Pros:
A great deal of variety awaits the Recreational to Intermediate player on the OU-C 18 hole course, including an open field downhill bomb of almost 400 feet, to excruciatingly tight woods holes as short as 163'. You'll need to shape shots in both directions, hit lines, and avoid some really serious hazards if you don't have good control of your distances, due to the very nice use of the elevation available through these campus woods. For instance, if you throw to the right (or kick off a tree!) on hole #4, you'll wind up 50' below the basket in the treacherous ravine. So water isn't the only way to punch up the risk/reward factor on a course!
Hole 1 starts behind the main building and shoots downhill to the treeline with a bleacher bench just right of the basket, and a slope into the (still forgiving) woods behind. Hole two comes back toward the building, and # 3 is the aforementioned bomb, while #4 is the control shortie noted above. Hole five has a tight woods fairway with the hill sloping away long and right of the basket. Walking back to your left toward University Blvd, you'll shoot #6 up along the hillside to the woodline, with the potential to really run long or to fade a long way away. The seventh basket, 300 feet downhill of the tee, is guarded by a magnificent tree, before coming back into the woods uphill to the left on 8, across the path to the right on nine, and further uphill to the right on 10.
#11 has a bit of an 'unfairway', with a huge number of small trees in your path to this relatively short pin position. #12 is straight, with a guarded 'green', while #13 looks like it might have a fair line hooking to the right to an interesting basket raised just a little on an old stump. If you try to cut straight at this one, there are a LOT of trees to navigate! The fourteenth basket lies just a few feet past the treeline, with your shot having to either hyzer out over the tennis courts, or between the trees and the tall fence. Hole 15 is a neat hyzer (rhbh) shot beyond, but with the path and a lamp post which can constitute OB right and beyond. The 16th basket is a lengthy uphill to the right, beyond a fenced in wetlands area, and 17 comes back gently down the hill (with the added bonus of possibly 'black acing' the 15th basket). 18 finishes up by the driveway and a nice tree, with the basket parked just at the top of the hill by the corner of the main campus building.
Cons:
The lack of poured teepads could be worked around in several places by shooting from sidewalks (on 1, 3, 7), and from the drive on 18. Right now, most are exposed dirt (one rubber mat on 14), with roots and rocks causing uneven steps far too often. The extremely basic tee signs state only distances, and a few are either missing or lying on the ground at the tee.
The course could just as easily start with the long bomb on hole three, renumbering from one starting there by the parking lot. But the flow of the course is logical and pretty easy to follow, with the possible exception of the path going both directions away from the 8th basket, and the long walk between 13 & 14.
We played hole 18 from the driveway just left of the tee to avoid hitting the lamp post directly in the line of the dirt tee.
Other Thoughts:
Compliments to Jeff Melton for designing a challenging, but not brutal course out there in Chillicothe. If you're in that area for the day, OU-C and Great Seal pack a nice one-two punch for disc golfers!