Lightly-trafficked lengthy course adjacent to campus


+ The challenge here takes the form of wind and tall grass rough. Many of the holes are decent length, so there's a premium on controlling the angle and height of your throws


+ Clever use for largely-vacant college property: would be OK for regular play if you're on campus or live really close


+ Reasonable design, given how little nature provided: Hole #2 uses the very few available trees to create an obstacle, the #12 and #14 baskets are elevated by using a mound and a bluff, and #18 is a nice long finisher

- Although the design makes the most of available elevation, this is essentially a huge field with very few trees or natural obstacles


- It's a personal preference but I really didn't like the first hole: a blind sharp dogleg off a high bluff. Not a terrible hole, but a blind shot into a huge elevation change for your very first throw


- No tees and minimal signage (just hole # and length); there are a few spots where you can see multiple baskets and the only way to know which to throw to is by estimating which one seems to be at the right distance

~ I happened to play at a time when everything was mowed, but my guess is that the grasses can get pretty wild. Be prepared for something that feels a lot rougher around the edges than the pictures from 2017 indicate


~ A high ropes course! I wish I went to college with one of these!


COURSE AMENITIES:
Good baskets, but no tees and minimal signage. Cart-friendly after the first hole. Park in the college dorm lots nearest the beach volleyball courts and walk ¼ mile on the paved service road until you're out in the open. Look for the small red tee sign ahead and to the right


RECOMMENDED COMBINATIONS:
I played Messiah midway through a long bagging day, and most of the closest courses are short and pretty forgettable. My advice (unless you're bagging like I was) is to combine this with Pinchot or Coyote Hills

Open and inviting (in the fall when the grass is low). Nice baskets. Simple sign at the "tee area" and well groomed fairways made the course fairly simple to navigate. Decent use of elevation on several holes to add some spice. Nice variety in the length of the holes.
Hole 4 was short and had a few trees which added a little spice. I enjoyed the elevated tee shots on hole 1 and 10 and I guess 9 too. Lots of 2's to be had if you got the distance.

Parking - there is none anywhere near the course unless you poach a spot along a back road and there is no signage on how to get to the course nor is it on any campus map.
There is no course map or information about the course anywhere to be found out there.
The course is pretty fun when the rough grass is only a couple inches high but in the summer that grass can be 3 feet tall or more and then its misearable and losing multiple discs is a very real possibility.
No tee boxes per se only a sign saying where the hole starts but no listing of par or description of where the hole goes.
Its very open and often windy, even breezy days are magnified out here.
Not a very asthetically pleasing course as its in a field that is used for construction vehicles and a very large composting area and fill dirt area.
Hole 10 has no obvious way from the elevated tee to the fairway, there is a super faint and steep trail going down and slightly left of the tee that I used. Hole 1 also has a steep descent down to the fairway.

Its a great beginner course and confidence builder when the rough grass is mowed to a resonable level. If the rough is tall its a miserably demanding course with its one redeeming quality of rewarding big drives eliminated by it not being worth the risk of losing discs. Lots of holes are simple straight forward shots down groomed fairways. Hole 12 was a funky uphill dog leg left with a very elevated basket and Hole 14 had a fun split fairway. Hole 5 goes under the high ropes course which has never been in use while I've been out there but I'd assume you'd have to skip that hole if it were. I've never seen more than 1 other group playing there when I've gone.

Wide open course with some elevation changes. Made good use of college overflow land.
Just a few minutes off the highway and only saw one other group in late fall so it took less than an hour to walk in and back to the car and get back on the road.

Not too challenging but decent variety of holes and it is an intro course for the students.
Not many obstacles except the tall grass. Make sure you use the hay bales for reference points to find your discs.

Visitor parking not well marked but it's a small and pretty campus. Takes about 5-10 minutes to walk from visitor lot up access road behind volleyball court. First tee is on the back right corner of the construction lot, teeing down from the rim.
Can play each hole as a par 3, there will be some long par threes, lots of 2's possible. Shot 51 & 51 first two times.
You can park in the employee lot near the access road at the end of the day.

