Nestled in between the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains, on the campus of Western Carolina University, the Catamount Links course offers some gorgeous views plus hilly disc golf.

In its current condition, the Catamount Links course plays better as a nine-hole round, though three holes are "playable" on the back nine without trespassing into the construction area.

The front nine is quite hilly but short, as Holes #2 through #4 are all less than 200 feet, and the first hole is downhill and seems shorter than the 240 feet the tee sign says.

As the most wooded hole on the course, Hole #5 is a good challenge that could pose a threat to your bogey-free round. At 286 feet, the teepad is in the open but quickly enters the woods along a narrow, uphill path that turns to the right close to the basket. Staying near the path is vital as the off-the-fairway areas are filled with small trees and brush.

Holes #6 through #8 involve throwing across the sloping part of a large hill; the first two play to a basket just in the woods, while Hole #8 has a sneaky, sharp drop-off just past its basket.

Hole #9 is another fun hole that takes advantage of the elevation. The downhill approach involves navigation over (or around) a few trees, and the basket is placed about 20 feet in front of a pond. If you misestimate the distance, your disc will be swimming with the fishes.

On the back nine, Hole #17 is the only hole that is open and worth playing, even though a five-minute walk from the front nine is required to access it. But it's a beautiful hole with an enjoyable risk-reward challenge. At 280 feet, it traverses slightly downhill across a lush grassy area. Shortly before the basket, there's a sudden drop off, which hides the basket from view while on the teepad. And behind the obscured basket is a creek that threatens drives and putts that are too long.

There's a lovely practice spot on the other side of the parking lot from Hole #1 that includes two baskets and a flat, grassy area.

The current construction has temporarily (hopefully) knocked out six holes on the back nine. There's a sign at the beginning of the course alerting you that these holes are "offline," as several of the baskets have been pulled. The sign mentions Holes #10, 11, 15, 16 and 18, but the basket for Hole #13 is also laying on its side and inside the construction area.

When playable, the back nine seems to offer a contrasting challenge; five of the holes are listed as longer than 300 feet, including a couple holes over 450 feet. But right now, those holes are CLOSED and occupied by bulldozers and other construction equipment.

Holes #12 and #14 are in mediocre condition but technically playable. The teepad area for Hole #12 needs some trimming and the 268-foot-long fairway is pinched a bit due to the construction area. Hole #14 also has a narrower fairway with untrimmed and unmowed areas serving as obstacles, and there are weeds growing through the bottom of the basket. With the construction, these two uninteresting holes are isolated and require a several-minute walk. If I played this course again in its current shape, I'd pass on playing these holes again by themselves.

Hole #1 is one of the uglier holes on the course, as the utility poles and high-wires detract from all the beautiful surrounding landscapes.

Navigation is a bit odd. To get to the teepad for Hole #2, you have to walk down a hill and then throw up that same hill. A little sign indicates that Holes #4 through #8 are across the road, but if you miss that sign and aren't using a map, you might be wandering around for a bit. It's not the only time that the course is segregated; Holes #17 and #18 are quite removed from the rest of the course and require several minutes of walking to access them.

Due to its current state, the Catamount Links is a tough course to rate currently.

However, the front nine is a fun play with some fantastic views of the mountains. While the total distance doesn't seem to be intimidating, throw in a few elevated baskets, perilous placements and rollaway potential, and suddenly, there's the possibility for dramatic score variance.

Personally, I loved the front nine. And Hole #17 was my favorite. Even though the design and navigation aren't perfect, there's a good variety of hilly holes and tricky throws. Therefore, the course can still hold its own and is a worthwhile play if passing by the Cullowhee campus.

Course right on campus, near athletic facilities and housing.
Good DISCatchers, several are raised.
Mix of open and wooded holes. Front nine uses elevation and woods, back nine are mostly flat and long.
Really cool finishing hole, if you can find it.

Spread out, several long walks between holes. #17 & 18 were especially tough to find and play. Then didn't finish near the parking lot.
The tee pad and signage on #1 did not continue throughout. In fact, that was one of the few paved tee pads.
Construction had #4 closed and possibly more are closed and unplayable now.
#14 was a filler hole and very overgrown.
#2 - walk down a steep hill, turn around and throw back up the steep hill.
#3 - not much fairway at all, just a goat path to get from tee to basket planted on the hillside between several trees.

