Clean, easy drives, lots of walking.

Lots of tall grass and bushes to lose your disc. Front half is wide open, repetitive pins. Back half in the woods gets more interesting, but tall and thorny bushes make it easy to lose your first drive.

Location is great for students or nearby Kent residents.

I think this is a very underappreciated course and better than many in the area, especially for more experienced players. The primary (long) tees offer incredible variety over the course of 18 holes. You'll go from a touchy 200ft chip shot over a creek,to a big 400ft+ downhill bomb to a technical par 4 down a long, narrow tunnel of trees. I don't feel like I'm ever throwing the same shot off of the tee the entire round. Other than hole 8 which is a sad little hole in the middle of nowhere now that the trees are gone, I don't feel like there are any boring stretches of golf on the course.

The biggest negative I see is the lack of concrete tees and signage for the short tees. Being on a college campus the course should be more accessible to newer players. Parking at the rec center is kind of a pain as well, but minor. The layout is a little confusing since the redesign, but once you've played it once it's no issue at all.

As others mentioned, the tall brush is annoying, but it's really only an issue on a few holes and has gotten better as people make paths through it over time.

Kent State's course got some knocks earlier on as they had to change around the layout a bit and for it to get worn in, but It's one of my favorites in the Akron area. I don't think There's any other course in the area that offers variety and challenges the way Kent State does. You've got legitimate woods golf on 11 and 14-18, elevation change, some technical lines, big open shot usually with some wind to navigate. I think it's a very solid, unique course. I went 4 stars because I think it deserves more love than it's getting! Get out there and enjoy it!

Kent State (Go Golden Flashes) is a nice Championship style course that plays through the open fields behind the campus. There are a few holes that play closer to buildings.

The first tee is conveniently located next to the rec center doors. There's a very nice map there. There are discs available to rent inside the rec.

The majority of KSU plays through prairie-like fields, with some scattered trees. The abundant wildlife made for a nice round.

I'm usually not a fan of campus courses, but most of the course plays in an area used very little by students.

Good mix of distances. Plenty of opportunities to air it out, plus some shorter more technical holes.

Very nice concrete tees that have plenty of length. The tee signs are descriptive and high quality.

I really like the baskets here. They are a bright blue color, and are easy to spot from a mile away. They also catch well (I think they're DGA baskets).

Kent State puts on weekly clinics to learn the sport for free. Really awesome that they are introducing students to the sport.

The rough was pretty annoying. While there are some paths carved into the rough to make finding discs easier, there are parts of head high grass.

Not a fan of campus courses. Even though KSU plays mostly away from people, there are still students lingering around.

I can see beginners getting frustrated here. There are some pretty tough holes for new players. Looking for discs in the rough might make them give up.

The path from #2 to #3 is really overgrown, needs to be trimmed down a little bit.

Not really any "signature" holes here. A lot of solid holes, but not any that really stand out.

Overall, Kent State is a very solid course. I decided to hit it up on the way back from my Pennsylvania disc golf trip, and I'm happy I got to try it out.

If you don't mind college courses, come give it a shot. Go Flashes!

~Good layout, challenging mix of holes.
~Nicely constructed long tee pads.
~Solid navigation (directional arrows, numbered baskets, tee signs.
~Neat setting placed in a mostly secluded area of campus.
~Fair amount of trash cans and benches.

~Short tee pads are natural, would benefit from concrete.
~Areas of severe overgrowth between holes and along fairways.
~A handful of unrealistic lines / gaps from the long tees.
~Overall a solid mix, but I feel it greatly favors RHBH players.

Kent State's course has been in the ground for a couple of years now, and I was glad to finally visit and check it out. Played with a friend who was familiar with the course so navigation was easy. Even without a guide there are only a few spots that may lead to navigation issues as most holes provide directional arrows to get you on your way. Tall identifiable tee signs and numbered baskets also help with finding your way around. We played from the long tees, which created a great challenge. The first few holes are fairly open shots from there you throw some long tight fairways with a couple more fairly open holes, and then you dive into a thick wooded technical area to complete the course. Concrete tee pads for the long layout are plenty big and poured well, the short tees are marked by painted toe board blocks. I would love to see concrete tees for the shorts as it would benefit the course greatly. The layout is imaginative and flows wonderfully. Great use of the land, and the setting is serene and enjoyable. My biggest gripe is that many of the fairways are tightened up by thick brush, thorns, and tall grass which should be kept mowed down. There are enough trees and other natural obstacles to keep the course challenging, and the thick underbrush is not necessary. There are also a handful of holes along the finishing wooded section that could benefit from more defined fairway lines off the long tees. Again the layout and fairway boundaries provide the challenge, eliminating a few small trees would better define these holes. I was surprised at how tough the longs play on this course, and left satisfied as well as a touch defeated. This is a good course that could develop into a great course with minimal effort and continued maintenance. Would not hesitate to play this one again!

