Some good, some bad, plenty of mud

Today began at Creekside "Crawdad" in Camp Hill PA around 9:30 am. It is pretty decent, mostly short but demanding shots leaving you afraid of the river on most holes. Lots of poison ivy, but very easy to avoid it except for 3 holes on monster alley, where it is freshly carved out woods and very nasty. The other part of the course is a park setting with mowed grass and no rough stuff. Easy to follow, great signage and flow. Hanging arrows point you on your way. I ran into a tag league and joined them for the back 9 holes.

Then on to Pinchot State Park in Lewisberry PA. It has two 18 holes courses, separated by a lake and it is hard to find one from the other, the directions don't tell you how.
The first one is Boulder Woods- In my opinion it is either poorly designed or too overgrown to throw properly, it was hard to tell as I was paying more attention to the mud up to my boot tops on most FAIRWAYS. Lucky I had gore tex boots and socks. Not really much fun this time of year, maybe in the winter.
The next is Quaker's Challenge, apparently the challenge is to actually enjoy playing it! There was so much mud, you'd be better off playing in waders. Poison ivy is unavoidable on most holes here. Literally have to walk through it to get to the first tee. Stumps and rocks on the steep hills are dangerous. The forest floor is overgrown with leafy saplings, making it hard to see the holes/find your discs. I lost one that almost aced because I could not find it in the overgrown forest, musta been within 50 ft of the basket though, searched for 20 minutes. Some holes are just stupid, but about 12 of them are really great (eventually) and will make a true championship par 4/5 type course when it is actually more playable.

I am calling it a day at 4:00 to get some other stuff done.

[Roz]

Being a local, I have to say that I love both Creekside and Boulder Woods. We happen to be extremely lucky in that we have multiple courses available to us all within an hour drive.

Creekside is indeed a creekside course and many a disc has been lost in the raging waters there. Ha, well the water isn't really raging unless it's been raining. Fortunately for us, we have a few very dedicated individuals that keep an eye on the creek and fish out the lost discs for us to pick up later. There is also a nice long pole with a hooked end available to pull them out yourself. There is also a lost disc box for you to drop in discs you've found. Discs found at Boulder Woods find their way into that same box. And Boulder Woods can indeed get muddy. Nothing you can do about that except wait for a dryer day or try to jump around them. Being that both courses are 100% free to play, I have absolutely nothing to complain about.

[Bill]

Perhaps utilize the course review function in advance? If Ben posts where he is most likely to play the next day, any reader with experience on that course could reply in the aforementioned course reviews any particulars he may know about -- ie, different set up due to tourny, env concerns and/or crazy guys shooting pellet guns at you like here in SC.

[Terry "the Pirate" Calhoun]

Ben's a very critical person, as tough on himself as on others. He really thinks that no more than 10 percent of disc golf courses are "good" by his standards. He's spent plenty of time designing, constructing, and maintaining courses and knows how much hard work it is, and he ppreciates people's hard work. He's just the kind of person who would say - if someone wrote that our home course, BRATS, is stupid - "Well, from some perspectives it is. Our signage sucks and the rough is too rough."

I can't follow his every course description, but when he has to go back to the parking lot and refer to a sign there in order to find Hole 10 on a course, after playing Hole 9, then there is probably a problem there.

I urge anyone who thinks their course deserves better to go to our Course Reviews tab and enter their own course so that the people who think more highly of it than Ben can rate it one star to five!

[Tammy Manatt]

My apologies,my computers keeps freezing up. To resume my comment, I would like to disagree with your critic style. Your web site I quote says "a fun friendly place for disc golfers." I am having a difficult time explaining to him why such a young talented disc golfer as you would use terms like this sucks or stupid holes to describe courses. My son calls a tree stupid, out of frustration when his disc hits it. As for your dislike of poison ivy,I have a son your age who was hospitalized twice for severe reactions. I hope you are aware of numerous
products available to you at local pharmacies,Ivy block,Tecnu,and new anti itch scrubs which instantly remove the urshanol oil from your skin.
Creekside is a great course for beginners and glow golf, Boulder Woods is more an intermediate to advanced course. The Quake is a Pro caliber course that requires accuracy and skill. This course needs foot traffic,which will come in the next few months. I expect to see A tier events held there in the future. I realize you do not share my opinion. Could you possibly give your reviews the same courtesy and standards that you are required to adhere to when playing in a tournament? I do hope that future reviews will reflect respect and constructive criticism. It is difficult to respect someone when they forget to use appropriate language and complain.
Sincerely,
Course Mom
Tammy Manatt

[Tammy Manatt]

Mr. Calhoun,

I respect the fact,that you are devoted to your Father's web site and the sport of disc golf traveling the country

[mark mcgarity]

opinions are like butts...everyone has one and they all stink

[Rizbee]

Where Ben's Ben

[Ben Calhoun]

east and north, then back just a bit south and east of the same exact route towars michigan, then north and west then south then east through the south to the atlantic coast in the south to finish

[Jamie 'gr8rocshot' Ruane]

...The Good , The Bad and The Muddy!!! ..........Gotta love it!!

Good job on the course descriptions. Are you heading east, then down the coast, looping back to the west eventially?