-Large Cement Tees
-Well Signed
-Maximized use of land available
-Obstacles use on most holes
-Fun Factor
-Beginner friendly with line sculpting opportunities

This 9 hole put in a park to small to hold it, is a decent example of what a beginner friendly community park should be like. The holes feature gigantic cement tee pads perfect for any type of throw. They give a great option to try different lines and work on different throws during your round. The signs offer graphics and distances and make it easy to plan your route.

Each holes offer a sense of line shaping without making the hole impossible for a new player to navigate. Whether it is slight elevation changes, trees in the middle of the fairway, or 90 degree turn on 3, the challenges provide a fun factor most 9 holes in the Chicagoland area do not offer. The course was spread through this entire small park maximizing the distance of the holes, although it is still on the short side based on today's abilities and product availibility.

Although this course is far from perfect, I believe this is a good course to show other park districts from a design standpoint. It gives the best example of what disc golf should offer, and an easy canvas to examples of issues that can be avoided. Also, with it being a high traffic course, it also shows the popularity and need for courses in the Chicagoland and Greater Schaumburg area.

-Right handed Friendly
-Safety

This course is a right hand, back hand player dream. All holes are right turning or practically dead straight. Nothing forces a left turning throw at all. There are still holes that can accommidate anhyzers or sloppy forehand throwers but nothing forces the issues. I also like to see at least 20% on courses but prefer 30-40%.

Safety is a huge issue on this course. Overall from an experience player point, I think it's fine. It's about course management. However, I have seen many throws in the tennis courts, both playgrounds, the baseball field, and in people's yards. There is also a walking path that runs between many of the holes. Easy to play as on or over as out of bounds, however you directly throw over it on 4 and 8. Also you could potentially be hit on hole 8 teepad by a drive on 2 and an overthrow or bad throw on 3 could easily hit some putting on hole 5. With this course being designed in 1981, this may have not been as big of an issue. Over the years of developing the park, more may have become at risk.

Even with the safety risks, I believe I prefer to leave the course the way it is currently set up. If three was moved it would just make it an extra easy par 2 hole. Slightly overlapping fairways aside, they tried to maximize the distance on each hole that is at that park. For an experience player, there is no real challenge here. As a Rec player at best, my goal is to shoot a 18 or less round here. If I don't shoot a clean round, I am usually disappointed with my play. For a beginner, it offers different designed holes, varied lengths (mostly between 200-300 feet), slight elevation, and perfect teepads for working on proper foot work.

This course is getting a 3.0 Good ratings from me. I waffled between a 3.0 Good and a 2.5 decent/typical but with the amazing teepads and the fact that technically there is not a completely wide open hole (tree basket protectors on 5 and 7), it is not typical compare to most of the 9 holes in the area. Most of the other 9 hole have the same feel. This one does not. I am also review this course based on the course not the foot traffic. This course during prime hours is Woodfield mall during Christmas busy. It definitely can ruin the fun when you have to wait to play holes being a couple of large groups. But that's the effects of a growing sport.

Central Park (Oakbrook), Adler Park (Libertyville) and Lewis University (Romeoville) have more of a wow factor for a 9 hole course. Overall, Clark Park is a decent place to play a quick round, in an area of a lot of non-interesting 9 holes. I would go out of my way to play this but if you were in the Woodfield area, there really isn't a better option...yet. Shady Oaks (Streamwood 18 hole) and Willow Stream (Buffalo Grove 9 Hole) probably makes the triangle of the best you will get over in that area.

Allows a player to use their full set of skills - from throwing precisely to throwing far. A low likelihood of losing discs, unless thrown up in a tree. A beginner or a player without much power (like myself) will find this course to be a fair challenge. You don't need he-man strength to do well here.

A lot of geese and their droppings were on the course. People messing around near the softball field may get in the way at #17.

I last played this course in 1992. At that time, the 30ft tall netting wasn't in place at #3. The course seems better and nicer now. The tee boxes provide good grip and are almost comically large. The grass around the baskets is worn away and can be muddy. A sort of mat has been placed at the base of most of the baskets.

I really enjoyed playing Clark Park and in my opinion it fell just short of being given a 3.5 rating. The Park itself is small, but very scenic in a great location near woodfield mall. There are baseball fields nearby, and there are beautiful pines and other nice looking trees. As far as disc golf goes:

*Trees are strategically placed to make almost every drive off the tee a fun challenge! The holes force a variety of shots.

*Great big concrete teepads

*Often, the wind is only a major factor in wide open courses. This course is an example of one with lots of trees AND lots of wind, which adds to the challenge of the course.

