Central Park is a very well designed nine hole course which has something that many niners in the area do not have: punishing areas for errant shots, variety of distances, and a few 'tightly' wooded areas. The designer here has done a great job maximizing the available space to incorporate a full nine which doesn't compromise on safety or overlapping fairways.

Amenities and upkeep: Being in Oak Brook, this park is blessed with a parks department that has good funding. All of the tee signs, baskets, and rubber teeing areas are in great shape and I'd expect they will be well-maintained over the life of the course.

Variety: Especially for newer or intermediate places, Central Park is a great place to learn a controlled sky hyzer (hole 1), short accurate flick (hole 2), big RHBH flex (5), and many more of the basics. Be careful though to mix it up with other courses because this course is so prescribed, practicing solely at Central Park could lead to rote repetition that doesn't transfer well to other courses.

Replay-factor: One of the main drawbacks to this course is the highly prescribed fairways. On one hand, well-defined fairways are a feature lacking in NW Illinois which is a positive, but in combination with the lack of additional tees or pin placements, this course gets stale very quickly. You'll probably develop your shot of choice within 2-3 loops through the course and you'll likely not need to change unless conditions change drastically (e.g. high winds). Because of the lack of additional space for more tees or pins, it would be tough to increase the 'fresh-factor' very much more.

Challenge: Central Park falls in with a lot of other area courses in that it doesn't have all that many holes which require precise execution or planning before taking on a particularly difficult hole (hole six may be an exception here). For the most part, you'll reach into the bag, grab the disc you always through on this hole and give it a chuck on the line you've thrown tons of times previously.

Perhaps not the best course for the family because it does have some areas of significant rough, Central Park sets up as a perfect course for the intermediate player who is still seeking to develop a wide range of shots off the tee and needs to do so in an environment which can give appropriate feedback (landing in the rough). As other reviewers have stated, the course makes GREAT use of available space and the designers have done a superb job. Definitely worth a play, especially considering other courses in the area.