18 holes with red DIScatcher 28 baskets, all in excellent condition. The front nine plays slightly wooded through the college campus offering mostly shorter holes, some more technical than others, and some good elevation change. The back nine is where the teeth of the course come in. Well designed and guarded fairways, tight tunnels, and elevation all combine to give you the full experience of a challenging course. Tee signs are excellently done and accurate, and the tee pads were also in great condition. 19th hole can serve as a warm-up/putting area, a plus in my book.

Front nine can be busy with students walking from building to building. Choose your playing time wisely (I chose to come on a Saturday and this was a non-issue). On the back nine, a few holes had some extremely thick rough/high grass/weeds off the fairway, finding errant throws was challenging without spotters. Navigation was tricky from 15 to 16 (don't go into the open area).

I was originally going to give this a 3.5, but I think it's close enough to 4 that I'll bump it up. There is a lot of variety here. I really enjoyed the par four fifth hole on the front nine, and I like a lot of the holes on the back. While the 18th hole isn't the most awesome finishing hole in the world, I do like the ace run potential to end the round with something memorable should you hit it.

Two very different nines: the front is mostly open for scoring, and the back is all business


DeSales rebuilt its 18 hole layout several years ago, with a design by Jerome von Mechow. The original design was the work of some students who placed baskets around the campus, and it took off from there. The old rubber tees are long gone; only one or two of the original holes remain (though they play in the opposite direction now); new paver tees, excellent signage, new DisCatchers


DeSales administration wanted to keep part of the course in the heart of the campus (so the front nine is a "campus tour"), von Mechow was given the green light to use nearby woods to go crazy with the back nine. As a result, the front nine is welcoming, largely open, and beginner-friendly. Hole #10 leads you into a gauntlet of thick woods, elevation change, deep rough, narrow lines, and doglegs in both directions. I played with a newbie recently, and could only warn him: "O.K., now you'll see what this game is REALLY about."


Although the front is mostly open, there's enough distance and a few challenges to keep it from being a cakewalk. The best of the holes are 3 - 5, with some trees creating gaps, and some elevation to consider. The back nine is excellent: each hole has a specific technical challenge, and the required shots alternate so quickly that they can keep you off balance: doglegs, alleys, uphills, downhills. Plus, good use of natural elements, like the low rock wall guarding the 10th green, and the boulder placement of the 14th basket

The rough on the back nine is very deep and allowed to grow wild through the season. It's easy to lose track of offline discs, especially on 10 - 12. If you're off the fairway, you'll be knee- or hip-deep in grasses and weeds in some places. A spotter would help, and if you're playing alone, you might want to schedule you play for winter / early spring months

~ The otherwise excellent signage (designed and printed by campus staff) is missing the elevation change on many teesigns. Not a big deal, but there's a spot on every sign for it, and most of them are blank. But honestly, these are some of the best signs I've ever seen. DeSales could go into a side business making them for other courses


~ Hole #18 is a devilish narrow 245' downhill. It's steep and bordered on both sides by woods, and there's OB behind the basket. It's a good hole, and a very good challenge, but short for the closing hole for a round.


~ There's a complete practice hole near the first tee. It's a 196' 4" open hole. That's a sly reference to 1964, the year DeSales University was founded



Finally, there's an extra sign at the ninth tee, the hole nearest to several dorms. My family donated funds to the course as a small gesture in memory of someone who left us way too soon. Drug addiction and death by overdose is very real, and it's all around us. Reach out. Make a difference. Don't let go.

Desales really is best approached as two courses in one, a wide open campus Front Nine (F9) and an advanced player forested Back Nine (B9). And in fact, I played the two seperated by lunch and will review as such.

Park at the back of the student union parking lot, F9 and B9 almost loop on back to this location and you can start at either course quickly from here.

F9 takes place on campus with a few trees. There is a good amount of elevation right off the bat and throughout. Fairways were easy to hit. Distances were average to intermediate, fun enough for a challenge but won't challenge long distancers. This is a place I would take beginner (not newcomer) to the game if the campus is empty or nearly so. It ends on a major uphill #8 and corresponding downhill #9.

