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Sawyer DGC reviews
11
0
Uses the land available very well! 2+ years
Reviewed:
Played on:Oct 2, 2021
Played the course:once
Pros:
Sawyer DGC is a 9-holer that sits about 30 minutes south of Marquette in Michigan's upper peninsula. It is very near (may be on?) the decommissioned K. I. Sawyer Air Force Base.
This course plays at what used to be a mobile home park. The mobile homes are all gone, but the cement pads that they sat on remain and in many cases have been repurposed as the tee pads for this course. The large, flat slabs of concrete have been painted with a hole number and lines at the front corner(s) of the pad to indicate roughly which direction to throw in. The only hole that doesn't have concrete tee pads is hole 7, where the course design mandated using rubber pads instead (you are teeing off from the edge of the park for this hole, where there is no cement).
There is a post next to each tee pad that is painted to indicate whether you are at the blue tee (medium length layout), red tee (short layout), or orange tee (very short layout). Most of the nine holes have three separate tee areas. On a couple holes the red and orange layouts share the same tee, but this is clearly marked with the post painted both red and orange. Each post has a sign on it that describes what areas play as OB on each hole, and where you should throw your next shot from if your disc does land in OB. Generally, all pavement plays as OB and on some holes you also have to clear what used to be the mobile home park road with your tee shot. This adds some challenge to the course. The tee signs don't show any other info about the hole, but someone has Sharpie'd in distances from each tee pad which I took note of and updated here.
There are two clearly marked Mandos as well.
The baskets are Prodigy models painted aqua green. They were all in good shape.
There is a kiosk at the front of the course, although it doesn't have a course map on it. I made a rough one and uploaded it here.
This course plays at what used to be a mobile home park. The mobile homes are all gone, but the cement pads that they sat on remain and in many cases have been repurposed as the tee pads for this course. The large, flat slabs of concrete have been painted with a hole number and lines at the front corner(s) of the pad to indicate roughly which direction to throw in. The only hole that doesn't have concrete tee pads is hole 7, where the course design mandated using rubber pads instead (you are teeing off from the edge of the park for this hole, where there is no cement).
There is a post next to each tee pad that is painted to indicate whether you are at the blue tee (medium length layout), red tee (short layout), or orange tee (very short layout). Most of the nine holes have three separate tee areas. On a couple holes the red and orange layouts share the same tee, but this is clearly marked with the post painted both red and orange. Each post has a sign on it that describes what areas play as OB on each hole, and where you should throw your next shot from if your disc does land in OB. Generally, all pavement plays as OB and on some holes you also have to clear what used to be the mobile home park road with your tee shot. This adds some challenge to the course. The tee signs don't show any other info about the hole, but someone has Sharpie'd in distances from each tee pad which I took note of and updated here.
There are two clearly marked Mandos as well.
The baskets are Prodigy models painted aqua green. They were all in good shape.
There is a kiosk at the front of the course, although it doesn't have a course map on it. I made a rough one and uploaded it here.
Cons:
Even with the OB challenges, the disc golf overall rates as pretty dull. The designers did the best they could with using the few trees in the park and a couple of small downhills at the edge of the park, but this is still largely just a pancake flat piece of land dotted with only a couple trees (remember, it used to have mobile homes on it). There is a fair amount of distance from the Blue tees based on the Sharpie'd values, but without many obstacles this will still be an easy round for any DG'ers above recreational level. It seemed like the distances might have been a little longer than what was Sharpie'd, but to be fair I was focused more on documenting the course (walking to all three tee pads on each hole to take note of the numbers, etc.) than I was on actually playing.
Even with the painted tee pad corners, it can be difficult to know where to throw. Since the cement used for the tees was not originally intended for disc golf, the tees do not point directly at the baskets and the paint only gives you an idea within +/- 30 degrees or so. Many baskets are tucked behind trees and not visible from the tee.
As you might expect, other amenities are missing like trash cans, benches, restrooms, practice basket, porta potty, etc. There aren't any Next Tee signs either, but it isn't a huge issue on a course this open - just look around and you will see what logically must be the next hole (or use the map I uploaded...)
Even with the painted tee pad corners, it can be difficult to know where to throw. Since the cement used for the tees was not originally intended for disc golf, the tees do not point directly at the baskets and the paint only gives you an idea within +/- 30 degrees or so. Many baskets are tucked behind trees and not visible from the tee.
As you might expect, other amenities are missing like trash cans, benches, restrooms, practice basket, porta potty, etc. There aren't any Next Tee signs either, but it isn't a huge issue on a course this open - just look around and you will see what logically must be the next hole (or use the map I uploaded...)
Other Thoughts:
It is so cool to see one of my photos of this course featured on the DGCR homepage today! (October 16, 2021). After seeing that, I figured I had better reshuffle my review order and get this one published. 
Overall, I was very impressed with the way the designers turned a vacant, kind of ugly plot of land into a disc golf course that is actually kind of interesting. I could tell that someone cares about this course. There were "fairways" mowed into some of the holes. Signs posted on the course kiosk and a couple places around the course mentioned (and helped navigate) what looked like a "new" safari-style back nine for those who want to play 18 here. I did not have enough time to play this back nine layout, but would have if I had. If ratings were based solely on maximizing use of the land available, I would give this course at least a 4.0. Beginning DG'ers could start at the orange tees and work their way up to red, then blue. Intermediate DG'ers could practice from the red or blue tees, and try for aces from the orange tees.
To be clear, this definitely is not a course that you should go out of your way to play. But if you are in the Marquette area for a few days and want to try something a little different, this course might be worth a visit!
