Covenant Village is situated in an absolutely gorgeous area, just a short ways off the highway. Getting in touch with them was relatively easy, and we had the place to ourselves on a Friday.

The front 9 plays as a series of shorter/tighter wooded holes, while the back 9 plays more in the open. Each loops back to the bunkhouse area.

The teepads were in decent shape, definitely shorter than ideal, but very usable. Several of the holes have interesting shot shapes, and in particular holes 10 and 13 have great bombing drives downhill.

We played after a solid 1/2" rain in a few hours, but did not find any of the footing to be slippery, so the course appears to drain well.

The biggest detraction is navigating the course. It appears to see very little play, and so the foot trails between holes are very hard to see or overgrown. There's no sign that indicates directions (there are some painted rocks marking trails at times), and no sign/painted marker that indicates what hole a teepad is for.

Holes 6 and 8 did not have obvious teepads, I suspect they use the camping platforms, but because of the slick conditions after the rain and some crumbling boards, we played off the trails in front of them.

Hole 14 plays over a blind hill into an overgrown thicket around the basket. Hole 15s teepad was hard to find as it was overgrown, and the fairway was littered with stiltgrass. We stopped playing at that point, and walking out 16's fairway, there is no way you could avoid losing a disc as it is a 500+ foot par 5 with a fairway that is exclusively knee high thick grass. We did not play 17 or 18, but they are in the same grove, so I suspect they are the same. That entire section of the course would need to be significantly whacked down to be playable.

As other reviews have suggested, the potential of this course is high. Whoever designed it clearly had a vision for how the course should play...and the options in the area are very limited. But between some overgrowth, lack of signage, etc, its very hard to recommend.

Beautiful setting in the mountains, great use of elevation, great mix of open and wooded holes, a number of unique holes, 2 candidates for signature holes.

Tough to navigate without a guide (threw from the wrong tee/at the wrong basket a couple times), tons of flying bugs (probably the most I've encountered on a course),

A really great course overall, I'd love to play it again. Number 9 was memorable with elevation change and some water to contend with. Number 10 opens up to a wide open hillside after being in the woods for 2-9, and it's pretty spectacular...but not as spectacular as number 13. Number 13 is not easy, but man did I love it. I've been told that signs are in the works, that will help tremendously.

Really uses the property well. The variety is there - front nine is pretty technical in the woods with a lot of elevation change. Back nine has some wide open bombers and some good holes to stretch your arm out a bit on. Not well known (yet) so we didn't have to worry about it being packed. Once youo pay the $5 you have access to bathrooms, some lounge areas, and just a very relaxing place.

Signage is one of them though they have placed rock trails to help you which do a pretty good job. Tee pads could be a bit longer.

In general this was a really awesome find. We didn't feel like making the hour trip to WhippingPost/Woodshed while camping at Green Ridge State Forrest and instead gave this place a shot since it was only 20 min away. Boy were we glad we did.

This course has serious potential. It's already 3/4 of the way there. Some beautiful tee shots, really scenic views on a very quiet property. The property owner, Juls, is a really nice guy and even helped us look around for one of my errant drives.

Make sure you call ahead, this is a retreat center and when rented, will not allow access to play golf.

We went back a second day to play this because it was that good.

Take a swing by and play this if you have the time, we were kind of blown away, especially since his sons built this like 3 years ago.

We talked to Juls for a bit about adding some dowel rods coming out of the tops of the baskets, adding a donation box, and some signage to which he said he'd get right to working on it. Good dude.

Anyways - check out this spot. Worth it.

Only 20 minutes from Cumberland, MD, with lots of places to eat, shop, stay, etc. Very easy access only a few miles off of Interstate 68. Bathrooms and camping on site.

The course makes two 9 hole loops with the tee for hole #1 close to the parking lot. Hole #9 finishes with about a 2 minute walk back to the parking lot. The hole #10 tee is close to basket #9 and #18 ends just about another 2 minutes further away from the parking lot than basket #9.

The Disc Nations Liberty baskets are all in very good shape. They seem to do a generally good job of catching putts. I had one harsh spit-out. But, otherwise, IMO they caught every other putt that they should have. The tees are made of crusher run aggregate, framed into a 5' x 10' area. I'm OK with this size of tees. I also have no problem with "gravel" tees as long as they are well maintained, and these are. Note that two tees, #6 and #8, are on raised platforms that were used to place tents on before. The tee area is marked with textured paint. Some of the paths between the wooded holes are marked neatly by lines of stones showing the way to the next tee.

There is an excellent variety of holes, making wonderful use of the great property. It includes heavily to moderately wooded holes (13), and mostly open holes (5). The density of the trees varies with some lines being very tight, and others somewhat more open. Elevation change comes into play on 15 out of 18 holes, with some changes being quite drastic. Spoiler Alert!!! When you get out of the woods to hole #10, you're welcomed by a sweet 480' downhill bomber of a hole. But it's elevation change and length pale in comparison to #13, that I figure would be considered the course's signature hole.

Hole length varies greatly from 180' to 760', and the elevation changes drastically affect the effective length of many holes. Holes #3 and #4, for example, are both listed at 180', but they play dramatically different due to #3 playing well downhill and #4 playing considerably uphill. For me (350' level drive on a good day), #3 is a low power putter toss, #4 is a hard fairway driver heave.

The hole shape is also quite varied. For a RHBH player off the tee there are hyzer lines, straight lines, S-shape lines and anhyzer lines. Several of the holes have creative basket placements with some placed precariously on the edge of a serious drop-off. And even the open holes have the baskets at least tucked close to the woods line so that errant throws could leave you with no clear shot to the basket. Water could come into pay on #15 & #16, but should really pose very little risk of losing a disc as there's just a small stream paralleling the fairways.

