Holt, MI

Holt Rams DGC

25(based on 2 reviews)
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DFrah
Gold level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 6.4 years 300 played 287 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Decent school course

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 14, 2024 Played the course:once

Pros:

Holt High School is on the south side of Lansing, MI. The school grounds are HUGE. Nine holes of disc golf play in a clockwise loop around a pond in one corner of the campus.

There is a decent mix of holes here. The first three holes are mostly open pitch-and-putt style, and play in a grassy, rolling area between some athletic fields and the pond. The course then makes its way into a wilder wooded area for holes 4-6. These three holes are quite short (150'-175') but each has a specific line to hit, plus more rolling elevation. Holes 7-9 are back to pitch and putt in a (different section of) lawn. The only hole where water really comes into play is #8. This one is a fun throw across a grassy isthmus between the pond and another low-lying wet area. The terrain also slopes down and then back up. This was my favorite hole on the course. Several other holes are marked as "water" holes here but you'd have to really griplock one or have an especially bad tree kick for it to really come into play.

The baskets are yellow banded DISCatchers.

The tee signs only have the hole number/distance/par, but all baskets are visible from the tee so not a huge issue.

There is a large kiosk at the first tee, complete with a course map.

Cons:

The tee pads are natural - grass on the lawn holes, and dirt on the wooded ones.

Advanced players will feel that holes 1-3 and 7-9 are short, and 4-6 are even shorter.

There is no navigational signage, and a couple of the walks between holes are pretty long. I'd recommend taking a photo of the map on the kiosk before starting.

The school drive is kind of in play on hole 9. Not the worst I have seen, but worth mentioning.

No practice basket, porta potty, trash cans, or benches available.

Other Thoughts:

I don't have much more to say here, so I'll close by echoing Bogey - This course is fine for what it is. There are better courses nearby, but I have definitely played much worse school courses. The fact that I don't have any strong feelings about this one, is probably a good thing. If you're looking for a warm up or cooldown before/after playing Burchfield Park nearby, by all means go for it.
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12 0
BogeyNoMore
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 20.4 years 512 played 183 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Expectations Met 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 1, 2019 Played the course:once

Pros:

Precisely what I've come to expect from a reasonably well executed course at a public school. No more. No less.

+ Variety/ mix: Reasonable. 6 fairly open holes with a few well-placed trees or other obvious obstacles to avoid, with 3 well-wooded holes (but not ridiculously so) placed very nicely in the middle section of the course.

+ Offers some opportunities for shot shaping. Most holes allow for many lines to the pin, with a few being more obvious. The wooded holes do a nice job of forcing you to actually hit a line...or a tree.

+ Reasonable range of distances from 150 - 245 ft (please see Other Thoughts).

+ A few modest to moderate elevation changes. Not much, but enough of a factor that you can't ignore it. Pretty good rollaway potential on one hole.

+ Equipment - Good but nothing special. Yellow DisCatchers are easy to spot, with hole #'s clearly visible, so you know which basket you're throwing to. Tee markers have hole # and distance, and are fairly easy to spot from a distance.

+ Reasonably fun.

+ Nav & Flow: Good. Pretty easy to follow from hole to hole once you get going, with the only somewhat tricky transition being after #3, when it goes into the woods. As you walk from 3's basket, there's an obvious path to your right, leading into the woods and to #4.

+ Map is reasonably accurate, and might help newbs find #4 and #7. Probably not necessary for the well-seasoned course bagger.

Cons:

Limited by what it was obviously designed to be: a course for newbs, mids and putters.

- Not an every shot in your bag course. Left my bag in the car and grabbed a Challenger, Buzzz, and XL... only threw the XL twice.

- With natural tees, the only thing telling you where to throw from is the tee sign, and perhaps a worn spot. If you choose to tee off close to the tee sign, you could whack your hand on your follow through.

As a right-handed thrower, I chose to tee off with the tee marker on my left. I suggest you choose similarly to suit your particular throwing style. I promise the PDGA won't revoke you membership if you do. So, if you read this, and still manage to injure your hand hitting a tee sign on your follow through... THAT'S on you.... idjit.

- Many will claim #2's tee sign faces the wrong way... but I'm pretty sure that was intentional. It's clearly visible walking away from #1's basket. Assuming this Eagle Scout project didn't have the budget for "Next Tee" signs, making sure it's visible from #1's basket gets the job done. You can clearly see the #2 on the basket from there, so there's zero doubt as to where to throw.

- Some of the distances didn't feel quite right to me, but I have no data to support that, and none seemed to be off by so much as to be truly misleading.

Other Thoughts:

More right than there is wrong. Mostly limited by what this course was designed to be in the first place - very basic disc golf.

My thoughts on Range of Distances and Responsible Design: I'm glad they chose not to stretch any holes longer than they did. Just because there's linear space (in one direction) to increase the distance from tee to basket, doesn't mean there's enough lateral space to safely contain the harder throws (or faster discs) players will use to achieve that distance.

The holes fit quite comfortably in the available space, with sufficient room for error to avoid bringing Holt Road into play. I'm not saying you couldn't hit a car, or someone walking on the sidewalk or the parking lot, but you'd almost have to try.

#'s 1 and 9 bring an OB driveway into play. But you're not supposed to be playing during school operating hours, or any school event that creates traffic in that area anyway, so that shouldn't be an issue.

I'm not gonna beat this course up for what it isn't, and was never intended to be. If you're looking for something more destination worthy, play one of the courses 3 miles down the road at Burchfield.

If you're looking for a fun, easy course to bag after hitting Burchfield... mission accomplished.
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