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Gwinn, MI

Sawyer DGC

2.255(based on 2 reviews)
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Sawyer DGC reviews

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jeremyhilss
Silver level trusted reviewer
Experience: 11.7 years 50 played 30 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Good design lost in the static 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 16, 2020 Played the course:once

Pros:

Design - the best quality of this course. The trees/terrain was used very well. There's not a whole lot to work with here; the holes play very well for the sub-par land provided. Big open tee areas funnel to tree grove greens on the edge of the woodline, often with very steep hills that the basket sits on to increase putting difficulty. OB is also specified on many holes, which adds to some challenge.

Unique - plays on an old trailer park lot, using old foundations as teepads

Flow - course has a relatively natural direction as you traverse

Open air - one of the defining qualities - this is a bomber course. Pretty much the only course in Marquette county where you can actually rocket some drivers hard and not have to hit a tiny window/alley. The trees/bushes create general windows and gateways but nothing like the punishing hardwood alleys of the rest of the courses in the area

Multiple tees - there are blues which can reach over 400', reds, which carry upper 100' shots all the way to mid 300 footers, and oranges, which are strictly for newcomers, barely passing 120' in most cases - these act as a drop zone on a few holes for the longer tees. All except for one hole are on old trailer foundations, and are very large and grippy and provide generous run up space.

Baskets are the single chained, square design Prodigys with the green band. First time using them and they caught perfectly fine, much better than anticipated. I could foresee hard spin putts spitting through though so keep that in mind.

Cons:

Appearance - this course just looks shaggy. There was a mow path that seemed to fade in and out throughout the layout, but it was very inconsistent, and below what should be considered an average disc golf course mow. I don't know who takes care of the course but it absolutely could use better mowing. There is usually one, MAYBE two passes from tee to green. The greens, while acceptable, still have some growth here and there that should be paid a bit more attention to. Anything too far off the green will be very difficult to find in the thick bushes/grass. The majority of the flat areas from tee to green are thin, wiry grass, so it isn't TOO hard to find a disc, it is still very resistant to walk through or pull a cart. The teesigns are incredibly bare minimum and seem rushed (more on those later), and the teeboxes are all at weird angles relative to the basket, because they were there before the course. The place just feels rundown and rushed.

Teesigns - they are not good at all. They are tall 4x4's painted to correspond with the tee they represent. They have hole distance written on them with sharpie, and have no directional map of any kind. When you walk up to tee 1, you will see tons of these posts scattered all around the flat field area, and it's very puzzling to try and figure out which one is for which hole, and what direction you are supposed to go, since there are often multiple baskets in view as well. I ended up walking almost all the fairways (I played blues) to try and figure out which basket I was supposed to throw to, and from blues that adds a LOT of walking. This is accentuated by the following point:

The teeboxes - they KIND OF show the angle you are supposed to shoot for, as the corners in the direction you are supposed to head are painted, but sometimes it's just the corner of the box, and sometimes it's a full two corners painted, and with the angles of these preexisting concrete slabs, it just gets really confusing.

Other Thoughts:

It's a bummer to see this course look the way it does, because it is actually a fun design. Once you finally play your first round and get past the frustration of not knowing where the heck you are going, you can start appreciating the way the fairways play. Sadly, it is taken back alot by the overall grungy and whipped together look that is prominent here. Better, wider mowed fairways and some informative signage could go a long way in making this place much better rated and more worthy of the 16 mile drive out of the way of the main Marquette area to come play. It just feels rushed and not fine tuned. But if you can look past that, it can make for some enjoyable rounds.
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