Good use of elevation and natural obstacles.
Heavily wooded, requiring creative shot making ability.
Very challenging. It's just as difficult as Seneca Creek and other nearby courses but doesn't have the same reputation.
Beautiful piece of property; fun design; love the creek on the back nine; still pretty rugged; course flows well from each basket to the next tee pad.
Never over crowded. There are surprisingly few golfers out.
Course is well maintained.
The course now has 18 DiscCatchers; the last of the buckets were replaced early in the summer.

Downhill drives are rare.
Not a lot of ace shots.
First time out could be confusing....I don't even look at the signage anymore. First tee pad is between the road and the tennis courts, shoot down in to the woods.
Bugs can be thick in the summer. DEET is highly recommended.

This is a one of the best courses in the DC area. Lots of fun, rugged and challenging, it's definitely worth the drive out to Darnestown to see the course. If you haven't been out in the past 6 months, you should certainly come back out to see the changes and improvements made. That said, if you don't like playing in the woods or you prefer a leisurely stroll with your disc golf, you may not find Darnestown as exciting as I do.

With lots of elevation changes and some water to avoid this mostly wooded course offers a lot of variety and challenge to any level of golfer. There are a few open holes, a few short holes and many holes that make you think on what shot to use.

Tee signs at each hole, with plenty of "next tee" signs through out to help with navigation.

Since its mostly played in the woods, very shady, which helps for hot summer days. Little to no non disc golf traffic.

Located in a nice neighborhood, with well maintained grounds, in a secluded part of the property.

Only 9 baskets right now, with nine buckets for the other 9. Buckets will wear and need replacing eventually.

Since it's in the woods, lots and lots of leaves on the ground. This will make losing discs in the fall a problem, and keep the ground on the moist side.

Some of the inclines are very steep. Going to/from tee #7 is the steepest, and may become hazardous in wet conditions.

Crossing the creek at tee #15 is a little difficult, since it is just a tad to wide to jump across safely without getting wet.

There are very few open holes, so accuracy is crucial. Very beautiful and scenic, it reminds me a little of Sceneca, I see a lot of potential here as the course matures and more people play it.

This is a private club, so I do feel like I'm trespassing, since I don't belong to the club or pay dues, but I'm respectful of the course and the club.

The combination of the: variety of distance (220'-460'), changes in elevation (flat, up, down, up-n-over, across), width of throwing lanes (pretty open to pretty tight, with various shades in-between), and degree of turns (about half rights, some fairly sharp, equal mix of subtle lefts or straight) creates a very challenging and varied course. Signs (PVC pipe) at each tee telling you the tee number, distance, and general standard flight path (important because many shots are blind); signs (again, pipe) at each basket giving you directions to the next tee.

Short, natural, somewhat uneven tees. Between the many blind shots, the large amount of leaves and deadfall, and steep slopes, the chance of losing a disc is high. Some very steep walking in parts - down to and up from #7 comes to mind. Probably not a good play when wet - in addition to the steep slope, some of the holes play near a creek, and/or in the run-off areas of the slope. The creek crossing is a bit of a stretch at #13, and too long for my stride at #15! Half the targets are baskets, half are buckets; most are numbered correctly, although I think the basket for #10 still has a '6' on it. The most visible target may not be the actual target for the hole - scout ahead, and, for the most part, the drawing at the tee is correct. Some tees are way too close to a basket and/or a throwing lane - if someone had been at tee #5, I would have nailed them in the back of the head with my meant-to-turn-but-went-straight-drive on #4.

Course plays into, out of, and mostly through a wooded slope that separates the D'town swim club from a creek that runs along the side and back of the club's property. You can tell someone is trying to make this course as playable as possible (signs at tees, baskets, other directional signs, re-numbering of baskets and objects), despite the overall roughness of the course (many downed trees, branches, dead leaves, steep, somewhat eroded muddy slopes at places). A few very challenging target positions, i.e. near creek, at top of steep slope, etc..

