Columbia Park plays host to a wooded 18-hole course that takes you up, down, and all around the back half of the park. This course is on the short side, but tricky lines and obstacles will certainly keep you honest if you're accuracy off the tee isn't up to snuff.

Location of Columbia Park is off Main St., not far from the junction of highways 32 and 67. That's where most folks will be coming from, and it's easy to find from there. Once you enter the park, follow the circle drive to the back right corner of the park, where you'll see parking near a couple of shelters. There's gas and food options in town close to the course if you need anything. For course baggers or those who are making a day out of golfing, Mineral Area is right across the highway and a very open course, complimenting this wooded experience at Columbia. Other nearby options include Engler Park, Bonne Terre City, or Potosi City Park. Or you could go up to Woodsy Bogler if you played Columbia and then said "I like these wooded holes, but I want something even more ridiculous".

Park Amenities include multiple pavilions and playground areas, as well as a pool complex that looked to be under renovation when we played here. This course does have Christmas lights up during the season, but unlike many parks that do drive through lights, this course remains open since its mostly in the woods. There are also restrooms in the park as well if you're needing them.

Course Equipment checks all of the boxes. Concrete tee pads make for nice level surfaces to tee off of on what can be some very hilly terrain. Tee signs include pars, distances, pin position in use, and a hole layout that includes direction to the next hole. The baskets are Gateway Titans, and are in good shape. Love them or hate them, if you survive the nuclear apocalypse, you'll at least have these baskets in select former park locations to throw whatever discs you had in your bunker. There's a 19th hole across the circle drive as well that is a Dynamic Discs basket, which is also in pristine shape.

Course Design at Columbia Park is short, wooded, and winding, giving you plenty of hills and turns to navigate. You will find turning fairways and tight straight fairways, but rarely straight open fairways, making for a course where you need to be very intentional with your shots. According to the parks and rec website, this is considered one of the most challenging courses in the state. While I don't know about that, I will say its definitely challenging, and newer players will have a tough time here.

Elevation is present on almost every hole on the course in some way, giving you a hike to go along with your disc golf round. Holes like 10, 11, 13, and 15 will have you playing uphill to varying degrees, while holes 7, 8, 9, 14, and 16 play downhill. Other holes like 4 and 5 play through a valley. Hole 6 is flat, but has large drop-offs on either side of a long narrow fairway.

Shot-Shaping is a crucial skill on this course, as plenty of fairways are either dead straight or have a specific shape to them. Holes 2, 9, and 14 are very RH forehand friendly, while holes 12, 13, 17, and 18 favor RH backhands. Other holes like 6, 7, 8, and 16 will require a straight shot from you, while others like 4 and 5 really wind around a bit and will require either multiple shots or an S-turn drive to get a good score.

Distance are on the short side overall, with no hole topping 400 feet. Your shorted hole will be hole 3 at 151 feet long, while hole 10 is the longest at 391. While the distances are shorter on paper, the elevation will really impact how far they actually play. Hole 13 in particular is aggressively uphill, so holes like that one will play much longer and will likely require multiple shots to get to the green despite being 199 feet long.

Difficulty at Columbia definitely plays harder, as newer players will surely struggle with the various shot shapes and gaps you need to hit to score on this course. Intermediate players will find this course to be a challenge but with many fun holes. Advanced players should be able to score well here.

Mud/Erosion has to be an issue in the Spring and Summer here, as noted by GO1962. There's not a lot of grass around the course except of the more open holes, so this course could prove treacherous after heavier rains. Given some of the steeper walks on or between holes, I have to wonder about erosion as well. Hole 6 comes to mind, as it looks like the hill that goes towards hole 5's fairway is coming apart a bit. This course has been here eight years now, so maybe erosion isn't as big of a deal as it seems, but the mud will be around in the spring.

Poke and Pray starts to become the name of the game on some of these holes. Hole 2's green is heavily guarded, and starts to bring luck into play. Hole 10 gets a little ridiculous as well, especially closer to the hole.

Blind Shots are also a bit of an annoyance at times. Hole 10 immediately comes to mind, as you really cannot tell where in the tree line you are going to unless you hike up the fairway. Not knowing where the basket is ahead of time can easily add a couple of strokes by the time you get to chains. Some of these other holes like 11 and 15 are also kind of annoying in this regard, given the tight fairways that aren't exactly clear from the tee pad.

I don't have many cons per say for this course, but I think the challenging nature combined with the overall course design limits the rating for me. Folks who aren't fans of wooded courses, or ones with short par 4s or 5s that require short upshots off the tee won't have a fun time here. This also is not a particularly friendly course to new players, so a decent percentage of players won't find this course to be the most accessible.

Overall, I found it to be an alright course. I'm someone who tends to like wooded courses, but this one didn't hit the mark for me like others. Other ones have more of a 'fun factor' for lack of a better term, and longer holes to compliment shorter ones. I know that sounds especially subjective, but I think plenty of other wooded courses manage to feel fresher throughout all 18 holes than this one does. If there were just a few less trees in certain spots, I think this course could be more accessible while still being challenging.

If you like short wooded courses and are passing through Park Hills, make time for Columbia, because this course is tailor made for you. If that's not your cup of tea, stay on the highway.

Offers very difficult accuracy challenge. Requires variety of shots - sidearms, turnovers, rollers, all required on this course.

No concrete tee pads, but you really don't have to run up and throw. Would be nice though for a level throwing surface.

Being a new course, off the fairway is super rough. And there isn't much fairway to throw down, it's a very tight, wooded course. You will be punished harshly for going off the fairway.

Signs at the long pads would be nice, they are currently just blocks in the ground and can be hard to find on some holes.

Most of the cons will work themselves out as the course gets more work and more foot traffic (teepads, very rough)

The difficulty of the course could be quite a turn off for novice/recreational players. Fairways are incredibly tight and with the low ceilings and elevation change there isn't a ton of variety in how to throw each hole.