- Nice park complex with a good handful of things to do.
- Course is nearly completely segregated from other activities. Just a couple near ballfields and roads, but not too bad.
- Great, perfectly surfaced trapezoid concrete tee pads. Perfect amount of grip.
- Great powder coated blue baskets. Classy. Faded flags on top of some.
- Good signage. About the only thing missing was layup-zone distances.
- Decent navigation, especially for the awkward layout. Next Tee markers on baskets, on tee box signs, as well as extra navigational Next Tee signs. Never got turned around.
- 10 - Great, wooded hole, with a well-defined fairway, and uniquely guarded basket.
- 12 - you just gotta see this hole to appreciate it. Among the greatest short holes in northern Illinois, for sure.
- 14 - This is the bee's knees of holes on the course. Elevated tee with a long, sweeping L to R fairway around a thick marsh. Or, big enough arms with big enough stones can go for it straight over the marsh or to the right. If you can carry the big trees, or sneak between them, there's mown fairway out there to be had. Driver beware though - I'd put finding a disc in the marsh/prairie at 50/50.

- Reading reviews beforehand, I really didn't think the long walks between holes and the layout concerns were going to bother me. But it did. It's not that I can't handle the walking, but there's nearly as much walking between holes as there is playing holes. It's not a knock on the designers - they did what that had to with the restrictions they had. Just unfortunate.
- Very unforgiving rough in the woods in places. Thick, and sometimes more than a 1-shot penalty. Considerably better than the first time I ever played it, however.
- 5 - the dreaded 'chair' design. Must hit a 10' x 10' landing zone 250 feet out just in order to properly layup again, which at best gets you a 50' or 60' putt for birdie. Just not a huge fan any time I find this type of hole on a course.
- 18 - a little awkward, but a perfectly executed shot can probably get you within 40 ft of the basket for a look at 2. Just a little odd, and a bit anti-climactic as the last hole.

- The course appears to get quite a bit of play. My first time through this course four years ago included some very unforgiving rough, as well as some small nuisance trees in fairways that I though detracted from the hole design. This course has broken in since then very nicely.
- The course does include a very very short red layout, that probably gets played very very little.
- It's a pretty darn good park course with lots of variety. Open, then into the woods, and then back out into the open. Good equipment and great play-ability. A strong 3.5 course that anyone can have a really good time on.

- Course is located in a very nice park and is well maintained
- Good mix of tightly wooded and more open holes
- Elevation is not exceptional, but used very well
- Baskets, tee pads, and signs all in good shape. Benches on many holes

- While considerably more cleaned up and cleared out than previously, some of the wooded holes could still use some work, and possibly tree reduction
- Long walks between holes on multiple occasions
- Poison Ivy, burrs, and thorns make venturing into the rough a potentially annoying, uncomfortable, or painful experience

Indian Oaks provides a varied and challenging round of golf in a well maintained, multi-use park. The course is split fairly evenly between more open, park style golf with large, mature trees as obstacles, and tight wooded golf with narrow fairways forcing shot shapes. There is a good amount of elevation in play as well. While most of the greens are relatively safe, a large number of holes have you throwing up or downhill.

The shot variety needed is good, and the open holes still have enough obstacles to remain interesting, even while you can play several lines off the tee. Hole length is well varied, <200' to 500', and is mixed well throughout the course. You are never throwing several short or long holes in a row, which I think really helps with flow and the feel of the round.

A couple of the wooded holes ride the line between being challenging, and there simply being no clear route to the basket. Lines exist of course, but some of the windows are so small, that all but a perfect shot will get knocked down, and some fantastic shots will just get an unlucky tree kick, and turn a birdie look into a bogey. Even still, there are some great holes here, including two true par 4's that require two excellent shots for a look at a 3.

The course has been cleaned up a lot, but there are still some areas where the rough goes beyond punishing a bad shot, to being excessively harsh, or potentially dangerous in the case of the frequently present thorns and poison ivy. Most of these areas can be avoided with safe, smart golf, but everyone has bad shots, and it is no fun to end up in.

The equipment here is very nice. The Blue baskets are easy to see, and flags are frequently present as well. The concrete tee pads are large and grippy, and the signage is very nice. There are benches by many of the holes as well which is always nice.

The long walks have been mentioned before, but they really are quite long, and break up the flow of the course. Nothing to get worked up over, but an unfortunate reality.

