Coker College DGC is a small nine hole course tucked away on one of the corners of the campus near the other sports complexes. It features DISCatchers baskets and natural tees, with both short and long tee positions. The long tees are marked with standard tee signs, the short tees are marked with numbered posts.

Coker College DGC is a mostly open course, with a few trees sprinkled around to create obstacles. Most holes can be thrown as straight shots off the tee, but the numerous trees could allow regulars to spice things up by introducing Mandos for themselves. Hole 1, however, is already an interesting tee shot over a small retaining pond.

The course is fairly compact, and would make for a quick round for the students who were interested in playing. Its forgiving nature is also perfect for both beginners who don't even have a real set of discs, and intermediate players learning how their discs fly on different angles.

My sister attended Coker College years ago, and actually still lives in the town of Hartsville right next to the campus. So I have gotten out to the course multiple times over the years, and even when the course needs some maintenance, the risk of disc loss is pretty low. Usually the grass doesn't get too tall, especially during sport seasons. The course was easy to navigate, and disc loss wasn't a huge risk as there are very few patches of rough around the whole course. Even the retaining pond has been dry every time I've been here, though I am sure it serves a purpose after the rain.

The course allows opportunities for players of all skill levels to throw a driver if they would like, but also holes that most players would probably want to use a midrange or putter off the tee.

The course will probably feel stale for advanced players, especially after a round or two playing here. Though they could probably add additional challenges for themselves by making up their own Mandos.

The course is really crammed into a small area, so if the course were ever to get busy there could be risk of getting hit by a stray shot. According to my sister, she's rarely seen more than one group on the course at once.

There was zero elevation to utilize in the design of this course. Along with the open nature of the holes, there isn't a hole lot to differentiate between most of the holes. And while a couple of holes break the 300' marker, both are listed as Par 4. I think an elevated basket could have been a good idea in the middle of the course, maybe Hole 5, just to spice things up!

In the past the course would sometimes look pretty rough, though that hasn't seemed like an issue recently. I just bring this up because there is always a chance the maintenance crew falls into the habit of ignoring the course again.

With the land available for use, and the target audience of the course, I think Coker College DGC delivers. There really aren't a lot of other options in the area, but luckily the course never really seems to be backed up with multiple cards. I am a little torn on what score to give Coker College DGC, but because there are two sets of tees I am going to give it a 2.0 rating for now. If one of the baskets were elevated or a couple of the holes had Mandos to require different shots, again just to spice things up and differentiate the holes, I would feel a little more confident in that rating.

While you are in the area, be sure to check out some of the restaurants in downtown Hartsville, some of them are really nice! Downtown Hartsville is surprising vibrant for such a small town, in part thanks to the existence of Sonoco Products.

Favorite Holes: 1 & 7