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.