1) Initial impressions check all the right boxes for a park course setting. Decent amount of parking, RV hookups, Multiple covered pavilions, a small well kept beautiful pond, all set in a small well maintained public park. Hole #1 starts directly beside parking lot, Practice basket clearly marked and easily findable right near Hole #1, brick and mortar bathrooms and port-o-johns throughout the park, beautifully maintained.

2) Large textured concrete tee pads, a few holes utilize existing paved park roads for tees so be aware. Discatcher baskets in used but good shape throughout.

3) Park portion maintained flawlessly, no trash, grass recently mowed, and woods portion is well cut in with very little underbrush outside of intended hazard areas that shape holes.

4) Incredible increase in difficulty as the course goes on. The first 5 holes are relatively short par 3's and though wooded, offer pretty easy lines to navigate. The course also offers the opportunity in the way it is shaped to play an 8 hole loop of just open park holes for those who don't want to play the much harder dense wooded holes.

5) Elevation comes into play on every hole. It is used very smartly to create difficult yet fun to play holes throughout that each have their own identity. You will find yourself throwing multiple angles up and down slight inclines, over water, or off a 30 ft cliff.

6) Course manages to use the water features well. Hole 2 plays over a short pond carry, Hole 3 plays along the same pond. And once you dive off into the woods there is a creek that comes into play multiple times throughout the remaining holes.

7) Of the courses we visited this day, Karel Park stood out above the much higher rated and praised courses. The mix of elevation, distances, lines, transitions from lightly wooded to densely wooded and just the overall FUN of this course far exceeded our expectations based on the reviews we had seen and heard. As stated previously, we were informed this course had or is undergoing redesign. And the lack of tee pad signage and difficultly navigating currently are the only huge knocks on this course.

8) Course does no favors to either dominant hand. Fair to exact combination of left to right and right to left holes. There were always more than one route to the basket also, some more risky than others, but present.

9) I'm always a fan of a solid hole #1 and hole #18 giving the most memorable impression of a course theme and Karel Park delivers. Hole #1 is a slight down hill lightly wooded tunnel shot par 3 at 275 feet with OB left, right and long. Not exactly a signature hole, but very memorable and a great taste of what is in store. Hole #18 is almost a mirror copy of hole #1 except more wooded, less clear lines, and adds a slight uphill incline to the green with tight OB behind. The course emphasizes hitting your line with touch and landing on the correct side of the green.

10) Though not what I would call a tournament course outright (due to it being a small park and holes close together), it presents a tournament worthy challenge with score separation. Holes 15-18 are a great final 4 to finish, bomber downhill par 3 through a tight gap off a cliff to a hanging basket on the bank of the creek. One mistake can end your hopes. 16 is a tight tunnel huck back up to the top of the cliff you just threw down. Anything short or caught up in the trees early will filter all the way down to the bottom of the cliff. 17 is a professional level two angle 475 foot par 3 with the first 400 feet being a downhill straight shot through wide mature trees before curving slightly right and heading uphill to a well guarded green. Lots of chances for strokes to change hands.

1) Lack of course signage. The course has undergone a recent redesign which may contribute to this. The first few holes have a large red Post with Hole #, Par, and Distance but starting with hole #6 most holes only have a tee pad with the par, distance, hole number and arrows pointing the direction shape of the hole.

2) Navigation starts off pretty intuitive on the short park holes, but once you dive off into the woods it gets pretty confusing as there are no directional signs and most holes are missing sign posts. U-Disc made navigating easy for us, but without it, you will struggle.

3) Beautiful but small park that is well loved. It was packed when we played but only holes 1-5 and 17-18 are in the open park area. The shots are not blind so that helps, but you may have to wait for fairways to clear or avoid parked vehicles.

4) Outside of the small space this park occupies limiting the design and distances available, and the current lack of tee signs, and navigation, it is very difficult to be hard on this course. If I had to stretch to find another con it would be how scoreable it starts out and how difficult it becomes to score once you go into the woods. It masquerades as a beginners course early and gnarls its teeth late.

If this course were closer I would play it often. It plays quickly, the course is gorgeous, and it does the woods game well without being punishing. It suffers from being in the middle of literal nowhere, but benefits from being within 15-30 minutes of 2 Illinois courses billed as Championship courses (SIC and Fox Prairie). We played all 3, despite being told to skip Karel and we wouldn't like it. But ironically, it was our favorite of the 3. And for that, I give this course a 4 and would have scored it higher had the course signage been installed.