- concrete tees
- significant length and some notable elevation change
- tee signs with maps are just ok but serviceable
- baskets have 3 layers of chains and catch well
- some garbage cans throughout course
- property is very well maintained
- very reasonable fairways and pars
- built-in bridge over first creek crossing
- some cool creek crossing shots
- moderately wooded with good mature tree obstacles
- forces a lot of shot shaping, though feels a bit RHFH favored
- some great water hazards
- one practice basket
- some benches throughout course

- baskets are hard to see from a distance
- a bit muddy in places; could use some wood chips
- many secondary tees are not completely clear/easy to find
- backtracking across fairway between holes 9 and 10
- navigation could be a bit less confusing
- colorful bands on baskets would help with locating
- next tee indicators on some baskets
- long tees are blue posts and only natural

Foundation Park is a really cool course by Illinois standards with some excellent terrain. The elevation change is good for Illinois, but not necessarily amazing by general standards. There are some good water hazards, excellent shot shaping and mature trees, and the course is set in a very well maintained area. It is an experience to be had.

All that said, I feel like this is one of those courses that has been around long enough that its rating is higher due to being evaluated in an era when there weren't as many courses. This is an excellent course, and maybe deserves as high as a 4.25, but in my opinion Canyons blows it out of the water for best in Illinois, and I've played tons of courses more worthy of a 4.5 than this one. It's certainly worth the visit, and is one of the better courses Illinois has to offer. I didn't have time to play the Rec course here but having two courses in one place is always a plus. I also enjoyed the nearby Carlyle City Park nine hole course, but it appears I was in the minority there.

The creek hazards on this course stood out to me, with throws over the windy creek on hole 7 somewhat reminiscent of scenes at Idlewild. There were a few muddy places but overall the course was pretty manageable. Waterproof shoes are recommended if things haven't been particularly dry. Navigation here could have been better. There were next tee indicators on some baskets, but some were missing or facing the wrong direction, and there were no hole numbers on these older baskets without top bands. The course is certainly showing its age, but it has been maintained fairly well.

The maps here are decent, and there are other minor amenities, such as restrooms. This is not a heavily wooded, highly technical course but does require some decent shot placement ability. Most of the shots you're capable of will be required at some point. A lot of fallen trees left in place add to the interest on this course.

This was a pretty typical length course for me at around 90 minutes to play solo, or maybe slightly less. I played the red (short) tees since they were concrete, but in either configuration this is a pretty long course in terms of hole length. Other reviewers noted poison ivy... well, I suck at identifying poison ivy, but I caught poison ivy on this roadtrip for the first time in 18 years of playing disc golf. Did I catch it here? No idea, but be aware. It sucks

For Illinois, this is a fairly pretty area with an above average course. However, it is not in the upper echelon of disc golf available with all of the incredible courses out there now.

