt into them on most of the baskets but I'm not that gullible.)

Alone, walking with purpose and not taking extra throws you can easily complete IH in under 2hours. A foursome, walking with purpose, it's about a three hour tour.

 

[paulw]

. . . .someone will be in the car waiting, . . . ..

And there's a great dog park, great picnic areas, lots of trails worth hiking, restaurants close-by, it's close to U of Del, the Christiana Mall's an easy drive up 95, etc. if they're("she", my guess is this person's a "she", but I'm guessing) looking for stuff to do.

 

[paulw]

i have no doubt that i would play all four layouts in under six. which is why i wanted a time relative to other courses, ideally NC courses.

but i only have time for one course (as i drive from NC to CT) and someone will be in the car waiting, so i dont want to take too long.

And hopefully you're staying at the Manchester Fairfield Inn that's about 5min from Wickham -- it's a great motel (not cheap -- usually $100ish) but it's silly clean, nice people, great free breakfast. I can get a dawn round in at Wickham and be back before the wife's done breakfast. Yes -- you have to park across the street in the apartments but the one directly across has no "no parking" signs and the four or five times I've done it there's been no hassles. I did give a resident a "breakfast beer" as I was packing up one day -- he may have been the most grateful guy in the history of the world for one lousy beer -- like he won the power ball!

 

[lazy cake]

i have no doubt that i would play all four layouts in under six. which is why i wanted a time relative to other courses, ideally NC courses.

but i only have time for one course (as i drive from NC to CT) and someone will be in the car waiting, so i dont want to take too long.

Four times through Iron Hill in less than 6 hours is ambitious. I play fast when I'm throwing solo and I plan to be off the interstate for 2 hours (15 min drive time, 15 min to get myself in and out of the car on either end of the round, then 1.5 hours for the round) when I stop in Delaware while making the I-95 drive. I don't think I could play 4 rounds at the same pace.

I will also say that I've only played Iron Hill solo. It seems like the kind of course that would be even better to play with someone else because it gets demoralizing taking another double bogey or triple bogey when you don't have someone to commiserate with.

I'm not sure if I've played all four layouts but I've played long to long and short to short. Both are fun but you didn't drive to Delaware to play the shorts, definitely play the longs to get the full beat down.

 

[chrishysell]

And there's a great dog park, great picnic areas, lots of trails worth hiking, restaurants close-by, it's close to U of Del, the Christiana Mall's an easy drive up 95, etc. if they're("she", my guess is this person's a "she", but I'm guessing) looking for stuff to do.

Ruby Thai at the Christiana Mall has some of the best food court food I have ever had. They just opened a Cabelas there also.

 

[optidiscic]

Just to clarify; I don't think anyone from Iron Hill complained about low ratings. Correct me if I'm wrong.

thanks for reading and paying attention

 

[paulw]

thanks for reading and paying attention

At some point Jimi's whined about low-rat(ings)(ers)(erers?) at IH -- no, I'm not going to go fumbling back through years of message board blather to find it unless someone (unless it's Jimi having a hissy -- I'd be nervous if I wasn't pissing him off though, he seems to operate well in "always angry") has a hissy about me referencing it and I may be confusing Jimi with Fred at Idlewild since they're very similar although Fred's nice and Jimi's not.

 

[paulw]

Ruby Thai at the Christiana Mall has some of the best food court food I have ever had. They just opened a Cabelas there also.

Cool -- do they call it "Ruby Thai's Cabella's"? or "Cabella's by Ruby Thai"? Not literal Thursday?

 

[reposado]

Four times through Iron Hill in less than 6 hours is ambitious. I play fast when I'm throwing solo and I plan to be off the interstate for 2 hours (15 min drive time, 15 min to get myself in and out of the car on either end of the round, then 1.5 hours for the round) when I stop in Delaware while making the I-95 drive. I don't think I could play 4 rounds at the same pace.

I will also say that I've only played Iron Hill solo. It seems like the kind of course that would be even better to play with someone else because it gets demoralizing taking another double bogey or triple bogey when you don't have someone to commiserate with.

I'm not sure if I've played all four layouts but I've played long to long and short to short. Both are fun but you didn't drive to Delaware to play the shorts, definitely play the longs to get the full beat down.

Well I figure the long layout takes 90 the rest should take less. But I'm not actually doing this

 

[New013]

well we're just trying to play it once, while also driving from raleigh and playing seneca and patapsco in that day.

 

[optidiscic]

thats a very ambitious day New
seneca is 27 holes and Iron Hill feels like 27 lol

 

[Jay Dub]

At some point Jimi's whined about low-rat(ings)(ers)(erers?) at IH -- no, I'm not going to go fumbling back through years of message board blather to find it unless someone (unless it's Jimi having a hissy -- I'd be nervous if I wasn't pissing him off though, he seems to operate well in "always angry") has a hissy about me referencing it and I may be confusing Jimi with Fred at Idlewild since they're very similar although Fred's nice and Jimi's not.

Funny when I read the OP it reminded me of Fred and how he defends Idlewild.

I don't know Jimi but have known Fred since the late 80s.

 

[jimimc]

I do defend Iron Hill with a bit of a passion. I don't think it's perfect though. I am proud of the design, the fact that no matter how many times you play it your 2nd and 3rd shots are always different. I'm proud of the Gold tee pads and signs, nice job by the county paying for them. I'm proud of the 2 baskets on every hole, that I paid for out of pocket. It's the complaints of no water to drink when people didn't look or ask where it is. It's complaining about no bathrooms when there are 3 very well maintained Port a Pots there. It's calling the course repetitive, when I've seen the best players in the world throw multiple different drives and shoot ridiculous scores consistently. One person will complain it's boring while another will complain it's hard to hit the same exact spot to throw your second shot from. If some one thinks the course is average, that's cool. I actually understand the bad reviews more than the average ones. Everyone is welcome to their opinion and I also with open arms welcome anyone to play what ever layout they choose, I just want them to know what to expect.

 

[jimimc]

Yes Paul, this is the nice Jimi. I only yell, rant and rave in private, unless we're talking about stupid OB rope and Mandos. Now that I can rant and rave about any where.

 

[MrFixIt]

As far as mando's for safety reasons, I was taught and believe you should find a different solution. If the concern is safety, someone will miss the mando or ignore it and create a safety issue. Once again, like you said, just an opinion.

I have no opinion on Iron Hill, but ^this is something I wished other designers would consider.

 

[davetherocketguy]

I dont knw why you are hellbent on trolling

That's funny right there I don't care who you are.

Also, so to simplify the OP, only >1000 rated players are allowed to complain about or critcize Iron Hill.

 

[lazy cake]

well we're just trying to play it once, while also driving from raleigh and playing seneca and patapsco in that day.

Leave early! You're looking at 7 hours in the car (that's not counting any time for traffic), 2 hours for a regular round at Seneca, about the same if you're playing the Green Monster lay out at P-tap, and then the same again at Iron Hill. Maybe schedule the trip for the solstice so you don't have to race sunset.

Solid day of golf, you're bagging the top two MD courses and the top DE course in one day.

 

[coupe]

Solid day of golf, you're bagging the top two MD courses and the top DE course in one day.

BAGGER!

 

[paulw]

Yes Paul, this is the nice Jimi. ..

Um -- there's a nice Jimi? I said Fred was nice, although you do have nice hair . . .