Pros:
Courtland Township DGC is located in a rural area about 30 minutes north of Grand Rapids, MI.
Each of the 18 holes on this course has two large concrete tee pads in good condition, and two baskets in good condition. Both the long and short tee pads on each hole have a color tee sign showing the tee pad locations, pin locations, and all four possible distances (long tee to "A" pin, long tee to "B" pin, short tee to "A" pin, short tee to "B" pin). The "A" baskets are aqua green Prodigy models, and the "B" baskets are red ones.
On most holes it is a significantly different experience playing the different layouts. The pin placements are done well (some holes dogleg left, others dogleg right, others straight). There are a few open shots from tee to basket but in general there are at least a few trees on each hole to avoid. The fairway width varies quite a bit, from tight holes with thick woods on either side to wider "meadow" holes with only knee high brush on either side. The rough is generally punishing and thick, but not so thick that there is serious danger of losing a disc most of the time. I would recommend watching your discs carefully and/or using a spotter in the summer if you don't want to have to dig around.
Navigation is pretty smooth - there are a couple places where a Next Tee sign would help but it's mostly easy to tell where to go. There is also a kiosk at the front of the course with a course map.
Trash cans and benches are available throughout the course.
Cons:
This course uses the available space well, but other than trees and brush there aren't many other obstacles in play here (no water hazards, minimal elevation change, etc.). There also aren't really any holes that I thought were especially memorable or stood out. Each hole plays well but they started to kind of blend together for me.
Most holes are pretty short - whether playing "A" or "B" pins there aren't really any "grip it and rip it" type holes here, even from the long tees. The technical challenge does help to make up for this, but with the exception of #18 those who prefer long open bomber holes will probably be frustrated here.
The course is located near a busy intersection and right off of state highway M-57. Road noise can be heard throughout the course, detracting from the experience a bit (at least for me). An exceptionally bad throw off the long tee on hole 14 could also find one of the roads.
Other Thoughts:
I would call this a beginner friendly course and good for practice due to the variety of layouts and distances available. It is possible to play only the front nine or only the back nine as well. The long tees provide a decently challenging and technical round.
I think the designers did a great job with the land available. This course is a strong addition to the large catalog of courses in the area, but there is nothing to really set it apart in any way. It's not a destination course, but definitely worth a play if you are local.
UPDATES 2021/2022/2023/2024: New in 2022, baskets are permanently installed at both "A" and "B" pin locations - thus increasing the number of layouts available at any given time from 2 to 4. This course is not a destination but it's quite good for bagging and practicing. I have been returning to this one a couple of times a year. I would still consider myself a recreational player, and for me the longest orange layout is challenging. The medium red and purple layouts are interesting without being quite as challenging. The blue layout provides a round where I should absolutely finish under par, but it's still good practice. All of the above can be fun for me, depending on my mood, etc. The addition of the second set of permanent baskets is enough for me to bump this one up to a 3.5 rating. The only other improvements I can really think of are a couple of Next Tee signs, and maybe a mesh fence or something to prevent the possibility of throwing a disc into the road on #14 (it's definitely possible with a tree kick, especially when leaves are down).