The North course has some really unique lines and excellent use of elevation - no two holes are the same. The elevation will encourage midrange shots that sail forever but also discing up on short holes. Every hole is at least moderately wooded, so shot selection is important while still giving a few opportunities to air it out.

A handful of holes are especially heavily wooded, and while not super fun to play once, provide opportunity for anyone more familiar with the course to know which disc they should throw and at what speed since small mistakes will leave you off the fairway or with a long upshot.

There's hills near a few greens where disc speed and rollaways are possible, especially when there's an OB road nearby. It's especially difficult on the downhill holes, where getting up and down from quite away back, sometimes from the tee pad, is tempting but risky.

On some of the down-and-up holes, there's some great opportunity to launch the disc through all the trees, but hitting a trunk or some foliage will leave you far from the basket and down a hill. They again give both aggressive and conservative shot opportunities.

The summary of all this is, most holes require some kind of power, but whether you're shooting from the tee or the fairway, the angle and speed of the disc coming in are important if you want to land close to the basket.

Many tee signs were broken/missing, so I was relying on the map constantly. The baskets sometimes have hole numbers on them, but they're not the ones originally painted on the basket; they're stickered on later. It creates confusion a few times - be prepared to rely on the map.

There's some non-DG issues. The course plays near several roads and playgrounds, and at one point, a railroad track. Is that even legal? While it adds an OB challenge, it's a safety hazard especially when the optimal line plays over the road. It's especially bad if you don't know exactly where the obstacles are or where you are shooting.

As of this review, hole 15 is unplayable due to erosion destroying half the tee pad. But you can still walk down the fairway to 16 and see what 15 would be like, and its basket is still in place.

A couple of the heavily wooded holes (3, 14, 16) feel pretty boring, like a path already existed and a tee pad and basket are just stuck in. The others have a much better design.

Weeds have overgrown some of the fairways, making a variety of holes, especially the wooded ones, less fun. They're even growing over the tee pads a couple of times. Mowing is good because of the other park functions, but it seems like no one is working on the course.

With a second course on site, this park is a great place to come for a full afternoon of Disc Golf fun. In my opinion, North is the better of the two. There's also lots of other amenities in the park if you have a family or other hobbies.

The tee pads are a little small, but I rarely found the need for a massive run-up, and when I did, there was room behind the tee for one.

While this course could be a lot better, I appreciate the excellent design and hole variety enough to give it a pretty good rating.

Some holes have two tee pads, but I found them to add little to the course, and I just played from the first pad I saw for the hole. The alternate pin placements, however, will change up the course significantly.

Elevation use is dramatic
Beautiful mix of woods, water
Used most of my discs
Fair but challenging
Super quiet
Camping at Van Meter State Park is very convenient

A long drive from St. Louis
Signage can be confusing,
Some baskets/tees are shared
Absolutely need a course map 1st few times around

Van Meter State Park is about 10-12 miles to the north and offers terrific camping, lake fishing and killer trails. These courses, (North and South), are a must play! Just tie in an overnight stay (or two)!