Favourite holes: #10. Choice of two uphill throwing lanes the first ~150'. You then have about 250' across a left-to-right slope, then another 50' down into a dip and the blind basket. Creek holes #12-#15: #12, about 300', slightly downhill, right-to-left slope, basket to left - near creek! #13 has you throwing through a "picture frame" (two vertical trees with the branches of a huge downed tree between them) about 150', with the basket on the other side of the creek, in a little peninsula that juts out; Easiest hole on the course (220' straight, no objects) at #14, then #15 - choose either the narrow throwing lane straight head, steep hill to left, trees on right, or throw down the running creek, trying to turn left at the best place; from there, a hard left approach to the basket up a narrowing gully.

Tee #1 is next to the tennis court fence/near the entrance. Tee #7 is next to the creek. Tee #8 is not immediately adjacent to its tee sign. To find tee #17, after finishing #16, re-trace your steps about 125' down #16's fairway, and look right.

Not recommended for beginners or anyone that has difficulty walking up and down steep slopes. If you're fairly confident in your navigational and disc-finding abilities, give it a go - otherwise, try to play with a guide/spotter your first time there!

This course is, indeed, a diamond in the rough. Rating it just upon the variety and challenge of the holes, I'd probably put it between 3.5-4.0, but the tees, some flow issues, and general rawness of the course lowers it a couple of notches. If you like challenging, technical courses, this course is for you.

Update 1/1/11: Three buckets replaced by baskets, so now 12/6 baskets/buckets. A few, new bright orange arrow mandos added. Bucket #14 moved about 100' further away. Basket #9 moved to the bottom of the ridge. Most fairways have had leaves and branches removed - looking good!

18 holes with clear tee pads. PVC pipes at pads acted as tee signs with hole info and a sketch of the flight path.
You will probably have the course all to yourself the entire time.
Course starts out nice and has a few nice holes. Hole 13 would be a great hole if it had a basket at the end instead of the bucket target. Hole 15 was another nice hole, 353 footer that crosses a creek. Hole 18 was interesting with 2 large trees up front and a row of smaller trees protecting the basket, but both baskets had the wrong numbers on them.

eduit: Many baskets are still numbered wrong, but somewhere on the basket the correct number is handwritten, also there are a lot more baskets.

Half baskets half buckets on pvc pipes for targets. (edit as of May 1st there are still some buckets, but numerous baskets were added)
This course was probably a spectacular 9 hole course, but when it was expanded to 18 it lost a little in the transition.
Course is confusing to navigate. (edit, navigation issues have been greatly improved, but a map is still your best bet)

The baskets have old numbers so you will look for basket 10, but basket 10 has 6 on it. The buckets need someone to come by with a sharpie and number them.

The course uses drop offs after the basket, which is normally an awesome challenge requiring you to decide to lay up or go for it, but this course over uses this technique cheapening the effect.

I was told I could not play because I was not a member, finally a manager said as long as I had my own discs I could play anytime.
With new signage and 9 more baskets this course could rank up near Rockburn and Seneca. There is alot of potential here.
The first 9 should be either baskets or buckets and the next 9 should be the other so you can choose to play 9 instead of switching target types every few throws.

Edit: This review was written before all 18 baskets were in place. This course is now one of the 10 in the state of Maryland

Shot selection. Nice elevation change and topographical variety with mix of field shots, wooded hill and creek-side fairways. Good balance of distance and difficulty.

Can be buggy. Plays into adjacent fairways in a few spots. Nine holes still only suspended bucket. No course map.

Though the course is under construction, it has obvious potential. Recent developments include PVC Tee and Next Tee signs and some thinning of the more heavily wooded fairways. With a little more work on the tee pads and baskets for the full 18, this course will be a great round. It's worth the trip as it is.