B9 is much more interesting with long distances thoughout in the forest. #10-#14 are really flat and the last four are considerable up and downs. I really loved this place from the first drive on #10 though a wide tree gap into a distant basket ringed by a short wall of stones. B9 is a course for serious disc golfers.

My favorites were #13, the single forested tunnel shot here of 300'. #14, shooting out of forest into a fairway with rough on the right and and elevated and initially hidden basket back to the left. #16, a steep, rocky downhill which at 240' is short but for anybody trying to take an Ace Run or even a long distance putt, a warning, #16 basket is perched on edge of a cliff with an endless sea of rough 5' down. Easy disc loss trap.

Tee signs were exceptional. Tee pads, stone bricks, were extremely grippy and well made.

If you're not to keen on playing one or another, I would simply skip the niner that doesn't interest you but the two somehow mesh well together.

If you're coming here expecting to push dusk by the time you complete all 18, I suggest playing B9 first and getting to the F9 later. The forest is awfully dark and it's not easy to skip back to the car in the middle unlike F9.

The biggest con of the campus F9 can easily be busy and unplayable to some extent. Saturday morning Team Sports was going on and I had to skip #7. Hard to gauge during the week but I can't imagine it'll be easy around #6. The most control and easiest disc loss on the F9 will be needed on #3 and 4, around a building, where the fairway is fairly tight. #4 is pretty narrow with brush. They missed a big downhill opportunity after #5 since it was crossing the street. Some long walks between holes.

B9 was exceptional but parts are disc loss traps. I lost two bright discs on #11 alone. First driving, it's a narrow fairway already at the distances involve. It landed somewhere in the thick shrub grass (or whatever it's called, no higher than 8") on the right, despite seeing where it landed. Then trying to navigate the first curve, it landed in the brush along that curve. From the trampled ground, it looks like plenty of others searched this spot. Half-an-hour on disc hunt to no avail in either case. Suggest someone clear out those two bits. #14 seems like another possible unintentional disc trap.

The only other big downside for B9 is for those that don't like elevation with the last four holes.

I did not see any amenities around the course.

Out of XXXXX:

Front Nine:
Terrain: XXX - Good. Roomy and open. This is a good spot in theory but maybe not at certain times in practice...
Execution: XXXx - Very good. I only seen one missed opportunity for a downhill after #5 and #6/7 aren't really engaging. The rest of the course makes up for it. Some long walks in between.
Upkeep: XXXX - Excellent. It's a campus and everything is new.
Difficulty: XXx - Medium. It has challenges like fairways, a bit of distance, and a tall uphill, but also easy holes.
Fun Factor: XXX - Good. This isn't going to be spectactular DG by it's nature but it's good for newcomers and I enjoyed it.

Back Nine:
Terrain: XXXXx - Phenonemal. Excellent spot for challenging disc golf.
Execution: XXXx - Very Good. I liked everything on this course, other than disc loss traps.
Upkeep: XXXX - Excellent. It's new.
Difficulty: XXXX - Advanced.
Fun Factor: XXXX - Excellent. Other than disc hunt, I was never bored on this course.

Overall: XXXX - Excellent. I would rate F9 a 3.25 and B9 4.25. Normally that be 3.75 but I decided to round up to encourage a new course. Did I just grade a University on a curve? Heh.

Amenities: None.

Balanced design catering to all levels of golferPaver tees are well designedBest signage I have seen at a discgolf courseGreat blend of woods holes to open holes.

Some longer walks on the front nine that lead to relatively short holes

The redesign at DeSales brings much needed life to a course in need. The designer did a great job at catering to the needs of the many offering a mixture of easier holes to enable new players to pick up the game with some incredible difficult holes that will test the most experienced of players. The new hardware improves greatly over desales original layout, the new tees are Paver tees but all appear to be properly installed and leveled and grip well when dry. The signage is amazing, graphic depictions of holes with all the distances you can ask for. One thing that stuck out to me is that there are a couple "Florida holes" for lack of better term that require a low ceiling fast drive with a stable disc which is a shot we don't see much in the northeast and i found myself continually coming back to these holes to try and master. Overall the new layout is a huge improvement to the property, be sure to bug spray up as the new cut means that there a number of insects(ticks) that are seeing traffic they haven't seen before.