*Accessible for beginners, but experienced players will also have fun with the different lines demanded

Favorite Hole: 4

As I said, I really wanted to give this course a higher rating than 3, but a few things prevented me from doing so.

*Several tee signs were missing.

*Had I not read about hole 3 on this website prior to my visit I would have thrown at the wrong basket (the pin is way left of where the tee is facing)

*Parking here is not great.

*Not a whole lot of distance challenge here, experienced throwers will have a harder time with the lines they have to hit on their drives rather than the ability to get it the right distance

A few more things to mention that I'm not sure how to classify:

*Decent baskets: Not terrible, not amazing

*Your second shot will most likely be a clear shot at the basket. This is not an elite tournament course where an errant drive could mean taking a 5 or 6 on a hole.

*If Clark Park Disc Golf Course was somehow located on a bigger plot of land and a back 9 was built similar to the 9 that actually exist, I would easily give it a 3.5 or a 4.0

I will definitely visit Clark Park again soon! It is a fun course that can easily be completed in 40 mins. And even though it literally is a walk in the park, you will be challenged here!

Large concrete tee pads for each hole.
Very well manicured park.
A nice mix of attractive trees on every hole.
Baskets are all in great shape.
All but a couple holes have trees placed in ways that make you shoot accurate and low.
Nice signs with distance.
Excellent flow from hole to hole.
Very good use of the available land.
Beautiful little park.

Only a couple kind of long holes, but you can use the hole #2 tee box for an alt. tee location for holes #6 and #8 and add some distance.

Playing here has helped me improve my accuracy quite a bit. Would love to have a back nine, but not enough room, so a lot of people just finish hole #9 and walk right back to tee #1 for another trip around....

- Great concrete tees
- Good signage for every hole
- Beautiful park, mature trees and bushes provide challenging lines with most holes
- Minor elevation changes make for some interesting holes

- High non-golf traffic with walking paths, baseball field, and playground equipment.

This is a good 9 hole course that emphasizes control and accuracy instead of distance and power. The course is well laid out, with excellent cement tees for every hole. Good signage gives par, footage, and general direction of play for each hole. There is one opportunity to lose a disc, which is a blind shot on hole three. Otherwise, there is a very good use of mature trees and bushes to force the player to use a variety of accurate shots on the course. Non disc golf traffic could be a problem on some days, with the park being multi-purpose with a baseball field and some playground equipment possibly being in play. Hole 9 finishes close to Biesterfield Rd, so some caution should be exercised to prevent a trip out onto a busy road.

All in all, a fun course for beginners just stating to play as well as veterans needing to place to practice their short game. Well worth 30 minutes to play a round.

What I personally like and how this course stacks up in my list of 9 hole courses (over 110 played):

1) Holes with good risk/reward. Fair, but harsh punishment for bad decisions or execution. == B
(This course does surprisingly well in this aspect of the design. About half the holes have multiple ways you can play them each with an element of challenge to navigate. This is a nice departure from most short 9-hole Chicagoland courses.)

2) Holes that have rewarding birdie opportunities for me (I rate only from the long tees). I'm a Blue level player (950ish skill) who throws 300' accurately, 360' max. == B-
(3-4 holes feel pretty good when carding a birdie. But, a lot of the holes are too short. But add in the shot-shaping on a couple of the short ones and they are not boring....just not exhilarating in the scoring department.)

3) More wooded than open - lots of variety of shots required caused by hole shape and topography == B+
(Although not a wooded course in the classic sense, there are plenty of trees to make things a challenge. Additionally for only 9 holes, you have to be able to throw several different types of shots to score well. Over all a pretty flat course although there is some slight terrain to add a little spice.)

4) Natural beauty (Appalachian beauty preferred) and seclusion. == B-
(Very well maintained and lush park. No real seclusion to make you feel like you are "getting away from it all". But the beauty of the park will take you to happy places.)

5) Bonus points for multi-throw holes with defined landing zones, good risk/reward and multiple options to play them. == NA (0 points added)

Easy to navigate, well laid out, difficult to lose a disc, good terrain, tee pads and baskets in good condition,

Only 9 holes, gets busy on nice weather afternoons, holes tend to be close to each other with stray discs easily navigating into other players territory, posted pars rated for beginner players

Beginer friendly, but the trees will give some challenge to your shot. A couple of holes that can stretch out your arm!
Not alot of brush to lose discs in.

Geese all over the place while I was there. The course is short and pretty easy. But it can be played at lunch and would be a great place to practice.

concrete tees are a plus