Carlyle City Park reviews
12
0
A Short 9 That Isn't Really Worth Going Out Of Your Way For 2+ years
Reviewed:
Played on:Sep 11, 2021
Played the course:once
Pros:
Carlyle City Park is a short recreational 9-hole course that plays around some hilly terrain. This course won't require much outside of mids and putters for most, and makes for a quick round if you happen to be passing through the area.
Park Amenities at Carlyle include a baseball diamond, tennis courts, various swing sets, and a pool. There are also bathrooms, pavilions, and water fountains around. It looks like this park has drive-through Christmas lights during that season, so late-year golf may not be a thing here during that event.
Course Equipment is limited to baskets and tee posts at Carlyle. The baskets are fresh MVPs, and are in fantastic shape. The posts include the hole numbers, and are painted white to stand out.
Course Design is relatively limited at Carlyle, but has some fun features. The number of trees in the park will require you to throw some fun shot shapes on occasion, with holes 1 and 6 playing with a little left turn and holes 3 and 8 being right turning shots around tree branches and a bathroom respectively. There's some elevation on site as well, with holes 4 and 6 playing downhill and holes 3 and 5 playing more uphill. Overall, while this is very much a rec-level course, it will ask a little of you in terms of shot shaping.
Course Difficulty is very much catering to newer players. Intermediate and up will find this course to be pretty easy, as the unique shots that are required will either be able to be hit or will put you in a spot to make an easy par.
Park Amenities at Carlyle include a baseball diamond, tennis courts, various swing sets, and a pool. There are also bathrooms, pavilions, and water fountains around. It looks like this park has drive-through Christmas lights during that season, so late-year golf may not be a thing here during that event.
Course Equipment is limited to baskets and tee posts at Carlyle. The baskets are fresh MVPs, and are in fantastic shape. The posts include the hole numbers, and are painted white to stand out.
Course Design is relatively limited at Carlyle, but has some fun features. The number of trees in the park will require you to throw some fun shot shapes on occasion, with holes 1 and 6 playing with a little left turn and holes 3 and 8 being right turning shots around tree branches and a bathroom respectively. There's some elevation on site as well, with holes 4 and 6 playing downhill and holes 3 and 5 playing more uphill. Overall, while this is very much a rec-level course, it will ask a little of you in terms of shot shaping.
Course Difficulty is very much catering to newer players. Intermediate and up will find this course to be pretty easy, as the unique shots that are required will either be able to be hit or will put you in a spot to make an easy par.
Cons:
Course Equipment is lacking on this course. The baskets look like they are a significant upgrade from what was here before, and there look to be a couple of new bridges over creek areas that were likely built as part of the eagle scout-related revamp of this course that took place a few years back. That being said, outside of the tee posts with the hole numbers, there's nothing here in terms of tee signs or tee pads. I'm not expecting an eagle scout project to nail these things, but I've seen other similar projects where these pieces of equipment were attempted. Hole layouts would be nice, but even a distance would be nice to have for each hole. Tee pads might be wanted after a while too, as natural pads tend to wear in after a while.
Safety is a concern in some parts of the course. Hole 1 plays over a path that's pretty much a blind shot from the tee. Hole 3 is also a blind shot. Other holes like hole 6 play close to either paths or other park amenities like swing sets. In a lot of cases, the next tee is also very close to the previous hole's basket, including the tees for holes 2 through 5. Watch where you are throwing as best as you can to make sure you don't hit other folks in the park.
Design and Navigation at Carlyle leave much to be desired. Even for a 9-hole, there's things that stand out that could be improved. Navigation, with the lack of any signage, is hard here unless you have UDisc, as the flow is not always smooth. Seeing as some of the baskets are not easily visible from the tees, it can be easy to throw to the wrong basket on this course. In addition to some of the safety concerns, the design of the course is also lacking in some areas. The blind shots on 3 and 8 are not ideal, as you are guessing on how much turn to put on your disc. Hole 3 has so many branches in front of the tee that there isn't really a clear fairway to the basket. Other holes are just kind of hard to either judge or locate from the tees without distances or a clear indication of the direction you are throwing to. Even a map at the parking lot would help immensely with many of these problems.
Location of this course is ideal mainly just for Carlyle residents. Gas and food options exist in town, but it's out of the way of any interstate or highway that most people would find themselves on. I combined this course with the courses in Centralia, which seems to be the best way to go about playing this course. Otherwise, it's out of the way of just about any point A to point B route that a course bagger would be taking.
Safety is a concern in some parts of the course. Hole 1 plays over a path that's pretty much a blind shot from the tee. Hole 3 is also a blind shot. Other holes like hole 6 play close to either paths or other park amenities like swing sets. In a lot of cases, the next tee is also very close to the previous hole's basket, including the tees for holes 2 through 5. Watch where you are throwing as best as you can to make sure you don't hit other folks in the park.
Design and Navigation at Carlyle leave much to be desired. Even for a 9-hole, there's things that stand out that could be improved. Navigation, with the lack of any signage, is hard here unless you have UDisc, as the flow is not always smooth. Seeing as some of the baskets are not easily visible from the tees, it can be easy to throw to the wrong basket on this course. In addition to some of the safety concerns, the design of the course is also lacking in some areas. The blind shots on 3 and 8 are not ideal, as you are guessing on how much turn to put on your disc. Hole 3 has so many branches in front of the tee that there isn't really a clear fairway to the basket. Other holes are just kind of hard to either judge or locate from the tees without distances or a clear indication of the direction you are throwing to. Even a map at the parking lot would help immensely with many of these problems.
