Amazing course design, good baskets, challenging distances

Poorly maintained (mostly lack of mowing in summer). Natural tees and no signs (use UDisc for navigation).

I\'ve played many of the best courses all around the country. At its heart, this course has everything to be 5 stars. Unfortunately, nobody (including management - City of Carbondale) cares enough to make improvements or maintain the course. Still an incredible course that provides the challenge advanced players desire.

Brand New Baskets. Lots of risk vs reward holes, that make you pay for an errant shot but makes it a great feeling when you hit that line. Secluded in the woods but shares a club house with a ball golf course. So after a long hot round you can get a cold drink and a burger.

Much of the rough is not just rough it is brutal. Thick vegetation, brambles and berry vines. Many small stumps and roots that need to be cut out for safety. It still needs some signage, and could use concrete tee boxes. The low ground on 17 needs a path you can get across on. Lots of Poison Ivy.

This is a brand new course and they are still opening it up and clearing the fairways. I gave it a 4 for its potential. It will be a solid 4 maybe higher with some work. Tee signs with distances, this way to next hole signs and good tee pads will Make this a great course. This is not a beginners course, it could use a shorter 9 hole that is more forgiving. What I can see here is some great tournament play!!! C'Dale you hit an Ace with this. It is the best course in Southern Illinois. You 900+ players need to come play this!! SOON.

Mowed fairways, variety of shots, hard pin locations, woods, open space, tunnel shots.

Course is brand new. The grand opening is this Saturday, 6/15/13. So the course needs a lot of breaking in. I have 2 big cons that I can't ignore. The course flow makes it impossible to play just 9 holes. You pretty much have to play 18 holes, 'cause holes 9 and 10 are miles from the club house. There's a way to play an alternate 9 holes, (1-5, 15-18). So you're in for the long haul of all 18 holes. My other complaint is that a lot of stuff needs to be cut down to make some shots even possible. Pin locations are hard enough, but on a lot of holes, you're just throwing between trees and hoping. Not enough big windows.

With a few changes, and a bit of wear, this course will be outstanding, and World's-ready, easily. It's got tons of scenic changes. Holes 1,5,12,13,14,15 are wide open, and the rest are in the woods, with especially 6,7,8,9,10 being almost rain forest-like. Lots of tunnel shots! The mowed fairways are a HUGE plus, but the rough is 5' tall prairie grass, so even 1000 rated players are gonna lose a few. This is definitely a championship course, not beginner friendly. And in just a few months of play, or a year, this course will easily be 5 stars, and THE best course in Southern Illinois.

1. Good baskets

2. Unique holes

3. Great mix of open and wooded holes and both on a few different holes.

4. Chances to air it out and spots you gotta be short and technical

5. Challenges all parts of your game

6. Fairways are now clear in the woods for the most part

7. Off of the fairways in the woods have been cleared out greatly and it's much easier to find discs now in spots where it was not before.

8. Secluded

1. A couple of holes are designed around sticker bushes. One with them in the fairway and the other right by the basket

2. Sticker bushes are throughout the course in the rough and woods, Helps that most of the big ones have been burned.

3. Lots of chiggers and ticks during summer

4. Cockle bur.

5. Natural tee pads. Most are not bad but a few holes are somewhat difficult to get a good run-up and good footing.

5. Uses the same facilities as the ball golf course.

6. Some ball golf staff members don't make you feel very welcome.

7. Too many left to right tee shots.

8. Long grass in the fields makes discs hard to find when not mowed

Great course when it is maintained which has improved a lot since it first opened. The Carbondale Disc Golf club has done great work on cleaning up the course. As long as they continue to focus on clearing out the sides of the fairways and don't take down any more trees (which I'm told they are not going to do any more tree chopping) then the course is only going to get better. I advise any player that is new to the game or that is a rec player to play the short tees (marked by white sticks or red flags) as It will make your experience more enjoyable.

Hole Notes-
Hole 1- Tucked down far to the right
Hole 2- You can see it to the right
Hole 3- You can see it way down over the creek slightly right
Hole 4- Over the creek up the hill and to the right
Hole 5- Is none of the basket's you can see. It's far down to the right
Hole 6- Straight ahead
Hole 7- Walk a little up from the tee pad and you will see it straight ahead
Hole 8- Walk a little up from the tee pad and you will see it to the right
Hole 9- Just hit the gap with fade to the right and you should put yourself in a position to see the pin from there
Hole 10- Walk back and to the right and follow the path through the woods to the tee. Basket is Down to the right
Hole 11- Pad is up to the right from Hole 10 basket. You can see basket tucked in woods
Hole 12- Walk up through woods to tee pad. Throw as far as you can and stay a little to the right. The basket is way down to the left in between trees and you can't see it until you get close
Hole 13- Walk up thru the woods from 12 and you'll see the tee pad and basket straight ahead
Hole 14- Tucked down far to the right
Hole 15- Over some trees to the right
Hole 16- Walk back from Hole 15 through the gap in the woods to Hole 16 and you will see the pad and basket is to the left
Hole 17- Straight ahead
Hole 18- Hit the gap to the right and then it's up the hill. It's the basket you see when you walk up to #1 Tee.

Innova Discatcher baskets
Secluded
Mowed fairways
Stumps to sit on at most tees

Only natural tees
No trashcans
Signage still in the works
TICKS EVERYWHERE BRING SOME OFF!

Best part is that all of these cons can be fixed in a relatively short amount of time, and for only a little bit of money. Get concrete tees and good signage, This course is a 5!

I truly believe this may be one of the best courses in Southern Illinois. I will actually put it up there with Foundation Park in Centralia, IL. This course has all sorts of different shots so bring the whole bag.