-Good mix of shot requirements
-Not stupid long
-Fun mando on hole 5
-Hole 8 has some pucker factor when there is water standing.
-Good tee signs
-Logical flow
-Plenty of parking

-No bathroom
-Dirt tee boxes
-a bit on the easy side in all

This was a fun course to play. It gives you the opportunity to try any shot in the bag. (Thumbers, scoobies, forehand, backhand, tomahawks) There are some tough holes (8&11), some easy holes, and some average holes.

I don't think it would be a good tournament location based on overall challenge, but it is great for a fun round to work on your midrange/approach game.

When I played, they were in the process of trying to upgrade the dirt tee pads with pavers. Unfortunately, the pavers have not quite settled into their sand base yet, so tee offs were an adventure.

So, not a destination course, but a fun play for a rec player transitioning to intermediate.

4/8/21 Update:

Out of the 69 courses I have reviewed, this is where this course ranks along with similarly rated courses:
Rank-Course, Location
36-Pecan Grove West, Sherman TX
37-Weatherford DGC, Weatherford, TX
38-Timmons Park, Greenville, SC
39-Crooked Creek Park, Chapin, SC
40-USC Upstate, Spartanburg, SC
41-Shoally Creek DGC, Boiling Springs, SC
42-The Dragon, Purcell, OK
43-Mulerider DGC, Magnolia, AR
44-Lakeside DGC, Elmore City, OK
45-Northwestern Oklahoma State University, Enid, OK

USC Upstate is a nice 18-hole course in a secluded part of this Spartanburg campus. It's not the most difficult of courses, but it does offer a little bit of everything including some fun layouts.
- There's a nice variety of layouts here. To their credit, the designers did a good job of taking advantage of the terrain. Solid use of elevation, woods & open fields, along with a little bit of water. On this course, you'll see everything from ace runs (#1 & 9) to nice risk/reward layouts (#7 & 18) to holes that offer both aspects (#10). Add it all up, and this makes for a fun round.
- There really are some pleasantly enjoyable holes. I'm not talking elite level quality, but within the context of an average, beginner-friendly course, I did find myself walking away from many of the holes with a positive feeling.
- The four predominant downhill holes are all solid - #6, 9, 10 & 15. Each offers a different element that makes it slightly different from the others. In brief: #6 is a 277-foot, downhill, slight dogleg right that plays in an open area. You're much better off being hole high and 75 feet to the left than being on-line to the basket, but being 30 - 50 feet short. That's because you'll probably be deep in the woods.
- #9 is a dogleg left, 203-foot shot that starts out on the edge of a retaining pond (water runoff area perhaps?) through an opening between trees. You can throw a high arcing shot or a lower, make-a-run-straight-at-the-basket type of throw. Only trouble here is if you go too long (into the rough), or somehow don't clear the trees at the beginning.
- #10 is the shortest hole on the course but could be the most costly. It's a straight, 125-foot shot...BUT...there is a pond (a legit one, not a dried-up one like I mentioned above) right behind the basket. It might be as much as 30-40 feet or so behind, but with it being a downhill throw, it's going to be easy to have a shot sail if you're not careful. My disc, which was only about 5 - 10 feet too high, would have been in the drink were it not for hitting a branch.
- #15 was my favorite of the downhill holes. The hole is 221 feet and requires a possible route throwing over the edge of the same dried-up pond area that comes in to play on holes 7 & 8. Throwing over the trees is easier than throwing around them on this hole. This hole also has the best 'sailing' factor of where you throw your disc and watch it glide on back to the hole.
- Good course for beginners and casual players. Of the courses in the Spartanburg area (Pipeline, Tyger, Va-Du-Mar), this is the most beginner friendly. Great place to get newbies hooked before taking them to those more advanced courses.
- Course had a nice flow to it. Granted, a lot of that has to do with the terrain and natural landscape of the area. That said, there is still a good flow of holes not feeling too redundant, not a lot of similar holes clumped together; not a lot of boring holes clumped together; not a lot of easy or difficult holes clumped together. It makes the flow of your round that much better when you don't get bored with monotonous layouts.

