Darmstadt's DGC mixes open air line shaping with moderately wooded technical holes effectively, alternately emphasizing flight precision, obstacle avoidance, and controlled placement. The wooded holes come in a variety of flavors, from low ceilings to bordered fairways to tight windows, while the open shots allow for a bit more devil-may-care approach in avoiding their lesser obstacles. The split between open and wooded holes is roughly even. Pin placement is thoughtful, often behind bottlenecks or near treelines. Numerous holes allow for multiple shots and routes, and there are places where having a throw other than RHBH will provide an advantage; I wished I had a legit roller at one or two points. Distances tend towards the shorter (~250') end of the spectrum, but within that are well varied in an effort to encourage disc variety, with a few 300'+ holes helping to mix things up. There are a few creative perks, such as the tight (5 meters!) landing zone around 15's basket (a fun but doable challenge at ~160' of distance).

The fairways seemed well-mowed relative to the fact that the course seems to be low-trafficked. The course is easy to find on the campus, which itself is conveniently accessible from the Hbf via bus (K line towards Lichtwiese, I believe).

There are a lot of little things, but primarily Darmstadt's DGC is overall a basic, unspectacular course. As mentioned above, it has a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but none of these elements are exceptional. The course comes off as utilitarian and passable, though very much so.

Virtually all of the holes here are twoable, and with an exception or two easily so. The fact that none of the lines are anything uncommon aids the birdie fest. The openness of many holes allows for hyzers of various degrees, which lowers the difficulty and enhances repetitiveness. I played the course with only a handful of discs and never felt limited. I wish the designers had taken better advantage of the natural variety of woodedness found here, as there's the capacity for some multistage and more challenging holes. It's hard to say whether this limit was their design ability or restrictions provided by the university. As such the wooded holes are pretty straight forward, if fun.

The tees were crappy: sandy soil led to ill-footing, and the wooden beam marking the front of the tee box is a tripping hazard. I often drove from behind the tee box for better footing and to add a much-needed bit of distance.

The rough seems like it could get bad. It wasn't too high when I was there, but I still had to search a bit on some off-target shots on the more open holes. In the woods there are a few spots where discs can get swallowed if you're not careful.

The course plays alongside a walking path at several points, which seems way more used than the course itself. Conflict with pedestrians isn't too bad, but I found myself waiting for walkers/bikers/dog owners on several occasions. Mindfulness is necessary.

Despite the aforementioned cons, Darmstadt DGC was overall a better course than I anticipated. The wooded holes provided some nice looks even though they were fairly basic, and the variety of woodedness broke things up. The course is well worth the visit if you're in the area.

***Be advised: the course is on the Lichtwiese campus of the Technical University, which is a bit further outside the city than main campus. I made the mistake of first walking to the more centrally-located campus, and ended up with a bit of a hike. Just take the bus!