Pros:
Labyrinth DGC is located on the West Shore Community College campus, which is located about a 15 minute drive northeast of Ludington, MI. Just to clear one thing up right away: this is NOT what your mind may have conjured up when you read "disc golf on a college campus." This isn't some silly pitch-and-putt where your main obstacles are buildings, cars, and pedestrians. This course is on the very edge of campus, and the whole campus feels like it is kind of in the middle of nowhere - surrounded by farmland and woodland on all sides. The aesthetic is actually very peaceful and secluded.
The 24 holes of discing here are pretty good too. The variety is outstanding. The first few holes play up/down some moderate slopes, and in/out of the woods. The course then opens up into a rolling meadow with a few scattered trees. The grass fairways here are cut in odd directions and places, sometimes giving the impression that holes play in a different direction than they actually do. I thought this was a fun touch and probably intended to be the "labyrinth" that the course is named after. This area contained the two most memorable holes on the course for me. Hole #10 plays blind off the top of a ridge to the basket below. Right after this, hole #11 plays up a different section of the same hill to a basket guarded by a circle of tree trunks.
The second half of the course is generally flatter, but has some nice semi-wooded throws (e.g. holes 13-17 or so), tighter wooded holes (18-22) and finally a couple of open bombers to finish things off. As a whole, Labyrinth is more open than many Michigan courses but there are still plenty of obstacles to work around. You'll have plenty of occasions to want to throw hyzers, anhyzers, and those elusive straight shots.
There are also two tee pads per hole, creating a short layout and a long layout. I played the short pads on my first visit, and returned a few days later to play the long pads. I felt that the designers did a pretty good job of placing the tee pads so that holes play differently depending on the layout you choose. The long layout plays a little easier than Beast or Goliath down the road, but is likely enough to challenge most disc golfers. The short layout is approachable for beginners, but will still be a lot of fun for many players. I think I enjoyed the shorts a little more overall, but some individual holes were more memorable from the long layout - notably #16 and #7 which both play up completely different, more challenging fairways.
The baskets are Chainstars in good shape - one per hole. There is also a practice basket next to the parking lot.
The tee pads are okay. They are decent sized arrays of patio pavers, and most of them have a rubber mat extension on the back to accommodate a short run-up. The arrays were flat and level when I played. Concrete pads would probably still be an improvement but honestly I had no trouble with these as is.
Holes 12 and 24 end at more or less the same spot so you could easily play the front 12 or back 12.
There are several trash cans located at tees throughout the course.
The entire course plays far away from other campus activities, and the holes stay well apart from each other. While a couple of holes play across a two-track, this doesn't appear to be anything that would be driven on with any regularity, or walked on by non-DGers.
Cons:
The tee signage here is poor. The short tees have what I call "Ludington style" tee signs. These are carved wooden posts that have the name of the course above an outline of Michigan's lower peninsula, and the hole number and distance. These are undoubtedly unique and cool looking signs, but they need more information about the hole - at bare minimum, the par and a rough line. It was annoying walking up to spot the Chainstar baskets on the "labyrinth" fairway cut holes and especially in the shadows of the tighter wooded holes. The long tees have no permanent signage at all. When I visited, about half of the long tees had temporary signs from a tournament (these only had the hole number, distance, and par).
Navigational signage is also not good. There are some arrows in a similar style to the tee signs, that point towards the next short tee pad. A few more of these would be good for the short layout, but the real problem was navigating to the long tees. Some of the long tees are in an entirely different direction from the previous basket than the short tees are, and it took me several minutes to find a couple of them. There is a kiosk, but no map was posted on it and the scorecard box was empty when I visited. The map uploaded here is reasonably accurate, but again only for the short tees.
I don't believe there were any benches on the course. A few of these would be a nice addition. There was also no porta potty.
A couple of holes play pretty much straight ahead across the wide open field with almost no obstacles.
The rough here is kind of thick in some areas, and several large spruce trees in/next to fairways could catch and hide discs. I don't think there is a huge risk of disc loss here but be sure to keep an eye on them, especially if playing the long layout.
There is a longish walk back to the parking lot after the final hole, which again ends near where hole 12 ends. I had to wonder if it is possible to add a couple more holes on the south side of the two-track, where there seems to be some unused land. Those holes could play back towards the parking lot.
Other Thoughts:
The edge of campus that this course is located at is also the furthest edge from the entrance. Once on campus, follow signs for the ice arena for about 3/4 mile to reach the course, which shares a parking lot with that arena.
Unlike many of the other Ludington area courses, Labyrinth is free to play. However, they do have a donation box at the first tee and I arrived thinking I needed my "Mason County dollar", so I dropped it into the box. I would encourage you to do the same. What else can you even buy for a dollar these days anyway?
Labyrinth feels like it has been flying under the radar a little bit, if that's possible for a Ludington course. Despite being ten years old and in an area well-known for disc golf, there were only six reviews and three course photos on DGCR prior to my visit. West Shore Community College and the Mason County disc golf club have put together a solid course here. I enjoyed this one enough to add it to my Favorites as it stands today, and many of the issues I mentioned above are fixable. My recommendation: Play it!