Overall, I was very impressed with the way the designers turned a vacant, kind of ugly plot of land into a disc golf course that is actually kind of interesting. I could tell that someone cares about this course. There were "fairways" mowed into some of the holes. Signs posted on the course kiosk and a couple places around the course mentioned (and helped navigate) what looked like a "new" safari-style back nine for those who want to play 18 here. I did not have enough time to play this back nine layout, but would have if I had. If ratings were based solely on maximizing use of the land available, I would give this course at least a 4.0. Beginning DG'ers could start at the orange tees and work their way up to red, then blue. Intermediate DG'ers could practice from the red or blue tees, and try for aces from the orange tees.
To be clear, this definitely is not a course that you should go out of your way to play. But if you are in the Marquette area for a few days and want to try something a little different, this course might be worth a visit!
11
0
Good design lost in the static 2+ years drive by
Reviewed:
Played on:Aug 16, 2020
Played the course:once
Pros:
Design - the best quality of this course. The trees/terrain was used very well. There's not a whole lot to work with here; the holes play very well for the sub-par land provided. Big open tee areas funnel to tree grove greens on the edge of the woodline, often with very steep hills that the basket sits on to increase putting difficulty. OB is also specified on many holes, which adds to some challenge.
Unique - plays on an old trailer park lot, using old foundations as teepads
Flow - course has a relatively natural direction as you traverse
Open air - one of the defining qualities - this is a bomber course. Pretty much the only course in Marquette county where you can actually rocket some drivers hard and not have to hit a tiny window/alley. The trees/bushes create general windows and gateways but nothing like the punishing hardwood alleys of the rest of the courses in the area
Multiple tees - there are blues which can reach over 400', reds, which carry upper 100' shots all the way to mid 300 footers, and oranges, which are strictly for newcomers, barely passing 120' in most cases - these act as a drop zone on a few holes for the longer tees. All except for one hole are on old trailer foundations, and are very large and grippy and provide generous run up space.
Baskets are the single chained, square design Prodigys with the green band. First time using them and they caught perfectly fine, much better than anticipated. I could foresee hard spin putts spitting through though so keep that in mind.
Unique - plays on an old trailer park lot, using old foundations as teepads
Flow - course has a relatively natural direction as you traverse
Open air - one of the defining qualities - this is a bomber course. Pretty much the only course in Marquette county where you can actually rocket some drivers hard and not have to hit a tiny window/alley. The trees/bushes create general windows and gateways but nothing like the punishing hardwood alleys of the rest of the courses in the area
Multiple tees - there are blues which can reach over 400', reds, which carry upper 100' shots all the way to mid 300 footers, and oranges, which are strictly for newcomers, barely passing 120' in most cases - these act as a drop zone on a few holes for the longer tees. All except for one hole are on old trailer foundations, and are very large and grippy and provide generous run up space.
Baskets are the single chained, square design Prodigys with the green band. First time using them and they caught perfectly fine, much better than anticipated. I could foresee hard spin putts spitting through though so keep that in mind.
Cons:
Appearance - this course just looks shaggy. There was a mow path that seemed to fade in and out throughout the layout, but it was very inconsistent, and below what should be considered an average disc golf course mow. I don't know who takes care of the course but it absolutely could use better mowing. There is usually one, MAYBE two passes from tee to green. The greens, while acceptable, still have some growth here and there that should be paid a bit more attention to. Anything too far off the green will be very difficult to find in the thick bushes/grass. The majority of the flat areas from tee to green are thin, wiry grass, so it isn't TOO hard to find a disc, it is still very resistant to walk through or pull a cart. The teesigns are incredibly bare minimum and seem rushed (more on those later), and the teeboxes are all at weird angles relative to the basket, because they were there before the course. The place just feels rundown and rushed.
Teesigns - they are not good at all. They are tall 4x4's painted to correspond with the tee they represent. They have hole distance written on them with sharpie, and have no directional map of any kind. When you walk up to tee 1, you will see tons of these posts scattered all around the flat field area, and it's very puzzling to try and figure out which one is for which hole, and what direction you are supposed to go, since there are often multiple baskets in view as well. I ended up walking almost all the fairways (I played blues) to try and figure out which basket I was supposed to throw to, and from blues that adds a LOT of walking. This is accentuated by the following point:
The teeboxes - they KIND OF show the angle you are supposed to shoot for, as the corners in the direction you are supposed to head are painted, but sometimes it's just the corner of the box, and sometimes it's a full two corners painted, and with the angles of these preexisting concrete slabs, it just gets really confusing.
Teesigns - they are not good at all. They are tall 4x4's painted to correspond with the tee they represent. They have hole distance written on them with sharpie, and have no directional map of any kind. When you walk up to tee 1, you will see tons of these posts scattered all around the flat field area, and it's very puzzling to try and figure out which one is for which hole, and what direction you are supposed to go, since there are often multiple baskets in view as well. I ended up walking almost all the fairways (I played blues) to try and figure out which basket I was supposed to throw to, and from blues that adds a LOT of walking. This is accentuated by the following point:
The teeboxes - they KIND OF show the angle you are supposed to shoot for, as the corners in the direction you are supposed to head are painted, but sometimes it's just the corner of the box, and sometimes it's a full two corners painted, and with the angles of these preexisting concrete slabs, it just gets really confusing.
Other Thoughts:
It's a bummer to see this course look the way it does, because it is actually a fun design. Once you finally play your first round and get past the frustration of not knowing where the heck you are going, you can start appreciating the way the fairways play. Sadly, it is taken back alot by the overall grungy and whipped together look that is prominent here. Better, wider mowed fairways and some informative signage could go a long way in making this place much better rated and more worthy of the 16 mile drive out of the way of the main Marquette area to come play. It just feels rushed and not fine tuned. But if you can look past that, it can make for some enjoyable rounds.