Nice concrete tees
Good mix of open holes and challenging wooded holes
Very well maintained
Nice map at start with score cards
Very open area
Old apartment complexes demolished that were on course
Very nice baskets

Lots of blind holes from tees (not bad I imagine if you play it a couple times)
No concrete for short tees or signs
Confusing to navigate first time
Some holes missing signs at long tees (Hole 9 and one other I can't remember)
Hole 17 and 18 and currently not there
Some holes just seem oddly difficult, like Hole 5

Overall I really enjoyed this course in my first time playing it. It was heavily raining most of the time and winds around 20 mph and it was a good time. School was also out for summer so there were very few people around. One of the more challenging courses I've played. It is definitely worth a stop. P.S. Parking is free on weekends.

The newly added course at Kent State plays through open fields and tight patches of woods around the enormous campus rec center and some apartment complexes. There is a course map in front of the rec center and the first hole plays on the left side with successive holes winding clockwise around this part of campus. The course is clean and very well groomed. The tees and baskets are some of the best I've seen, with the blue-coated baskets having a deep rim and arrows on them pointing you in the right direction. Without the arrows, this would be a difficult course to navigate with holes dispersed far apart from one another. So, much appreciated!

The holes couldn't be much better designed with the land given. This isn't the most ideal setting for a disc golf course, but I felt they truly maximized the land's potential using the elevation and water (creek on 2) that was provided. There are plenty of chances to unleash your high speed driver as well as thread your mid-range/putter through tight lines among trees. With holes ranging from 176-552 feet, you'll have the opportunity to go after a few ace runs (1 and 18) and hit precise lines in the woods (11, 12, 14-16) while being hard-pressed to achieve par.

Holes 11 and 12 were the highlight of the course for me and offered multi-staged throws with landing zones. These holes hit the mark and are very well designed, pplaying in open space from the tee and tightening up as you get closer to the pin. They also have the most drastic elevation changes on the course.

I must admit that I am not the biggest fan of campus courses. I do appreciate (and want) players to be introduced to the sport and what better place to do that than on a college campus? However, I am not a fan of courses that play too close to other people and cars. This isn't on the main part of campus, but I had to wait for people to walk through a few of the fairways.

The road plays near a few of the holes. With the probable windy conditions in this location and a few blind baskets, it made for some careful shots. The wind can easily push you over the busy road on a few occasions.

Hole 2 is near a loading dock for the rec center and I was forced to skip it because a tractor-trailer was parked in the way. Will not always be an issue, but this is an example of something that might hinder your experience here.

The course doesn't really aim to satisfy a certain player, which isn't necessarily bad in and of itself. However, there are too many bland holes to excite a higher-level player and too many near-impossible lines to hit in the woods for a newer player. There is a variety in the level of woodenness, but it's almost too much or not enough.

There are a few long walks between holes, causing you to cross busy roads.

The tee signs could be a little more detailed since there are so many blind pins.

Note: I plugged into my phone "Kent State rec center" and it took me to the skating rink. Make sure you go to the rec center that is across the street from the main part of campus. Even though its not right in the center of everything, I recommend playing here when college is not in session. I hate to be nit-picky in my review, but there are a few aspects of the location that detract from the round. Playing here in the summer would alleviate a lot of these issues and make for a more enjoyable round.

Kent State is in a densely populated area of fine courses so it's worth stopping here and making this part of your day of bagging.

Brand new baskets, concrete tees. Kiosk map. Tee signs with maps. Exclusive land. Maintained grounds. Clean.

Tees signs bizarrely installed (not viewable to thrower or upon approach from previous hole). Confusing for first-timers. Non-secluded. Odd mix of too-easy and difficult, blind holes.