(3.756 Rating) A longer moderately wooded park style course.
- HOLE MANAGEMENT - Easily my favorite part of this course were all the par 4s and 5s that required shot placement. Throwing a long drive on many of these plus 500 footers was often not a wise idea. There were lots of tree line gaps in the woods where the second shot angled away in another direction. These holes required controlled distance to have a reasonable shot at the basket. Holes (7), (9), (11), and (17) were all pleasing plays in these regards.
- CHALLENGING - A bit difficult for me to define as all of the basket placements were in the short (A) position. I could not tell if this is one those courses that always has them in the (A's) except for tourneys or what. Anyways, there are two tee layouts here. The White Tees appear to be Intermediate level and the Blue Tees appear to be Advanced level. Conquering the back won't necessarily take massive power or extreme precision, but rather methodical smart play from a balanced Advanced rated player. Also note, I think blind first time players will struggle significantly more than normal on the first time through, as they won't know the ideal placement areas on these multi-play holes.
- NAVIGATION - Not to bad but with some flaws. For one thing, this course is not cart friendly. Several stream crossings using large cast concrete stepping stones. As for finding your way around, the thing I really appreciated was the orange tube on a basket spoke pointing to the next tee direction. Why more courses don't use this super cheap and effective tool is mind boggling. Hole signage has some good information on it, like hole number, distances and par, but it's too diagrammatic in its artistic description that players will find themselves torn on whether to run up fairways or throw blindly down the line. The tee signs however did however incorporate basket placement indicators, which will be great on a second play.
- ELEVATION - As I was driving into town, the roadside curbs felt like mountains on the Central Illinois landscape. So, I was a bit surprised by the amount of elevation change on the course. Nothing all that major, but several holes have plays with 20 foot changes and a couple probably approached 30 feet. Almost all of these slopes are very manageable to traverse being less than 15 degree inclines and declines.
- UNIQUENESS - In addition to elevation, this course has just about all the shots. Doglegs to the right and left. Pockets in every which way direction. Lots of par 4s and a couple par 5s. The holes lengths range from 250 footers to at least one tee and basket combo extending beyond 1000 feet. Water comes into play in the form of a creek a few times. I loved (7) which required smart placement short of the creek and then the approach played was up the flood plain bank and was punctuated with graceful basket placement setting. Holes (13) thru (16) were a bit of a letdown being poorly designed wider park style plays. Holes (2) through (4) were all very similar plays. I was a bit surprised that not one hole directly paralleled the creek for the entire length of the hole. Also, only one stare-down ace run on the entire layout, (6). I emptied my putter inventory on this hole and pinged a tree each time.
- CHARACTER - A great course map along with shelter and picnic table near the junction start for both the Champ 18 course and the Rec course. The Champ 18 White layout has nice sized 5 foot by 12 foot concrete tees. All of them were in great shape. Only a few benches but the circular chill area on (18) was an awesome commandeered feature. Several picnic tables and some walled off stone work. A great place to watch throwers on hole (18) consistently chuck their discs into trees. (see cons Hole 18). The baskets were mostly good but a few were showing some minor damage. There's a practice basket by tee (1). Finally, many tees had an awesome trash can that served as a duel function bag table having a nice wooden top.
- NATURAL BEAUTY - Well above average and I scored the course just above a 3.5 out of 5. The tree coverage and changing elevations were the best positive contributing factors. On the flipside, I was not overly impressed by the creek. Way too many unnatural elements in it including sand, course gravel and lots of trash has found its way in it. Also, trash in general was an issue (see cons)

A great course that should be excellent, but there are far too many flaws.
- MAINTENANCE - The park's fairways were well mowed for my visit. However, once a player strays a bit off fairway, things get real dicey with large tree limbs and even trees down everywhere. I'm not referring to the signature fallen trees mid fairway like the one on (17), which was awesome, I'm referring to the large trees just off fairway being succumb by termites and have been left rotting for years.
- HOLE (18) - This was the least maintained hole and is almost entirely un-mowed due to lots of larger downed branches. In addition, the hole has no line to the basket being a poke and hope shot.
- TRASH - I saw a substantial amount of trash on the course. Most of it I think was from the random people just stowing around, but some of it no doubt had to have been from disc golfers. I subtracted my score for natural beauty a touch due to this issue.
- DISCONTINUITY - Lots of substantial walks between holes be sure and download the map to a phone or print one out. Even with the great navigational markers at the baskets, I still found myself referring to it several times.
- BACK TEES - I had every intention of showing up here to see what kind of licking the back tees could dish out. Realizing on hole (1) that the back tees weren't paved was a shock and disappointment. There is already a separate Recreational level course in the park, so I don't understand the reasoning for not widening the appeal of the multi-course park and giving the premiere amenities to the premiere challenge. Tees are very important to me so I ended up throwing the White layout instead. In addition, the back tees add very little additional flavor to the course often being just an additional 30 to 50 feet in length on the same line.
- FORGIVENESS - To newer players, this course can be very punishing. The champ 18 course is not the course to take a first timer too or even a tenth timer too. Way too much length and too many hazards. I never once strayed into the creek, but sending a disc into it after a string of raining days probably means a lost disc. Overgrowth is very heavy in spots. I spent a good 15 minutes looking for my discs during my round.
- POISON IVY - It's all over the place and players are no doubt going to throw into a patch or two on this long layout.
- TIME PLAY - This one took me 90 minutes blind solo first time. Figure a four some could be here 2 ½ to 3 hours to get a round in.
- LOCATION - Although not too far from I57, figure 15 minutes from the exit, the course is literally in the middle of nowhere in the center of the country. The fact that the town is named Centralia seems very fitting.
- RANDOM PEOPLE - I was a bit surprised by the sheer number of misfits blindly strolling around and chilling at the park benches. On (15), I threw my disc a bit long near the basket and when I went searching for it in the heavy overgrowth and I was startled by a couple of tweaked-out meth-heads deep in the woods.

