me and a couple guys from the local club are finally doing it, we've got access to a decent sized field and we want to put together a semi-permanent track layout. we have some PVC pipe, a bunch of pool noodles, and one of those big inflatable gate things someone donated. the thing is none of us have ever actually designed a track, we've only flown other people's courses. i keep seeing stuff about flow and how the best tracks have a rhythm to them but i have no idea how to actually plan that out when i'm standing in an empty field with spray paint trying to mark gate positions. also wondering if anyone has opinions on elevation changes, like do pop-up flags actually make the course more interesting or are they just annoying. we're mostly flying 5inch but we want it to be accessible if someone shows up on a 3inch or a toothpick

the single biggest thing ive learned from flying a lot of different tracks is that the transitions between elements matter more than the elements themselves. you can have a cool split-s or a tight chicane but if the gate before it puts you at a weird angle you'll spend the whole session fighting the course instead of flowing through it. try to walk the line yourself before you set anything in stone, like physically jog the path and feel whether the turns want to be left-right-left or if you end up doubling back on yourself awkwardly

elevation changes are worth doing if you have natural terrain to work with but building fake elevation with PVC gets wobbly and honestly can be a hazard if gates shift mid-race. flags are fine as course markers but id avoid using them as the primary gate at anything faster than a practice pace, people clip them constantly and then the course layout drifts over an afternoon

not really an expert on track design but we did something similar last summer and the thing that killed us was making the course too long. we thought more gates meant more fun and it just meant everyone was gassing their lipos and the lap times were like 90 seconds which gets old fast. shorter and tighter with maybe 10 to 14 gates kept things interesting and batteries lasted way longer per session. also spray paint washes away faster than you think so the rebar-and-flag method is worth the extra effort if you want it to stay consistent week to week