A card mate in a local tournament recommended this course to me during our round together. I decided to check it out the next day after the tournament.

It's a lovely course, spread out among (what used to be) rolling farmland. There are long holes to air out your bomb shots as well as tight woods shots. Uphill, flat, and downhill shots for good balance. There is a series of meadows to play with a dense forest pocket in one section and 3 water features.

The course is largely peaceful but can get busy, it appears. I like that some holes have alternate baskets.

I like that there are several bailouts for pond hole #18 if you cannot throw 280 feet: You can throw directly across the water from the teepad to shorten the water carry; you can throw a mild turnover up the near side of the pond (landing near the drop zone); or you can start at the drop zone, taking the penalty.

The church provides restrooms indoors most days and has a bulletin board at the start of the course with a dropbox for lost discs, maps of the course, a list of lost discs, as well as proposed additions and changes to holes.

On my second visit here, I had time to warm up and discovered more about the practice basket. It has markers at 5-foot intervals out (from 5 feet to 40 or 45 feet) to practice short-to-long putts. Most courses don't have such although I have encountered similar on other courses. This is a great feature to really dial in your putting before or after the round. Or just dial in your putting and not play a round.

It can get windy in the meadows which can do wicked things with your disc.

I don't like the tall grass OB areas. I think they are too easy to get in, especially on windy days. Perhaps they can be smaller islands? The grass was cut down when I first played. On the second visit, some holes had the tall grass and 1 or 2 rows of white poles. Not sure what to make of that; maybe the OB varies by tournament.

I'm still confused about some of the pars; there's a 3/4 on some of the hole signs. When is the par 3? When is the par 4? I'm not sure what to make of that compared with what's on DGCR and UDisc. Maybe par varies by tournament also?

I think the 434' alternate basket #2A should be a par 4 and the long 557' basket should be par 5 (imho).

First outing, I was somewhat rushed around by other players and did not see a long basket for #10. Still didn't find it on the second outing. Edge of property? Where would it fit? I believe there's a typo (297 not 397) here on DGCR. UDisc only has 297.

First visit, I did not see a short basket for #15A at 377', only the 558' basket. I found the short basket for no. 15 on the second visit; it has a mando into a very protected and deep green. Said green is distinctly more interesting than the long 15 green. I also didn't see a long basket for 16A, but I wasn't looking. I played the shortest format for the most part, barring no. 13A where I did play the long basket at 383 feet (first visit). Played the "parking lot" no. 13 basket on the second visit. More challenging than it looks with the mando and screen of trees before the "island" green.

I think it's great that churches provide some parkland for the communities like this. In addition to the disc golf course, there is a playground for little kids, a picnic area with a 3-basket mini disc golf course for small kids, and the softball field.

While it's not an onerously long drive from Newark, it's not an insignificant drive from Wilmington or Philadelphia or Baltimore. So I would recommend pairing it with other Newark-area courses on a day trip. Or pair it with Longwood Gardens!

Finally, perhaps don't park your vehicle so close to the no. 18 basket. People driving hard to clear the pond sometimes land on the pavement! I witnessed this twice or thrice while I was sitting in my car. A disc could definitely hit vehicles parked on the low end of the parking lot.

Broken Chains is a solid 18 hole course behind the Christian Life Center, a Church and Christian Preschool.

It starts off at the parking lot, with an open shot towards the basket, which is on a steeper bank to provide some risk when driving from the left or putting on the right.

Much of the terrain is open grass and all around flat with hints of elevation, which segues into forest. It has four fully open holes, six holes where it starts open and only tucks the basket into woods, six mostly/fully forested holes with generous fairways, and the last one is over water.

The mix of holes, especially when it's starting in forest is reasonable and outnumbered several rather pedestrian holes, but repetition in the tucked in holes started to wear in the middle, with the only variation being distance.

The tees are some of the best I have seen. 5' wide and guessing 16' in length, nearly flush with the ground all over. I had to chuckle when they kept that length throughout, even on a wide open 225' #11.

Navigation between holes was mostly fine. Many baskets had next arrows and there were other signs. I only had to whip out my phone twice.

+#2, a downhill long distance, open until it gets to the basket tucked into a grove on the right, which quickly becomes a theme here.

+#7, had a snack and refrigerated drink station, which I haven't seen before. Bring some $ and show some love if the course is to your liking.

+#13, wide open tee and basket, with smattering of forest in the middle to shake things up.

#14 was even better, another tucked in basket, but with some personality as the hole was downhill, dried up stream, and basket on mound protected by a troop of trees.

#18 is your typical pond risk reward throw and a good ender as any.

While the navigation was easy, the (routed?) wooden signs left something lacking. They are basically just straight arrows on white background, with distance indicated. With tucked in holes, I was left wondering exactly which nook the basket was in.

The signs could have used a few landmarks to show exactly where I was supposed to be throwing at and to give general context. During #6, for example, I ended up putting into #15's basket, which is almost in the same spot.

-#3 felt like a filler open hole despite a suspended basket.

-#8 has the around the corner mando, when throwing a spike hyzer over the trees would be a much more interesting option for those that can hack it.

-The open field hosting the #9,10,11,12 loop needs a few trees on the fairway to introduce some variety into this corner of the course. A collection of four fully open holes, two with tucked in baskets. Especially short #11, in particular, felt like a filler hole.

Out of XXXXX:

Terrain: XXx - Typical. Mostly flat. Forest without tons of brush. Nothing special by itself but very sizeable for a private course.
Execution: XXXx - Very good. Thought and work and resources was obviously put into this place.
Upkeep: N/A - Too new but seems well maintained.
Difficulty: XXX - Moderate. Just over community course level, with its spurts of length but nothing overwhelmingly hard throughout.
Fun Factor: XXXx - Very good. I had a good time and would definitely play here again if I were in the area.
Overall: XXXx - Very good.