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Mt. Zion DGC reviews
13
0
Not the ski hill course you may expect! 2+ years
Reviewed:
Played on:Sep 27, 2021
Played the course:once
Pros:
Mt. Zion is a ski hill at the far western tip of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It is on the campus of the Gogebic Community College in Ironwood, MI.
Mt. Zion DGC is an 18-holer that plays on the ski hill. Elevation comes into play here on many holes, but this course does not have a lot of the open throws on the ski run that you might expect. Only the starting and ending holes play up and down the open hill, respectively. The remaining holes play through a mostly wooded area on the hill next to the ski run. In addition to many holes that play uphill or downhill in the woods, a couple of baskets located on steep slopes create risk/reward putting situations. There are a good mix of left turns, right turns, and straight fairways cut through the woods to force some shot shaping.
A couple holes near the end of the course stood out for me. Hole 14 is only 140' per the listing here, but it plays up a steep section of the hill in the woods with a large rock outcrop to the left and behind the basket. The hole sweeps left to a basket perched on the edge of the rocks. Serious rollaway potential here. Hole 16 is a fun downhill ace run that tees off from the top of another rock face.
There is a chalet at the bottom of the hill. When I visited no one was in the chalet, but the door was open and there were restrooms inside.
The baskets were a mix of several different portable varieties that other reviewers and the course info page have identified. They all seemed to be in decent condition and caught okay for me, but they were difficult to see in the woods. There was also a foldable basket in front of the chalet to use for practice.
There were a couple of trash cans and benches scattered around the course.
Mt. Zion DGC is an 18-holer that plays on the ski hill. Elevation comes into play here on many holes, but this course does not have a lot of the open throws on the ski run that you might expect. Only the starting and ending holes play up and down the open hill, respectively. The remaining holes play through a mostly wooded area on the hill next to the ski run. In addition to many holes that play uphill or downhill in the woods, a couple of baskets located on steep slopes create risk/reward putting situations. There are a good mix of left turns, right turns, and straight fairways cut through the woods to force some shot shaping.
A couple holes near the end of the course stood out for me. Hole 14 is only 140' per the listing here, but it plays up a steep section of the hill in the woods with a large rock outcrop to the left and behind the basket. The hole sweeps left to a basket perched on the edge of the rocks. Serious rollaway potential here. Hole 16 is a fun downhill ace run that tees off from the top of another rock face.
There is a chalet at the bottom of the hill. When I visited no one was in the chalet, but the door was open and there were restrooms inside.
The baskets were a mix of several different portable varieties that other reviewers and the course info page have identified. They all seemed to be in decent condition and caught okay for me, but they were difficult to see in the woods. There was also a foldable basket in front of the chalet to use for practice.
There were a couple of trash cans and benches scattered around the course.
Cons:
The teepads were a mix of gravel or carpet. Some holes had two separate tee positions (white and red), but it didn't look like these different positions really changed the holes all that much - just made them slightly shorter or longer. The two positions were identified by small bricks on each side of the tee pad that were painted white or red (this part was nice). Some holes shared the same tee for both layouts, and both sets of bricks were present.
The tee signs were just large black text hole numbers on white yard-style signs, stuck in the ground near the white tee on each hole. There were a couple of Next Tee signs but they were not present everywhere, and where present did not have an arrow (i.e. I assumed to just walk straight past the sign). With leaves falling when I played, navigation was fairly difficult. I somehow managed to miss hole 6 entirely, and would have missed hole 16 as well if a couple of other DG'ers hadn't pointed me in the right direction. The course has a couple of weird flow issues, like walking backwards all the way up hole 15's fairway to reach the tee...then again on hole 16. This is one of those courses where you may want UDisc to navigate. I also did not see a kiosk or map anywhere. Making a large map including the hole distances and displaying it at the chalet would be a fairly low-cost improvement that would help alleviate a lot of the navigation issues for first-time visitors.
The distances are generally pretty short, and there are not any bomber holes here. Even the finishing hole 18 only plays 300'-350' or so down the open ski hill. It looked like there was a ton of room to make this hole longer. As it stands today, you actually have to walk quite a ways down the hill from hole 17's basket to get to hole 18's tee pad. I had to wonder, why?
Quite a few holes are pretty close together, and/or tee pads are in the firing line behind the previous hole's basket.
The tee signs were just large black text hole numbers on white yard-style signs, stuck in the ground near the white tee on each hole. There were a couple of Next Tee signs but they were not present everywhere, and where present did not have an arrow (i.e. I assumed to just walk straight past the sign). With leaves falling when I played, navigation was fairly difficult. I somehow managed to miss hole 6 entirely, and would have missed hole 16 as well if a couple of other DG'ers hadn't pointed me in the right direction. The course has a couple of weird flow issues, like walking backwards all the way up hole 15's fairway to reach the tee...then again on hole 16. This is one of those courses where you may want UDisc to navigate. I also did not see a kiosk or map anywhere. Making a large map including the hole distances and displaying it at the chalet would be a fairly low-cost improvement that would help alleviate a lot of the navigation issues for first-time visitors.
The distances are generally pretty short, and there are not any bomber holes here. Even the finishing hole 18 only plays 300'-350' or so down the open ski hill. It looked like there was a ton of room to make this hole longer. As it stands today, you actually have to walk quite a ways down the hill from hole 17's basket to get to hole 18's tee pad. I had to wonder, why?
Quite a few holes are pretty close together, and/or tee pads are in the firing line behind the previous hole's basket.
Other Thoughts:
I was thinking a 2.0 rating for this one until I played holes 14 and 16, which ultimately increased my rating to a 2.5. It looks like this is still a fairly new course, and with some infrastructure/amenities improvements I could see it reaching a higher rating in the future.
After driving out from my hotel in Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula and spending most of the day in the nearby Porcupine Mountains, I was able to fit in a couple rounds of disc golf at Mt. Zion and nearby Norrie Park. I enjoyed my time at both courses, but if and when I return to the area I am definitely planning on carving out a whole day (or two or three) to get to Highbridge Hills which is just under an hour's drive to the west.
If you are already in the area, this course is not a bad option. With the short holes, it makes for a fairly quick round - with some nice views as a bonus!
After driving out from my hotel in Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula and spending most of the day in the nearby Porcupine Mountains, I was able to fit in a couple rounds of disc golf at Mt. Zion and nearby Norrie Park. I enjoyed my time at both courses, but if and when I return to the area I am definitely planning on carving out a whole day (or two or three) to get to Highbridge Hills which is just under an hour's drive to the west.
If you are already in the area, this course is not a bad option. With the short holes, it makes for a fairly quick round - with some nice views as a bonus!
