This is a solid course with awesome potential. It's rough around the edges, but it appears that is due to the newness of the course, and will eventually be fixed. The continuing evolution and refinement of nearby Iron Hill testifies to the dedication and attention to detail of Deleware disc golfers.
This past weekend, my brother and I got up before dawn and did a marathon roadtrip day of disc golf, starting with the longs at Scarboro Hills in MD, then the gold layout of Iron Hill, then the longs at Carousel, then finishing up at Brandywine Creek. Playing that many courses back-to-back helps highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each one, and despite only one round through Carousel, I already have a fondness and sense of great expectation for the course.
The land is amazing -- the grass is sticky, dense, lush green -- just overgrown enough that it makes it trickier to find discs in the field, but not so bad that the get lost. This also pretty much eliminate skips, which can be a curse or a blessing -- on a course with this many drops and thorns, I think the sticky grass is incredibly helpful if you plan for it.
The opening five holes are nice shots -- a few obstacles (pond, OB fence, peninsula greens, etc...) that aren't a problem in calm, but would be very challenging on a windy day. Mostly wide shots for some big air, but lots of elevation change keeps things interesting. The landing area on hole 3 will be particularly beautiful in few years, when fully cleaned up and hopefully grown in with some new grass. Nothing crazy exciting here, but good options for lefty and righty shots on every hole.
The end of 5, on into 6 and 7 bring some serious woods and thorns into play. Fun shots, but all of them are blind (as is a lot of the course). I'm not against blind holes, but blind holes without teesigns makes for challenging play.
Hole 8 is all about the huck -- big field at 800', thorns on the left, with a basket tucked into the edge. Fun par-4 hole that benefits when the wind is high to add some interest.
Holes 9, 10, 11 are a mix of woods/fields, all elevation, with a good mix of left and right throws required. Take you to hole 12, which is one of the signature holes -- a 75' drop down a tightly-treed alley with a stream out the back. Great hole, but the downside is that since the first 60' or so of the hole is flat and the drop doesn't happen until halfway down the hole, there is no way to watch your disc. This hole needs a spotter, but it is also a shame to have such a beautiful tunnel elevation shot without a way to watch your throw. There is something beautiful about watching a disc in flight, carving the perfect line down an alley throw, and here you can't get that thrill... I think a short teebox near the edge of the drop would be a lot more fun/exhilarating for casual players... this is a signature-level hole that has no view from the teebox. It's like the designers got greedy/eclectic and gave up a picturesque hole for a harder shot -- both options should be given.
Holes 13 and 14 are awesome holes. 14 -- especially from the "tournament tee" is a sick shot over the small dam to a long, narrow fairway between awful thorns and an OB-fence to a basket around 700' away. A great par-4 and would be a signature hole as well at most courses.
Hole 14 tees back on the other side of the thorns, back towards the dam and the water. Another amazing par-4 with thorns, a pond, stream and fast green to make it more interesting. Lots of air and room to get greedy on the tee shot, but lots of risk and reward on the upshot.
Holes 15-17 -- see below.
Hole 18 -- Nice hole - not as epic as some of the others, but a good place to finish the round as it offers a lot of potential for greatness and a heavy risk vs. reward mix. 500' uphill with lots of air but a narrow landing area between thorns on the left and OB horse fence on the right. The basket is elevated about 3' on a raised platform green -- hard to land on the small green, and without it, you've got a tricky uphill putt. Again, in wind this will be an awesome finishing hole to test every player's skill.