Bright sign at "tee" for each hole. Bright blue baskets - easy to spot. Relatively easy to navigate without a map. A couple of hilltop throws (but see below). Far away from other school activities. Pretty campus; ample parking.

Very few trees - maybe 4 on the whole course. Off the fairways was brutal - the weeds are thick and 3-5 feet tall. I managed not to lose any discs but only because I spent more time searching than playing. And that's after I adapted my style (see below) after the first 9 holes. Basket #14 is in a 20 circle of 5-foot high weeds so I didn't bother to putt out on that one. Navigation wasn't bad but see my comments below. No amenities. Hard to find the course the first time. No nearby parking for visitors. A few long/unclear walks to next tee.

I did not enjoy my trip to this course and won't be back. It took me 25 minutes to find the course - it's at the back of a "parking lot" at the end of a service road which is chained off. I parked in several places and walked around. Finally parked in the "Pit Parking" and walked through a volleyball court and up a hill and past several residences including one that has a big concrete tee pad presumably left over from the old course but which now points into the impenetrable woods with no basket in sight. Finally after the "Loft" I found this road and blindly followed it and happened to notice the bright red sign for 1 hidden behind some trucks at the far end. This sign is at the top of a hill and has an arrow so I hiked down the hill in that direction and then realized that I was supposed to tee off at that sign to a blind basket. I didn't bother to re-climb the hill and made my own tee but managed to spend 10 minutes looking for my tee shot. Then #2 is short and has the basket behind a tree. I'll stop giving individual descriptions now because I have the same comments for almost every hole. First off, the distances on this web site are not correct - many of the holes are longer than this - however I may have been deceived because I had to alter my throws so much. The off-fairway shule was ridiculous and even though the fairways were wide, after a while I ended up not throwing higher than 5 feet off the ground and at about 70% to ensure that the disc stayed in the fairway. Two of my early drives were only 5 feet off the fairway but it still took me over 5 minutes to find the disc (and I did "pay attention"). So the course became a slog where I just couldn't wait to get it over with.

Hole #10. Sigh. The "tee" is on the edge of a hill and the basket is down below at the end of a fairway. It's the kind of hole on which you just have to give it your all. But there was no path down to the fairway except to double back past #9's basket and wind your way around. Also, of course, the shule was ridiculous again and I spent 15 minutes searching for my disc here. After that I gave up on trying to enjoy this course or make any long throws.

This course seems like it was designed to be a ball golf course - no tree obstacles and just wide fairways where going off the fairway is the penalty. And I hate tall grass as the penalty - I've already had Lyme disease from a disc search I did 10 years ago for a friend's disc. I also encountered a snake at another course in tall grass. Not fun. I ran into a guy playing who said that it's only fun in early spring or late autumn. At that point, the penalty is gone and all your have is long straight holes.
I won't be back despite having a friend who teaches at Messiah College. It may be great/useful for students who have a guide and aren't playing during the summer months. But no reason for a course bagger like me to ever come back. So why did I give it 2 discs in my rating? Because it might be better when the shule is down and I liked #2 and #18 - I probably would have liked #1 if I knew I was supposed to tee off at the top of the hill. #10 could be fun if the shule is down.

18 hole course smartly designed with space provided. Fairways are mowed by college. Good use of elevation. Some uphill holes provide a challenge for even longest throwers. Gives player option to throw forehand or backhand on lots of holes. Good course to get your work in.

Windy each time I've played but that's no fault of course. Rough is long grass and makes it challenging to find discs at times. Just pay attention to where you throw. Be patient with this course because it could be something special and the more courses being created the better.

The course plays open and caters to the beginner player with a challenge for even the open players. This course is located in the hills of Pennsylvania but the course is open so wind almost always comes into play. Course makes great use of the elevation changes found in the field it is on. This the only wide full 18 hole course located in central PA. Sometimes the escape from the woods is a nice change of pace.

Repetitive. The course does its best not to repeat but there were restrictions by the college on how the course was designed. With all the tall grass ticks can be an issue, wear bug spray. Tees are not marked even though there are tee signs.

The course is a great course to spark interest in student body. Hopefully concrete tee pads will be installed soon.