Bicentennial Park is a short, wooded 18-hole course that uses much of the wooded land in the park. Don't let the 4,156 feet of total distance fool you, as this course will test your accuracy and punish you if you forget it at home.

Location of Bicentennial is convenient if you need gas, food, or are trying to make a full day out of slinging plastic. This park is fairly close to downtown Belleville as well as multiple highway routes, making it relatively easy to find. Make sure you use the entrance on Belleville Crossing, as the entrance that's located in the adjacent neighborhood will put you further from the disc golf course. If you want to make a day out of disc golf in the St. Louis area, Belleville and Swansea is one of the easier areas to do so, with Citizens, Clinton Hills, and B.I.G all being close together. My friend and I started at Citizens at 8:30am, and were done with all 4 courses by 3-3:30. Van Man Discs and Play It Again are also not too far away for your disc golf shopping needs, with Van Man's customer service and selection being top notch.

Park Amenities are straightforward at Bicentennial. In addition to disc golf, fishing, a playground and nature trails are the main attractions here. The playground looked to be in great shape for those who have kids or families with them, and there are also bathrooms and a water fountain by the parking lot.

Course Equipment is all in pretty good shape at Bicentennial. All of the tee pads are concrete and in great shape. Each tee has a sign complete with distance, par, and a graphic of the hole layout. The baskets are Dynamic Veterans, complete with handy next tee arrows in the baskets. There's also a course sign in front of the entrance/exit to the back 9 that has rules info and an overall course layout. There's also a practice basket closer to the bathrooms and back 9 entrance. Overall, the equipment on site is all in great shape.

Course Design at Bicentennial revolves around short and wooded holes that require you to hit tight lines to make birdies and pars. The distance is almost deceiving though, as the amount of elevation variance from hole to hole can make each individual hole feel either much longer or much shorter than it actually is. The layout is divided into two 9-hole areas that use different sections of woods within the park, making it easy to pick which 9 you want to play first, or to just play a quick 9 if you are short on time. Overall, many players will find this course to be a good test of accuracy, with mids and putters being the smart choice for a large percentage of the holes on site.

Variety is present in multiple ways at Bicentennial. As previously mentioned, the elevation changes add to the depth of what this course offers, ranging from touchy downhill shots to trick uphill fairways that will leave you wondering whether discing up is the right move. This course is also limited in straight shots, as many holes have turns in their fairways that you need to navigate. As a predominantly RHBH player, there were several holes that left me grabbing for my Blade or Zone to flick. Having many shot shapes is required to shoot well at this course, as just about every combination of uphill/flat/downhill/left/right/straight is accounted for here.

Course Difficulty. despite the short overall distance, feels like it fits intermediate to advanced players more than newer folks. The fairways are consistently hard to hit on this course, and newer players should be ready to be significantly challenged here. If you aren't able to hit smaller gaps, a round here will feel like a real slog.

Course Difficulty at Bicentennial makes it kind of a niche course compared to others in the area. The distances theoretically are welcoming to newer players, but the difficulty of the fairways are incredibly challenging. Three Putt described this course well: it feels like a course for Masters Tournaments, and not so much like a fun rec course. Three Putt brings up the idea of additional pins and tees increase the accessibility of this course, and I think such an addition would be very welcomed here, as the fairways are unforgiving to errant throws.

Rough is everywhere for those who do find themselves off the fairway, and will leave a round at Bicentennial feeling more about survival than fun by hole 18. Much of the rough surrounding the fairways have brush, honeysuckle, thorns, poison ivy, retention ponds, and just about everything else that's unpleasant to have next on a disc golf course. The retention ponds don't call attention to themselves, but could eat a disc that gets a bad or even slight kick off the fairway on holes like 1 or 16. Hole 4 also has a tough mando that feels unnecessary, and also makes it very easy to throw down a hill that goes from being steep to almost impossible to traverse if your disc goes too straight off the tee. Hole 8 is a hole I remember for negative reasons as well. There is virtually no fairway for the first 75% of the hole, leaving any shot that doesn't hit the tight fairway in a rough spot for you. Then, the basket had a tall vine of poison ivy right under and next to the basket, which is an immediate red flag as a person who is hilariously susceptible to getting rashes from all of the ivys and oaks and sumacs (oh my!).

