Hudson Park is an obnoxiously fun recreational 18-hole course in the north county region of St. Louis. This short, wooded course is a great test for newer players to try out their accuracy, as well as a fun and chill experience for more experienced players.

Location of Hudson Park is pretty convenient, just minutes off of I-270 and not terribly hard to get to from I-70. There's construction on I-270 as of the writing of this review, so be aware of that if you come to this park. There are gas stations and restaurants close to the park, so any needs before or after your round can easily be met. In terms of multiple courses in one day, Dunegant to the north makes for a great 1-2 combo with Hudson, being just minutes away on the other side of I-270. With Sioux Passage, Endicott, White Birch, Carrollton, and Creve Coeur Lake all being relatively close to Hudson, this area of St. Louis has no shortage of fun 18-hole courses if you want to make a day of tossing plastic.

Park Amenities are somewhat limited in this park, but check all of the boxes disc golfers will look for. The main parking lot has bathrooms close by, and each hole on the course has a basket or bucket for trash, so don't be a litterbug. In addition to disc golf, this park has some walking paths and pavilions that you'll pass during your round, as well as an archery range and horseshoe pit.

Course Equipment also checks all of the boxes at this course. The baskets are Gateway Titans that are in great shape. The tee signs are laminated but all seem to be holding up great. Each sign has a hole layout graphic, direction to the next tee, pin distance, par, and elevation change. The tees are artificial turf, and from what I'm reading in other reviews, seem to be relatively new to the course. The tees vary in length, but all of them are long enough to get the job done. There are also plenty of directional signs pointing you to either the next tee, or where the next section of holes is, making navigation pretty easy for a first timer to this course.

Course Design at Hudson is centered primarily around tight, short fairways that have varying levels of obstacles to navigate. Many of the holes on this course have open fairways that have just few trees you need to avoid that are not along the fairway outlines. That being said, many of the off-fairway areas are pretty thick, so while most areas will be relatively easy to retrieve your disc from if you go off-course, scrambling for a par will be a challenge. Only two holes top 300 feet in length, so many players will be comfortable carrying a lighter bag and leaving their distance drivers in the car.

Variety in terms of shot shaping is pretty satisfying at this course despite the short overall distance. Holes 2, 7, 11, 14, and 16 finish to the right, while holes 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, and 15 have left ending fairways. The rest of the holes play relatively straight, so you will need to bust out many different angles accurately to get a good score on this course. This course also has a good amount of elevation change, with the tee signs doing a great job of showing the level of change you need to account for on each hole. Where this course lacks in distance, it makes up for in many other areas with its design.

Course Difficulty is welcoming to a wide range of players. Newer players will find this course to be a good challenge of accuracy in a more tightly wooded environment before graduating to more difficult wooded courses with longer fairways or tighter gaps. More experienced players will get a kick out of this course for being a mid-range and putter friendly round with very gettable birdie and ace opportunities.

This course has few cons to it, but here's a few that people may notice or appreciate knowing ahead of time.

Course Equipment at Hudson is great, but not perfect. A couple of tees are either bumpy or really weathered, especially 7. I didn't have any issues with them, but some of the tees could use some additional attention to elevate the course quality.

Variety in terms of distances is not really existent here, with 1 and 15 being the only times I saw an opportunity to throw a fairway driver purely for distance as an intermediate player. If you're into crushing drives, look elsewhere for a round of golf.

Mud and Water could be an obstacle after rains here, as there is a creek that runs by part of the course, and some of the holes and pins are in lower lying areas.

Thick Rough is present around many of the holes here, so while it shouldn't be too hard to find your disc, it may be hard getting to it.

Playing this course was a very fun experience. I'm a sucker for shorter wooded courses, and this one is clearly given a lot of attention by the local community. It's relatively new at around 6 years old, and is maturing very nicely.

While there aren't many cons, the design keeps it from being among the elite courses of the St. Louis area. This isn't really a knock on the course though; it really looks like the designers maximized the land the course is on, and it's a great addition to the area with its difficulty level being more accessible than some other courses nearby.

If you're passing through St. Louis and have time for just a couple rounds, I wouldn't put Hudson on the short list for you to check out while you're visiting. If you're a local though, I highly recommend taking a half day to check this course out, and throwing Dunegant into your plans as well, as they make for an easy 1-2 punch for a weekend morning. It took me too long to get to these two courses for my first round at each. I won't make the same mistake for my second. This course is super fun, and deserves all the love it gets from the locals and more.

