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Creve Coeur Lake - Lakeside reviews
21
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Creve Coeur Lake(side): A Decent Recreational Course That Refuses To Die 2+ years
Reviewed:
Updated:
Played on:Jan 31, 2021
Played the course:5+ times
Pros:
DISCLAIMER: This course was redesigned in late December 2020 around Christmas. Older reviews that have not been updated are for the previous double 9-hole layout. Also, this course is still in the process of being redone; this review is of the current state of the course, and will be updated as work continues.
Creve Coeur - Lakeside is a recreational 18-hole course across the street from the popular Creve Coeur Lake. I believe this is the second oldest course in the St. Louis region, and it has gone through multiple designs over the years. What we have now is an open 18-hole course that provides some nostalgia for longtime players in the area, as well as a good course to learn to throw drives on if you're newer to the sport. Its location is pretty easily accessible too, being just off of MO-141 and being easily accessed from I-70 and I-270.
Creve Coeur Lake Park itself is 2,145 acres, making it the largest park in the St. Louis County park system. Across the street from the Lakeside course, you will see countless folks walking or biking along the lakeside path, along with boats, kayaks, and other activities taking place on the lake during warmer months. Throughout the park, you can also find shelters, playgrounds, tennis courts, ballfields, additional trails, and year-round bathrooms. There's also Go Ape! Zipline and Adventure Park on the upper section of the park, which provides high ropes activities. The nearest bathroom to Lakeside is across the street to the north, along the trail. Other than a shelter, trail, and swing set, most of the non-water amenities in the park are away from the Lakeside disc golf course. Overall, this park provides a beautiful setting for some disc golf.
Course Equipment has been worked on over the last year. The DISCatcher baskets are only a year old as of my last update and are in great shape and ready to deny your birdies with their bright yellow bands. A good portion of the front 9 also uses the old tee locations, meaning 6 holes have concrete tees. The rest of the holes now have turf tees installed. The current tee signs provide pin placement, distances and pars, and inform you that the full layout is on the UDisc app. Other than a couple spots, the course isn't too hard to navigate the first time around.
The new Lakeside layout uses aspects of the original front 9 from earlier designs while adjusting the overall layout to fit within the land that hasn't been cleared for previous and failed development plans. The results are a layout that sits just over 7,000 feet, shorter than the original layout that ranged from 8,700 to 10,200 feet long. The new layout of primarily 300 to 500-foot holes makes the course more manageable for new and intermediate players that don't have as much power behind their drives. The two longest holes, 1 and 5, are among the few holes that keep previous designs.
The land this course sits on has far fewer trees that it has had in the past, and the current design uses what trees are left to provide some shot variety. Holes 1, 5, and 15 use a combination of tree lines and tee directions to both provide hyzer or anhyzer shots while keeping drives away from the street. Holes 7, 8, and 12 require you to avoid a fence line to avoid your disc landing on land owned by a ball gold course; there's an entrance to that side of the fence along the disc golf course, but that area can have some rough brush.
A lot of the other holes on this course play pretty straight, but still have obstacles to navigate. Hole 8, for example, has a pin placement that sits between two trees, making short putts from certain angles troublesome. Hole 2 also uses tree to hide the A pin in a small patch of trees and brush. While options are limited on this patch of land, a lot of the holes use the existing trees and brush well to provide some fairways that require certain lines off the tee. The course layout also brings 9's pin and 10's tee close enough to the parking lot to provide two 9-hole loops in case you want to only play 9 or need to stop by your car.
Creve Coeur - Lakeside is a recreational 18-hole course across the street from the popular Creve Coeur Lake. I believe this is the second oldest course in the St. Louis region, and it has gone through multiple designs over the years. What we have now is an open 18-hole course that provides some nostalgia for longtime players in the area, as well as a good course to learn to throw drives on if you're newer to the sport. Its location is pretty easily accessible too, being just off of MO-141 and being easily accessed from I-70 and I-270.