Variety on this course is nice in other ways, but with distance and difficulty, this course is one dimensional. Pretty much all of the holes are short, save for a couple like hole 3, and pretty much all of them are challenging tight lines. There's no break on this course, leaving you no opportunities to catch your breath mentally or to just air a driver out. Not all courses need to have easy holes on them, but one on a course like this one would be nice.

Short wooded courses are typically among my favorite disc golf courses to play, which makes Bicentennial an anomaly for me. A lot of the shots are creative and good disc golf shots, but despite the variety on this course, it started to feel repetitive after a while with all of the touchy downhill and steep curving uphill shots. The unforgiving nature of this course kept it from being more fun for me, and will likely keep it from being one I return to very often at all when there are other options nearby that are challenging with more forgiving fairways. The amount of thorns and poisonous plants in the park, combined with the amount of opportunities to go off course, make for a combination that is not desirable, and this is a factor on the majority of the course.

If you have your mids and throwing putters dialed and like a challenge, come try out Bicentennial. Newer players nearby might want to start off at B.I.G. or Citizens before attempting Bicentennial. My friend and I played all 4 courses in Belleville and Swansea, including the long pins at Clinton Hills, and I found Bicentennial to be the most demanding course of the four be a fair margin.

If you like tight challenging woods courses, stop by Bicentennial. If you're wanting a chill round of golf, I recommend looking elsewhere.

Tees are in decent shape, although several have broken concrete. The course is slowly getting cleaned up ... and I would imagine that is a big job. Most of the course is heavily wooded and someone had to literally carve this course out of the woods.Signage is good and flow is good. Pins are in good shape and point to the next tee.

It's not a long course, but there play is often uphill and downhill, making the holes a real challenge.

December 2019 I deducted 1/2 disc. Course hasn't changed a bit. Still fun, and very challenging. But the overwhelming number of fairway trees just gets to be a bit too much. I think it would be a mistake to take them down -- it might cause erosion.

The one "mando" is silly. The course is challenging enough without having to deliberately throw away from the pin.

Trees are in the fairway ... everywhere. At times it's like playing pinball.

I would think playing after a rain would be difficult. There is probably not going to be grass in the fairways ... grass just won't grow in that much shade. So watch for mud.

I'll definitely play again, although my most recent round was frustrating at times. (One-half me, one-half the course.)

Shot placement is much more important here than anything else. Every hole is a par 3.

I agree with other reviewers -- the lone mando is simply not required on this course -- unless someone felt they just HAD to have one.

I was trying to hit some St. Louis area courses I hadn't played when I noticed Bicentennial Park. 4,156 ft., only one 300' hole, wooded, good elevation...I'm thinking fun technical course like Hudson Park. I had a day with enough time to drive to Belleville and play and headed out for some fun frolf. By the time I was dragging myself back to the parking lot after playing the front 9 I was sweaty, dirty, exhausted from all the up and down hiking, carding a ridiculously high score and out of time to play the back nine. Clearly I was going to need to approach Bicentennial Park with another mindset. I came back with better footwear and extra water, but after some significant rain in the area. All the up and down became a treacherous mudscape; getting footing was next to impossible. I considered it a victory that I only slipped and barrel-rolled down a hill twice. On try number three I finally got in a decently regular round, but the course was still befuddling me. It should be fun. Why was I so frustrated and not having fun? Around hole seven it struck me: Lefty course. The front nine is filled with pins set to the right/turnover line shots. It gives us RHBH hyzer guys a glimpse of what life is like for LHBH hyzer guys. I didn't enjoy the glimpse into lefty life. Anybody who sees the distances and shows up expecting a cupcake is going to be in for a surprise here. Challenging courses generally rate higher on DGCR, and with that in mind It's very underrated IMO.

