Pros:
-On James Conrad's MVP page, he's asked favorite event "Anything at the Blockhouse Disc Golf and Country Club".
-The Darkside is an 18-hole where 14 of 18 holes are heavily wooded with canopy, tight fairways and gaps, and gentle up and down hill climbs. Most of these holes are straight away, and other doglegs. The other 4-holes have elevated tees hitting gaps into a valley, then back up hill to a wooded basket placement. A few holes have water hazards, and a few roller greens.
-Holes 13 thru 16 are unique with elevated tees flying thru gaps lined with branches, where your line is into the fairway on the other uphill side where basket is placed in the woods. The valley is briefly open. Despite short distances, can be difficult to reach C1.
-The Darkside is a woods player paradise, from tee 1 to basket 18 it's a grind with a variety of discs played. I teed with putter, mid's, fairways, and a few drivers.
-At a distance of 5578 feet and a par 54, it's the most difficult course to score on at that distance I've played.
-Baskets catch great, tees are turf and just about all are in good shape.
-Navigation is a figure eight with holes 1 thru 9 counter-clockwise, and 10 thru 18 clockwise. A few signs to point you to the trail and next tee. Didn't need UDisc help.
-Beginners and Recreational will get an introduction to woods golf like no other. Intermediate and Advanced if you know your bag, you're going to be using just about all of them.
-There are two other 18-hole courses on the property Sunnyside, and a Tiki putter course. Camping is offered with other activities.
Cons:
-Holes 1 thru 12 play very much alike tight wooded fairways, and will seem like a blurr. Before looking at pictures for this review I could only remember holes 7 where you can see the highway, and 11-12. However, each hole has its own uniqeness and variety in difficulty, it would just take a few visits to remember the course.
-A few turf pads are wearing down, but still enough good turf to find your spot. #14 tee sign was damage.
-Lost disc will be high on holes 13 thru 16 with thick brush lining fairways and three of the holes with water. The other heavily wooded holes not so bad, the rough is sparse and I was able to walk up to my disc without looking for it. I spent some time disc looking on hole 16.
-The course is private, there will be times when it will be difficult to get permission to play.
Other Thoughts:
The Darkside course offered one of the best heavily wooded course experiences and had my juices flowing. The Darkside will make you think on the tee pad, some holes you're going to be looking straight down a hallway to the basket and wondering how to get there. I didn't pull out an 11-speed until hole 12 when I saw a line for a Wave, up to that point putter, 5, 6, and 9 speed discs to stay on fairway. Discing up on some holes for approaches where I might normally use a putter, instead to glide a 5-speed to avoid guardian trees in the Circle's. Holes 13 thru 16 I used driver where your line is at the dirt on the other hill hoping to skip up to basket. I found unique variety with each hole making me think about disc selection. The course was a joy to play and a grind, and an easy one for me to favorite. I have no personnel cons on the course, and no personnel preferences. I hope to come back and play again.
My overall rating is anchored on the extreme wooded play, the variety within the woods, and the relentless play from tee 1 to basket 18 at a 5.0. The 4.0 rating just seems a good place to rate the course at this time. The time to play taking pictures was 85 minutes, longer than normal for a course of its length.
The Wooded Holes:
-The hallways narrow from 10 feet wide to no more than 25 feet. Some are clear to the basket, others have trees in the fairway, and guardians in the circles. A few roller greens. It's intimating, pick a gap, first impression disc, and love it!
The Valley Holes:
-All are elevated tees shooting out of gaps with branches sticking out, gaps wide enough but no wavering. Except for 14 offering a smaller gap. The lines will take you into the hill side on the other side of valley after crossing water. Baskets are back in the woods.
Featured Holes:
-#11 Par 3 at 314 feet narrow gap of 15 feet up slope for a hundred feet, turning into a down slope, doglegging right at 200 feet, with the fairway sloping down left to right. Fairway opens up some to the basket. Per tee sign there's supposed to be water past the dogleg, but I only saw high thick grass and not a good place to land a disc. I threw an easy six speed staying short of water.
-#14 Par 3 at 348 feet is elevated down the hill thru the valley, and back up hill to the basket in the woods. There are trees protruding into the fairway 120 feet down from the left, offering a 15-foot gap to pass into the valley that opens up. Water is behind the wall of trees to the left, not likely to pass thru the trees to reach it. Wall of trees all the way down the right. Tree kissed a protruding tree from the left and into the woods on the right. Pitched out to save bogey.
Signature/Trouble Hole:
-No. 16 Par 3 at 303 feet is one of the most scenic/difficult holes I've played. Elevated tee shooting out of a gap of overhanging branches crossing a brook with a pool of water in the valley, and up the next hill to a basket with guardian trees all the way up. From the tee the fairway slopes down left to right towards the brook. A gap of overhanging branches about 70 feet down, and one of the oddest gaps I've seen. The gap of branches moves up from the ground and curves left to right arching, creating an odd window to the fairway, the window is only about 15 feet wide. Cross the far end of the brook at about 190 feet down, at that point the fairway shoots back up hill with a lazy dogleg left and sloping right to left towards the brook. The bank on the far side of the pool of water in the middle of fairway that filters into the brook, hit it and your disc is likely to fall into the water and a little deep. The brook is no more than 10 feet wide, and in a few places a few feet deep. Guardian trees protect the basket with a rolling green. On the tee I was stumped on how to hit the gap, decided to throw my straightest driver deflected off a branch left out of sight, and after a little bit of looking found my disc in one of the deepest parts of the brook. Took my penalty stroke, pitched back into fairway for a double.