- Now with nice tee signs and indicators to most of the next holes.
- Good baskets
- Distances and layouts are beginner friendly.

- Should be beginner friendly, but lack of cutting back the high grass and thick underbrush in the summer at the edges means that this free course could cost you a couple of discs each time you play
- Clusters of these trees in the middle of holes are fine, but not here because you need a machete to get to your disc
- Still no tee pads, but I think they're overrated. I'd much rather have the 4' brush brush hogged back an additional 15 feet from each fairway.

Overall not a bad course other than the high possibility of losing a disc at every single hole.

-Good for beginners
-Solid place for practing putting and approach for advanced players
-Relaxing walk through a nice park on Umass campus
-A couple ace run shots
-Good variety of shots

-Easy to lose disc in high grass on most shots
-Only 9 holes
-Grass tees

-Hope it becomes 18 because these 9 are pretty basic

Cut fairways
Low traffic
Coeds sun bathing
This course was a pretty cool little 9 hole.
Has 18 hole course type wooded shots, nice open shots.
Good for beginner or medium level players.
Signs at every hole with relevant info

No benches on course
Dirt tee pads

Luckily I played on a Sunday... so parking was not a problem, but I see how it could be a problem.

Reasonably easy for all players
Some fun holes
Good for beginners
Hole 5 is a good time
Ace run on 6
Solid baskets

Can get boring for experienced players
Awful signage
Mediocre tees

This course is extremely convenient for students. Follow a map and you'll find all of the tees and baskets, basically just look where the dirt is kicked up, and you're on the tee. Excellent baskets, some are knocked out of place (probably by drunk students). This course is a great place to learn how to play or teach someone else to play.

In a state that has more than a few gorgeous college campuses, this one - ahem - isn't at the top of the list. Driving through campus, I was worried about what this course might look like, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it tucked away in the secluded orchards in the corner of campus. It's actually a very nice setting.

There are some good elevation changes, and a few of the holes have some interesting design. Hole 7 is the best, an uphill drive that requires negotiating some early trees. Holes 4 and 8 are good, and hole 6 is a sharp dogleg that makes you think whether you want to lay up at the mouth of the dog leg or try to bomb a hyzer over the top.

pads, and I was just searching for places where the grass was rutted out.

No tee signs.

A lot of the holes were ho hum. Hole 1 is wide open. Hole 6, at 160 feet, is too short. Navigation was more difficult than it should have been for a course this short.

There is some potential here with the terrain, but clear marking of the tee areas and some rubber pads are needed. Western Massachusetts doesn't have the wealth of courses that the middle of the state does, but there are still better options within 20-30 minutes of here.

This is a nice 9 hole college course. There is plenty of variety in distances. The course is well kept and clean. There are some challenging fairways and some rolling small hills. The course was designed well.

Other Pros:

-nice DISCatchers
-servicable natural tees
-water near play
-set away from other college events

A full 18 holes would be really nice. Because its on campus, parking can be an issue. The rough is really rough with thick thorns.

Other Cons:

-missing tee signs (made navigation tougher)
-map needed for 1st timers

I parked near hole #3 as it was the easiest spot for me to find. The course was fun but since there isn't another course too close it wasn't really worth the trip. If the course was a full 18 then I would take that comment back.

As of 2021, the mowing on hole 1 has gotten really bad increasing the likelihood of lost discs. Hole 4 is similar.

-Free
-Baskets in great shape
-The course design is great. There is a nice variety of holes (up and down hill, dog legs, obstacles, hyzer bombs, etc.). Course designers did great considering the space they were given.
-Big range in difficulty of holes. 1, 3, and 6 are ace runs. 4 and 7 are challenging. 2, 5, 8 and 9 aren't too hard or easy.
-Crazy blackberries and apples for public picking in the summer
-Nice views
-Great use of previously under-utilized land

-The rough gets really rough in the summer with poison ivy, thorns, thick grasses, and lots of trees. It's easy to lose discs or get poison ivy trying to recover them. The course is a bunch less enjoyable and beginner-friendly from May-September.
-Only 9 holes
-A couple long-ish walks between holes. I can play some 9 hole courses in 20 minutes. This one can take twice as long because of all the walking between holes.
-This course is too easy for advanced players
-Most holes favor RHBH/LHFH throwers (1, 2, 4, 7)
-UMass recently closed down the free parking lot at the course. Now if you play between 9 and 5 during the week, there's nowhere to park without risking a ticket unless you have a parking permit.

