Fun course to play. Pretty open course with a few wooded holes. Good signage and easy to see baskets.

Be prepared to walk a lot. Pretty well kept for an older course.

They recently added a few holes because of a tournament and I really like the additional holes.

Hot Shots DGC is an 18 hole course laid out around and across the criss-crossing road network (inaccessible for cars!) of a former location of a Navy base in Southern Maryland.

1) Dual Tees & Dual Baskets - Probably the highlight of this course is the sheer amount of golf packed into 18 holes. Playing short to short, short to long, long to short, and long to long, gives you four distinct courses you can play, and that's before you mix and match them up on the same playthrough. The course designer did a very good job of forcing different lines and designing a varying range difficulty levels based on the configuration you decide to play. Want to take a beginner along to learn the game? Play short to short. Want to really test your wits? Play long to long.

2) Tee & basket condition: Good enough. Long enough concrete tees, could be a tad wider, but in reasonably good condition. Didn't love the tees simply painted on the roads, but if you want to avoid those, you can play from the other tee. Some older baskets must have been replaced recently, because there were several brand new baskets out. General course maintenance seemed good too - manageable rough (I could see it being worse in summer) and most essentials (tee signs, etc) looked in good shape.

3) Well separated from other park uses. The DG course occupies a section of the park that you may see an occasional dog walker or jogger on the old Navy base roads, but otherwise is predominantly used for disc golf only.

4) Variety - this course uses the available terrain pretty well - it's more "open" than "wooded" but enough tee/basket combos play you through corridors, and the course designer used the available trees well enough to force you to execute a variety of lines. There's a small bit of gimmickry - roads & wrong side are OB (more on the roads later), there is an "island" green, and one raised basket (6-10 FT in the air!) - enough to be interesting but not so much to be excessive.

1) Probably the biggest con for me is the significantly higher than normal risk of road rash & disc damage. The course plays next to and sometimes over a network of old, unused roads that used to serve the old Navy base, and while it can make for some compelling disc golf and add to the challenge, you need to be careful to keep your discs away from the roads, or you'll be replacing discs at a much higher clip than you're used to if you play this course a lot.

2) Elevation: Almost entirely flat. There's a bit of a gradual downhill chuck on 11, and there's an odd long position that goes down into a small valley but otherwise, this course has almost no elevation changes to speak of.

3) Drainage: Not the worst I've ever seen, but not wonderful either. Good amount of swampy, wet patches all across the course. Possibly due to (what I hear is) a record yearly local rainfall.

4) Could use a few more trash cans. This is a nitpick, but I remember carrying an empty water bottle around for a solid half of the course before I found a receptacle to toss it in. Follows that there's a bit of litter around. Nothing excessive, but this is probably the course's easiest improvement to make.

The roads on this course present a unique conundrum - they're always in play, forcing real risk/reward calculus, but man, does road rash on your discs suck. Overall though, it adds a unique flair to this course - I can't think of a single other course I've ever played that's anything like it. Overall a solid, quality course to play, centrally located in Lexington Park & in close proximity to the (new) Pax River Navy base, that offers something for just about every skill level. Take a picture of the course map before you play - it's available at the start of the course, and with it you should have little trouble staying on the right track - the road network can lead to some counter-intuitive hole transitions if you just try to wing it.

Overall, while not a "destination" course that you need to go play no matter the travel, it's a quality place to shoot in an area where there aren't many other courses to play, so if you're in the area, play it and you'll have a good time. Just be careful of the roads.

scenic and mostly flat course in an expansive public park setting. Land used to be part of the Pax River Naval Air Station base, and the infrastructure remains.

Choose between reds and blues, and there are at least 2 basket locations for each hole. Good selection and variety, but can be confusing as some marked baskets serve as "B" pins on some holes and "A" on most others.

No water plays, and this is a fairly flat course but great distance for the boomers out there. I've played damn near every course in MD and I would say this one has the best playable distance holes.

The course appears to be well maintained and I didn't need a map for navigation, which is always a plus.

I also did not experience any "unfair" tee shots (ie a tree directly in front of the pad) that you so commonly encounter in other public courses in DE, VA, and MD.

-Jet noise. This is unavoidable from the Naval Air Station, but you can expect during your round to be buzzed by dudes landing planes on the runway.

-Road noise on #9-13. Also unavoidable but the course plays smack up against Three Notch Rd. along the back nine.

-Infrastructure-namely, the road. It is cool that St. Mary's Parks preserved/left intact the original roadbeds and streets from the old Air Base, but the road does come in to play during everyone's round at one point or another. The less accurate amongst us will find your discs scraped up and your score elevated because of the numerous OB plays.

Certainly a cool course if you are in the area, and great when paired with the course in La Plata.

