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Coal Center, PA

California University of PA

Permanent course
2.465(based on 13 reviews)
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California University of PA reviews

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hogwild428
Experience: 25.1 years 296 played 25 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Very nice course 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 25, 2012 Played the course:once

Pros:

Plenty of space to make a nice course with lots of elevation changes. They have a nice variety of short holes that force you to navigate through the the woods around the farm. They also use the open fields well to let you open up and throw a little. Nice signs make navigation around this course pretty easy.

Cons:

Not a lot of chances to really rip big drives. Hole 15 was the only chance to really get behind a drive. Natural tees, which usually aren't bad. Some of the tees didn't seem to give much room to throw fro level ground.

Other Thoughts:

Solid course for both beginners and seasoned veterans.
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7 0
jblough
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 15 years 85 played 85 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Go Vulcans! 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 2, 2012 Played the course:once

Pros:

This course is not your typical campus course. For one, it's not on CalU's campus; rather, it's on a secluded farm owned and maintained by the university's student association. As such, it lacks the hustle, bustle, crowds, obstacles, and design limitations that many campus courses present while also providing some elevation, length, and shot selections that many campuses cannot provide.

- Signage on each hole, "next tee" arrows on the baskets, a nice info kiosk with a map, benches on some holes on the back nine--all that good course amenity stuff except tees (see cons).

- Nice terrain; scenic and pretty! I want to come back in the peak of the autumn foliage, as I think the views and colors would be excellent.

- The course essentially goes up (mostly on front nine) and down (mostly on back nine) a series of big hills. While there aren't any real true wooded holes besides 5 and 17, many shots require splitting gaps in treelines or finding an occasional anny or hyzer route around big farm trees.

- Decent balance of lefty/righty dogleg shots, but a good majority are just straight shots.

- Two holes stick out in my mind:
1.) #15 = a 505' par 3 (yes, par 3!) drive with the basket protected by a line of trees. Definitely par-able if you have a big arm and can navigate the trees to the pin. A very cool hole and I wish the course had more of these!

#18 = A nice memorable end to your round with a 300+' wide open drive downhill to the basket. IMO, the hole would be super amazing if it were twice as longer and had a little bit of a tree-lined fairway to contend with. You know, like another PASSHE school's 18th hole ;)

Cons:

- One of the biggest cons is the lack of teepads. I kind of understand why they don't want to put concrete down, but the grass/dirt tees are hard to drive off--especially considering that many holes go up or downhill.

- With the exception of hole #15, I wish some of the holes were longer to give big arm throwers more opportunities to grip-n-rip. A 600-700 downhill drive would be amazing here. Not sure if safety was a consideration in course design, but it's a shame if they had to sacrifice distance for that.

- Course isn't particularly challenging as many holes are wide open, relatively short, and don't have crazy lines to the basket. I'd recommend this as a good beginner course though and still enjoyable for more seasoned players.

- Nasty nasty nasty briars and other undergrowth along the course in spots. I think every species of vegetation that can cut up your legs is along the fairways. Hole 12 in particular can be a disc eater, so watch your drive.

Other Thoughts:

Hate to compare this course so much to IUP's College Lodge, but the two schools are rivals, after all. The clear winner of the disc golf Coal Bowl is IUP, but CalU's course can still put up a few touchdowns.

I really enjoyed my round out here. Beginners have a nice course to practice and develop their shots and more advanced players can really rack up the birdies and go for ace runs. If more holes were like #15 and there were more wooded ones, it would be a phenomenal place to play.
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