See bellow

See bellow

I pulled up to the course having never played before and ran into a group of locals finishing up. They informed me that the first 5 holes have been repositioned and gave me some directions. I was to play the new first 5 then continue to play from the old 6 -18. The first 5 were interesting and make better use of the area. I then started on 6 and could not figure out how the layou was related to the map posted in the "files" section so I gave up. It looks like the course is in the process of improving and I hope to come back at a future date and see how the course developes.

- Definitely has that beach feel, with the sand, grasses, bay winds, and gnarled cypress trees.
- A few chances to let your disc rip in the open air, although hole lengths aren't too long
- Loved playing by the abandoned military barracks. The uniqueness of this aspect was one reason I really wanted to play here.
- Not too hard to find off CA-1
- The front nine holes definitely have a little more challenge, as the elevation and wind come into play more, and the baskets are placed precariously by the trees to make upshots a little more tricky. The back nine holes, on the other hand, seem like the same shot 8-9 times over.

- Parking. You probably will have a hard time finding free parking. I didn't even want to chance it, so I just put two hours in the meter and then I could park wherever.
- Signage has seen better days; only some of the signs actually have maps, hole numbers, etc.
- Inconsistent tees. Some have those awesome circular teepads, yet others have uneven sandy tees that don't allow for good X-stepping.
- Navigation is a little tricky, and a map will probably help you out a lot.
- The Monterey Bay winds will torment your throws. I was throwing champion firebirds that were being turned over like sidewinders. After awhile, I found that the only way I could avoid the winds from thwarting my throws was to just throw thumbers and tomahawks.
- Finally, a word about the shot selection: it isn't too diverse. While it's true that there are some elevation changes, most shots are straightaway throws to the basket with little in terms of doglegs or technical wooded shots. Some trees come into play, but not enough.

I was passing through Monterey on my road trip and didn't have a lot of time, so I decided to play the easier CSUMB Cypress Course instead of the Oaks Course. The other reason was that I was excited to see all the abandoned military stuff around. All in all, I wasn't too disappointed about my choice, but it would have been cool to play both. Perhaps the best part about playing here was seeing all the stuff advertising the upcoming PDGA Worlds events! Just to play where all the pros are going to play was worth the trip.

The course is clearly worn, but it's not a terrible round. Wind will be a factor, so come on a less windy day (if that's possible in the bay area) or bring a bag of discs suitable for these conditions.

The Cypress course at CSUMB is nice open course that gets a lot of play from local students and casual players. Those looking for more of a challenge probably avoid this course with all of the other options in the area including the nearby CSUMB Oaks course. As other reviewers have said, there are some pretty interesting and unique features to this course, including vacant buildings right up next to the course and a great bomber finishing hole. For being relatively flat and open, the designers have done a fairly good job of utilizing the available obstacles and creating a variety of shots off the tee including pretty long doglegs and low-ceiling skip shots.

Tees: The tees can consist of any number of natural teepads, some of them are firm dirt (which may become mud on a wet day) and some of them are loose, fine sand or dirt which becomes slippery when moving over hard ground or when it is so deep as to shift on its own. I'm guessing with the upcoming Worlds tournament, we'll see vast improvements to the teeing areas.

Challenge: There are some pretty nice par three holes, a bit of distance, and some good tree obstacles to work with. Overall though, you get the feel of a pitch'n'putt with a bit more distance. There just aren't enough areas to punish poor shots though - most of the course is just wide open grass and trees, no 'rough' to speak of.

Replay-factor: The replay-ability of this course is pretty low with most holes so open that they require little shot planning except to compensate for the frequent winds. Play it more than a few times and you'll likely get bored.

This course is worth it for a quick warmup or cooldown but with the much nicer Oaks course just around the corner, you wouldn't see me here that often. The Oaks course is much better maintained and offers a much better challenge for experienced players without being too 'intense' for newer golfers.

The California State University Monterey Bay Cypress Disc Golf Course besides having one helluva long name also features the occasional coed wandering by. Taking your mind off the coeds for a second, the campus sits right next to an abandoned military base. The US Army seems to just up and left leaving the buildings there. The first eight holes play around these adandoned barracks and whatnot. It gives you this urban guerrilla vibe. It's too bad they couldn't have actually played through a building or teed off a stairwell or something. Maybe incorporated some paintball into the fray as well! What's the sport in the Olympics where you snow ski and then shoot at targets? As it is, they did use the few existing trees as well as they could. This part plays as a kind of a recreational course. After the first eight, you walk a block to a more wide open vacant lot/park and play the last 10 holes. These 10 feature more distance, some elevation, the same scattered trees and a few more coeds! There are signs with the required down and distance. The pads are natural worn spots. # 18 is great fun! It's probably plays 400 feet down a gentle hill from the normal teepad but in someone's infinite wisdom they've deduced to move it back another 50 feet up the hill now giving you a 450 downhiller to end with. Wheeeeeeeeee!

It's not real pretty but the front 8 is real different from anything I've played before. The back 10 is pretty basic. Fairly windy! You're just playing across a vacant lot, really. It's a place for the recreational player/college kid to get a game in, not lose any discs and have a little fun.