Overall, this is a very nice course with a number of fun and challenging holes. If the level of work that has gone into this course over the last couple of years is maintained, this course will continue to get better and better.

The course is set in a large multiuse park. The baskets are blue powder coated chainstars that are in great shape and catch nicely. Many have large flags on top of them making them easier to see in the woods. There are concrete tees for all the longs. These are all large and very grippy. the tee signs are large and easy to spot. They have a colorful hole map, positions for any alternate tees or pads, distances, pars and a directional to the next hole. There are also next tee directionals at the bottom of each basket that were all accurate which is nice if you forget to look when at the tee pad. There's a practice basket by the parking lot south of hole 1. There were only 2 other people there on a saturday afternoon in June so it wouldn't seem to get too busy. The course was very clean as well with a few garbage cans in spots and many benches. There is a solid mixture of long and short, left and right shots required here. There is a port o potty near the parking lot which is nice. Many of the tee pad areas have bag holders which is always a plus to have. The course is free to play and is in the ground year round apparently, both of which are major pluses to me.

There are some pretty excessive walks between holes but they are very well marked. A couple holes were ridiculous doglegs and didn't really make much sense or fit in with the rest of the well designed holes. There isn't a whole lot of elevation on this course, however I've seen way way flatter courses. Not much they can do about this though.

With the exception of a couple long walks and the probably 2 strangely designed holes this was a really fun course to play. Not really worth going too far out of your way to play but definately a fun course. There are quite a few other courses within a half hour or so too. I played white river and duck pond in Lake Geneva WI and Lions park in Harvard IL for a solid day of discing.

Marengo for the area is a pretty solid disc golf course. The course has 9 holes set in thick woods with punishing rough, and they are not all tunnel shots. Hole #5 in particular was a multiple shot hole that made me throw to landing zones to set up my next shot. You have to stay in the fairway on these wooded holes; the rough is thick and often doesn't give you much in the way of a recovery shot.

The holes in the more open areas are pretty nice park-style holes with enough trees to make them interesting. There is good elevation for the area; #2 and #15 are pretty good uphill shots, and #14 and #18 are elevated tees. Several other holes had some degree of up and down. #14 was a cool risk reward shot for big arms that can bomb over the shule to the left.

The shots overall were pretty challenging. It's the type of course that can accommodate a wide variety of skill levels and still have something to offer everyone. There is a good variety in distances in both the open and wooded holes.

The course has good tee signs with a hole map and distances.

The holes set up out of the woods didn't seem to mesh very well with the other park uses. Hole # 1 seemed pretty close to a park road. Hole #1 and Hole #14 seemed pretty close together. Hole #18 is designed for you to throw down a fairway next to a skate park, but the anhyzer/forehand route over the skate park is wide open and it seemed pretty easy to throw one in there at somebody. Hole #15 played pretty close to a picnic area. Considering we had to hike a mile in and a mile out to get to the wooded holes and back, it seemed like there would have been room for more holes that did not have conflicts with other park uses.

As I mentioned, the hike from #3 to #4 and from #11 to #12 are long golfless walks that hurt the flow of the course. The walk from #1 to #2 was also long and confusing. The course has the added oddity that if you park by hole #1, you will be back by your car at hole #14 and nowhere near your car when you finish #18. You can park so that you are closer to #18, but then you have a long walk to start the round. Pick your poison.

The white tees are carpet or dirt. They could be better.

The course still has a lot of stumps and the rough is very thick, which is typical of newer courses. I would expect those issues to fix themselves over time.

There appears to be an effort to make the course beginner friendly with a set of short red tees, but the wooded holes don't translate well to beginners. Even though the red tees only measure out to 3,378', the nine wooded holes would still be very frustrating to new players. At 3,378', the red tees are much too short to be considered a playable option by the majority of players.

Marengo is a very nice course shot for shot, and it should be a good option for a place where players of various skill levels can get together and all have a good time. While it wouldn't have the level of challenge to host a NT tournament, it's the kind of place that could host a B Tier and keep most of the players happy.

-Most holes are heavily wooded providing plenty of obstacles and challenge for players of all skill levels.
-Navigation is painless, The signage is fantastic.

-Beautiful, brand new chainstar baskets that have all been powdercoated blue and have highly visible orange flags on top of them.

-Good mix up of shots and distances.

-Tons of reward for well shaped shots and punishment for those that don't mind the gap on the wooded holes.