I had low expectations for Hudson Park based on some of the comments in the reviews. The lack of tee pads and the newness of the course made it sound like it might be a bit of a slog. But when I finished, I immediately turned around to start another 18.

I've only been playing a few months, and I found all of the lines to be totally reasonable but challenging. Higher skilled players won't be pushed much here, but beginners and lower-end intermediates will find clear, fair lines that will require good throws to hit and some stiff scrambles for bad throws.

I was lucky enough to throw for a half hour with two guys (Kelly and Lou) who have put in a ton of work here. I liked their enthusiasm and their friendliness. This is their baby and they love it. We can't thank them enough.

Other reviews are pretty accurate in their pros and cons.


Fun
Good on windy days
Moderate difficulty level
Great use of terrain
Well-considered lines and smart basket placements
Better flow than other area courses with helpful signage/markers
Pretty park setting
Great for mids/putter work

Still a young course, still much work to do
Some wet/muddy low areas here and there, and soon there could be erosion problems
Retrieving errant discs from some spots is a bit steep and dicey, be careful
Lack of tee pads

This one is gonna be a beauty soon enough. In terms of the style and technical demands of the course, it sort of fills a niche in between White Birch and Endicott, which is of course very welcome.

Favorite Holes:

17: A straight shot with one thin middle guardian tree that messes with your head, finishing slightly downhill to a deceptively fast green.

8: It screams "Ace Run" and is somehow very aesthetically pleasing with the basket slightly downhill straight-on and tucked next to a big tree

10: A rather sharp hyzer around a corner protected by some well-spaced but very real fairway trees.

Hudson Park is a really fun disc golf course to play. If you like playing disc golf, like having fun, and have fun playing disc golf, this is all you really need to know. Go play it!

What? You are still reading? Sheesh! Alright, I'll write more.

Hudson Park is a short wooded course with some really good elevation to work with. A few shots like #1 and #15 have a park-style feel, but most of the shots are wooded with really wide defined throwing routes. #1 and #15 are also the only 300'+ shots, so if you can hit your lines there will be birdie opportunities early and often. If you don't hit your lines? Well there is some pretty thick shule that makes scrambling a chore, so you are a lot better off just hitting your lines.

There is a good variety to the shots. None of the holes are really epic/memorable, but holes like #7, #16 and #17 are pretty spots to throw. There are a couple of shots (#6 and #18) where the pin is 20'+ higher than the tee, and holes #2, #3 #5, #7 and #11 feature elevated tee shots. Hole #10 has a slanting fairway with some rollaway danger.

The baskets are Gateway Titans, the tee signs are informative but are just laminated signs so they may not hold up. The course has good, logical flow and a lot of "next tee" directional signs. There are benches or stumps to sit on at a lot of tees. It's just...it's just so darn fun. If I could have a disc golf course in my backyard, I'd want it to play like Hudson Park. Go play it!

OK, for those of you that are allergic to fun there are things you can use as an excuse to poo-poo the place:
*The tees are natural and stink, the course needs better tees.
*Hole #17 tees on a downhill slant, so good luck teeing there when it rains.
*The distances are short, so if you HAVE to throw far to impress your friends it's not going to let you show off that particular skill.
*A lot of the course is low-lying and kinda torn up, so it's not the best place to go after it has rained.
*The shule is pretty thick and could stand to be cleaned out some.
*There are still some ankle-breaker stumps in the fairways. They get painted so you can see most of them, but they are out there.
*If you are on a road trip and are looking for the DGCR-approved definition of the "best" courses in the area, it's a recreational short course that isn't going to make the cut.

I flipped an old Comet into the shule on hole 12 and had a screaming/cursing hissy fit when I couldn't find it before I noticed there was a house. Right. There. Sorry, disc golf course neighbors.

OK, so I have to rate the place. Ugh. It's a short rec course, and those don't rate so great. If it was perfect it would be a 3, and it's not perfect because of bad tees. So it ends up at a 2.5. I'd really like to rate it higher, though. It's a really fun course. Anybody who plays disc golf for fun is going to like this course. You should really just go and play it already.

Tightly wooded course with Fairways that feel... well, fair. No poke and hope here.
GREAT use of the terrain of the park.
Never crowded.
Plenty of elevation changes. The pictures do NOT do it justice.
Fantastic signage!
Several signature feel holes.
The distance is beginner friendly, but the layout will challenge every skill level.
Pretty good flow.

