- Like many courses built in the 90s, this course has undergone renovations over the past few years to keep up with the evolution of the game. If it's been a few years since you played the course, there are new pins or tees for about seven of the holes.

- This is about as hilly as you'll get in flat central Illinois, and Duncan uses as much of the elevation as it can. While this course is a great course for ams, it can still present a challenge for advanced players with the long tee pads and long baskets. Yes, there are plenty of birdie opportunities, but you'll need a variety of shots to rack them up.

- The eight long tee pads are concrete now.

- Best holes: I really like #9 from long to long. It's 675 feet slightly uphill with OB on the left side of the green. A great drive with placement is key to reaching c1 on the second shot. Also have fallen in love with #12 short tee to B pin - it's such a unique touchy left-to-right shot with the pin perched on top of a ridge.

- (Tee signs have now been installed!) We're working with the Park District to reinstall tee signs. It's not too much of an problem to find the next tee, but several baskets are blind and can be an issue.

- Playing the toughest layout, you'll see quite a few 275-300 foot holes that challenge that area of your game well. But if you're an advanced player, you're pulling a driver out for maybe half the holes.

- The baskets are Mach 2s - they're still in good condition, but they are dated.

- This course was originally installed because there was a bunch of "activity" that the Park District wasn't so keen on and thought disc golf might be a way to bring folks into the park. So in 1999, the course goes in. Fast forward and now there's a thriving pickleball scene here, a new playground went in the last few years, some outdoor concerts - all of which I attribute to disc golf, of course.

- It's a solid course, but needs a few more upgrades. With another hole or two redesign and new baskets, I think Duncan is a 4.

Very scenic course located in a city park with hills, valleys, and mature trees a-plenty!!
Concrete tee pads at every tee as well as numbered signposts (though what I assume was the original signage is missing).
Course flowed real well and was easy to follow- with or without the online map.
Numerous holes come to mind:
#2- 90 degree right throw about 120 ft out then 100 ft right with a solid tree line as protection
#4 Top of the world(#1) to a basket solidly behind some trees
#8 Top of the world (#2) to a basket behind a large tree.
#12- #15- Across the valley shots with assorted trees/ tree lines as protection. (Contrary to other reviewers- I did not find that stretch boring)
#18 Straight up a hill with pines as protection.

On the day we went there were two large groups of individuals having picnics at two separate pavilions... park is laid out fine, such that none of the crowd ever came into play.

Needs some TLC to get it into pristine condition....
Add some new signage at each tee box.....
Clean up the wooded area on #2 that is starting to encroach onto the pad and into the fairway....
Bonus points for adding concrete pads to the long tees (which were marked only by 4x4's as the line... some obscured by grass)

This was the third Illinois road trip (from St Louis) that my 17 y/o son and I have done this fall... Today we hit all four of the Springfield 18's... Without a doubt, we both agreed this was the most fun of all four of the courses....
Give it some of the TLC recommended in my cons and it easily rates a 4 in my book.
If you do all four Springfield courses in one day, do this one last, as you will come away disappointed in the others if you do this one first.

Douglas Park has just about perfect terrain for a disc golf course. The park is green, wonderfully hilly with lots of mature trees to throw at and around. There is a nice course map sign at the beginning. The tee signs are the old style fiberglass ones. These are all faded. They only have a hole number on them. The concrete tee pads vary in size depending on the hole's distance. I thought were more than adequate. The baskets are older DGA models. Most of them have some kind of number on top. Lots of benches to relaxe on.
The course is instinctive to navigate. One drawback is it's lack of length. This alone classifies it as a recreational course. Better players won't find much challenge here.
The course uses the elevation to the fullest. There's only maybe 3-4 holes which are flat. The rest play up, down or over the valley that runs through the park. The over the valley shots are great enjoyment but might be a tad overdone with five "over the valley" holes in a row starting at # 13.
But even with some repetitiveness, all these downhill, through the tree shots are mega-fun, in my opinion.
My signature/favorite hole goes to # 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17. And 18 was a fun throw, too.

Recreational length and difficulty.
Very little risk/reward on this course.
Could use some trash cans, although I saw next to no trash.
The five holes that cross the valley, although immensely fun, did start to grow monotonous.

I'd love to take this park and course home with me. It fits my game, age and recreational level to the max. Nice and shady for those warm summer days but plenty of hills to trek up and down. Rating this course is difficult for me. If it just up to me, I'd give it a 5 but in comparison with other courses, I'm reluctantly giving it a 3.5. Kind of pains me to have to rate it this lower. It's one of my top 10 courses I've played. So very much reminds me of Riverside Park DGC in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Riverside offers more challenge than Douglas but I'm about 7-8 years older now.