-Good use of available elevation

-Almost no fairway overlap and with the exception of a few holes almost no opportunity to collide with other park users.

-Super quiet park, the only other sounds we here were chains ringing in the background from other disc golfers. Also, Traffic is almost non-existent here.

-The tees leave a lot to be desired, This course absolutely deserves some sort of solid tee pad, concrete being the ideal option. The carpet is (in my opinion) probably better than the natural tee option as the carpet does provide decent traction. They are on the short side though so those (and myself) that have any kind of moderately long run-up will be a little disappointed. They are also fairly bumpy and uneven so watch your footing. Some are also gripier than others so test them before you rip,

-Extremely punishing rough (Also a pro in my opinion) that has lots of thorns and other brutal underbrush a mere 5 feet off the fairways. This may not be for everyone, but I think it adds to the element. I wore shorts today as it was the warmest mid-November day I can remember and after a few bounces off trees and into the rough my shins were literally bleeding.

-Stumps.... Everywhere. The fall leaves masked this little toe busters which made walking the fairways interesting. I stubbed my toes on my fair share of them and I know my buddy did too. Cutting them a little closer to the ground would probably be a good idea. Watch where your walking or you could end up faceplanting and you and I both know you don't wanna do that.

This is a good, fun course. I seriously enjoyed a round at this DCG, I could honestly see this course as becoming one of the more popular courses in northern IL. It just needs time to wear in, It's still a fairly new course. It has plenty of variety and a good amount of tight fairways and I really liked that about this course.

For those who live in the western suburbs or the NW suburbs who have been thinking about making a trip out to Rockford, do it, but add this course onto your day trip. Its not far off of 90 and if you take 20 back from Rockford it is only a minute out of your way.

I'd play this course again for sure if I was in the area.

Beautiful park, great place for a disc golf course.

Excellent signs at every teepad and as needed in between holes.

Next tee signs on every basket also help 1st time players easily navigate the course.

Great variety of open and wooded holes here. Beginners should consider using the red (short) tees on most holes. Using the long tees, you will need every shot to score well here.

The course designers used every bit of available elevation to create some very good holes, especially from the white tees.

Not enough for me to say anything bad about this course.

I really liked the addition of the concrete pads ! Especially in the wooded sections. It made it a lot easier to throw ! Plan on going back out to this course ! Loads of fun and challenging.

The course plays through a sprawling park, and for the first 14 holes has no conflicts with other park users. About half of the holes play in mostly open areas, with nicely mowed grass and some mature trees. A few of these play with thick rough on one side, including one that offers a risky shot over a marsh or a longer safe route around. These holes offer some nice distance, including a couple that let you open up and rip a drive while still having enough scattered trees to make you plan your line.

The wooded half of the course plays pretty tight. There are several shorter holes that are reachable but tricky, and a few that play as legitimate multi-shot holes with landing zones and doglegs. Off the fairways there are lots of small trees and very thick brushy undergrowth. Errant shots are heavily punished.

The signage is good, with hole layout and distance. There are next tee markers on each basket and the longer walks were spray painted with arrows when I played. The course map by the first tee is also available here, and is helpful if you get turned around. Two sets of tees are offered, I only played the longer set (white), the reds looked like they would be a little more beginner friendly taking off some distance on the open holes and making the lines significantly easier on the wooded shots.

The course still feels pretty new and a bit raw. The rough gets hairy right at the edge of the fairway with lots of brush and thorns. This means there aren't a lot of opportunities for interesting recovery shots, you'll mostly just pitch out if you miss your line in the woods. The wooded holes also still have lots of dead branches and small stumps, though it seemed like that's slowly getting taken care of.

The end of the course has a few safety issues, with two out of the last four holes offering some chances for conflict with other park users. The last hole plays next to/over a skate park, it wouldn't be at all difficult to go over the fence and hit someone.15 plays over a soccer field and near some picnic areas, on a nice summer day there could be some issues. The course also has some pretty long walks, if the spray paint wears off it could be a little tricky and makes for a long round (especially with the long and slightly uphill walk back to your car after 18). The tees are natural for the most part with a few carpet pads in the woods. They're pretty lumpy and rutted out already, concrete or rubber pads would go a long way here especially on the longer holes where a runup would be useful.

I really enjoyed the shots at this course, it's definitely one of the most interesting and challenging in the greater Chicago area. Most of my issues with it will get better over time, especially if the tees are improved. Beginners will find even the reds a little tough especially with severe punishment waiting off the fairways. More experienced players will find lots of different skills tested here, with great variety and a nice balance of left and right turning shots.

