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.