Just west of downtown, the University of Alabama in Huntsville course features plenty of long holes over well-manicured campus lawns with several holes near the University Lake bringing the threat of baptism by immersion into play.

The course conditions are fairly nice. The teepads are well done, the new signage is attractive and helpful, and nearly all the holes are on grassy areas that are easy to traverse.

There are options for basket locations, even though the options are "long" and "very long." The course also recently made three holes permanent, so now it's a par 72 (long) or par 80 (very long) track with 21 holes.

The wide-open course does disappear into the woods for Holes #3 through #5, which were my favorite holes on the course, and the latter two holes are par 4s require finding ideal back-to-back placements to have a chance at birdie.

The Hole #18 basket is a challenge and a great photo op to end the round. The basket is elevated and includes a rocket nose cone above and rocket fins below as a nod to the university's outer space research.

Note: Some of my listed cons for the course reflect highly on my personal preferences and opinions on course design.

The course is way too wide open and long for my liking. Only three of the 21 holes are under 300 feet. Most of the holes would be defined as "lightly wooded" or less. There's very little shot shaping required for most of the holes. Even for the players with bomber arms, this course gets redundant quickly. In addition to the course length, there are several transitions that require a couple minutes of walking to reach the next teepad.

The basket locations for the holes closest to the lake (#11 and #17) are way too challenging for anyone below intermediate level, prompting cautious play. Also, the road can easily come into play on several of the holes.

The navigation was a bit confusion regarding the recently added holes after Hole #15. Holes #B and #C appeared to be over or near the water, and we ended up skipping them due to the excessive wind and the desire to not lose a disc.

Ultimately, the UAH course isn't going to attract many newcomers to the game. I prefer college courses that appeal to their student population by including less-challenging designs.

While I've visited Huntsville several times for disc golf, I had avoided this course for years. I'm glad to finally check UAH off my list, but I have no desire to return. For my noodle arm, this is incredibly boring disc golf. I played 19 of the 21 holes, and I made par on all but three holes. Just so much of the "drive, safe upshot, make putt" routine. While my rating is an attempt to be objective about the course and its quality, I would rate it much lower if "fun" was the sole metric.

The UAH course reminded me of a combination of Camp Jordan (near Chattanooga, Tenn.) and the Log Cabin Course (near Rome, Ga.)

-Lots of activity if you want to play with other people.
-Each individual hole is pretty well designed for challenge. It definitely will separate your average player from the pros.
-Course was very clean, but that may have just been due to the tournament that happened earlier that day.

-The course layout hole-to-hole was pretty tough to follow sometimes.
- Some of the holes were very unforgiving for beginners and did not offer many options for safe shots, especially if you want to get anywhere near par.
- Holes 7/8? are along a (what i would guess is supposed to be) a creek, but seems more like a rain water runoff that was pretty bad to get through if you want your disc back.
-Very little thought into the flow of difficulty from one hole to the next. You have a couple of easy holes, then get hit with the hardest 2 holes on the course back to back. Doesn't really make any sense.

All in all, the course was well thought out with each hole, but the course flow (from hole to hole for transitions as well as difficulty flow) was very poor. Still, a course worth trying if you have the time and are not too scared of water hazards.

A well designed course considering the grounds. I'm sure it's not easy to ask the school to let you cover their front lawn with yellow baskets.

The holes nearest the road feel picturesque, with the pond and fountains to close.

The day I visited the course, it felt pretty dilapidated. The grass was nearly all dead looking, there was a lot of undergrowth in the rough (had a briar needle penetrate my shoes!) and there was litter here and there.
I expected a bit more from what I'm told is a champion level course. Anyone with 500ft of driving power could murder this course on a calm day.

There's really not a lot of shot selections required. Even if it weren't as windy when I played it, I probably would have used only 1 or 2 different discs off the tee. Driver straight, appropriate approach disc, putter, repeat. Certainly, there are a few holes that this doesn't apply to, but I guess I was just expecting more.

This course takes an ugly turn after the front 9. You'd better get your birdies before you make the turn.

3 or 4 interesting holes, well maintained.

Mostly open, gets burning hot in the summer, not enough benches trashcans, or shaded areas. I despise courses that toy with busy roads, and that road tends to be BUSY. The water holes are nothing special really. The challenges bring a risk of nothing more than a ruined or lost disc if your throw is errant, and the valid possibility of denting someones car, or breaking their car window which adds challenge, but I don't think that kind of challenge is sensible.

This course is highly over rated, yes it's well maintained, yes it tests your arm, but other than that, it's nothing special. Monte Sano, Mastin Lake, and Redstone Arsenal are much more enjoyable courses.

Also the reviewer below said the people are rude. Sorry about that, I hate it when people ruin our reputation for southern charm and hospitality, UAH is where all the egos go to play disc golf. Go to any other course in the area and you'll be pleasantly surprised by how great the people are.