Centralia, IL is known for the monstrous beast that the Championship Course is but the 9 hole "Recreational" course is a nice course in its own right. If you like the breadsticks at Olive Garden with the alfredo sauce that's what I would define this course as: a wonderful appetizer before being treated to the main course!

What I find most fascinating about the Recreational course is that from the Red Tees this course is 3,500 feet over 9 holes. If you multiplied that by 2 for the purposes of seeing what the distance would be with 18 holes you'd have a course of 7,000 feet. Even taking aside that this course is fairly open, that's a pretty long Recreational Course in my opinion! My point is, this course is no slouch: you can make a 4 on this course. Here are my pros:

1) Like its big brother, this course has nice tee signs and the MARVELOUS Gateway Titan baskets. These are some of the most sturdy and durable baskets in the industry!

2) This 9 hole course is an easy play. There is little chance for loss of disc and it flows really nicely. Its a short play and a nice warmup for the big course.

3) Tees: The course includes Yellow, Red and Blue tees. The difference between the longest and short tees are very dramatic. The shortest tees are truly EASY and really would be good for a brand new player.

4) Even for a Recreational Course the design was fun! The pin location for hole 2 was really neat so close to the creek. It was nice to see the designer do some neat things like that even with the title of a Recreational Course.

Favorite Hole: Hole 7 was a really neat hole with a cool green built around the pine trees. It was a fun throw and a pleasant surprise!

Like its big brother, this course doesn't have a lot of bad things going for it. Here are my cons:

1) This course was fairly flat and didn't have a lot of elevation. It was more open than the Championship Course and the visuals of the course were not quite as strong as the Championship Course.

2) I hate comparing this course to the Championship course but the Recreational Course didn't have the luster of a course that should be rated as a Phenomenal Course. The course had some nice shots but nothing screamed phenomenal about this course.

3) This course is called the Recreational Course for a reason: the lines are more open and the trees are not as burdensome. This course is meant for Recreational players. This doesn't take away from the course, in my opinion, because it serves its purposes but it does hold down the rating.

4) Some of the holes are a little repetitive but once again its designed to be an easier course so there's going to be some repetition.

Don't take the 2.5 rating the wrong way. If this course was 18 holes it would probably be a solid 3.5. Its tough for me to give a 9 hole course above 3.5 because its only 9 holes. But this course was a GREAT warmup for the big dog. This course is a great course to warm the arm up and a nice compliment to the Championship Course.

The best part about this course is that is plays right across the street from one of the best (most demanding) courses in the country. This course is a shorter and less technical version of it's big brother course. Played on the same type of land, but with far less trees and elevation. Therefore, this a great way to warm up for the championship course and/or bring a beginner to. I actually enjoyed this 9-holer, there just wasn't anything special about it.

Three sets of tees are provided here with yellow, red, and blue. The different tees do a nice job of giving a variety of looks and distances. Tee signs, tees, and Gateway Titan baskets are all in good shape. Grass is mowed low and the course is very well maintained. Next tee signs are in abundance.

There is a nice mix of distances: all the yellows are under 330, the reds range from 257-510, and blues from 333-633. It provides a nice variety with 3 wooded holes and 6 open holes. The open holes aren't anything special but do have some challenges and thoughtful pin positions behind trees. Good mix of anhyzer and hyzer shots.

-The open holes, while not complete throw-aways seemed repetitive and even a little boring. However, I understand the purpose of this course as a recreation course.
-No benches (but you wouldn't really need any as it only took me 40 minutes to play)
-Only red tees have concrete tee pads
-Not much elevation at all
-Not a whole lot of cons, just a very simple course. The designers did a great job making it serve it's purpose

While this course had some underwhelming holes, it actually had some really fun ones despite being a rec. course:

2-Hyzer shot in the woods going slightly uphill to the basket. Tough pin position behind multiple trees
8-Longest hole on the course, have to throw through different patches of trees
9- Great way to end the course with a pretty tunnel shot

This course plays across the street from the championship 18 hole course which is a great bonus. The course plays through mature trees, rolling grassy fairways, and some wooded tunnels. There is a nice variety of tighter shots and more open shots, and most holes have at least a little bit of elevation change to add challenge. The course does an excellent job for a 9 hole course of mixing up hole lengths and shapes, without being too challenging for the players who aren't quite ready for the 18 hole course.

There are two sets of tees on every hole, adding another level of variety and challenge, and making the course more interesting for different levels of player. The blue tees aren't signed, but aren't too difficult to find. The red tees have good signage with distances from both tees, and solid hole maps that make the course easy to figure out. There are course maps provided at the beginning of the course, which makes the couple flow issues not a big deal. The gateway titans are great baskets, and were in really nice shape.

The elevation available was used well, but this part of the park is pretty flat, making it a little less interesting. Some holes had a third (short) set of tees marked with yellow markers, but they weren't obvious on every hole, and weren't marked on the hole signs. All three sets of tees were natural and were a little rutted out in spots, they looked like they would get pretty bad in rainy weather. The hole signs don't indicate which pin position is in use, so you don't always know exactly where to throw.

This is one of the best 9 hole courses I've played, and it's even better when used as a warm up to the 18 hole course (they flow together as one big 27 hole course if you have the time and energy). There is enough challenge, especially from the longs, to keep better players interested, but not so much toughness that beginners will be too frustrated from the red tees.

This rec course is a good complement to the champ side course. It is a great course to improve your game if you are a beginner, about half the holes require good accuracy (1,2,3,9) the rest are more distance related but still require some navigation.

There are 3 tee boxes (blues reds yellows) and two pin placements per hole. This allows the beginner to choose their challenge (yellow for newbies, reds for more experienced, blues to really prep for the champ side).

Good mix of shots from hyzers, straight to slight anhyzers, as well as some opportunities for rollers.

Scorecards on hole 1

Not a huge challenge for the experienced player, but still fun.

Natural tee pads, no arrows for navigation between holes.

Some of the holes a bit repetitive, I'm thinking about 4, 5, 6. Which are similar but still different enough to make them fun.

A fun little warm up for the back nine, rumor has it that another nine will be put in soon.