I lost a few discs? Not a tons of cons.
Natural tee pads are a bummer in the rain.
Newer course, so the vegetation is still getting beat in

I really enjoy this course every time I play it. There's a rooster somewhere near the 3rd tee. Listen for him. Bring shoes that can handle a more rugged course. It's in a park, but it doesn't have your normal STL park-golf feel.

-Fair lines
-Good for beginners
-Titan Baskets
-Lots of temporary signs to help with navigation (they will disappear if not made more permanent)

A fun little course through the woods with lots of putter shots and some little elevation changes.

-natural tee pads are nasty
-some holes in lowland areas that hold lots of water
-some boring holes and nothing that stood out as special

Needs some time to break in and desperately needs grass seed/mulch and of course, tee pads.

It reminds me of a 1980s course designed more for lids than discs, but I enjoy throwing putters, so this it is still fun.

Hudson Park DGC has just recently been upgraded to 18 holes. The sign says over 500 man hours of volunteer labor completed this task. To those volunteers, I applaud you and your efforts.

Hudson DGC has a sign pointing to the course a couple of blocks away on the corner where you turn to reach the course. What's next? A billboard on the freeway?

The course has these, not so wonderful, natural tee pads. There are small white stakes to mark these pads. I'm sure they'll be replaced with concrete sometime in the future. The baskets are Gateway models with triple chains and #'s in the middle. There are (I should say were) little laminated next tee signs. They won't last. The mauroding teens will eventually destroy them. There are also laminated tee signs which show the distance, par, elevation loss or gain and the hole number.

Hole lengths are mostly short, around 225' average maybe but it's the technical nature of the course which provides the challenge. Combined with the fact, that quite a few baskets are either tucked into the brush or hidden off the tee or both, creates the challenge here.

# 7 features a pretty natural grass fairway, I liked that. There are a couple of nice short ACE runs. I probably liked # 17 as my favorite hole here. It's 240' with the basket visible from the tee and plenty of small trees to contend with.
My thanks to whomever painted the tripping roots Red. It makes it easier to avoid them. Nice touch.

Natural tee pads are rough. They need work.
Laminated signs are great but have no chance of lasting.
I didn't really care for all the baskets tucked into and out of sight. I prefer visible baskets from the tee.
Overall lack of distance is equaled out, somewhat, by the technical skill needed on this course.

One can easily see the results of so many hours of volunteer labor that has been done here. There's more to be done but I'm sure this course will only improve with time and play. It's probably not the best course to play alone your first time through but I was looking and there was nobody else to be seen at 6:30 am when I played.

There is great mix of wooded and open holes.
I like how it begins and ends at the parking lot.
Wildlife- birds, racoons, deer, and a rooster?
There are a few holes that could be ace-able given the right throw.
The markers indicating where the next hole is works great.
I love hole 5. Throw an over stable lefthanded with a bit of anhyzer and watch it tail back at the end and park in next to the basket.
Throw a sidearm or anhyzer right handed on 7 and it can treat you very well. Hit the rough and watch out.
Course is neatly mapped out on the kiosk at the first hole.
Tee signs are neatly designed.
Close to highway.

There are a few small stumps remaining in fairways that I've stepped or tripped on, hole 8 especially.
Some of the fairways were/are fairly viney. I don't know that much can be done with that.
There is Orange fencing on hole 3 and 8 both blocking what looks to be dangerous ditches. I have never seen anything like that before. I'm sure it the Parks and Rec's way of CYA.
Close to highway.

I have played many courses and this could hold its own with the big dogs. I see that there is mention that the second nine will be put into over fall winter and early spring. I like what the group has done and I'm looking forward to what is to come.
There is a neat canvas of terrain that they can certainly paint beautifully if they put their mind to it.
I like the course more and more each time I play.

Distance on the holes is beginner friendly as the description says. Won't need a big arm here. However, that does not mean this course is super simple. There are some doglegs and trees, tunnel shots and elevation changes that can still make it really fun. They might even keep you coming back to try and figure out the best way to lower your score.

Hole flow is good with not much extra walking other than going around shelter house a couple times. Shelter is not really in play. Flow is quick so you can easily play a couple times to get in a full 18.

Course is easy to find but off the major roads and it has a nice parking lot.

The rough is pretty rough. There are some bush and vine masses that you don't want to lose a disc in (hole 1 by the basket, left side of both 2 and 3, left side of 5). Players are starting to cut some paths into the brush retrieving discs, but briars and vines still make these areas difficult.

