Pros:
The USC Aiken DGC is a good 9 hole course and a nice alternative to Odell Weeks for the Aiken area. . Great new Innova baskets. It has a couple of tricky holes and makes good use of the land available. Each hole has its own unique obstacles, some are more difficult than others. Even on the straight and short shots there is a corridor of trees to deal with, so it's not a piece of cake.
Cons:
There is not much in the way of benches on the course, no trash cans after the first tee, and the signage isn't the best. A course map or other marker would be a great addition. Once I found the first tee the layout was fairly easy to follow. The course begins and ends in the flat, grassy field next to the entrance of the parking lot. First tee is next to the sign and the target is across the grass and elevated on an embankment behind a tree. The pro caliber players will probably find this 9 too be a little on the soft side in terms of difficulty. I wouldn't mind concrete tee pads either, but I am sort of picky like that.
Other Thoughts:
I played the USC Aiken course twice when it was still very new. The wind on that day was tenacious. Not a difficult course, but I failed to score well on either round.
Since I visit this area frequently, I will return to this course occasionally. It is kind of fun, and I want to have a better round, without the wind. Given some concrete tee pads and maybe a couple of benches and trash cans, I would bump this up to a 3.0 rating.
The course is alongside the Aiken Convocation Center, and the USC Aiken baseball field. I was able to hear the start of a game while I finished up my second round on that Sunday.