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Michigan Tech DGC reviews
2
0
Tight Lines at MTU drive by
Reviewed:
Played on:Aug 31, 2019
Played the course:5+ times
Pros:
- Fairly easy to navigate.
- Tight lines challenge your shot shaping abilities!
- Not a super popular course, doesn't get busy.
- Baskets catch pretty decent.
- Lots of elevation comes into play.
- Tight lines challenge your shot shaping abilities!
- Not a super popular course, doesn't get busy.
- Baskets catch pretty decent.
- Lots of elevation comes into play.
Cons:
- Not a whole lot of distance required.
- Not a whole lot of foot traffic =course not being used and opened up as much.
- Tee pads are kind of a mix and match.
- Not a whole lot of foot traffic =course not being used and opened up as much.
- Tee pads are kind of a mix and match.
Other Thoughts:
MTU isn't a bad course by any stretch of the imagination...it just needs some TLC. I played it last in 2019 when the redesign was fresh. You could tell the wooded holes hadn't been played much yet because it was ROUGH.
If you want to challenge your gap hitting abilities and enjoy sometime in the woods, I would recommend checking MTU out.
If you want to challenge your gap hitting abilities and enjoy sometime in the woods, I would recommend checking MTU out.
13
0
[UPDATED FOR 2023 REDESIGN] Techn(olog)ical challenge right on campus!
Reviewed:
Updated:
Played on:Sep 28, 2021
Played the course:2-4 times
Pros:
Michigan Tech DGC is a freshly redesigned (as of summer 2023) 18-hole layout that was a 16-hole layout, which in itself replaced an even older 9-hole layout a few years ago. This course is right on campus in Houghton, MI, but you'd be forgiven if you forgot that for much of your round. The course plays through a rolling wooded area between athletic fields to the south and east, a parking lot to the north, and a street well off to the west. Some large rocks add to the aesthetic.
Throughout the course, elevation changes and trees are used to create some interesting shots. I recall a nice variety of uphill/downhill and left/right/straight throws in the woods. Plenty of shot shaping required here. The elevation is nothing extreme, but enough to affect play on many holes. New in this redesign are a couple of challenging longer holes. Hole 1 is a tight dogleg left playing 380' uphill (par 4). Hole 18 is a sweeping right turn playing 475' (par 5). Two other par 4s are sprinkled in throughout the course. Overall, this is not a championship level course but it offers a solid challenge for recreational to intermediate players.
Perhaps the most memorable hole here is #16. It plays only 230' straight ahead in tight woods, up a hill that gets steeper and steeper before you finally reach the basket on top of a ridge. There is serious rollaway potential in front of and behind the pin on this one. I also liked #6, which curls to the right and has a creek crossing on the approach to the basket.
The infrastructure is decent. The baskets are portable aqua green Prodigy models. Besides #16's, a few more of these are elevated to create risk/reward situations. The baskets were highly visible in the woods and in good shape when I played, although some of them were labeled with incorrect hole numbers. The tee pads are mostly well-installed arrays of patio pavers (for some holes, these were not quite done yet). There are makeshift but adequate navigational signs posted throughout the course, including specific signs pointing out how to play a 9-hole option (a great design decision for a campus course). There is a kiosk and practice basket at the parking lot.
Finally, given the on-campus location I want to clearly say that the course gets my safety stamp of approval! There are zero holes where buildings or parking lots are in play.
Throughout the course, elevation changes and trees are used to create some interesting shots. I recall a nice variety of uphill/downhill and left/right/straight throws in the woods. Plenty of shot shaping required here. The elevation is nothing extreme, but enough to affect play on many holes. New in this redesign are a couple of challenging longer holes. Hole 1 is a tight dogleg left playing 380' uphill (par 4). Hole 18 is a sweeping right turn playing 475' (par 5). Two other par 4s are sprinkled in throughout the course. Overall, this is not a championship level course but it offers a solid challenge for recreational to intermediate players.
Perhaps the most memorable hole here is #16. It plays only 230' straight ahead in tight woods, up a hill that gets steeper and steeper before you finally reach the basket on top of a ridge. There is serious rollaway potential in front of and behind the pin on this one. I also liked #6, which curls to the right and has a creek crossing on the approach to the basket.
