Pros:
Close to all of the eateries, shopping, etc. in Frederick. About 5 minutes from 18 more holes at Heritage Farm Park. The course begins and ends relatively close to the parking lot (within a couple hundred yards). Bathroom on site, but it's out of order. So they have a port-a-jon on site currently.
Baskets are in good shape with just a little rust starting to show on some chains. Navigation is pretty simple. The baskets are clearly numbered. The two sets of tees are easy to find with simple posts in the ground, marked with the tee color and hole number. The course map is very helpful if you do run into any navigation issues at all. The grass was well manicured when I played.
The land is used well to take advantage of both the open grass areas and the woods. The course has both up-hill and down-hill holes. It has both left and right turning holes. And it has open and wooded holes. When the skating pond has water in it (and isn't frozen over) holes #8-9 could both have water in play.
The length is OK for me with several holes over 350' from the blue tees.
Cons:
I didn't take this into account as a con in my rating, but pin #1 is still missing, apparently due to some sort of construction. Although I couldn't see any work being done that would have prevented a basket from being in place. From the looks of the tee locations and the map, hole #1, even if in place, wouldn't have done anything to change my overall opinion of the course.
When you're in the wooded holes, #3-6 (and maybe 7 if you go too far left), the brush gets thick quickly. And there are a lot of sticker bushes in there. It's my fault for going off the fairways or greens, but I don't think that it would hurt the course to clear out the rough a bit deeper.
I just didn't find any "wow factor" here at all. Even on the big down-hill #7. It just called for a mid or fairway driver for me on a simple hyzer line. Even with the wind whipping up the hill in my face, it just didn't play as cool as it could have. It seems as though there was a lot more space to make this a true "bomb" hole.
I have a couple "design" items that I'd like to mention. I wasn't fond of #2. There are evergreen trees that parallel the fairway and you have get to the other side (to the left) of the tree line, through a narrow gap between the trees, to get to the pin. I can see myself spending a lot of time trying to get discs out of the trees.
#3 is a pretty cool little right turner. But I can't see there being a reasonable chance of ever being able to shoot for birdie, even though the hole is short (262' & 271'). There's a nice landing zone about 50-60' from, and well below, the basket. So even the perfect drive leaves me only a hope and a prayer for birdie. And I couldn't figure out any other way to approach the hole better. There might be one, though.
#8 has you throw across a walking path that is lined with big trees on either side of it. Then the basket is behind an even bigger tree. It seems that from the shorts, I could (RHBH) a big spike hyzer or a big anhyzer into the pin. But from the longs, without the kind of distance needed to go over the trees (351' hole) it seems to leave too much to chance and not skill. I hoped to make it through the first row of trees, only to then have to deal with the 2nd row of trees. And unless you throw a low screamer, with a 10' maximum ceiling, there's no room in-between the branches of the trees at all.
The low lying areas were holding a lot of water when I played. And even some of the hillside holes were muddy and slippery.
Other Thoughts:
Highlights. I like uphill, right turning #4. But from the blue tees, the brush from above is growing into the fairway and consuming almost the entire throwing lane. It definitely needs some maintenance. If the line is re-created from the blue tees, this is a cool little hole.
#5 is my favorite on the course. It's just a nice disc golf hole. You have to play around a couple big trees early (no problem) down an open fairway, lined with trees on both sides, to a pin tucked behind a really big tree. There's a decent gap to the left of the big tree and not much of one to the right unless your throw is really low. I just think that it's a fun, and pretty, hole.
And #6 is also neat. It's an uphill, left turner. There's a clear fairway with a severe dogleg in it. I don't have the length to go for the pin from the longs and so a well placed tee shot left me with a nice approach for par. I'd love to see a "big arm" play the hole, getting a big hyzer all of the way back into the pin.
On hole #9, there are also two red tees. One is on the same levee as the blue tee, just a little closer the basket. The other red tee is down on the flat ground, in front of the levee, between the skating pond and the trees. I'm not sure why there are two red tees.
This is a decent little 9 hole course. Unless I have reason to be on the NE side of Frederick, though, I doubt that I would bother going back. I wouldn't call it road trip worthy. But if you're hitting Heritage, just down the road, then you might as well check out Woodsboro.