Being a local, I was looking forward to this course when I discovered it was in the works. While it's great to have a local course, it's passable at best. Brand new baskets, concrete tees, and exclusive, low-traffic land are all on the plus side of the course. That said, the course itself is an uneven mix of non-challenging holes and extremely long, technical and tight fairways. Lots of tangled brush along side many of them. The first two holes really sum up the course: a boring, no-challenge straight shot alongside the fitness center, crossing an ugly non-descript access road, followed up by a technical tangle that if mis-thrown, starts off your round already hunting for discs in overgrown rough.

Next, an open, long-bomb hole which is actually nice to have so early before the arm is tired out, but followed by an insanely long, muddy and impossibly narrow fairway to a blind basket that hugs some low-budget apartments. This hooks back to a crooked fairway with lots of opportunities for discs in tangled rough. The following two holes are challenging enough, fun but unremarkable. Two more lackluster "get you to the wooded holes" baskets, and then you are again throwing some seriously long, blind and tight wooded fairways. These wooded back nine holes are nestled tightly to each other, but thankfully there are no crossover fairways. Hole #12 teases with a hint of what this course could be -- a challenging but sink-able technical hole that offers enough challenge but not to the level of frustration. The remainder of these wooded back nine holes are either inordinately challenging, or forgettable gap-fillers.

The final two holes are uninspired trudges to get you back to the parking lot -- but thankfully the courses circles back to Tee #1 so your walk to the car has already been fulfilled.

The course is located on the grounds around the university's fitness center, so the scenery is lacking. That said, at least the grounds are manicured and maintained. There seems to be ongoing maintenance and improvements to the wooded holes on the back nine as well. They were a mess last Autumn. The designers did the best they could with to what they had, to some degree. You'll have the course to yourself (and other disc golfers), but with the encircling campus roads and affordable, dated apartment complexes interspersed, you're never really secluded.

I do know my first times out were confusing and frustrating, with non-intuitive hole-to-tee transitions and bizarrely-placed tee signs -- they are only readable at 90° angles to the tees, thus the thrower and anyone approaching them cannot see either the tee numbers nor the hole map. Subsequent rounds, now that I know the layout, have less frustration as far as hole-to-tee, but the puzzling tee signs placement remains annoying. There is a large map at the Hole #1 kiosk and first-timers to the course are highly encouraged to snap a photo with their phones. You'll definitely need it.

There's not much else that could really be done considering the land they are working with for the course, but for what is obviously a course intended more for the casual player, there are some inordinately difficult holes that I've not encountered on even the world-class courses I've had the good fortune to play. There's a big difference between challenging and difficult. As mentioned earlier, Hole #12 gets it right.

I'll continue to throw the disc on this course because it's so close I can bike there. But I'd have to say it's not worth the effort unless you're in the area anyways. You'd be much better off heading to the nearby Hudson Springs Park course.

This course delights you with ample sized concrete tees (12' long by 6' wide in back, tapering to 4' in front) and sweet new DGA Mach III baskets powder coated KSU blue with the nice deep trays. The short tees are marked with three cinder blocks flush in the ground painted with bright orange paint. The course overview sign/map is excellent; telling you everything you need to know to navigate the course. The tee signs are acceptable giving you a very rough idea of hole shape. On the blind holes the signs give you enough info to walk up and find where the basket is located.

The course starts you out with two very birdiable holes and finishes with two very birdiable holes. They're not gimme 2's but you'll feel bad if you don't get them. In between those first and last two holes you'll find sufficient challenge for all levels of golfers. You get valley holes, over the hill holes, long holes, short holes, wide open bombs, narrow wooded fairways, uphill and downhill shots, left bends, right bends, a hole that favors a RHFH flick... it's got just about everything you could want except a big water shot.

There are a significant number of blind holes on the course which aren't a lot of fun for first-time-to-the-course players, but this con goes away after you've played a couple rounds.

The posted distances on the map, tee signs, and scorecards are off from the lasered distances posted here on DGCR, some significantly off, e.g. #14 is listed as 124', but is actually 219'.

The tee sign for hole #2 doesn't show you the blind creek.

If you do the walk from basket #2 to tee #3 as shown on the map it takes you "the long way". There's a beaten down path through the grass that's the direct route.

There are a few holes that are a long walk between basket and next tee.

I played the course over campus Winter break when everything was closed; I don't know if the Rec Center restrooms are normally available to non-students.

All the cons are pretty minor ones and I would definitely go out of my way to play this course again.