- ample parking
- some neat water hazards
- lots of potential for cool technical play on wooded holes

- could only find 4 remaining baskets
- some of the worst catching baskets I've ever played
- unrealistically narrow and winding fairways
- super overgrown in wooded holes with virtually no maintenance
- very rough off the narrow fairways, and wooded area attracts mosquitoes
- tee posts for several holes missing
- no information on tee posts besides hole number
- natural tees
- hard to find since tee post for hole 1 is missing
- every hole is very short
- pretty much entirely flat

As other reviewers have said, it's cool the church wants to promote disc golf. That's about the only positive thing I can say here. It seems like this was a more decent course a few years ago, but it's clear there has been zero upkeep for several years besides the very, very occasional mow.

This one was close to getting one of my rare 0.0 ratings, but I guess technically there is still part of a functional course here. It ended up being a very quick round for me since only 4 baskets remain (1, 3, 4, 6) that I was able to find. One or two more may have been swallowed by the woods, I'm not sure. With tee signs missing and natural tees, it is not easy to locate anything. The holes are so short that navigation becomes an issue too since with tee posts missing you aren't sure which basket goes with which hole. I was probably only here for 20-25 minutes and the first 5 were trying unsuccessfully to locate a post for hole 1.

Hole 1 throws around a pond (or over, if you want to, but the plants surrounding the pond have choked off this route a bit). Supposedly there's another small pond in the woods but I never caught sight of it, so it isn't really in play. You enter a more wooded area for hole 4, and after that proceed to hole 6... not sure where hole 5 went. It's almost as if this course was a human exposition upon visiting an alien planet where we dropped baskets randomly on unsuspecting life forms to see what they would make of them and observe what developed organically, like some cool science/sociology experiment. I suppose there is some science going on here anyway - one of the baskets had some intense thorny plants growing up through the basket. I guess it helps catch discs since there's only one very weak layer of chains in these baskets.

The wooded holes COULD be really cool if they were cleaned up a bit and made more realistic. They are so tight and overgrown, plus having turns, it's hard to have any real line or even know where you're supposed to throw. Similarly, the rough is brutal and hasn't been cleaned up at all.

Natural tees are never the ideal substrate, but on a course like this I wouldn't really expect much else. Still, it makes it that much harder to find baskets when posts are missing. The baskets here rate as some of the worst I've ever used - I don't know where they even got chains like this. They don't make a clink when you hit them, they are almost silent. It is kind of a criminal offense against the sport of disc golf to not offer up better chain banging.

While there is some potential here, my general feeling during play was "very frustrated." What kills me about courses like this is - WHY go to the effort to put in a course if you aren't going to maintain it at all? In many cases, it's probably a group of people who care about disc golf, then move on, and nobody picks up the slack. Otherwise, it's hard to explain. Of all the 9 holes (if you can call it that) in the Chicago area, this is one of the absolute worst and that's saying something. Unless you absolutely insist on bagging every course out there, skip this one and you'll have a more enjoyable day.

Joy Lutheran Church Disc Golf Course is located behind the church all on what look like a piece of the back yard .I guess bathrooms are a possibility if the church is open during your play here . There is enough parking , and hole #1 is about 100' to the right of what looks like a wood fenced in dumpster .
The Equipment : All of the tee pads are natural , many uneven . There is only a post with a number on it for signage .( there is a little dedication to what looks like a parish , or former parish member , which was nice ) . The baskets are listed as Instep , but are of the most brittle kind . The whole basket shook every time my putt went in . I used my Blowfly putter so my hard putter wouldn't break it .
The landscape . The church grounds were mowed along with all of the fairways . There is what looks like a little swamp that you have to throw over a little part of on #1 . There is little elevation here . Maybe a small grade or 2 . You will have to throw over or around some small trees or high foliage when you play . The holes play under 200' , so you will be using a putter or short midrange for control of the tight fairways . The rough is among some of the heaviest I have seen . I hooked one into it only about 3 feet in and it took me a while before digging it out . Keep everything low and flat .
The highlights : finding my disc that I threw into 3' of rough .
Time : minus looking for my disc , it took me about 15 minutes to complete . It is a fast play behind a nice church .Don't worry . They will be NO wait time for the tee pads . You will feel like you own this course ( it is peaceful here )

#1 Disc Risk . Disc risk here is off the charts high . The type of person that might play here is a local or church member , of which most aren't skilled to keep a low flat trajectory on their first shot . If you throw your drive 8-10' into the rough , your disc will be a souvenir for the groundskeeper some time in December . The same might be said for shorter but still lethal rough in other areas . Example . Joey throws hole #1 . It is a slight downhill grade , 155' , with a part of the swampy moat to throw over , with high weeds right at the waters edge , The basket is on a strip of a path behind this . Behind the path and the basket is very heavy rough . Joey has to get his disc high enough to beat the weeds so they don't bat his putter or midrange into the swamp , but soft enough to keep his drive from an overthrow into the Forest Of No Return . Joey picks his poison : Death By drowning disc or death by rough . There should be a Kllenex dispenser on #1's post for poor Joey .
#2 Navigation . Most of these posts are visible from the previous baskets . Print a map to be sure . I had trouble finding the #8 post .
Challenge : This should be deuce city for everyone . I would say ace run , but I don't know if the baskets will hold a hard putter drive .
Bring bug spray . The mosquito will bite the daylights out of you on your round .

All of my criticisms aside , I think that it is great that the church promotes disc golf . It can give the adult members time to talk and bond , and can give the kids some spending money by digging into the rough and selling found discs back to the locals . This is the kind of course that asks questions , like what kind of game is this called ? Why is everyone playing hide and seek in the bushes ? and Why is Joey crying again ? Just Kidding . Thank you , Pastor Mark Borgetti for allowing me to play your disc golf course . You have a beautiful church .

Only need to bring a mid-range and putter/approach disc.

Holes are super short, so good to practice midrange and putt shots.

Got +/- 15 minutes to kill, come play here.

No tee pads, no hole layout map, and super short to play.

n/a

The course is in the back of a church, which is a great way to try to attract people to that land.
The holes all have a post that points in the area of the basket.
Each hole has a dedication to someone in or about the church.

The are no tee platforms or signage.
It's basically in someone's backyard so a really bad throw could possibly hit a house or go over a fence.

There was absolutely no one there because i'm sure no one knows it's there. I have lived in Gurnee and actually attended this church and had no idea that it was even there until I stumbled upon it on this website.
The holes are very short but the vast amounts of trees and shrubbery make it an interesting play.