In summation, play it, you'll probably love it!

Very hilly but manageable to walk. This is a great short or beginner course.

Some small tee boxes, and the tee signs dont have hole details.

I like this course. It was great with a beginner and loved the trees and hills.

-The standout here is the ELEVATION changes. Absolutely awesome use of the rolling hills here!!
-The course does not interfere with other park users in this busy city park
-Course map right by hole #1

-Varying teepad sizes. Some very short ones on the shorter holes and all of them are a little too narrow.
-Could not find any of the markers for the advanced tees
-Tee signs are no longer readable on any hole

Hole #1 starts you off with an awesome view of the capitol building and sets the tone for the rest of the round. While this course is not overly difficult or lengthy it was just pure DG enjoyment. This is a classic casual DG course. You won't see big tourneys at this course, but that's not what this place is about. Sure the course theme is repetitive up and down the hills but they keep it interesting with different shot lines, tree obstacles, and decent pin placements. I really think this course has the perfect amount of challenge for a casual city course. If you want a more challenging course Lincoln Park has you covered. Really great DGC options in Springfield. I would play Douglas Park again if I was in the area.

Nice location, lots of hills, challenging with all the hills and valleys for a new player. All the Tees and Pins where pretty easy to find. Several you could not see from the tee but tee placement was pretty logical

Park needs a good cleaning. lots of trash on the course I didn't bring a big enough bag to carry off all I found! Mostly alcohol containers. Couple of the tees need some maintenance. Looks like the have begun but have not finished.

It is a great course going to have to play again just to get my score down since I junked up my first visit with my score.

I'll go chronological order, I guess.
-As soon as I got there, I ran into a group of kids who were promoting the "Springfield Disc Golf Club" and were handing out business cards with the url and all the information about the club. He said that he was handing out minis, but they ran out. How awesome is that?!?
-The first shot is beautiful, you're basically throwing it at the capital building. I was in complete awe when I was standing on the tee. Very, very cool.
-Great risk/reward on some of these shots. #2 comes to mind specifically.
-HUUGE elevation changes. Although it gets kind of repetitive, it was a blast playing here. Probably the biggest hills I've ever played.
-Definitely some sweeeet ace runs! I hit metal on hole #8!
-Nice big map at the beginning of the course and nice little tee maps as well.

-The ground around the baskets were muddy and some of the tees were very short. The last few holes were kind of boring because it just a throw across a gap, so it's a constant "down up" kind of thing.

Did I mention how sweet the first shot was? I did, but I should mention it again, very, very cool!
Also, the people at this park were all very, very friendly. Everyone said hi or waved which was really cool. I had an absolute blast playing here. Thanks, Springfield!

www.discgolfclub.org

As an aside, while you're here, definitely check out Abraham Lincoln's tomb! It's very close!

I really liked this course for its variety of shots, and excellent flow. I found getting from pin to next tee to be for the most part quick which was nice to keep the rhythm of play up. They made great use of terrain and elevation.

The course is very tight, holes seem to layer upon each other in several areas. Meaning that the fairways overlap. So if the course is busy you might find your self waiting for players on other holes to clear out of your way.

It's fun because it's quick and easy...only need a mid-range and putter...it plays up and down and around several little hilltops...first hole has a beautiful backdrop of the capital building...decent tee pads and baskets...lots of ace runs...my favorite holes were in the middle, #6 i think is a beautiful hilltop to hilltop shot that's not too terribly tough, and there's another couple of holes just like this that traverse hilltop to hilltop...the layout of this course is pretty cool, there's not a whole lot of space, but they managed to squeeze 18 holes in here and a practice basket without crossing fairways, or really any safety hazards...

Pro-tees need to be marked better...course isn't in a "bad" part of town but the park does have it's share of vagabonds (just wanted to use the word) and some homosexual activity...there's a concrete pavillion that has some walls that kind of enclose the space, so "Activities" go on in there that aren't noticed by passers-by, it's kind of a creepy little pavilion...it's by the 16 or 17 tee pad if i remember correctly...it's not an unsafe feeling, but you definitely notice it...

Current configuration I can play 18 holes in about 40 minutes...if I knew where the pro tees were it would be more challenging and take longer...park also has a amphitheatre and nice playground for the kids...