I have been to Boulder Woods Disc Golf Course at Pinchot-Gifford State Park more times than any other course in the Harrisburg region. I am very fond of this course, and it easily ranks up with Coyote Hills as my favorite. In actuality, there are two 18 hole course at Gifford-Pinchot. The other one, Quaker Challenge, I have not had the real pleasure of playing yet because the two times I tried to go, the other person I was with wimped-out. FYI: The Quaker course is the harder of the two. Course Layout: Despite Quaker being the more difficult course, Boulder Woods is not a walk-in-the-park. No pun intended! It is laid-out in a pretty dense forest with plenty of obstacles obscuring the vast majority of the holes. Hole 1 and 18 may be the best shot that you have at an Ace. Well, 7 is a possibility too on a perfect … precision shot. Overall though, the course is very easy to follow, and despite the dense vegetation it is safe-vegetation. Not a lot of thorns or areas where there is dangerous vegetation(poison ivy, etc). There is also not a lot of elevation changes as well. The whole course is pretty flat, and the tee baskets are also typically on level surfaces. So although you typically have to deal with trees who angrily slap your disc out of the sky, there isn’t too much up-and-down hills, nor blind shots to deal with. Course Layout: 4⁄5 Venue: This course is situated within the Gifford Pinchot State Park. One of the big advantages I have found about this course over all of the others I have been to is the lack of bugs. At other course, the bugs can be overwhelmingly bad. Here, I have had no issues. Plus, the whole course is situated in the woods, so getting sun burnt, wind, and other elements are not usually a major factor. The only time that the elements are really a factor is in the late fall and early spring when there aren’t as many leaves to shield you. Getting to the park was definitely a challenge the first time. This course is the one off-of Alpine road. We ended-up at Quaker the first time we came, and my dad who is getting older looked up the first giant hill at hole 1 and was like, ‘Nope!’. So we drove around until we found it. Venue: 4⁄5 Tee Pads /Baskets: These are a big pro of the course. The tee boxes /pads are perfect. Very well laid, long enough for someone with several steps in their mechanics, and they are slightly grooved so you don’t have to worry about falling on your butt, even in wet conditions. The baskets are equally as perfect. They are in excellent condition and are the standard for disc golf catchers in the disc golf world. Tee Pads & Baskets: 5⁄5 Signature Holes, etc: This course lacks a definitive signature hole. It does have a lot of challenging holes that require a great tee shot; but if you are good off-the-tee like I am in terms of precision) you will score really well on this course, pretty regularly. Signature Holes, etc.: 2⁄5 Final Thoughts: Even though this is not my favorite local course, I end up here more often than not because of its relative proximity to my home, and the friendly environment. Plus, it is just a really nice park to throw discs around in. You will come away from playing here feeling used and abused by the trees and there voluptuous leaves in the late spring through early fall. In the fall through the early spring you will still get unnecessarily brutalized by the trees and their branches because I am pretty sure each tree has its own gravitational pull. If you want to seriously evaluate your game, this is a good course to do so at.