Currently, there is no signage and navigation can be an issue. The course is still in it's infancy and management is planning on installing some signage in the future. The stone marked paths help and they will be doing more of this in the future, too. Some of the baskets, even on reachable holes, are hard to see/find in the woods. This should also be helped with the addition of signage.

We've had a bunch of rain recently and the crusher run tees are a bit soft right now. It's not a big deal, though, and they should dry up and harden nicely. A couple holes play in low lying areas that may stay soggy for a while.

Currently, the grass is low. However, at least three of the open holes play across grass fields that are used for hay. So when the grass gets high, extra care will need to be taken not to lose a disc in the high grass. This will be no easy task as two of these holes are the previously mentioned down-hill bombs. There are sticker bushes throughout the wooded areas, and lining the grassy areas. Only time will tell how these areas are going to be maintained.

A new building is being built that has affected #17 and #18. The #17 fairway now plays up the rough road leading the building's driveway. The #18 tee is now gone, having been at the intersection of the access road and new driveway. I was told to play #18 from the middle of that intersection. Ultimately, hole #18 is going to be re-designed. I'm not sure about #17.

***Update, 2-1-17***
Just a couple notes. I found some nasty, thick, stickers off of the #13 fairway. It took me about 10 minutes to retrieve a disc 15' into them. Yes, it was a bad throw. But on this hole, this could be a common occurrence. Again, it will be interesting to see how the high grass and stickers are handled during the Spring and Summer months. Also, the fairway of #15, a very cool hole, is made up largely of loose stone in a low lying area. This will pose a unique challenge to footing.

***Played again on 4-29-17 and some of the negatives I was concerned about are coming to fruition. The grass is already a foot high on the open holes and #15 is holding a lot of water around the tee and on the fairway. Even where the stones are lining some of the paths between holes, the foliage in is making the stones harder to see, which could make navigation a bit more difficult for newcomers. The two raised tees are also more of an issue than I realized before. The plywood is very slipper when wet, and some of the textured paint is coming up. Plus the plywood itself is bowing in places. Due to these issue, I have changed my rating to 3.5. I still really enjoy the holes, but there are too many shortcomings to justify the 4.)

After playing disc golf for nearly ten years, I just discovered this course last week as the Director of the facility was a guest speaker at my church. When he mentioned having a 400 acre facility near Flintstone, I thought to myself "They need a disc golf course." So I got onto their website, only to find that they already had one.

I went to the course with very limited expectations. The map didn't have any distances on it, but it looked like there were some long holes. I was skeptical since the course was at a retreat center and I figured that the course would cater to beginners.

Well, let's just say that after the front 9 I was nearly blown away by the course. To say that I was very pleasantly surprised might be an understatement.

The quality of the holes is wonderful. Sure, it's a little rough around the edges right now. But I could see myself bumping this up from an already outstanding 4 rating, to a 4.5 if the improvements to signage and navigation happen. Plus they are considering alternate pin placements, too, which could also add to the pleasure of playing the course.

Highlights:
#1) A 450' downhill bomb, right off the bat. Right side of fairway protected by one big tree and left side protected by the woods. The basket is tucked at the left side of the end of the clearing at the edge of the woods.

#4) Basket placement right on the edge of the steep bank leading up to it. This shouldn't be a highlight, since I had a bad roll-away, costing me a throw. But it's still a cool basket to throw to.

#8) Favorite hole part A. 370' of fun. There's a nice uphill fairway playing to a landing area above. The approach flattens out with two distinct lanes to the basket on either side of a line tress in the center of the fairway. Just a very cool disc golf hole.

#10 and #13) Two down-hill bombers. #10 is "just" 480' with probably a 20'+ drop in elevation, playing to a basket up on a small ridge. #13 is 760' of down-hill fun. I can't say how far the elevation drops off of the tee, but it's pretty dramatic. Then the fairway levels out with the basket about 50' beyond the tree-line at the end of the field.

#16) Favorite hole part B. 470' more of fun. Nice level-ish drive through some scattered trees. Then, if you made it all of the way to the gap, probably about 300' off the tee, there is a sharp right turn heading up a steep hill. The basket is tucked at the end of the remaining 170" of uphill fairway, in a group of trees to the right. Again, this is just a very cool disc golf hole.

I really hope that I'm not over-stating how cool this course really is. I could be caught up in the moment, having just found out that there's a nice course that's only 35 minutes from home. I don't think so, though. I hope to play it again, very soon. And I'm sure that I'll be back more in Spring and Summer.

So here's my recommendation, as it stands, with the stars still in my eyes. Is this a destination course? Yes, I believe that it is. I don't say that very often, but I believe that this course qualifies. Covenant Village instantly made it into my favorites list. It's probably in the top 5 courses that I've played. Feel free to PM me if interested in playing and I'll see if we can make it happen.

Be well. Jimb

***Update, 2-1-17***
Played the course again yesterday and wanted to just give a little update to my review. I must admit that I was still a bit giddy at the prospect of having such a nice course so close to me when I wrote the review. Based upon my other course ratings, though, I would still say that the course deserves the 4, maybe a 3.75. I think that it will take a bit more than adding signage to move the course up to a 4.5, though.

I've noted a couple items in the cons that I missed upon my initial review. I also still believe that it is destination course, as long as you're within a couple hours travel. And if you're passing through Cumberland or Hancock, then I would absolutely say to play the course.

Thanks, again. Jim