As to the actual course, it's hard to categorize. It's a short course, but the elevation changes make it play longer. There are no open holes to fling it out there on, this course is 100% hit your line or pay the price. On most holes you can see a route to the basket, but the whole fairways are not cleared and the routes are tight gaps around plinko trees. The course features the crazy deflections off trees and wild roll-aways of some pretty significant elevation, so a barely off-target drive can end up a long, long way away from the pin. IMO it's actually a really, really hard course. The elevation is tough, and if it's slick it can become grueling. Once I get to hole nine I can settle into my usual RHBH hyzer ways and get away with it, but by then I'm mentally broken down by all the missed turnover lines the course starts with. Despite the distances, it's really a course for somebody looking for a challenge. It seemed like a really good place for a competitive guy who doesn't have a cannon to drag his big-armed friends and watch the course get in their heads.

The amenities are good. There are good signs, concrete tees, the baskets have directional arrows in the attachments to help find your way. The flow is OK, the front and back are split so the hardest part is finding the tees for 1 and 10 to get started. There are restrooms in the park and a practice basket near the restrooms, which makes it goofily far from the rest of the course but it's there.

I thought hole 4 with the mando was dumb. The mando didn't seem to be there for safety as a bunch of shule protects 5's tee. If the object was to keep you from going big hyzer, the mando tree could have just been on the right to keep you in the fairway instead of forcing you to throw down the left side of the fairway. It just seemed like a filler hole with a dumb mando to try to make a little turnover ace run hard instead of letting it be a little turnover ace run. It forces people to throw over where there is a pretty significant drop-off, and the scramble back up from there is tough. With all the plinko trees and rollaway danger on the course you already are going to scramble a lot. It just didn't seem necessary.

There is one hole on the back that I can't figure out a route to, but I forget the number. The course to me always ends up being a grueling grind and by the time I get to this hole my brain stops working properly and I'm just trying to survive to get back to the parking lot, so maybe there is a route and I just can't figure it out.

The course doesn't have any water shots, but there are retention ponds on the property and you can end up in some marshy/swampy messes when throwing to pins set toward the retention ponds. That's kinda like having none of the fun of a water shot with all the messy gross consequence of a water shot.

Not really a con but if you hyzer out on three (which is the longest hole on the course at 352' so it happens) you can end up in a cornfield and good luck finding your disc.

Not really a con but a possible improvement: The course is one of those bare-bones one tee/one pin placement deals. If as it evolves they could add additional tees and/or pin placements it could give the place some variety. I wouldn't mention that if this was a fun rec course. It's not a fun rec course. This is a tough challenging course that you could use for Masters/Grandmasters divisions in competitive events (the kids would scream about it being too short.)

One of the course designers listed is an old-school St. Louis disc golf guy I knew from back in the day when I was running events at White Birch; I have not run into him in about 20 years but it's cool to see those guys still out there spreading the gospel of disc golf.

I feel like this review is short on details, but not a lot of the holes stood out to me. Hole five looks cool from the tee, but I keep ending up in some sort of swamp off my drive. Hole seven is cool, but not really special. There are so many "throw up this steep hill" shots that they start to drive me crazy. The shots are solid, but not spectacular. The elevation just creates a lot of danger shots that make you scramble if you don't execute.

I keep going back to Bicentennial Park, trying to get it to be the fun round I was sure it was going to be when I first saw it listed. It keeps shoving me down and taking my lunch money. I'm afraid we won't be friends. It's a bit much for my sore back and bad knees in my advanced age, but when I was younger I would have loved a course like this. This is a really tough course that people looking for a challenge should enjoy. The short length is a misnomer; this is no pitch 'n putt. If you like to compete, like woods golf and don't need to show off your big drives to have a good time, this is a disc golf course for you.

Bicentennial Park offers a more Northern California style course with low ceiling tunnel shots, tight windows, elevation and treacherous greens. This course is super technical but done in a good way making you throw tough shots to reach 200-300ft holes.

I love the veteran baskets which are easy on the eyes and catch great. The concrete tees are done well also.

A couple holes could use some cleaning along the fairways. Just get rid of the honeysuckle and other low growth nuisance plants and leave the taller trees.

Needs a bridge that spans the creek towards hole 1, but obviously that requires a lot of effort.
Benches on more holes would add a nice element.

Keep in mind I've only played here in the winter.

Don't let the overall rating fool you, this course should easily be rated 3.3+. I have played all the courses in the STL area and for short/technical/woodsy type golf, this is in the argument for top 5 (18 hole, par 54 style). Not a long drive from the city either.