Campus courses can be very difficult to design, at some point, I imagine the Administration says, "Yes, you can put in a Disc Golf course, you can use this open area, but only along the edges, you can use that hilly area, but only until we need it for expansion, and you can use that other small area, its not close to any of the other areas, but we don't need it for anything."
This course sits on areas that match all of those descriptions, and that's too bad. This is a really beautiful campus in a mountainous area of NC. But like most mountainous areas, there's limited space for development. Things like a DG course get what's left.
I would say the designers did the best they could with what they had available, but that leads to these design shortcomings:
* Several wide open holes along the edges of a rec field, with no obstacles.
* Holes stuck on a hillside that is now being developed and possibly lost.
* Maybe two of the best holes completely separated and a long walk back to where you started.
With that in mind, there were a couple of things I liked:
Baskets for 9-12 were very near dorms, very useful as practice baskets.
#9 was a cool, downhill hole to an open basket with a pond lurking behind. Unfortunately, the tee was short and uneven, tough to tee from.
#18 was a neat finishing hole, after a long walk from 16 to 17 tee (which was actually pretty close to the parking lot), you back track to 18, across a bridge, towards the highway. Only 150 feet, but the basket is right behind a large, hardwood tree, with low, wide branches. Creek to the left and beyond and the basket is again raised, making an ace run almost impossible.
This was a fun hole to finish on, but you are at just about the furthest spot on the course from the 1st tee. Better flow would be to play 18, then 17 in the reverse direction.
It would be awesome to have a course right on your college campus, so I hope this one survives. The baskets are in great shape, but the lack of consistent tees and signage keeps this course from being very good.

Good mix of hole types. Predominantly wide open drive shots. Some uphill/downhill drive shots. A couple very technical putt shots will be needed. As another reviewer stated, power drives are definitely rewarded. Not even super power, just anybody who can semi accurately drive 350+ will have a huge edge over the guys in the 300 range.

Not a full 18 holes. the marching band monopolizes hole 1 a lot for practice. Long walk to the last hole then long walk back to the parking lot by the first hole.

This course has a lot to offer to an experienced player just passing through town. Holes require too much power for beginners to even begin to think about parring a hole.

- Pin Position. What would otherwise be considered a wide-open course becomes much tighter due to the pin positions. Almost every pin position had some form of trouble - 6/12 water, 6/12 OB (concrete sidewalk, parking lot, road, sport facility). 4/12 elevation.
Hole 5 is a gem: 300' extreme downhill with a pin that's 10' in front of a murky pond (I fluffed my putter off the tee and it floated over the basket and into the pond). Hole 11 is a huge flick shot with a pin located 20' from the edge of a deep, crystal clear pool in the river.
- Navigation. Even though the linked map shows 9 holes when this course has 12 holes, navigation was extremely easy due to the distinct 6x6 tee-sign posts.... However, the course follows the flow of the map (except map 9 is actually 12)... you'll see the rest.

- Only 12. I realize that 12 holes are better than no holes... but, I saw plenty of land out there and don't understand why they stopped at 12. Although, I've heard of plans for expansion.
- Hole 12's Location in General. The hole is actually a gem... but, the walk from 11's pin to 12's Tee is ridiculous... and then you shoot away from the car, finish the hole, and then have to turn around and hike your ass back up the fairway and up the hill to your car???
- Natural Tees. When asked to throw 400+ foot drives, anything less than concrete tees do not cut it for me; especially when the tees are muddy and/or on a slick grass field. Also, tee 4 was heavily rooted.
- Potential for Traffic. I played this course during the school vacation and therefore there weren't too many students hanging around in places where there could be a conflict. However, there is the potential for traffic during the semester and peak usage hours.

- Student Life. This course will hopefully expose a lot of kids to the sport, and since it's wide open it should make it conducive to beginners (although, it may be a tad too long).
- Expansion. The school looks like it has a lot of money. I hope the students appreciate and use the course so that the school will expand the course to a full 18.
- Overall we had a good time. It's a wide open course with lots of trouble in terms of OB. Every hole had something that tweaked it from being a regular, open hole into something a little more interesting.
- My Score: Even

All of the pretty girls is a plus for me (being on campus) I like the creek, Cause I found 3 disc with no names. ( write your name on your disc)

Really wish that there were more than just 12 holes.

You need to skip #1 if the band is on the field