ETSU has a simple, yet surprisingly, enjoyable nine-hole layout. The baskets are all close together, making for quick round on Pirates Cove.
- Simple, straight-ahead layout. With the exception of #9, holes are all in open field, leading to few obstacles. That in turn presents disc golfers with the chance to be overly aggressive with their throws.
- There's good variety for such a simplistic layout. Hole layouts take advantage of elevation (#5 - 7), tightened fairways (#8 - 9), a tight gap for a tee shot (#6) and doglegs that place the basket around/near trees (#2 - 4). Put it together and the course had more of a 'fun factor' that I could have imagined.
- Great course for beginners and casual players. You're less than 30 minutes from Harmon Hills, Warriors Path or Winged Deer if you want a real challenge. Instead, this is a good course for a quick round, a place to introduce new players or simply to practice throwing.
- #6 ended up being a fun little layout. The grass has grown up around the tee box (versus being non-existent in the picture) meaning you can't just make a direct beeline for the basket. Now, you've got to either shoot the narrow gap between, and fade back to the right, or flick/tomahawk over top on a blind shot. The grass element makes you actually have to work (at least a little) for your birdie/birdie putt.
- Good, informative tee signs. The signs show the hole layout along with the direction of the next tee pad. Why is this important? In the main field this course occupies, depending on where you're standing, you can see either five or six baskets at any one time. I counted five baskets (not being able to see #5); but I imagine if I stood somewhere else in the field, I would have been able to spot all the baskets for the stretch of #2 - 7.
- This is a spot for a good quick round. I played this course as a warm up to my round to Harmon Hills. It was nice getting to throw driver on a couple holes and loosen up my arm before the real challenge. And getting done in less than 20 minutes was an added bonus.

I think there are only two real drawbacks to this course layout. The first is that with so many holes playing close, you would have to keep an eye out for errant throws on other holes (were the course busy). You also have to pay attention to not skip holes. For example, it would be really easy to go straight from #3 to the tee for #5 if you're not paying attention.
- The other big issue here is the lack of overall challenges/penalties for errant shots. With things being so wide open, you're almost always going to still be in the fairway on most holes. The only two holes with somewhat thick rough is #8 & 9. Other than that, you'd have to really shank a throw to the left (on #2 or 3) or do something else bizarre to real make a bad shot here. Without much risk of being punished for bad throws, even on the worst of days, it would be hard to imagine even an average player seeing anything worse than a bogey on any hole here.
- Some players may just get bored by the lack of obstacles as well. I thought the course was designed as well as you could expect. There's only one truly boring, easy hole - #1, which is a wide open, straight ahead, 180-foot layout. I parked my tee shot. Even if I shanked it, I would have still had some sort of a birdie putt. Maybe if a couple holes were a little longer (say push the tees further back on #2, 3 and/or 7, you add a little more challenge.

ETSU ended up having a decent nine-hole course. It wasn't anything great, but it kept my interest throughout. An 18-hole version of this course would end up being a decent play.
- I liked that the holes offered enough variety that I felt I had to play each hole differently. I still saw birdie putts on most of the holes, but at least that wasn't due to throwing the same shot on each hole.
- I enjoyed the change of pace, and relatively challenging, aspect of hole #8. At 287 feet, and ever so slightly downhill, the fairway starts wide and narrows up towards the basket. Throw it on a rope, and you'll still end up down by the basket. After having plenty of margin for error through the first seven holes, this is a good change of pace.
- This is a fun, scenic 9-hole course. It's not overly challenging. But, throw in the fun factor, along with some decent elevation factors, and you've got a better than average nine-hole layout.

great for practice. good location for the etsu college students. nice concrete tees. most of the holes had signs showing distance. would be good for beginners

hadn't been mowed in a while. some signs were missing or vandalized. not a lot of variation. every hole is mostly open with very few trees/shrubs etc.

other than practice and for beginners, I wouldn't recommend traveling a long distance to play here.