The infrastructure is decent. The baskets are portable aqua green Prodigy models. Besides #16's, a few more of these are elevated to create risk/reward situations. The baskets were highly visible in the woods and in good shape when I played, although some of them were labeled with incorrect hole numbers. The tee pads are mostly well-installed arrays of patio pavers (for some holes, these were not quite done yet). There are makeshift but adequate navigational signs posted throughout the course, including specific signs pointing out how to play a 9-hole option (a great design decision for a campus course). There is a kiosk and practice basket at the parking lot.
Finally, given the on-campus location I want to clearly say that the course gets my safety stamp of approval! There are zero holes where buildings or parking lots are in play.
Cons:
Improvements are still being made to the course (as of August 2023) so things are a little rough around the edges yet. The course is clearly a work in progress, and the designers/people responsible for the course were looking for input via a scannable QR code in a couple of places around the course.
Some specific "unfinished" concerns I had which may be addressed in the near future:
- A couple of holes are still too tight in my estimation, and could use a few more trees being cleared out.
- A few of the patio paver tee pads had not yet been installed when I played.
- Some of the baskets had the wrong hole number on them.
- The previous version of the course that I played a couple years ago had tee signs, but there were none for this new layout yet as of my visit.
- The parking situation is a bit unclear. With this new layout, the best place to park is in the campus's Lot 21. The official signage indicates that this is a permit-only lot and that unauthorized vehicles will be towed. A nearby, makeshift sign says "Disc Golf Parking". I pulled into a little dirt area near the entrance to the paved lot and crossed my fingers as I played. I didn't end up having any issues, but clarifying this signage would be nice for non-students trying to play the course.
There were no benches and only a couple of trash cans around the course. The kiosk did not have a course map on it. No porta potty on site.
Overall, this course is now entirely wooded and technical. There are no holes that I would even call semi-open. Those who struggle with accuracy, or who simply want to air it out might not enjoy this one as much.
Some specific "unfinished" concerns I had which may be addressed in the near future:
- A couple of holes are still too tight in my estimation, and could use a few more trees being cleared out.
- A few of the patio paver tee pads had not yet been installed when I played.
- Some of the baskets had the wrong hole number on them.
- The previous version of the course that I played a couple years ago had tee signs, but there were none for this new layout yet as of my visit.
- The parking situation is a bit unclear. With this new layout, the best place to park is in the campus's Lot 21. The official signage indicates that this is a permit-only lot and that unauthorized vehicles will be towed. A nearby, makeshift sign says "Disc Golf Parking". I pulled into a little dirt area near the entrance to the paved lot and crossed my fingers as I played. I didn't end up having any issues, but clarifying this signage would be nice for non-students trying to play the course.
There were no benches and only a couple of trash cans around the course. The kiosk did not have a course map on it. No porta potty on site.
Overall, this course is now entirely wooded and technical. There are no holes that I would even call semi-open. Those who struggle with accuracy, or who simply want to air it out might not enjoy this one as much.
Other Thoughts:
It looked like there may also be plans for a short tee on each hole. I saw some small yellow flags in the ground which may have been intended to serve this purpose. Hopefully, these tees can be the same paver arrays and also get tee signs in the future.
Just south of the course is the A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum. If the museum is open, do I recommend taking an extra hour and checking it out? Of quartz! The entrance fee is only $8 and there are a lot of interesting and/or beautiful geological artifacts inside. There is even a very gneiss exhibit of fluorescent minerals that glow under black light (these mineral puns brought to you by the museum, not me!).
Overall, this course was a pleasant surprise. It could definitely be a 3.0 or maybe even a 3.5 in my book once fully implemented. If I were a student at the university or lived in the area, I would play here all the time.
Just south of the course is the A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum. If the museum is open, do I recommend taking an extra hour and checking it out? Of quartz! The entrance fee is only $8 and there are a lot of interesting and/or beautiful geological artifacts inside. There is even a very gneiss exhibit of fluorescent minerals that glow under black light (these mineral puns brought to you by the museum, not me!).
Overall, this course was a pleasant surprise. It could definitely be a 3.0 or maybe even a 3.5 in my book once fully implemented. If I were a student at the university or lived in the area, I would play here all the time.