Creve Coeur Lake Park itself is 2,145 acres, making it the largest park in the St. Louis County park system. Across the street from the Lakeside course, you will see countless folks walking or biking along the lakeside path, along with boats, kayaks, and other activities taking place on the lake during warmer months. Throughout the park, you can also find shelters, playgrounds, tennis courts, ballfields, additional trails, and year-round bathrooms. There's also Go Ape! Zipline and Adventure Park on the upper section of the park, which provides high ropes activities. The nearest bathroom to Lakeside is across the street to the north, along the trail. Other than a shelter, trail, and swing set, most of the non-water amenities in the park are away from the Lakeside disc golf course. Overall, this park provides a beautiful setting for some disc golf.
Course Equipment has been worked on over the last year. The DISCatcher baskets are only a year old as of my last update and are in great shape and ready to deny your birdies with their bright yellow bands. A good portion of the front 9 also uses the old tee locations, meaning 6 holes have concrete tees. The rest of the holes now have turf tees installed. The current tee signs provide pin placement, distances and pars, and inform you that the full layout is on the UDisc app. Other than a couple spots, the course isn't too hard to navigate the first time around.
The new Lakeside layout uses aspects of the original front 9 from earlier designs while adjusting the overall layout to fit within the land that hasn't been cleared for previous and failed development plans. The results are a layout that sits just over 7,000 feet, shorter than the original layout that ranged from 8,700 to 10,200 feet long. The new layout of primarily 300 to 500-foot holes makes the course more manageable for new and intermediate players that don't have as much power behind their drives. The two longest holes, 1 and 5, are among the few holes that keep previous designs.
The land this course sits on has far fewer trees that it has had in the past, and the current design uses what trees are left to provide some shot variety. Holes 1, 5, and 15 use a combination of tree lines and tee directions to both provide hyzer or anhyzer shots while keeping drives away from the street. Holes 7, 8, and 12 require you to avoid a fence line to avoid your disc landing on land owned by a ball gold course; there's an entrance to that side of the fence along the disc golf course, but that area can have some rough brush.
A lot of the other holes on this course play pretty straight, but still have obstacles to navigate. Hole 8, for example, has a pin placement that sits between two trees, making short putts from certain angles troublesome. Hole 2 also uses tree to hide the A pin in a small patch of trees and brush. While options are limited on this patch of land, a lot of the holes use the existing trees and brush well to provide some fairways that require certain lines off the tee. The course layout also brings 9's pin and 10's tee close enough to the parking lot to provide two 9-hole loops in case you want to only play 9 or need to stop by your car.
Cons:
Course Equipment has come a long way on this course, with the addition of a full set of tees and updated signage. The distances and pars on the signs are nice, but I was under the impression that the signs were going to include graphics of each hole given previous posts by the local club. This course is open and pretty easy to make out from each tee, but having a graphic of the layout of each hole rather than leading folks to an app might make the course more accessible to brand new players of the sport. Maybe enhanced signage is coming down the road, as the local club is still working on installation of multiple newer courses in the area.
Creve Coeur Lake Park's lower section is classified as a flood plain, and it's prone to having standing water after heavier rains. The course drains better than you would expect, but sogginess after a decent downpour is something to be ready for. The land here actually used to be heavily wooded, but floods from the 90's and land clearing for a failed hockey arena plan has resulted in a tree count that is a small fraction of what used to be here. The outcome is a disc golf course that's pretty straightforward with little variety. All of your shots are going to be on flat ground and around a number of trees. That's not the fault of the designers of this course; it's what they have to work with.
The location of this course and its openness make it prone to strong winds frequently, so make sure you have some stable discs handy.
The design of this course makes is accessible than some of the previous designs, but its difficulty level may make it too easy or too hard for different levels of players. Half of the holes are near or over 400 feet, so players new to the game might be in for a long round at this course. At the same time, the distances and overall par makes an even round very gettable for a large portion of players, with many players likely being able to get quite a few birdies on this course if they're throwing well. That being said, I think this design fixes some previous issues with the older monster layout, but players on the extremes of the skill level spectrum will likely not find this to be a great course for them.