The course is a valuable resource for disc golfers in town since the next closest course is 20 minutes away. The layout of the holes is beginner-friendly, but the rough is not in the warmer months. All the thorns and poison ivy and thick rough are the biggest drawback of this course. I know many newcomers who have lost discs. I've lost at least 4 (although I have played 200+ rounds).

A very nice course when it has been recently mowed. When there are tee markers, they are great. Nice mix of hole types and a great beginner course while still offering enough variety to keep better players interested. Baskets are in great condition, the future of this being 18 is exciting. For locals, this could be an amazing resource. As a UMass alum and a lifelong resident of the area, I hope they will take it to 18 and foster the growth of disc golf in the Valley

No tee markers 1-5. No really clear route from 4th hole to 5th tee. Tee boxes are marginal, at best. For rec playing though, i'm nitpicking, I thoroughly enjoy the course.

Make it 18 and it will be one of the better western Mass DGCs

nice layout of holes. well marked trails to next tee box. a few holes have very nice views of the surrounding hills. brand new pole holes. well mowed and groomed. Plays fairly quickly.

need for future tee pads and better signage. some signs are already missing. The few remaining do help with the hole layout.

Sign in parking lot directing players to first tee. (Go toward the cell tower.) Hoping this will get the thumbs up for 18 holes. An alternative is two different tee boxes at different length and angles to give you a slightly different "back" nine.

Nice new baskets, interesting layout.

Thorny brush lining a fair amount of the holes.
They need to remove the barbed wire topped double fences along the left side of hole four. I got trapped between the fences, and had the dickens of a time getting to my disc.
Lack of decent tee boxes (being so new, I expect this will be gradually be addressed.)

I am hoping that the students, and public, get behind this course, and play it often, so that the University decides to go ahead with the additional 9 holes.

-Good hole design
-Great location for students
-Nice mix of beginner-friendly holes and tougher holes
-Nice baskets

-Fairways are good, but the areas on the side need to be thinned out (too many thorns)

Plans to make the course 18 holes would really enhance the experience. Adding teepads and signs would help, too.

Definitely a fun little 9 hole loop that hopefully garners enough positive attention from the campus to be turned into the full 18 hole course it is planned to be. No, it is not a full course yet and there is of course some work that can still be done, but considering this was day one, I think it was quite a lot of fun. Most of the course was midrange or putter drives 200-320 feet, and it made good use of the elevation and land UMass allowed to be touched. Hole 1 is a short, mildly downhill shot in the open, woods waiting for you if you go long or left. Hole 2 is about 350 but so far downhill that it is a midrange shot. There is a cluster of trees and rough if you go short or right, so if you don't have the arm to make it, take the left hand route and settle for a three. Hole 3 is easy but there is water in play (see cons). 4 has a long (over 500ft) and short tee and we played long once, short twice. The long tee isn't too bad and definitely has a well thought out fairway, but the rough is ridiculously painful right now, so we decided to avoid any risk. Hole 5 is a flick (RHFH) or turnover (RHBH) to a basket protected by some trees and woods/rough waiting for anyone who goes short, but again, if you don't have the distance you can take an easy three by throwing a straight shot to the gap, then shooting in towards the basket. Hole 6 is a short little hole that is an easy birdie. 8 is a fun shot that can be attacked from a couple different angles, just the right number of trees/obstacles to keep you honest. Hole 9 can also be approached from a flick, turnover, placement shot or big hyzer over the trees. It conveniently finishes the loop not far from hole 1 so you can get started up again.

Once you get to the course (I agree it can be difficult to find if you don't know where to go), the signage is great and guides your from hole to hole easily.

Still unfinished, the rough is rough and full of thorns. Not a clearly defined line on hole 7. The rough there is also quite punishing, (nicked a vine and went careening deep into the thorns). People are not supposed to touch the pond by hole 3, but I am worried someone will go in anyway and ignore the signs. Maybe that basket should be moved a little back from the water. Can see parking without a permit being an issue during afternoons (plenty of free parking after 5pm).

As a local and a grad student at this school, I hope the course is a success. Being able to have a course to go to whenever for practice is great. I also hope that it being on campus will help get students curious about the sport and hopefully attract new players. I know I will be bringing as many of my non DGing buddies out to try the sport finally, since it is much easier to convince them to go on a 5 minute walk than a 30 minute drive to try this game out.

For anyone who doesn't know the campus well, you can find hole 1 right by the observatory: http://parking.umass.edu/imag...orParking.pdf