Foundation Park was the 7th course I visited that had a rating above a 4.5 upon my arrival. Although this is a great course and perhaps borderline excellent course, it fell well short of my expectations. Perhaps I should just chalk it up to that this is not my preferred style of course. But unfortunately, this is not the case as I've played several courses just like this one that I've rated between a 4.0 and 4.6. The holes here just don't match the vibrant epicness or amenities of the courses I've rated above a 4.0 If the Blue tees were concrete, the signage were more effective, there was seating on more holes and the trash issues were addressed, I think the holes here are just good enough to achieve about a 3.9 to 3.95 in my rating preference method. When I compare this layout to a similar style courses of a similar DGCR rating, like Hobbs Farm in Georgia, Mahr Park in Kentucky, Tom Brown in Florida or Harry Myers in Texas for example, Foundation Park is not even close. Regardless, This is still gotta be the best course within a 50 to 75 miles radius and also possibly a top 5 Illinois course.

All concrete tees. A well maintained course. Roughs that are indeed rough, but not forested. Pins that are challenging but playable.

This is as fantastic as the reviewers say it is.

Only one negative. It's too far from my home.

As a player with only two years experience -- in my late 60s -- I thought this course was brilliantly laid out, maintained very well, flowed effortlessly, and was a joy to play. I was a bit concerned about playing this course ... I didn't know how I'd perform. In fact, it didn't matter. It was just fun at every tee, on every fairway, and at every pin. I very highly recommend this course. Very challenging but very smart.

nice flow. great tee pads, mowed fairways. great signage.

nothing notable.

I am a mediocre player at best. this is the best course. I've played in the greater ST Louis metro area (15 and counting). though I was challenged by all the holes, I never felt my lower level play was a liability. it did indeed challenge me to up my game, which is a good thing. . . . I played with a group who play together a lot and we all agreed this is the best course we've played . . .ever. . . Kudos to the Foundation for creating a very nice course. Will be returning. . . .

Foundation Park's Champ 18 course has several really nice holes. It is long and difficult. The park very nice, and has good open grassy space as well as nice tree coverage in other spots. There main tees are concrete, there are tee signs, and the Titan baskets are super solid. There is a driving range and practice baskets. Moderate elevation change on a few holes, but nothing drastic. A stream that was running high and fast from overnight rainstorms. I tended to enjoy the holes closer to the water that were not so wide open. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 17, and 18 were my favorites. Great use of the water and trees to shape different shots.

Navigation was an issue in between holes in one or two places. A few more signs would be nice. Mud was bad in a few spots, but that is to be expected with the large amount of rain in the prior day or two. Long tees were not concrete all the way around.

Really a nice course, in a nice park. Some interesting contours to the land and thick trees near the water that were fun to try and place the perfect throw. It is surely challenging. Not the most exciting course, but making great use of the space. I wish I had played when it was not so saturated from rain. A better score and dry socks would have made my visit a bit more enjoyable.

Many different shot shapes to utilize more discs in the bag and change your game up a bit.

Nice tee pads, trash cans, signage, benches.

Love the creek play.

Great park all around.

Too many low disc swatting branches.

Hole length on a few seemed a bit excessive but the par rating was generous enough.

That's a bout it for cons.

