Pros:
It's a disc golf course at an elementary school, and right next to a university, so it is terrific exposure for the sport to people who could well become life long disc golfers.
There are a couple of interesting holes, mainly 4, 5, and 7, but 5 is in need of major maintenance, and 7 needs a little love too.
Hole 5 is a nice right turning shot through the woods with a finish out in the open, but was only barely playable on my visit (more on this in the cons section). Hole 7 is a slightly downhill shot through an early gap between two rows of trees, but if you've got the arm for it there's a monster hyzer line out to the right over the trees, but a bit of trimming is needed to make either of these lines play well. I also enjoyed the first hole, teeing off between two trees to a fairly close by basket for a good ace run. Speaking of ace runs, this course is full of them, and that's not a bad thing.
Cons:
This course needs some love. It needs somebody to love it. It needs maintenance. When I visited, hole 5 was only barely playable due to two downed trees. Hole 7 needed some good trimming to make it play better. While I personally like the potential challenge hole 7 could provide, I don't think it's a very appropriate hole for elementary school kids. There was a damp swampy ditch not too far off the tee, right at the gap in the trees that would likely come into play heavily for an elementary schooler, especially if they missed the gap a little and caught a tree.
Several of the holes are kind of filler-ish, if you know what I mean. After two holes, I thought this was going to just be 9 baskets in a field. In reality, it's more like 4 or 5 baskets in a field, and 4 or 5 holes that require at least a little shot making.
Hole 3's basket is only 15 or so feet from the middle of 4's fairway. Speaking of hole 3, it's basket is not the one right in front of you as you walk up to the tee from the previous basket. That's the basket for hole 6. 3's basket is off to the left, into the woods, a little confusing on the navigation front. And speaking of hole 6, I kind of thought this was a weird-ish hole. It seemed to me that the turn to get around the trees to the basket within the given length of the hole was a bit too severe, although in retrospect, I think a cut roller may work well there.
The tee sign posts were easy to spot, but many of the actual tee markers were nowhere to be seen, and some of the baskets were in rough shape, bent from what seemed like close encounters of the lawnmower kind, but still quite functional.
Other Thoughts:
I ran into a group of what appeared to be Francis Marion students playing the course, and queried them about the maintenance issues. They indicated that hole 5 had been blocked since December 2012, 10 months earlier, which leads me to ask, "Where Is the Love?" It seems that this is a course with potential, in an area that has few disc golf options. It needs somebody to care for it. I would probably give this course a solid 2 disc score if it were well kept, as it is, it's a one for me.
There is a convenience store within quick walking distance of the course for any snack/refreshment/restroom needs. I don't recall seeing any benches on the course, or any restrooms or water fountains at the park.
Hopefully, someone will start to care for this course and it won't fall into a state of unusable disrepair. While I wouldn't go too far out of my way to play, I think Mars Bluff could be a great success with a little love.