Now 18 holes. PLEASE RESPECT THE CLUB AND THE CLUB MEMBERS. THIS IS A PRIVATE COURSE BUT IF GOLFERS RESPECT THE COURSE AND THE CLUB IT WILL REMAIN OPEN TO PLAY. This course is really beginning to play into what it's potential is. We have cleared all of the holes at least once this season making the fairways clearly seen and you can see multiple fairways as you walk the course. This is a challenging course that offers a wide variety of shots and has some picturesque shots along the creek that are beautiful but tough. With 4 more baskets coming next week and the promise of funding for the additional 6 in the spring of 2011 this course will soon be a premiere course in the DC area. Come back often as we work on the course weekly and you will see changes every time you are out, we are working to fix the deficiencies of the course.

It can be wet but drains very well and dries out within a day or two. Gnats are plenty! There are only 2 of us working the course with very little funding so it takes time for changes to happen but we are making progress on what needs to be fixed. The course is in better condition then ever!

We are disc golf lovers and appreciate all feedback so if you come out and play please review it so we can continue improving the course. As always respect the course and leave it better then when you got there. Someone stole #18 and for a course with no public funding it is hard to come up with $400 to replace baskets so please be mindful of the countless hours that we have put into the course as you play it. ENJOY!

***Update*** Course now has all 18 Baskets.

Well manicured technical woods course with a scenic stream running through it.
Fantastic elevation changes and shot variety.
Next tee signs and lined fairways make navigation easier.
Challenging with out extreme length.

No course map/sign available at the course(maybe at the club house haven't checked). Print Map from Files.
Bathrooms are part of swim club.

I really liked this course. You can tell someone has put some time into this course. It is located in the woods surrounding the swim and tennis club. The first tee is on the left next to the tennis court as you pull into the parking lot. There are a couple rules signs but no course map. The club may have maps and rental discs but call about that.

The flow I thought was quite nice and easy to follow. The tees are mulch and were lined with 4x4s on three sides and should be marked with a peice of PVC that has the hole # and distance. There are big white lawn ad signs as next tee signs and some more PVC pointing you in the right direction and the 4x4s were fairly easy to spot. The average hole on this course is about 300 ft, and there is a good chance you will be putting at some kinda angle which makes this course fun and challenging. There is little to no risk of losing a disc in the stream but with the hills, leaves and length of a couple holes and you could lose sight and miss place a disc. The fairways are very well kept and defined for a woods course and uses downed wood to line most of the course and paths to help navigate(a feature I like alot). Hole 13 has had a giant tree fall on the fairway but is still playable and make the hole really interesting and fun.

Hole 1 Throws kinda at Tee 2, there are a few trees blocking the tee but could be an issue as you can't see the 2nd tee when teeing off the 1st.

A really nice wooded plot. This is a new course, put together by an avid rec advisor and an architect for exclusive use by patrons of the local community rec center. It's a surprisingly good, and challenging little course. After the first 2 holes you think to yourself, ah this is going to be a dinker, then you get to holes 3,4, and 6, and discover some tough, technical, longer wooded holes that make you think these guys knew what they were doing!! Nice use of natural obstacles, and the rolling wooded hillsides. Holes 7 & 8 bring a small stream into play, adding a nice piece of variety. And hole 9 brings you full circle around the back side of the pool area - completing the circuit and returning you to the parking lot.

There were no tee signs when I played it, so it takes a little while to find the course. Being new, and being private, it looks like nobody plays this course - as the leaf fall had covered up virtually all the tee areas - and there were no discernable paths from one hole to the next. I couldn't find the 7th tee.
Tees were poorly marked - and no distance info was available.

A few of the tees had boxes built - so it was obvious that someone was doing some course work. I spoke with the designer and offered some help in doing clinics for kids in the summer time - but he seemed uninterested. The quality of the holes were generally better than I expected, with more hard ones than easy ones. And I can see this piece of property as having potential for expansion (both for added tees and pin placements - and for more holes). No events or organized play on this course as of yet - and due to it's private nature, there probably won't be any.

Property is gated/closed during winter. I am unsure of their policy for casual play. Best bet is to call for permission - 301 330-1340.