Villas Crossing is one of the Mid-Atlantic area courses that is introducing the "pay-to-play with amenities" style. Though your round costs money, you get to cruise around the mountains on wheels, which saves you a ton of energy! 1 round on foot here would be extremely tiring, whereas with cart, you could play 4 rounds! The Pro Shop offers a small selection of discs, but more importantly, food and beer! Both the food and beer selection are small, but it's a nice way to allow players to spend more time enjoying multiple rounds on the course. Concrete tee pads are in good shape with nice DISCatcher baskets on every hole. Elevation is the biggest asset of this course. From someone used to minor elevation in the course in the Philadelphia region, this redefined what I though elevation meant in disc golf.
Hole 1: slightly uphill open shot into a small grove of trees surrounding the basket.
Hole 2: massive par 4 signature hole featuring a scary drive that plays between dense brush and a large pine before opening up to a HUGE hill sloping downhill left to right. The basket is at the top of the hill, with a grove of trees around it and a fallen tree in front of it. Extremely hard to reach in 2 shots, as many people's 2nd shot turns into a rollaway downhill. Don't be upset with a 5.
Hole 3: Awesome elevation shot over 400 ft. and 5 or 6 stories down. I had never had the chance to see how discs behaved in elevation like that. Great learning experience, and great hole.
Hole 4: par 4, slightly uphill. One of the easier par 4's if you have decent distance. Some ppl play 2 big forehands with distance drivers. Others play a big turnover shot and a roller to get there in 2.
Hole 5: par 5, maybe the easiest hole on the course in relation to par. Big open drive slightly downhill. Can't get too greedy and overthrow or you'll turn into the tree line and have trouble. 2nd shot gets you to the opening of the woods, which shows a narrow tunnel 80 ft. further uphill to the basket. Easy 4 if you have clean power and nail your 3rd shot through the tunnel.
Hole 6: narrow uphill shot open at first, into a semi-tight gap leading to the hole. Birdie hole.
Hole 7: tight uphill short hole, either putter or midrange turnover. You can get in trouble if you kick off a tree, but otherwise another birdie hole ideally.
Hole 8: Smooth, midrange turnover hole with a tunnel early and lots of small trees dotting the end of the fairway. Very deuceable, but need to stay clean through the obstacles.
Hole 9: another signature hole, par 4, long straight tunnel. 2 controlled midrange shots with a little power is the way to go here. Fairway slopes right to left, so rollaways can happen on otherwise good shots. This is the biggest score separator hole. Birdie is there, but a 6 or 7 can come just as easily if you don't execute the drive and stay on fairway.
Hole 10: easiest hole on course, somewhat filler, but a nice gesture after hole 9. Short uphill hole with little in the way. Smooth midrange shot right at the basket. The uphill is the only obstacles that should come into play.
Hole 11: VERY similar to hole 8 - midrange turnover, play it the same as 8.
Hole 12: Blind shot through a wide tunnel that opens up with a large tree and bushes blocking the view of the pin. Big smooth fairway drive hyzer. Don't overthink it. Big slope left to right, so watch rollaways.
Hole 13: another signature hole. Drive need to thread thick brush on the left and tree/bushes on the right, then opens up to downhill approach to basket, which is on top of a really big mound. Smartest play is a careful midrange through the gap to eat up about 2/3 of the distance, followed by smart approach to bottom of mound. 2's can turn to 4's and 3's to 5's if you try to putt any further than 15 ft. Pro tip: there is also a hyzer line around the tree/bushes on right side of fairway off the tee.
Hole 14: slightly uphill and pretty open at first, but then heads into the woods with dense amount of trees. This is a hole to try and birdie, but you need a touch of luck to make it through.
Hole 15: another signature hole, massive par 4 downhill tunnel shot. Best advice: DO NOT throw a drive. Because the throw is so downhill, a putter or midrange that holds a really gentle turnover, or flips slowly and drifts right is what you want. It's been parked with a Roc before for drop-in eagle despite being 440 ft.
Hole 16: great open downhill hole, one of the toughest holes in relation to par. Though 500 ft. downhill, what makes the hole challenging is the OB golf green that comes into play between 430 and 480 ft., so it makes it nearly impossible to try to go for birdie. A midrange that lands just in front of the green is the smart play, leaving a 100 ft. approach. Be careful, as the basket is right on a ridge and drops off IMMEDIATELY. Lots of 4's carded on this hole.
Hole 17: another signature hole (I know, right?), and at 430 ft. almost straight down about 10 stories. This is another hole that taught me how discs behave with that kind of elevation. There are dense woods on the left, so you can't hyzer out too early. There is another OB golf green right in front of the basket, so you need to make it far enough or lay up intentionally short. There is a big net on the right "protecting" you from going into the road (OB), but be careful not to turn it over the net. I find an overstable mid-range flex shot works best.
Hole 18: par 5, maybe the 2nd easiest hole on the course. You really should get a 4 here. Big downhill drive into a wide open fairway. Big arms can go for eagle with a mash on their 2nd shot, but be careful not to straighten it out too much or you'll land on the OB golf green to the right of the basket.