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Sawyer DGC reviews
11
0
Uses the land available very well! 2+ years
Reviewed:
Played on:Oct 2, 2021
Played the course:once
Pros:
Sawyer DGC is a 9-holer that sits about 30 minutes south of Marquette in Michigan's upper peninsula. It is very near (may be on?) the decommissioned K. I. Sawyer Air Force Base.
This course plays at what used to be a mobile home park. The mobile homes are all gone, but the cement pads that they sat on remain and in many cases have been repurposed as the tee pads for this course. The large, flat slabs of concrete have been painted with a hole number and lines at the front corner(s) of the pad to indicate roughly which direction to throw in. The only hole that doesn't have concrete tee pads is hole 7, where the course design mandated using rubber pads instead (you are teeing off from the edge of the park for this hole, where there is no cement).
There is a post next to each tee pad that is painted to indicate whether you are at the blue tee (medium length layout), red tee (short layout), or orange tee (very short layout). Most of the nine holes have three separate tee areas. On a couple holes the red and orange layouts share the same tee, but this is clearly marked with the post painted both red and orange. Each post has a sign on it that describes what areas play as OB on each hole, and where you should throw your next shot from if your disc does land in OB. Generally, all pavement plays as OB and on some holes you also have to clear what used to be the mobile home park road with your tee shot. This adds some challenge to the course. The tee signs don't show any other info about the hole, but someone has Sharpie'd in distances from each tee pad which I took note of and updated here.
There are two clearly marked Mandos as well.
The baskets are Prodigy models painted aqua green. They were all in good shape.
There is a kiosk at the front of the course, although it doesn't have a course map on it. I made a rough one and uploaded it here.
This course plays at what used to be a mobile home park. The mobile homes are all gone, but the cement pads that they sat on remain and in many cases have been repurposed as the tee pads for this course. The large, flat slabs of concrete have been painted with a hole number and lines at the front corner(s) of the pad to indicate roughly which direction to throw in. The only hole that doesn't have concrete tee pads is hole 7, where the course design mandated using rubber pads instead (you are teeing off from the edge of the park for this hole, where there is no cement).
There is a post next to each tee pad that is painted to indicate whether you are at the blue tee (medium length layout), red tee (short layout), or orange tee (very short layout). Most of the nine holes have three separate tee areas. On a couple holes the red and orange layouts share the same tee, but this is clearly marked with the post painted both red and orange. Each post has a sign on it that describes what areas play as OB on each hole, and where you should throw your next shot from if your disc does land in OB. Generally, all pavement plays as OB and on some holes you also have to clear what used to be the mobile home park road with your tee shot. This adds some challenge to the course. The tee signs don't show any other info about the hole, but someone has Sharpie'd in distances from each tee pad which I took note of and updated here.
There are two clearly marked Mandos as well.
The baskets are Prodigy models painted aqua green. They were all in good shape.
There is a kiosk at the front of the course, although it doesn't have a course map on it. I made a rough one and uploaded it here.
Cons:
Even with the OB challenges, the disc golf overall rates as pretty dull. The designers did the best they could with using the few trees in the park and a couple of small downhills at the edge of the park, but this is still largely just a pancake flat piece of land dotted with only a couple trees (remember, it used to have mobile homes on it). There is a fair amount of distance from the Blue tees based on the Sharpie'd values, but without many obstacles this will still be an easy round for any DG'ers above recreational level. It seemed like the distances might have been a little longer than what was Sharpie'd, but to be fair I was focused more on documenting the course (walking to all three tee pads on each hole to take note of the numbers, etc.) than I was on actually playing.
Even with the painted tee pad corners, it can be difficult to know where to throw. Since the cement used for the tees was not originally intended for disc golf, the tees do not point directly at the baskets and the paint only gives you an idea within +/- 30 degrees or so. Many baskets are tucked behind trees and not visible from the tee.
As you might expect, other amenities are missing like trash cans, benches, restrooms, practice basket, porta potty, etc. There aren't any Next Tee signs either, but it isn't a huge issue on a course this open - just look around and you will see what logically must be the next hole (or use the map I uploaded...)
Even with the painted tee pad corners, it can be difficult to know where to throw. Since the cement used for the tees was not originally intended for disc golf, the tees do not point directly at the baskets and the paint only gives you an idea within +/- 30 degrees or so. Many baskets are tucked behind trees and not visible from the tee.
As you might expect, other amenities are missing like trash cans, benches, restrooms, practice basket, porta potty, etc. There aren't any Next Tee signs either, but it isn't a huge issue on a course this open - just look around and you will see what logically must be the next hole (or use the map I uploaded...)
Other Thoughts:
It is so cool to see one of my photos of this course featured on the DGCR homepage today! (October 16, 2021). After seeing that, I figured I had better reshuffle my review order and get this one published. 
Overall, I was very impressed with the way the designers turned a vacant, kind of ugly plot of land into a disc golf course that is actually kind of interesting. I could tell that someone cares about this course. There were "fairways" mowed into some of the holes. Signs posted on the course kiosk and a couple places around the course mentioned (and helped navigate) what looked like a "new" safari-style back nine for those who want to play 18 here. I did not have enough time to play this back nine layout, but would have if I had. If ratings were based solely on maximizing use of the land available, I would give this course at least a 4.0. Beginning DG'ers could start at the orange tees and work their way up to red, then blue. Intermediate DG'ers could practice from the red or blue tees, and try for aces from the orange tees.
To be clear, this definitely is not a course that you should go out of your way to play. But if you are in the Marquette area for a few days and want to try something a little different, this course might be worth a visit!
Overall, I was very impressed with the way the designers turned a vacant, kind of ugly plot of land into a disc golf course that is actually kind of interesting. I could tell that someone cares about this course. There were "fairways" mowed into some of the holes. Signs posted on the course kiosk and a couple places around the course mentioned (and helped navigate) what looked like a "new" safari-style back nine for those who want to play 18 here. I did not have enough time to play this back nine layout, but would have if I had. If ratings were based solely on maximizing use of the land available, I would give this course at least a 4.0. Beginning DG'ers could start at the orange tees and work their way up to red, then blue. Intermediate DG'ers could practice from the red or blue tees, and try for aces from the orange tees.
To be clear, this definitely is not a course that you should go out of your way to play. But if you are in the Marquette area for a few days and want to try something a little different, this course might be worth a visit!