Hot Shots DGC is a very interesting course that is located in a very populous area in Southern Maryland. Located in a public park, that has the disc golf course isolated fairly well away from other parts of the park, so very little concern about non-disc golfers in your way. Also the park does have restroom facilities but they are a little bit of distance from the course. The course itself is rather unique in the fact that it is located in an old housing area (for the nearby air force base) that has had the houses and utilities and such removed. Generally flat and lightly wooded, the course winds its way around the old roads and circles with a mixture of baskets set into the wood lines, in the open, and gut wrenching at times close to the old roads (which all roads play as out of bounds). The course as two sets of tee pads (Red and Blue) which are a mixture of rubber mats, concrete pads, and the existing road surfaces. Do not mistake that the shorter pads (red) are easier than the longer (blues) pads. The tee pads are made to make the holes completely change and how they should be played. On top of this there is 3 pin positions on each hole. Some pin positions make you decide to run it and flirt with OB disaster or play the safer route and hope you do not lose the strokes to individuals who go for broke. One hole has an island green as well that just teases players to try and run at it from the tees... but be warned it is not a gimme throw.

Summary:
+ Challenging course that does not let players have a mental break from flirting with danger.
+ Isolation from other park users and a park with several amenities such as bathrooms
+ Two sets of tees create two distinctive rounds of golf.
+ Excellent tee signs

While this course makes use of what it has going for it, there were a few small things that seem to detract from the overall experience of the course. The first thing that comes to mind is the OB. Now it is not necessarily the OB itself that is a Con, it is the fact that you are at some point going to go out of bounds and when you do, that is going to do some punishment to your disc. If you plan on playing here on a regular basis be prepared to replace even the higher quality disc on a more regular basis than you would be used to. Also be aware there are sewer drains that can swallow up disc and they are hard to be retrieve. (It may be a future idea for the course to try and cover/block the drains to help reduce the chance for this to happen). The other thing that could detract from the course is that the red and blue tees keep switching back from one material to another material. For example on one hole the blue tee may be a rubber mat and the red concrete/blacktop. The next hole it could be vice versa. While not a huge factor to some individuals, it may serve for some confusion and if you have a dislike for one style or another you cannot avoid them too much. While it is not a big deal to some people and some may have not ever see it, there are certain areas in the course that seem to be pockets of trash areas. Now was this from the housing before the course I do not know, (there were some larger trash items that I find hard to believe came out of a disc bag) but this problem none the less existed. The last Con that I bring up should not be too big of a deal to individuals reading this because they know the course is there in this park. But if the casual person were not aware of it, they may never know that the course exist because the course kiosk/welcome sign is set a bit farther back in the park than I think it should be from the parking lot. It is hard to get the sport to grow, if it is not in sight.

Summary:
- Mix of type of pads between the sets of tees
- OB can be rough on the disc
- Pockets of trash areas can be found on the course

Some people may say that the large amount of ticks (Deer and Dog), are a Con, and while I agree that it is a slight turn off. That is a factor that cannot be controlled and thus not fair to rate a course on. That being said, yes... lots of ticks. Another factor that can be seen as either Pro/Con depending on your view is the amount of O.B. Every hole leaves you dancing with Out of Bounds at some point during the hole. Some of the OB is easy to avoid, such as driving over it from the tee pad to some that are outright just going to make you sit there and think is this a shot I'm willing to go OB on for the chance to make up a stroke. I personally have never been a great fan of OB but on a course like this, it is what gives this course it's personality. If you didn't play the OB this would not be a very fun course.

Summary:
~ A very different use for the piece of property that it sits on, and a very challenging and technical course
~ A growing Club presence on the course promises more improvements (Club hopes to have 2 baskets on each hole eventually)
~Be prepared for the large tick population... bring out the repellent and check yourself often (Knee high white socks work great)

3 pin positions and 2 sets of tees (red="shorts", blue="longs") make for a good mix. The Longest tees to the longest pins make for a good challenge for any disc golf.
The course sets in a section of the park that used to be Navy housing. The homes are gone, but the roads remain. Road o.b. add a challenge to all of the holes.

On each hole, one of the two tee pads is rubber. This is a problem when it rains. If you get off into the woods, you're bound to find mosquitoes, ticks and/or trash. Be prepared for your discs to get some road rash because you're going to hit them at least once.

New tee signs have been added this past spring. The practice baskets has had stone marking distances to help practice putting. The local club has done their best to keep trash picked up in the course. Hot Shots isn't the most challenging course, but the local club has done an excellent job of making a really nice course to play. the closest course to me is 50 minutes away. Hot Shots is about 75 minutes away and I'd rather go play there.

-18 holes with short and long tee pads on each hole. 4 different layouts (Red, Blue, Concrete, and Rubber) provides variety

-Detailed tee signs with distances to A, B, and C basket locations.

-Orange navigation arrows help to navigate from the basket to the next tee.

