Grand Rapids, MN

Itasca Community College DGC

1.195(based on 8 reviews)
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Itasca Community College DGC reviews

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6 0
Steve West
Bronze level trusted reviewer
Experience: 10 months 612 played 30 reviews
2.50 star(s)

It got better 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Oct 4, 2020 Played the course:once

Pros:

New (since the last review) baskets. A couple of the original wire baskets are still there, but not in play. New DGA tee signs with distances. Some interesting throws and nice conditions over all. Variety of lengths.

Cons:

Flow is not good, you need to know where to find hole 6. Hole 7 seems to play backward, with the basket beyond hole 6's, but the tee even farther away all the way over to the next beyond the building behind 6.

Other Thoughts:

Don't stay away because of the old reviews. Those old baskets are the stuff of nightmares, but they've got Mach IIs now.
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3 0
DerekTonn
Experience: 46.9 years 2041 played 35 reviews
1.00 star(s)

Not worth the visit 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 21, 2012 Played the course:once

Pros:

- It brings disc golf on to a college campus as a fun, cheap/free form of recreation.

Cons:

- Baskets are in poor condition. The homemade construction used too much light-weight materials, and it shows.
- Course is listed as a 9-hole course. We only found six tees/baskets (after spending a solid 5-10 minutes searching for Holes 7-9). If three baskets have been pulled, then the course records need to be changed to reflect that.
- Design is poor, in general. Tees and baskets too close to road, one basket tucked behind a ballfield backstop (making the hole unplayable if the baseball/softball field happens to be in use), etc.
- Tee pads are poor, and appear to be an ankle injury waiting to happen (uneven, seem as though they would be slick when wet, etc.).

Other Thoughts:

This isn't a comment I would make very often, but given the many deficiencies with this particular course, and given the fact that a new 18-hole course is opening in Legion Park only a few miles to the West (in Grand Rapids), it might be better for the course/baskets to be pulled. Or at bare-minimum take a good, hard look at re-designing the course. Because as it is, the only reason to stop and play this one is to add to your Courses Played count total.
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1 1
deadbody
Experience: 20.1 years 152 played 66 reviews
1.00 star(s)

Go to Hibbing instead 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 2, 2012 Played the course:once

Pros:

Easy to see the course from the road, understandable flow for the first 6 holes.

Cons:

Everything else. The course is super short and open, the baskets are not very good. The tees suck.

Other Thoughts:

I get that this was a project by the students and they had severe limitations to work with. Those limitations made the course not good though. If you are a freak who has to play every course he can like me, it's worth 1 round (and actually since my wife and kids hated it we only played the first 6 holes cause we didn't see 7). Even my 6 year old described it as suck. I guess if you can't get to Hibbing or Side Lake this is a course.
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4 0
carlsost
Experience: 1 played 1 reviews
1.50 star(s)

From the Maker 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 1, 2010 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

-The only place to play near Grand Rapids.
-Well maintained grounds.

Cons:

-Homemade baskets are flimsey
-Short holes
-Not a lot of variety

Other Thoughts:

My friend and I designed and constructed this course while attending the engineering school at Itasca community college. I'll be the first to admit it's many flaws.

There were many constraints that kept us from making a bigger, better, course. Most of the land around the campus is owned by the university of Minnesota and we were unable to get their permisson to build on the land. Land belonging to ICC has many trees and the grounds people didn't want students trampling the tree roots. For these reason, all of the holes had to be out in the open. As a result, we had very little room to work with.

As for the flimsey tees, we welded them from scratch with a budget of less than 2,000 dollars and a time period of less than 4 months. We did it volunarily out of our love for Disc golf. Trying to find time to work on them between classes was very difficult. They weren't as sturdy as we had hoped. The baskets in particular are very flimsey.