The biggest problems I had with this course all had to do with navigation/design flaws/confusion. With the exception of the design of #18, the other issues could all easily be fixed. Going in chronological order:
- Distance on hole #4 is way off. Tee sign says 255 feet. Standing on the tee, I saw a hole about 150 - 175 feet away. Walking around, I didn't see any other holes, so I realized this was the basket. I don't know if they were forced to shorten the hole because it does look like the woods were cleared out past the hole, which may indicate this hole could be lengthened. Clarification is needed here.
- I'm not a fan of having the baskets for #7 & 18 so close. Standing on the tee for #7, you can only see one basket. It wasn't until I threw my approach shot at the visible basket did I realize that was actually the basket for #18. The baskets were much closer together than what appeared on the map. Baskets don't have hole numbers on them, which would help.
- Transition from #12 to #13 needs to be clarified. Behind #12's basket are two paths. No signage for the next tee. No indication what the paths are for. Just two paths. I picked one path. I picked the wrong path. GO TO THE PATH ON THE RIGHT. Better yet, the course needs better signage. Spoiler alert: the path to the left is a long and winding, eventually ending up somewhere on the fairway for #14.
- #18 is just off. This seems like it could be a solid finishing hole. Instead, it seems like the designer had a rough idea of how the hole should play, drew up a rough sketch, and left it at that. If you follow the natural flow of the hole design - based on upon the direction the teepad is facing - there are three possible options, and only one is good. The tee shots come too close to the parking lot (option A), there's a small sliver of grass (option B) or there's thick underbrush to the left side of the upper fairway (option C). From there, you've got an awkward, short downhill shot to the basket. That's how the hole plays if you follow the tee pad and sign. There's also a lower fairway. This seems like this should be the better/correct fairway. For starters it takes the risk of the parking lot out of play, presents a higher risk/reward element while making this generally a more fun and challenging closing hole. So, I don't know if this hole is supposed to have two separate routes. If it does, why does one require you to throw at a parking lot?

USC Upstate was better than I expected. I thought this would simply be a course I could check off my played list, only playing because I was in town to play Pipeline and Tyger. Instead, I came off #18 thinking I would enjoy playing this course again.
- This is mostly a mid-range course. I only pulled out driver on five holes. That said, this course could easily be played with only a handful of discs rather than requiring the full bag.
- I would like to see something better done with holes #4 & 5. With #4 playing short and #5 already short at 127 feet, you have two uninspiring holes back to back. Maybe combine those two holes into one longer one and add a hole somewhere else on the course. It also would have been nice to take advantage of the downhill open area where #6 is located. That easily could have been a longer, more fun, design if done properly.
- Because this is an easier course, advanced players will probably feel like they're wasting their time here. That notion was validated when discussing this course with locals.
- There's nothing overwhelming about this course. This is really a buffet-style course. Nothing is done great here, but you do get to sample a little bit of everything. And once you find your niche, play one of the better courses in the area.
- When it comes to rating this course, this is a perfect short, beginner/rec level layout. That said, the course did exceed my admittedly low expectations. I wouldn't mind playing here again before playing Pipeline or Va-Du-Mar.

There is a full 18 hole course. The natural tees are ok, and there are pretty good baskets. There are tee signs, but some distances are inaccurate. Fairways are open for the most part. Elevation is a bit of a factor on some holes, and water comes into play a couple of times. The first hole is wooded, maybe the tightest fairway on the course. 5 is short, with the basket protected by the posts of a climbing wall. 9 is a tricky, short downhill throw into a wooded pocket, with water behind the pin. 10 is a difficult drive, with a slightly elevated tee on the left side of a straight and narrow fairway with trees on both sides. The basket is on the right, and there was some mud around it due to recent heavy rains. 14 is a longer hole, a long RHBH hyzer around a stand of big trees. 15 is a fun downhill putter throw, I overshot the basket, but made a good 25 footer out of the low hanging tree branches right behind it. 17 is another long open drive. 18 is one of the tougher holes, with very thick rough on the hillside between the tee and the basket. I recommend taking a glance at the pin position before taking a tee shot there, if you're unfamiliar.

Not super challenging, with some ridiculous short holes (4, 8, 16). Hardly have to get th drivers out of the bag. The first hole is well hidden in the woods, to the right of the kiosk.

USC Upstate is a quick round, with a couple of fun holes. The casual, college campus vibe, not seriously challenging. Ok, but Va-Du-Mar is less than 4 miles away, and a much better course. If you want a round in between classes, I suppose this may be a good option.

We only played front nine. Some shorter holes for beginners. We had several par shots on first nine. The signs are decent. Nice location near the campus.

Looks like a lot of construction was recently done. There are piles of dirt, wood, brush around most holes. The rough is TOUGH! There are many places with thorns. If we played during the spring/summer with everything grown in, we probably would have lost a Frisbee or 2. It's a bit strange to me to be playing around a bunch of powerlines, they go right through the first nine.

Thorns need to be cleared out better. It is a nice idea to have this on campus. Maybe update the tee boxes. Lots of potential here.