-Layout is easy to follow, with only one confusing point (going from 7 to 8)

-Excellent use of the road as OB without the chance of losing a disc. The OB road creates a lot of risk/reward type shots, and will definitely make or break your round.

-Benches on many holes.

-Wooden bridges have been placed over many of the commonly wet areas.

-Quiet area of the park, there usually isn't much pedestrian traffic on the course.

-Rubber tee pads are slick when wet (stick to the concrete pads after rain)

-TICKS... there are a ton of them here.

-The rough can be pretty thick in the summer, making lost discs a possibility (right of 6 and left of 14 are the worst). Lots of leaves on the ground in the fall/winter can make finding well placed shots tough.

-Not a lot of tight wooded shots. Most shots are fairly open unless you get off into the rough. The local club has made some improvements here, but there just isn't much to work with.

-No elevation change

-The practice basket is also the 18C location, so there may occasionally be someone at the basket as you're playing hole 18 (I've only had it happen once).

-Restrooms are a long walk from the course.

At the time of this review, all of the baskets are in the C positions. In this layout, this course is a monster. The typical layout is an even mix of A, B, and C locations, giving a great mix for all skill ranges.

The improvements that have been made on this course in the last year are impressive. The local club is doing a great job of turning this into an excellent course. Permanent C baskets would make this much more appealing to skilled players.

Note: this review is from the perspective of an old beat up player and how the course played for me.

I really liked this course. Good signage and the flow of the course seemed fine to me.

My favorite pro was that it was flat. With my knees & ankles it was nice to play 18 without having to scale steep hills.

I also liked the location of the course in an old neighborhood. A great use of distance and roads as OB make this course a challenge. It's like water hazards on every hole but you don't have to worry about fishing for your disc. Too aggressive and you could easily add a lot of penalty strokes.

The course is fairly open but trees do come in to play but as of now there are no tight tunnel shots. But there are more than a few hard dog legs that will challenge your ability to throw precise hyzer & anhyzer shots.

Multiple pin placements make this course very changeable.

I believe this course is playable enough for new players and fun enough for more experienced players.

The local club have done a good job building their first course in the area and have plenty of room for another course.

The tee pads were rubber mats that weren't that bad but they would move and gaps would start to happen that could be a hazard. Framing the mats with 2x4's would remedy this.

The absence of tight wooded holes. I really like the challenge of a control shot only a tunnel shot can provide. (I was informed that wooded holes are planned for the future)

This is the only course in the area and it's location makes it unique. The local players also help make this a place to check out. They are very proud of the course and they should be. One local bike shop owner has a selection of DG products.

I'll be playing this course in the future.

Quiet course
Not a grip and rip
Little chance of lost disc

Chiggers and ticks (I got chiggers)
Bring your deet!!
No close restrooms
Little hard to navigate at times
Use provided course map

Nice course in the area. Like the variety of shots needed. Seems like it would be like 2 different courses summer vs fall.

The OB roads work well.
Beautiful mature trees.
I used almost every shot in my arsenal backhand, forehand, thumber, even a BH roller on 5.
The long pin positions look fun. Would like to try that setup.

(update July 2010)
A few holes were in longer positions this time. Wow, what a difference it makes.
Hole 2 is great now. Nice risk-reward factor with the long pin position.
Hole 12 lets you really open a long turnover in the longs.

Nothing really too bad here.
No benches.
The signs are a little too close to the pads. My windup was hindered on certain holes.
I prefer concrete tee pads but the mats are holding out okay so far. Only a few were rutty.

I shot a +2 on a very gusty wind swirling day. I was OB 3 times.
Birdies are to be had out here.
The course was completely empty on a Saturday morning. Kind of a weird feeling. I don't like crowded golf but it would be nice to see more golfers in the area.

Course map practice basket near hole 1. Nice grooved rubber tees. Nice signs at tees. Excellent variety of left, straight, and right shots. Good variety of hole distances for an all par 3 course.

Nothing major here. Next tee markers on baskets would help navigation for first time. Some tee signs had next tee markers, but you have to remember them after playing the hole. The land is fairly flat so elevation is not much of a factor. Course does seem to hold some water in places like hole 17 was a mess almost didn't play it, but the rest seemed ok. The walk from 16 to 17 was a hike and seems like there should be a hole or two along the walk. I could see someone yanking a shot into the road on hole 12 or 13.

This is a fun course, not too challenging for newbies, but just enough for more seasoned players. This is not a course I would normally go out of my way to play, but since I was in the area it was well worth it. It looks like there is room for some more challenging holes, tees and pin placements which would be nice. The fairways are very fair with some trees and the OB road does add some challenge, but I was a little disappointed no holes went through the woods. I shot a 51 with two OBs, so lots of duece opportunities if you have a good drive.