• Discover new ways to elevate your game with the updated DGCourseReview app!
    It's entirely free and enhanced with features shaped by user feedback to ensure your best experience on the course. (App Store or Google Play)

Union, MO

Autumn Hill DGC

25(based on 5 reviews)
Filter course reviews

Filter reviews

Filter reviews

Autumn Hill DGC reviews

Filter
12 0
Tyler V
Gold level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 17 years 150 played 100 reviews
1.50 star(s)

A Tight Wooded Course In Desperate Need Of Some TLC 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 3, 2021 Played the course:once

Pros:

Autumn Hill is a relatively short 11-hole disc golf course that provides tight wooded shots throughout. This course is rough around the edges, but will some luck, you could have some fun here.

Location of Autumn Hill is in Union, Missouri, not far from I-44. There are gas stations and restaurants not far from the course for any needs you have before or after your round. The proximity to I-44 and HWY-50 make this course pretty accessible if you're passing through. Saint Clair and Washington aren't far if you want bag multiple courses. Washington's proximity is especially nice if you decide to opt for a fun disc golf course on your round.

Park Amenities exist here, but are located mostly in other areas of the park. There's a bathroom between holes 7 and 8, and also water fountains, though I didn't notice them during my round. There's also a playground on the opposite end of the park from the parking lot. There are both paved and natural trails as well around this park, which the disc golf course plays around.

Course Equipment may not be in the best of shape at this course, but does technically check all of the boxes. There is a tee sign for each hole that includes distances, par, a graphic of the hole layout, and the direction of the next hole. According to another review, the baskets are home-made, which is pretty impressive given their construction. For tees, there are Innova tee markers on the ground near each tee sign. There is also a course map near hole 1 to give an overall layout of the course.

Course Design is primarily tight, short, and wooded. Only one hole tops 300 feet, making for a course that will only necessitate mids and putters for many players. The distances of the holes are accessible to newer players, though the woods and fairway shapes will give newer players challenges if they don't have multiple shot shapes down yet. There's a mix of holes that turn left or right, as well as elevation changes throughout the course, providing some variety across the 11 holes here.

Cons:

Course Equipment at Autumn Hill leaves much to be desired. The baskets are well constructed for being home-made, but are showing a good amount of age, with a lot of chains being discolored and rusted. The tees are also not the best to throw from, as many are either on short flat areas or not on flat surfaces at all. Some tees are also around loose rock or asphalt; I had a slip on one of them that left my ankle telling me "if you pull that crap again, you will be regret it." Apparently there are multiple pin placements too, but there's no indication on the signs as to which is in use. On a course as wooded as this one, it's important to know where you are throwing, and not knowing which pin position is troublesome on some of the holes here. More trash cans and benches would also be a plus in this park, as I didn't see much of either during my round. This would not only benefit disc golfers, but also other park goers as well, since the only seating seemed to be right by the parking lot or the playground. The baskets are painted in different colors on each hole, and while that is a fun aspect to have, it also makes some of the baskets hard to see from a distance.

Overgrowth is hard to look past on this course. You can tell where the fairway is, but even with mulch that has been put down, the woods are clearly slowly but surely taking over the course as it currently stands. Off fairway areas are also pretty thick, and on a course as tight as this one, it's not unlikely to find yourself looking for a disc at least once. There's also plenty of unsavory plants abound in this park; I saw so many plants with the word "ivy" in their name that I saw during my round that I was close to playing "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" over my phone speaker.

Mud and Slippery Terrain could be an issue here during rainy days and for a bit afterwards, as there's a lot of purely dirt surfaces combined with elevation changes on this course. This really strikes me as a course that is best played during off season times, which leaves a limited window as to when this course is ideal to play.

Course Design is limiting here, being primarily short wooded holes. If you are looking for longer holes to crush some drives, or even a fairway driver, most of this course will leave you wanting more. The difficulty level of this course combined with the thick off-fairway brush also make it a little challenging to recommend this course to a specific skill level. More experienced players will likely score very well here, but newer players that are more prone to shanked shots will be rewarded with tough scrambles in brush that no one wants to be in.

Other Thoughts:

As it currently stands, this isn't a course I would go out of my way for when it comes to future rounds of disc golf. Even in an area with less courses around, Washington has a nice course that I'd probably opt to drive to consistently if I lived in Union. The course is a nice effort to add something to the wooded areas of this park, but the course looks run down and has a borderline abandoned feeling to it.

That being said, it sounds like the city of Union is working on improving multiple facets of this park, including the disc golf course. The asphalt path is in rough shape and not accessible, and it sounds like the city is interested in redoing the path and rerouting it to snake around the park more so that its elevation is more accessible. This would also mean redoing the current 11 holes into a 9-hole course that snakes around the path, with a possibility of expanding into an 18-hole course that uses nearby land. I'm very intrigued by this, because this could help the course not only from a design standpoint, but also from an accessibility angle, as the current course is not friendly to any disc golfers with mobility issues. This is a course that I will be keeping an eye on, as a redesign could help this area be a nice disc golf day trip combined with Washington for those in St. Louis or nearby cities that want to try something newer a little farther out from their towns.

Check out Autumn Hill if you're into course bagging, but maybe opt for another course for now if you are only concerned with having a fun round. Also check out Aces and Eagles in Washington, which is a pro shop, bar, and arcade that sounds like a fun and super helpful place for your disc golf shopping needs.
Was this review helpful? Yes No
Top