This is not the type of disc golf course I envisioned at CSUMB. Maybe in New Jersey, or Beruit or Bogota or Belgrade. I thought gentle Pacific Ocean breezes, lovely green grass and palm trees.

But then I starting tallying. Add bonus points for Cali coeds. Deduct points for vacant lot feel on back 10. Add point for # 18 downhill throw. Deduct point for constant wind. Add points for Urban/Mad Max/Stephen King/Uniqueness of front 8. Deduct point for parking. Deduct point if some crazy looking Aussie guy in some crazy vehicle tried to run you down while you were putting.

I took someone here to introduce him to the game. We originally went to the oaks course but a local told us that we might be better off at the cypress. I think that was good advice. My friend had a good time and I got a chance to let loose from the T. For more of a challenge I guess the oaks is the ticket and it is right down the street, but I never played there. Almost impossible to lose a disc. You might not be able to retrieve all your discs if it gets caught up aloft a big tangle of Cypressness but at least you know where it is. The course is also set in the middle of an old military fort which is pretty cool.

Nothing real exciting about this course. Was never comfortable about where to park. Pretty flat. Weren't many trees but they made good use of the ones they had.

I guess if you are in Monterey check it out but maybe only if you are a beginner or bringing a beginner.

A fairly easy course that allows you to work on new shots or run for a great score using your best shots in your bag. unlike the oaks course the cypress course was very easy to follow. very fun play in an unusual setting, surrounded by abandon military barracks. long and normal tees allow for a varied round of difficulty. plenty of parking was available as long as you are willing to walk to the next 9 holes.

same as the oaks course the dirt tees are pretty bad, deep loose sand is not a good launching platform. some signs were missing but not a big problem because the course map helped.

i played a RHBH and a LHBH drive off the tee on all the holes to get a feel for both sides of the course. to be honest it was just about the same for both shots in terms of the difficulty of the course. over all i had a great time with this course because of it straight forward style of play. we got in a round in 40 mins and went over to the oaks course 6 blocks away. great place to get 36 holes in one location.

The Cypress course is easy to navigate, the baskets are not far from the tee boxes. Its very straight forward and open. The course has well defined fairways throughout and is easy to figure out. A player can get in a quick round here. The setting is sparse and natural in that it was once similar to an unnatural setting and then became abandoned, its very interesting. The abandoned buildings for me make this place special. I like holes five and six because they play close to the buildings, it had a sort of urban feel to it. It felt like the movie Full Metal Jacket to me, all it needed was to be on fire.

This course has signs and they are in decent shape, still functional, with important course information and par listed. Because of the signs, a map is not near as important here as it is at the Oaks course. I would recommend this course for beginners and recreational players and those looking to get in a quick round, and send the advance players to the Oaks course (with a map).

Parking was a little bit confusing, there are just so many potential parking spots that could turn out to be bad because of the abandoned buildings. Then, the parking spots that appeared to be good require you to part with some coin. The courses is split up in two separate halves with a city block long walk between numbers eight and nine. There are not many tress and only a few longer holes on this course. The wind can provide a challenge and be persistent. I played this after the I played the Oaks course and I felt a tad let down. The tee pads are "natural," also know as well worn dirt pits. The course ends nowhere near the first tee or where they have you park, it was tempting to just skip the last few holes. The course is mostly wide open and flat with only a few groups of trees per hole.

When comparing the two CSUMB courses, they truly are different and have completely different enjoyment factors. This course leans toward a traditional round where a player can work on scoring and get in a quicker round with little design confusion. The Oaks course is more of a hike, has longer holes and is more confusing with much more vegetation. In my opinion, the other course is better, but they are not similar and it would depend on what you are looking for in a round. I would like to play Cypress again someday. I wonder what its fate will be when the surrounding buildings finally get razed. When I played this course, there was a group of kids shooting out windows in the old buildings with a pellet gun. They had no regard for the police station only three blocks away, nor for the pictures of Steady Ed on the tee signs cautioning you with a reminder that the father of disc golf is watching you.

The front nine is a lot of fun as you throw through the cypress trees and over the hot burning sand. The coastal winds play a large factor in one's score so controlled shots is a must. the course is a mixture of tight fairways with low tunnel shots at times while other holes are wide open allowing for big arm throws. The course for the most part isn't very long, but is still challenging enough to not be a waste of time. Some of the surrounding military housing buildings are abandoned and mysterious which make this course unique for the area. The baskets are in good shape and the layout of the front nine is well thought out considering the amount of land used.

The back nine seems redundant as they are all fairly straight and go back and forth. However, the slight elevation shots make for challenging drives considering the wide open land and gusts of wind taking hold of one's throws.

I am yet to play the new CSUMB course but figure that most of the concerns were addressed when designing the new course. Playing in the sand on this course is a lot of fun. However, the tee pads and signs need some work in order to make this a more legitamate course. The Cypress Course plays well for novice/amateur players but if looking for a pro course, I would skip this one and suggest heading straight for De LaVeaga. I love Monterey, and feel there is a lot of potential for this area. I anxiously await for the next time I have the opportunity to play here as well as the new course on CSUMB.