Park pavilion has restrooms but they are only unlocked if someone is renting the shelter. Nearest alternative is Quiktrip about 1 mile away.

There are only occasional parties renting the pavilion, and they don't really come into play. Otherwise, park is extremely quiet and you won't have to worry about non-golfers being in play.

Pros- It starts near and ends at the parking lot. All par 3's. Restrooms available and plenty of pavilion space. Variety of elevation change and shot selection. You will only need a couple discs on this course. One of each. Tee signs, directional arrows, map, tee box designation markers and kiosk.
Overall-Hole 1 gets things started with a controlled Anhyzer shot out of the gate. Note: The basket you can see from the tee is actually Hole 3. Hole 2 has a cool Cottonwood tree that's about 200 years old next to the tee box and a good/easy sidearm (RH) flick. The fairway is tight and keep to the right if you can. Too much to the left and could be hazardous. Hole 3 is deceiving. There is a small valley you throw over with good elevation change and wide bridge to cross. Hole 4 is an upshot with 3 guardian trees at the top. Watch out for a ravine at the top to the left. If you can sneak it through and land in the field behind them, putting is easy. Hole 5 is near the pavilion and would be tough to find if you weren't looking for it. This fairway is somewhat tight and on a downward slope. Hitting a tree is certainly a possibility towards the basket as it turns left. Again, stay to the fairway on this. Ricocheting too far to either side is not much fun. Hole 6 is a nice tiered upshot with a path carved into the hillside. Hole 7 could easily get mixed up with a path that is immediately after Hole 6. If you take it you'll end up at the basket for 7. Hole 7 tee is past the pavilion and up the path back towards the parking lot on the right. This is a tough shot. If you have a spotter it may be helpful. It's not a blind shot per se but there is some thick briars to the left if you're not careful keeping in fairway. Hole 8 is a relative easy shot to a combination of Cottonwood/Sycamore tree that is straight ahead. Hole 9 through 13 is over the bridge crossing to the right of the path, you can miss it. Hole 9 tee is straight of the bridge. This fairway has a nice s-curve shot if you can muster the turn. Hole 10 is a hard dogleg left shot. Many guardian trees in the middle of the fairway can keep you from getting through. Hole 11 is a low ceiling shot that opens up to the right. Basket has wide landing zone. Hole 12 is a straight shot ace-run. Be warned the rough on either side of the fairway is nasty. Stay on the fairway. Hole 13 is a tight run through some trees that could make it difficult to get through. Holes 14-18 cross back over the bridge. After crossing back over the bridge stay to the path and the tee for 14 is off the left of the next bridge (which you'll cross). Once you throw Hole 14 take bridge and cross over to the fairway. Hole is tucked back slightly to the right. Plenty of trees make this a tough shot. Hole 15 is about as wide open as you'll find here. A right-hand back-hand dream of 320'. Longest on the course. Let it rip with nice finish to the left near some trees guard the basket. Cross back over the bridge and you'll notice that Hole 16 tee is just after the Emergency Call Box on your right. Hole 16 is tucked into a dog-leg right blind. If you can keep it on the fairway and get into opening you'll have some success. Too far left and right and it's thick and tough to get out of. Hole 17 has a narrow fairway. With a controlled flight, making it to open field is necessary to put this in for 3. There is a fallen tree that is in close proximity to basket so keep in mind when approaching. Hole 18 is similar to upshot on Hole 3 but is open at top and strong Hyzer should get you close. As long as you hit the top of the hill you'll finish nicely.

Cons-The rough can be unforgiving if shots are not controlled. You will only need a couple discs on this course. Watch out poison ivy. Additionally, some of the new fairways have recently been cleared and tripping hazards are evident.

I have played golf all over St. Louis (and country) the and this has the potential to be the best beginner friendly 18 Hole course I've played. If you have had the chance to play many of the courses in this region, most support the intermediate player. I'm very fortunate to have a variety to choose from living here in St. Louis. Hudson Park is not entirely pitch and putt. Although you can play with one or two discs, there are certainly a couple holes you can use a driver on. I've played this course multiple times with friends and family (three kids under 11) for the past year and everyone enjoys the simplicity and appreciated the challenges. This as a good starter course for a new player with not a lot of arm strength and learning the basics or intermediate player working on technical aspect of game (a good balance of left and right shots). It's certainly worth an hour or so to play here. You will enjoy this course!