In the end, i think the course turned out pretty good for the limited time and resources we had at our disposal. Very few people had even heard of disc golf in Grand Rapids before we built that course. I know it's got many flaws but i'm really proud to hear people are giving it a try.
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1 1
xsjunkie
Experience: 14.8 years 31 played 15 reviews
0.00 star(s)

Wasted Time 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 10, 2010 Played the course:once

Pros:

It was easy to find

Cons:

-Tees too short and narrow
-Homemade baskets falling apart
-Only found 6 holes, no map or signage
-No variety in shots

Other Thoughts:

We were in Grand Rapids on a fishing trip. This course was a huge disappointment to say the least. Next time, I'm going to drive to North Hibbing.
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2 0
himynameismatt
Experience: 13.9 years 13 played 9 reviews
0.50 star(s)

Pitch and Putt that's almost unplayable. 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 21, 2010 Played the course:once

Pros:

Good place to take Disc Golf newbies as the course is fairly short and forgiving.

The campus grounds were fairly well maintained.

Creative hole placement, i.e. Behind bleachers trees etc.

Cons:

The homemade baskets are falling apart. Some of the chains are falling off and the baskets have a parts that are that stick up and could easily skewer, nick, or cut softer plastic.

The teepads are either dirt, or paving stones that are uneven and VERY SHORT! I can't emphasize that enough they are only about 2.5-3ft long, and just barely a 1ft across.

Not a lot of variety all the holes are either straight shots of varying distance or dog leg rights. As a LHBH it was almost too easy. Righties will use a little more shot selection though.

Was honked at 3 different times while teeing off and putting, doesn't bother me, but it might bother others. Not to mention people drove by slowly and stared at us with "WTF?" expressions on there faces.

This course is a logistics nightmare. I played 4 games there today skipped 7 every time, it was impossible to find. The setup is very confusing for such a small small course.

Other Thoughts:

This was the first DG course I've visited here in Minnesota and so far I'd have to say I'm very disappointed.

Much like other college campus I played on it looks like this course was built with great ambition and good intentions. However one look at the baskets will tell you that they've moved on either to bigger better courses or out of the sport entirely.

Despite how poor this course plays I'm actually headed back once more just to see if I can birdie every hole. With one disc, a feat I almost accomplished today.

If you're staying at one of the beautiful lakeside lodges in the area and absolutely need some disc golf action to tide you over until you return to your home course, Itasca CC DGC could work for you. And I use could very loosely.

Otherwise this course is best saved for practice or a place to take beginners.
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6 0
marcusriewer
Experience: 15.8 years 38 played 3 reviews
1.50 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 10, 2008 Played the course:never

Pros:

I like how the course is right on campus. It was easy to find the first six holes. The grass was cut to a short length, making it easy to see your disc after throwing it. The sign at the beginning of the course stating why the course was there and how it became was very interesting.

Cons:

The baskets were not engineered perfectly allowing discs to fall out ocassionally. It took a little investigating to find hole number seven. After finding hole seven, I didn't like how it interweaved between buildings and sidewalks of the school, making it inconvienent while school is in session.

Other Thoughts:

If the baskets were improved and the last three holes were moved more into the open, this would be a better couse to play. I also like how the couse is all designed by the students.
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6 0
mike_riewer
Experience: 17 years 44 played 19 reviews
1.50 star(s)

Grand Rapids 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 6, 2008 Played the course:never

Pros:

Very easy to get to and find the first hole. Home-made baskets are not too bad, some of the better I have played.

Cons:

Most of the holes were very short. They did not have distance markers on the tee off so I can't give exact distances. The tee off pads are narrow and were at one time mulch, but are now worn. Finding hole seven was difficult. (Behind engineering building)

Other Thoughts:

Course was designed by students which makes it unique. The baskets were also designed and made at the college. I appreciate the effort to bring disc golf to the area. To improve the course, I would move the back three holes which become very short and crammed into the middle of the campus. Make better bottoms on the baskets. (some gaps are too big and allow discs to occasionally to slip though) Finally redo the tee off's making them cement.
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