Creve Coeur Lake Park's lower section is classified as a flood plain, and it's prone to having standing water after heavier rains. The course drains better than you would expect, but sogginess after a decent downpour is something to be ready for. The land here actually used to be heavily wooded, but floods from the 90's and land clearing for a failed hockey arena plan has resulted in a tree count that is a small fraction of what used to be here. The outcome is a disc golf course that's pretty straightforward with little variety. All of your shots are going to be on flat ground and around a number of trees. That's not the fault of the designers of this course; it's what they have to work with.
The location of this course and its openness make it prone to strong winds frequently, so make sure you have some stable discs handy.
The design of this course makes is accessible than some of the previous designs, but its difficulty level may make it too easy or too hard for different levels of players. Half of the holes are near or over 400 feet, so players new to the game might be in for a long round at this course. At the same time, the distances and overall par makes an even round very gettable for a large portion of players, with many players likely being able to get quite a few birdies on this course if they're throwing well. That being said, I think this design fixes some previous issues with the older monster layout, but players on the extremes of the skill level spectrum will likely not find this to be a great course for them.
Other Thoughts:
Creve Coeur's disc golf course has been through a lot of redesigns and threats to its existence. The original course from 1989 was a result of multiple years of lobbying; Someone even shared old documents from the lobbying process, including a letter from Anheuser-Busch declining to help. The original course was heavily wooded and championship level, but flooding in the early 90's, including the 93' flood, resulted in many of the trees being destroyed and the land being considered a flood plain. After spending some time as a 9 hole and not getting much help from the parks department, a monster 18-hole layout sat on the land for a while until an attempt to build a large hockey complex resulted in the back 9 being pulled, and a significant portion of the park land being cleared of trees. This clearing was later declared unauthorized and the complex was cancelled, but the damage was done. The front 9 remained, with a makeshift back 9 being briefly added down the road. Finally, we're to present day, with an 18-hole course that makes the most out of what is left on the land. If you look at the map on this site, you can see hints of the old course in the lower corner under the green section. Remnants of the old course still remain too; older benches and tees can be found throughout the course, including a tee or two in the cleared land by 16 and 17, a hint at what once was.
Despite its long history of ups and downs, the course still stands, and the local disc golf club is working to improve it. In addition to adding newer equipment, they are also working on adding OB areas to help get more natural foliage back into the land. The club will also be adding additional signage to warn golfers of the path that runs through the back 9, which is a nice touch that should help the course maintain a good relationship with other park goers.
While it's far from the most technical course you will find, Creve Coeur Lakeside is settling into a recreational 18-hole that can make for a fairly stress-free round for those wanting a break from nearby technical courses. Despite the flat land, the lake makes this one of the most picturesque courses in the area, far enough from highways and subdivisions to provide a peaceful setting to play in. Creve Coeur Lake Park is also now the 3rd park in St. Louis to receive a second 18-hole course, with the Hillside course in place and also being worked on. It's a long walk from the Lakeside course, but the drive only takes a couple of minutes. The Hillside course is also be close to a lot of the playgrounds and other amenities in the park, a huge plus if you're here with family.
Despite everything, Creve Coeur Lake(side) is still here, and still provides some decent golf. If you're a local and haven't played there yet, go check out a piece of St. Louis disc golf history.
Despite its long history of ups and downs, the course still stands, and the local disc golf club is working to improve it. In addition to adding newer equipment, they are also working on adding OB areas to help get more natural foliage back into the land. The club will also be adding additional signage to warn golfers of the path that runs through the back 9, which is a nice touch that should help the course maintain a good relationship with other park goers.
While it's far from the most technical course you will find, Creve Coeur Lakeside is settling into a recreational 18-hole that can make for a fairly stress-free round for those wanting a break from nearby technical courses. Despite the flat land, the lake makes this one of the most picturesque courses in the area, far enough from highways and subdivisions to provide a peaceful setting to play in. Creve Coeur Lake Park is also now the 3rd park in St. Louis to receive a second 18-hole course, with the Hillside course in place and also being worked on. It's a long walk from the Lakeside course, but the drive only takes a couple of minutes. The Hillside course is also be close to a lot of the playgrounds and other amenities in the park, a huge plus if you're here with family.
Despite everything, Creve Coeur Lake(side) is still here, and still provides some decent golf. If you're a local and haven't played there yet, go check out a piece of St. Louis disc golf history.