Location of this course is ideal mainly just for Carlyle residents. Gas and food options exist in town, but it's out of the way of any interstate or highway that most people would find themselves on. I combined this course with the courses in Centralia, which seems to be the best way to go about playing this course. Otherwise, it's out of the way of just about any point A to point B route that a course bagger would be taking.
Other Thoughts:
Overall, this course leaves much to be desired. It's kind of a shame to see such nice baskets on a course where the rest of the design and infrastructure are lacking. This honestly would likely be a better course if the holes were either designed to be even shorter, or if there were less holes in the design. This is a tight park with sporadic pavilions and paths, and fitting 9 holes on this site is a challenge. I'm guess the eagle scouts didn't design this course, but just updated the equipment that was present.
I think a shortened course in terms of the number of holes or distances would improve this course for disc golfers that come by here, other park-goers, and the city as they maintain the course. A shorter course would be mainly just for new folks, but would be a nice intro to disc golf for locals who may then want to adventure out to other courses.
If you're a dedicated course bagger, by all means stop by Carlyle. Otherwise, unless it's on the way, I wouldn't drive too far out of the way for this one.
I think a shortened course in terms of the number of holes or distances would improve this course for disc golfers that come by here, other park-goers, and the city as they maintain the course. A shorter course would be mainly just for new folks, but would be a nice intro to disc golf for locals who may then want to adventure out to other courses.
If you're a dedicated course bagger, by all means stop by Carlyle. Otherwise, unless it's on the way, I wouldn't drive too far out of the way for this one.
8
0
Cerealman
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience:
15.8 years
585 played
178 reviews
Quick break near the lake 2+ years
Reviewed:
Played on:Dec 23, 2019
Played the course:once
Pros:
About an hour east of St. Louis, nestled up to the largest man-made lake in Illinois, is the small city of Carlyle. The city's website promotes opportunities for boating, fishing and beach visits, which all rightly overshadow the only disc golf course for miles around.
The course starts right near the parking lot with a sign that indicates where to begin and gives credit to the Boy Scout Eagles for their help in renovating the course in 2016.
The baskets have been upgraded to MVP Black Hole baskets, which feature a really narrow bogey banner but seem to do the job.
Good elevation on this course. Hole #1 is mostly downhill, which is a fun way to start a round. Hole #4 is downhill with the basket nearly in a blind spot. Hole #5 runs back up a hill. Hole #6 drops the basket on a slope, while Hole #7 features a small valley.
The Carlyle City Park features a beautiful display of lights and decorations at night during the holiday season, though by day, they provide additional interference on the course.
The course starts right near the parking lot with a sign that indicates where to begin and gives credit to the Boy Scout Eagles for their help in renovating the course in 2016.
The baskets have been upgraded to MVP Black Hole baskets, which feature a really narrow bogey banner but seem to do the job.
Good elevation on this course. Hole #1 is mostly downhill, which is a fun way to start a round. Hole #4 is downhill with the basket nearly in a blind spot. Hole #5 runs back up a hill. Hole #6 drops the basket on a slope, while Hole #7 features a small valley.
The Carlyle City Park features a beautiful display of lights and decorations at night during the holiday season, though by day, they provide additional interference on the course.
Cons:
The teepad areas are poor. Due to the recent precipitation, the natural teepads were muddy then usual when I played, but the areas were also rutted and uneven. On several of the holes, I didn't bother with a run-up as the teepad area was treacherous.
Plenty of potential obstacles exist in the park, from sidewalk walkers to playground patrons. The disc golf course feels crammed into the space, even without the other activities around. Hole #7 has a pavilion on the right side, while Hole #8 includes a small restroom area with a roof that could catch wayward throws in the middle of its fairway.
Navigating the course isn't instinctual, though the course map definitely helped. A couple of the baskets were difficult to see from the teepad. No signs near the teepads, which are marked by a wooden stake with a number.
For most of the holes, there are random trees with plenty of low-hanging branches. The park terrain might not contain the space for more ideal fairways, but the design feels more like a casual round of safari disc golf.
Isolated: This course is probably out of the way, especially since several other regional courses are now considered closed or unplayable. The closest available courses, the Foundation Park complex and Bryan Memorial Park, are 30-plus minutes away and offer much better disc golf.
Plenty of potential obstacles exist in the park, from sidewalk walkers to playground patrons. The disc golf course feels crammed into the space, even without the other activities around. Hole #7 has a pavilion on the right side, while Hole #8 includes a small restroom area with a roof that could catch wayward throws in the middle of its fairway.
Navigating the course isn't instinctual, though the course map definitely helped. A couple of the baskets were difficult to see from the teepad. No signs near the teepads, which are marked by a wooden stake with a number.
For most of the holes, there are random trees with plenty of low-hanging branches. The park terrain might not contain the space for more ideal fairways, but the design feels more like a casual round of safari disc golf.
Isolated: This course is probably out of the way, especially since several other regional courses are now considered closed or unplayable. The closest available courses, the Foundation Park complex and Bryan Memorial Park, are 30-plus minutes away and offer much better disc golf.
Other Thoughts:
Carlyle City Park DGC is simply that: a disc golf course in a city park. Unfortunately, the design is mostly unmemorable. The natural teepads are in poor condition, and most of the holes include random obstacles and undefined fairways. This course will appeal to the locals and the course baggers. Outside of that, there isn't much reason to stop.