The first time I played Indian Oaks I knew the area had a special disc golf course. It is by far the most challenging in the McHenry/Boone/Winnebago county area, but also one of the most fun. Some of the holes, especially in the woods are very difficult and if you have a bad throw off the fairway you could easily add 2 or 3 strokes to your score. Hole 5 is a MONSTER par 4 that will take some serious accuracy and power to bird. I have posted a picture of the signage for the hole if anyone wants to check it out.

Other pros - the baskets and signs are great. I never felt lost on this course even though some of the holes are spread apart. Bridges were also put in to cross the creeks

Very few, but the main issue was the lack of tee pads. There are some holes that use a "carpet" but I could see some rolled ankles if you are not careful. Also, it takes a good amount of time to finish a round here, especially if you are throwing into the rough a lot, so don't think you can have a quick game.

Overall, I say that Indian Oaks has great potential to become the top course in the area. I would certainly check out this course if you are looking for a challenge. Be ready to go for a hike!

1) Some of the best variety in holes I have seen in a while. There are a few park like holes, a few tight tunnels and wooded holes, and there are a few holes with moderate woods on them.

2) There is a wetland area you can choose to bomb over or throw around. I would love to see some big bombers try and take the route right over that wetland on #14. It would be fun to watch for sure.

3) Shortened tees help to make the course playable by beginners, but I think they may leave frustrated after the wooded holes.

4) Concrete blocks set in the ground right now mark the tees and they are painted Red or White for the two sets of tees. Only a few tees share the same location. These are nice and big so even if the grass gets long finding the other tee isn't as hard as you might think. Be sure to look at the map on the teesigns to help find where the reds would be.

5) Nice teesigns with Hole #, Par, DIstance,, and a map along with a directional to the next tee. The only drawback to these signs is they are on the white tees, fortunately you generally would be walking right past the white tee to get to the forward red tee.

6) 3' flags on top of the nice powder coated Chainstars. I like this feature as it really helps on certain holes to find the baskets.

7) Huge diversity of shots needed to play well out here. You need to work shots both ways and you will definitely want to throw both backhand and forehand.

8) The long tees change a lot of the holes dramatically rather than just being a 50-100' extension off the shorts on the same line.

9) They put an ace board called an Ace Card (which has the image of a playing card Ace and a bunch of lines on it). I will be surprised if they hold up but it is a really good idea to prevent people from writing it on the signs or baskets. I imagine there is an active club here and they just better realize that if that sign fills up they better get another one up immediately or people will be pissed there is nowhere for them to write their ace and they will turn to the signs or just write over the other aces in big black sharpie.

10) Excellent use of moderate elevation changes. The wooded holes have some changes in elevation which is nice and the open holes are more gently rolling.

11) Portopotty after Hole #18.

12) Some garbage cans around the course for your disposal.

13) Directionals in some of the trouble areas for crossing paths and such. Because the wooded holes cross some sort of natural trail the signs are needed and in the appropriate places.

14) There are a few benches scattered around the course . . . not sure if they were intentional for the course or just in random spots.

1) Overall this course is not quite beginner friendly despite the shortened tees, there just are too many shots in the woods that beginners are not capable of throwing.

2) Grass tees on the open holes and some carpet and some dirt tees in the woods. I am sure this is just because the course is new but on a championship caliber course this really hurts my desire to go back because I want to know my footing will be consistent from hole to hole.

3) The tennis courts and the dirt bike ramps may be in danger on some shots. Holes #1 and #14 also run too close together because a lot of the big bombs from the white tee on #14 might end up dangerously close to Hole #1's fairway.

4) Some general cleanup like grinding the little stumps down in the wooded fairways, hauling the fallen and cut debris further off the fairways to accomodate for disc searching and good footing. I am sure this will get done, because noone puts in a great course like this and doesn't finish the work off.

This course is a definite 4 disc course once it has permanent concrete teepads and a little more general cleanup on the wooded holes is completed, but as I played it I put it on par with a 3.5 disc course. As far as the disc golf is concerned I definitely consider it a 4 disc course it just needs a little more work and some breaking in. I will definitely back to see the progress and look forward to concrete tees hopefully?!

Did anyone else see the potential championship tee on Hole #3 . . . from the sledding hill platform?????