I loved this course! It's about 1 1/2 hr drive but stories of the hole length always scared me away. Nah! It aint like that. You don't have to have a big arm to enjoy this course. But I do recommend just slowing down and concentrate on placement over distance.

Can't wait to go back!

- This is a beautiful park with real character and the course is laid out quite well. There is a great variety of holes that will test most aspects of your game. If you have difficulty throwing 300'+ shots accurately you will struggle here.

- Despite most of the holes being 400'+, I was consistently pulling out my mid-ranges in order to make a more accurate, dependable shot, even on the par 5 holes. This is not your typical par 54 course! I believe the score cards list the par at around 72 but I would probably peg it closer to a 65 or so.

- The concrete pads were some of the best I've played on.

- Course is in desperate need of tree trimming. There are several locations where overgrown trees or low-hanging branches eat an excellent shot. A local informed us that a curmudgeon on the park board won't allow the club to cut any trees. Its unfortunate because the course getting a bit "wild" is one of the biggest things holding it back. Courses should be like well tended gardens, not forests.

- Dangerous creek crossings. There are five holes with some wide, deep creeks to cross. A few are crossed by playing hop-scotch across concrete pylons spaced across the gap. One has a metal plank that is about 1.5' wide and a rope to stead yourself. Another hole has a wooden plank about 2' wide and no rope. The last is hole 18 and fortunately the creek bed was dry because we couldn't find any way to cross the creek without walking back out to the road and around. These aren't huge concerns but I was a bit worried when my wife was trying to cross them, and I would definitely be worried about young kids trying. They add character to the outing, true, but they aren't safe and they aren't family friendly.

- Hole 18 was a disappointment. The course is a thrill ride of exciting holes (especially through the back 9) but it seemed like the designer was unsure how to finish back at the parking lot. After the majesty of the preceding holes you're treated to a dinky poke-and-hope putter shot back to your car.

Wow, Centralia was a lot of fun to play. Fun and challenging are the two words I would use to describe this experience, and I can't wait to come back.

My rating was a tough decision - I would honestly love to give this course a 4.5. I believe its peak potential is 4.5, but the problems I mentioned above are what hold it back. Here is my feedback - implement these and I'll gladly up to 4.5.

1. Build honest-to-goodness bridges for my family to walk across. Someone is going to get hurt.
2. Find a different hole 18. Something with pizzazz.
3. Convince that park board to let you tend the course - any horticulturalist will tell you that pruning limbs is actually good for trees, and removing certain trees are beneficial for the land.

Beautiful course even though I played it in January. The course is set in a city park and makes very good use of the landscape. David McCormack, the guy who designed the course, wasn't allowed to remove a single tree and he did an awesome job! You could never tell.

Even though it's in flat So. Illinois, the whole course makes very good use of the available hilly terrain. Holes 1, 5 and 16 are about the only open holes where you can see the basket at the end. I'd say about half of the holes are pretty significant dog legs, again illustrating out the good use of terrain to make an interesting course. And the woods are great! There are lots of trees that make for good scenery and obstacles, but no holes that are tunnel-like. It's got a good open feel.

It's easy to navigate. Well signed and there is an accurate map for each hole at every tee.

It's challenging without making you want to pull your hair out. A few duecable holes, but you have to work for them.

And even though I didn't utilize it, there is a practice putting area.

There is a pretty good sized creek that runs through the heart of the course. It's not a problem for gameplay. It's actually a cool element that comes into play on several holes. But the crossings are pretty sketchy. In most spots, there are tipped over (and icy in January) concrete columns that need to be re-done.

And there are no permanent tee pads. I think this was another regulation set by the park. There were a few rubber ones, but for some reason, it was only on 3 or 4 holes. Some consistency would have been nice.

Great course. I'll make a point to plat it again!

The course plays through a hilly forested park, with a large area dedicated solely to disc golf. It's great to play a round without ever having interference from other park uses. None of the elevation changes are drastic, but they are used quite well to add difficulty and variety, along with a few really fun downhill shots. There are two tees and two basket positions that seem to be moved reasonably often, so there is a ton of variety to be had. The red tees are tough, and the blue tees are brutal, even for skilled players.