Given time for this course to grow, I could see more pin positions and another set of teepads really making this a top tier STL course. If you like Hudson Park, White Birch, Konarcik, Kutter, Park Hills or Briscoe Woods, you need to play here.

This is a great course to work on your short game. Accuracy is key. All holes are reachable for the birdie, but you must hit your lines and use forehands, backhands, hyzers, anhyzers and the occassional overhand or roller to get out of trouble.

This course is a lot of fun with some neat and unique holes. The whole course is very wooded, but there are numerous fair lines on each hole.

This course is not very beginner friendly due to the accuracy and mix of shots that needs to be used.

Due to the elevation on the uphill/ downhill holes, it can get a little slick after rain

Forces you to learn flick and backhand.

Good tees. Good signs.

Hole 3 is the only decent hole.

The biggest issue is there are not real lines. You are pretty much throwing and praying to the disc Gods that it won't hit a tree. Specifically holes 2,10,11, 14 (There is a small line on 14). Hole 8 you have to launch it right between two trees which are directly in the path of any reasonable throw.

Then there's swamp holes, 2, 12, 16, not too big of a concern, but your disc can hit a tree and go right in.

Whoever is running this course is cutting out the wrong trees. If there are two trees next to each other creating one big "no throw zone" they are cutting down one of them still leaving the zone there. Like that fixes anything. Meanwhile you are still having to throw through a wall of trees.

They have the trees marked they are going to cut and some of the trees are not even in the direction of the basket, like WTF.

Their argument is likely well this will help you with your technical shots. If you have to S around trees that's cool. That's technical, this course is dumb.

If you have to rely on luck, it's not a good course

Course teaches you to be accurate and controlled. When you hit the correct lines scoring is possible. Learned better control and have been able to improve my forehand from playing course multiple times.

Punishing when you do hit early tree. An easy hole can quickly blow up to a 2-3 over par. For righties with no turnover or forehand this course can be treacherous. Don't lose focus or scores will balloon fast.

Course is still work in progress. Brush and debris in fairway can be additional challenge. More trees have been cut down since its inception creating more lines than some realize. Score on front 9 and maintain it thru the back. Course requires you to hit lines to score well. You either learn to hit lines or to scramble to shoot close to par, otherwise; high scores are a definite.

1) requires short fh or quick turnover.
2) shot straight up the middle that fades towards the end will feed you down close to the basket.
3) there is a hyzer route that takes you close to OB, but straight route that requires more precision.
4) likely the most difficult hole on course. If you don't have a good fh, lay up to mando and play in for your 3. Even with a good fh, can't go long or the drop off will get you.
5) good fh will give you a chance at birdie. Turnover shot must be precise, if you fade out early you will be scrambling for your 3.
6) steep uphill shot. Go straight at it, if you are short trees to contend with. Hyzer route opens up a clearer run to the basket.
7) almost same as 5, but a good straight shot to bottom of hill can still set up for birdie run.
8) early trees provide challenge, but fh route will feed you to basket.
9) soft hyzer or a shot that fades down to basket can set up for birdie.
10) must hit line carved out otherwise deal with all the trees.
11) hit line up the middle with hard fade. If you don't make initial gap, skip it up for 3.
12) deceiving downhill shot. Can go straight or around tree on right and feed into basket.
13) toughest hole on course. Options to left or right, but must commit. Even if you hit the line, must have distance control to avoid mess long.
14) line down the middle with fade to left. Hit it or scramble for 3.
15) shot to top of hill sets up for easy 3. If aggressive, fh shot can carry up he hill and right towards basket for 2.
16) distance control shot up the middle to avoid junk long, can set up for easy 2. Again must commit to line.
17) pretty much same shot as 15, but more chance for skip towards basket to set up a closer putt for 2.
18) turnover (fh) line and tight hyzer both feed to basket.

First off let me say this course has great potential! The dynamic discs baskets are amazing and still need braking in. The tee pads are better than most and are a good average size. (Large in size) the elevation in shots is great. The tee signs are very nice. And the scenery is amazing! That's about alk the good things I can say.

