Pros:
- Apparently parking is free right along the side of the first fairway, even though it is a university - a nice rarity.
- The baskets are nice new DGA ones which are still in great shape.
- Multiple holes are laid out to capitalize on elevation changes and natural hazards on the terrain surrounding the small campus, including a steep uphill hole (#2), a couple downhill holes (#4 and 7), and (I think) a pond cross (#6). This at least includes more elevation changes in play than you'll find at nearby Calvert Road Park.
- Given that tees, tee signs, and a course map have yet to be installed, it's a bit hard to identify more positives at the moment. However, I will say that concrete tees will definitely be a positive once they're poured.
Cons:
- Navigation: Obviously with no tees or existing course map, right now you have to wander a lot and infer where the likely next hole could be. This wasn't too much of a problem, except for finding #6. I didn't find it until I finished playing #10...
- Here's my best interpretation of the layout, and how I played it:
It's generally a clockwise loop around campus starting right by the big university sign when you pull in. #1 and 2 form an easily-trackable straight line on the outside of the parking lot, #3 appears to fly over the two lanes of parking lot to near a dorm building, #4 crosses diagonally back over both lanes of the same parking lot and down the hill, #5 is isolated in the woods about 200 ft east of the 4th basket, #6 crosses over the pond in the center of campus, #7 plays downhill into the woods on the east side of campus with #8 paralleling the woods behind the large building where you teed off from on #7, and #9 and 10 play from the woods edge diagonally back across the fields toward where you started your round at #1. Also note that the #10 basket is actually labeled as "P".
- Hazards: Wow, where to start. If the hole layouts are intended to play roughly from basket to basket like I did, then two holes literally fly over parking lots (#3 and 4); #1 has the parking lot and basketball court in easy shank territory; on #3 if you have a big arm, it could be easy to carry too far and hit the dorm building; #6 has multiple sidewalks and a gazebo in play; and #10 forces you to throw across the soccer field (which you obviously can't do if it there's a game going on). The only truly isolated holes without anything or anyone in your way are #2, 5, and 8. While the sidewalks and parking lots were empty when I played, I can only imagine how busy/full they are when there's no pandemic going on... If you are generally supposed to play from basket to basket, then you have to seriously question some of the hole designs here.
- Multiple of the baskets are anchored loosely in the sleeves in the ground, and they are loose to the point that I found multiple of them with the number label at top facing obviously in the wrong direction (away from the clearly-intended tee direction). Bolts or pins should be added at the top of the sleeve so the baskets can't rotate.
- Finally, while there is pretty nice use of the elevation changes around the campus on a few holes, most simply require really basic open field shots across flat terrain (aka the most boring type of hole there is). There are some great woods surrounding the east side of the campus that aren't utilized at all but would be a great space for either adding more holes or moving some of the questionable holes to, and that would give the course more fun variety too. There is a stream down in the woods that could become an interesting obstacle on multiple holes, and it looks small enough that flooding doesn't appear like it would be a significant concern. Just a thought.
Other Thoughts:
- Perhaps the best thing going for Capitol Tech. DGC (besides the nice new baskets) is its location, just a minute off of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway in the gap between D.C. and Baltimore where there are very few other courses. This makes it easy to add into your road trip through the capital area.
- Once tees, tee signs, and a course map are installed, I'd probably up my rating by another star.