Finally, Northern Virginia has a high-end disc golf course in the same league as the esteemed Maryland courses. With great scenery, pro and rec long concrete tee pads, perfect signs, both pro and rec baskets, and especially its superior length and design, Giles Run is an elite disc golf course by any standard.
Most everything about the experience of playing Giles Run is interesting. First, the parking lot is overshadowed by a large prison. Then walk to #1 and there is a pro concrete tee pad, longer than any other I've seen in Virginia, with an exact and detailed topographic sign. Further along is a rec tee pad and another sign. Then the red rec basket, and further along a silver pro basket. The first hole plays down and to the right. #2 is uphill, and to the left. #3 is across a deep divide and straight. And this sort of varied and interesting challenge just continues right on through to #18. If you choose to play rec tee to rec baskets you'll be playing one of the most interesting little pitch 'n' putts ever, with most holes in the 200' to 300' range. Play pro tee to pro basket and you'll be playing multiple 500' to up to 900' holes with a legitimate par in the high 60s or maybe more. Along the way you'll need to throw up some steep hills, exert precise control on some sloping fairways, throw right, left, among the trees, in the open, and even a couple downhill and dangerous chucks. And every hole is well considered and well kept. As a big bonus, there's a nice run on the far side of the course of holes with really nice views, especially #15.
Nothing is perfect, however, and the big negative of Giles Run is the thorns. A considerable amount of work has been put into moving these thickets back, thus increasing the margin for error on most holes, but even so, losing a disc in these thorns is a distinct possibility. And trust me, going in after a disc more than a foot or so from the edge is not a reasonable option. The opportunity this nasty feature provides players, however, is the chance to learn to approach the game with a mindset of preservation, where you must carefully consider each and every shot, and learn to play exactly, or sacrifice your discs accordingly.
Giles Run is probably not the best place to learn the game, and would be tough on anyone as a home course - one that you played multiple times per month. The cost in lost plastic and blood would get old fast, I think. But for the best and most varied disc golf challenge in Northern Virginia, if not the whole state, Giles Run is definitely worth playing. The tee pads, length, signage, and varied hole layouts are truly top end, and a lot of the views are pretty nice too.
Note on walking cons noted in other reviews: I've never played a course that required as much walking as Giles Run, not even close, especially since I played the long version of the course. I probably burned more calories just walking from the basket at #16 to the tee of #17 than I do playing entire rounds at most courses. I don't consider this a negative, and didn't include it my cons section. But others may want to consider that a round here is going to take two to three times as long, and require exerting many times the physical effort, as the average disc golf round. These aren't long walks on flat land either, but rather up and down hills.
Favorite Hole - #16 - Exceptionally long hole with a great view from the tee plays along a narrow, downward sloping fairway for the first few hundred feet, and then becomes a still dangerous but more open downhill chuck for the closing few hundred feet.