There is awesome variety in hole shapes here. The lines through the woods and between the clumps of trees on the more open shots are used to force all kinds of different shots, and you'll need to be able to execute these lines to have any chance of scoring well. Most holes have plenty of punishment for errant shots that can easily add strokes to your score, even the more open holes often have baskets tucked in to risky spots. There are a few shorter holes mixed in, but the course plays long and challenging without ever feeling like the holes are just 'long for long's sake'.

There are course maps available for each set of tees at the beginning of the course, and basic signage at both sets of tees, making it fairly easy to navigate the course. The course flows well, you don't have to do too much extra walking between holes. Both sets of tees are pretty easy to find. The 9 across the park road is a great bonus, and makes a nice warm up for this tough course.

To me the tee pads are the biggest con here. both sets of tees are natural with occasional rubber pieces, and many are pretty rutted out. On long holes, having a good surface to tee from makes a huge difference, and there are a lot of those longer holes here. The signage could use a little work, with better ideas of hole layout and an indicator of which pin position is currently in use, it's a lot of extra walking on this course to walk up most of the fairways to see where to throw. Many of the creek crossings were recently upgraded it seemed, there are just a couple that could use a little more work.

This is a tough championship caliber course that will test any players' skills. Beginners will find it very long, difficult and punishing, it's not at all meant to be friendly to newer players. Intermediate level players will be tested and challenged from the red tees, and will need to have a great day to score well. Better players will find the reds interesting, and find the blues a great test of top players' skills, especially throwing for distance while hitting tight lines. This is definitely a must play if you're anywhere near here.

-Very challenging course!!!!!! (major PRO)
-Scenic land
-Good workout (for a decent-medium skilled player)

-Maps not to scale
-Due to poor mapping on the score cards/tee boxes, we did not know where to aim a lot of the time
-More bridges would have been essential(even if they are half rate)
-Slipped on a few drives due to muddy tee boxes.

I would enjoy playing again even though I shot poorly.

*Multi-shot, par 4 & par 5 holes
*Great variety of terrain -- long open bomber holes, tight wooded holes, holes along & over a creek & grassy open wooded holes
*Variety of shots required & hole shapes
*Located in great, huge city park -- course in a DG dedicated area with a nice stone pavillion @ entrance to course
*Not crowded....I played mid-day on a Tuesday & didn't see anyone else playing the entire time
*Multiple teepads
*1st time playing on Titan baskets -- they definitely catch well

*Dirt teepads
*There are 2 sets - long & short - but the longs seemed hardly played to the point of being tough to find & semi-overgrown, so I played the shorts
*easy to lose a disc - i was playing alone & searching on ~ 1/3 of the holes
*lots of blind holes - tough to tell where to throw on more than 1/2 the holes ... seemed like every hole was blind even if it didn't need to be
*many holes overgrown in summer with low-hanging branches; probably a non-issue in other seasons
*a couple of holes ... # 18 in particular ... had no fairway, just throw n' hope you don't hit an early tree

Very good course with potential to be even better with cement teepads

Foundation Park is a beautiful setting for just about any activity, made all the better with 27 holes of challenging and fair disc golf! Well maintained and manicured, and I ran across 3 deer while playing as well.
- There is a hole for all players out here. Long open bombers, short technical turnovers, sharp hyzers, downhill floaters, roller and over the top opportunities all exist here.
- Challenging 2 and 3 shot holes, which are a favorite of mine are common.
- Tee signs that show tee and pin placement make hole navigation easier.
- 27 holes! I played both courses, and while the pro course is definitely more challenging, I found the rec course enjoyable as well. It's a good place to work on your finesse game.

- The dirt tee pads were not a problem when I played due to recent lack of rain. Mid spring however, I imagine the experience would be different.
- There are maps at the first hole, but navigating to the next hole can be confusing if you don't know where you're going. There are directional arrows under most baskets, but not all.

Overall, if you're near Centralia, go play Foundation. You will not be disappointed.