Where to start........
It seems like some one desided to try and make a pro worlds course on two acres.
The walk from the parking area to hole one is ok not abnormal but further than most. The practice basket is right in the middle of the park and could be a pain if the park gets busy. It would have been better if put by hole ones tee pad where there was plenty of room.
Holes one through three were great! But after that whoever was building the course there chainsaw must have run out of gas or bar oil!
The great lack of lines from the tee pads to the baskets is ridiculous!
I understand that the holes are short but trying to make the course harder by not cutting trees down is far from the answer.
There needs to be at least one to two clear cut lines from the tee to the basket for both right and left handed players.
Hole 9s basket had no indicator in the tray like all others had so if you didn't look at the large beautiful map by the start of hole 10 you would have no idea where to go.
That being said the half mile hike from hole 9 to hole ten (from one side of the park the the other) was less than to be desired! Even though the signage clearly shows where hole 10s tee was it could still be rough to be seen from the end of the concrete path with all of the summers groth.
Something else that would be nice would be a working water fountain to fill water bottles on hot days. The closest Convenience Mart is miles away. So make sure you pack plenty of beverages!
Final thoughts a bit of course maintenance would be greatly appreciated the large amount of sticks and branches in the fairways could be a trip or rolled ankle hazard. I know this course is new and it takes some time for these things to be worked out.

This course could be absolutely amazing!!!! It just needs some cleaning up and trees cut down. There is a difference between making a course hard to play and having fairways that are impossible to get down.
I have played many courses in the past eight years and a large number of them were pro stop or some of the best in the United States and I may have high standards . But this course could be absolutely phenomenal! This could be the type of course people would pay money to play and drive hours to play but it will need more work to be in that shape. I really look forward to seeing it in the next couple of years.

Great elevation changes, good tees, excellent signage and new baskets.

Wood litter from brushhog creates trip hazards. 'mulched' garbage all over the course. Non-existent or essentially impossible lines to the baskets.

As the first review said, the course designers may need to remove a number of trees from the fairways to change the course from 'impossible' to 'challenging'. As it stands now, a large number of holes require a huge degree of luck to make clean shots.

The teepads are all in, and are great. Navigating the course for the first time was very easy. The course itself is a pretty decent up-hill/down-hill hike, making this more of a workout than many courses.

The path from the end of 9 back to the parking lot crosses a stream, and up a steep bank. That bank needs actual steps cut into it. In wet weather, it will be a mess. I found the layout somewhat monotonous, with multiple 'uphill hole, downhill hole, uphill hole, downhill hole' repeats.

I'm not sure how the fairway surface will stand up to repeated hard rain, considering the steepness of many. Also, sad to report, I didn't see any trash receptacles, and already a number of dude-bro leftover beer cans scattered around the teepads.

The course seems to have potential, and will likely improve, but won't be on my frequent play list, at least until some fixes. The previous reviewer's comment about no big bomber holes is true, but with some steep uphills, there are some holes that require pretty big arm. But, no big open shots, that's true. Some might not like that, but I'd say it's a bit of an equalizer for accuracy over power players.

New course, still in the construction stage.
Plays along several water spots- pond and a creek which gives it a bit of scenery (though the water is not a factor)
Current pros: Excellent signage, new easily visible white baskets with flags on top and next tee arrows in the disc catcher.
Tee pads are currently marked with orange flags where it is obvious concrete pads will be laid eventually.
Flow of the course was easy to follow and the course made good use of the elevation.
Course was 18 holes totally wooded with a mix of both left and right bend shots needed. If you like wooded courses, this will be the one for you!!

Too new to pick any at this point as the course is still in construction.
The only thing I'll list here is there were no holes where you had the opportunity to let loose any long throws. That said, if that's what you want, this course does not offer it, so know that going in.

It' s a wooded course that is getting it's start in the winter. Once spring comes and the leaves start blooming, the designers may want to reassess some of the fairways.
I felt even in it's current bareness that a few more trees could be pruned from several of the fairways. While I have learned to enjoy wooded courses, I felt that the throw lines were more random than thought out and hitting an early tree was very likely.
All that said, I did enjoy the course.... played it on a beautiful Sunday in Feb with my wife and three of the kids. We had a fun time..... the trees in their current configuration made it a great equalizer.
For now, in its current state, it's 2.5 (decent).... would like to venture back out here in 6 months and reassess.