Pros:
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.
Cons:
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.
Other Thoughts:
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.