- Large park with plenty of land devoted to the course.
- Excellent variety of hole design and difficulty level.
- Nice elevation changes are creatively incorporated into the course, including a tee pad perched on top of a sled hill.
- Tee pads and grounds are well-maintained, and a few holes offer 2 baskets.

- Missing the fairway on the front nine probably means a long search in very tall brush and weeds.
- Windy conditions make this course much less enjoyable; it's the highest point in the area, so on windy days this course gets strong gusts pushing up the hillsides (and under your disc).

I really like this course overall and can safely recommend it, but it can be frustrating at times. This is a very solid intermediate course. Veterans may find many holes too easy, and beginners will struggle with blind baskets and punishing rough.

The front nine plays around the rim of a large water reservoir, surrounded by steep hillsides that are covered in very tall wild growth. Beginners should be prepared to spend some time in there searching for discs, especially on windy days. The back nine is very fun, but can be inconsistent: #10 is a signature hole with a tough blind downhill dogleg left... but #11 is a short straight hole with a tree in the way.

Well spread out 18 holes. Love the elevation changes throughout course. One of the better maintained courses I have played. Easy to find next tee box.

Bit challenging for beginners or recreational players. Few baskets are to see from tee box. Unforgiving tall grass areas, good to have spotter for majority of holes.

Well planned out course; loved the challenge of wind, trees, and natural areas throughout course.

The sub 3.0 rating (at time of my review) on this site always seemed unfair for this course. This course started with 9 holes and expanded to 18, but the reviews for the course still include the ratings for when it was only 9. Since they have made it a full 18, this course is in that 3.5-3.75 range for a very solid course, especially for players in Chicago looking for a change from Legge/ 50 Acre that's closer than Fairfield/Joliet.

- This is a decently designed course with elevation change used as well as possible for a Chicago suburb. This is even more true when playing the alternative tee's and baskets, which raise the level of difficulty above the "intermediate" level this course plays at for the standard 18. Hole 15 plays from the top of a sled hill, but immediately after you must throw back up another large hill on 16, the course's toughest 3.

- While there are no pure "bomber" holes, there are several challenging par 3's. Hole 9, 13, 15, and 16 are all around or over 400 ft.

- Shot variety is good, especially when you reach the back 9. The front is nothing to write home about (you can basically throw the same shot on 3, 4, and 5- see negatives below), but the back is far more varied and interesting.

- Good baskets, good tee-pads, good signage. Navigation is a breeze as well. Some potential to hit runners/walkers, but this has never been an issue I've experienced.

- The front 9 is not dynamic. Holes 3-5 are a bore. If you can throw a semi-straight 300-325 foot backhand, you can be putting for birdie on 6 holes on the front.

- This course lacks a signature hole. The closest you can come could be 9, 15, or 16, but I've seen better versions of all of these holes at other courses within an hour of Chicago.

This course is solid, and is definitely not a 2.9 rated course. If the whole course played like the front a 3.0 is fair. If the whole course played like the back, a 4.0 is fair. Hence my 3.5 rating. It is encouraging to see a course expand and improve like this one did.

- For a Chicago-based player with fewer options than I'd like, this course, Legge, and 50 acre all represent solid, similarly rated courses to enjoy.

Hilly (which you don't get around here), challenging, Trees don't get in the way. Not Crowded.

The weeds can get long and dense - some holes are little narrow, not many trees.

I didn't like at first - Now I really like it. Use stable discs on the holes that are downhill with crap on the right. Go fast and get some exercise!

This course is a fun course with elevation and some challenging holes. The course has a decent layout and good baskets.
The players on the course and area are friendly and were willing to chat and show us the course.
It is an excellent course for both beginners and intermediate players.

The tee pads are a bit short. Also some have sunk below the wooden lips around the pads.

This course could benefit from an organized disc golf club to help out the park department.
It would be nice to have a PDGA league there also. If I had more time i would set one up.

- Only 18-hole course in the area
- Holes well marked and easy to follow
- Fairways well kept
- Baskets in good condition.

This is a fairly short course, with few obstacles. Previous reviewer is correct that in 5-10 years, when the small trees grow in, it should add challenges to an otherwise straightforward and simple course.

Stay on the fairways and your round will go quickly. Stray from the fairways and the tall grass will eat up your discs. ... Went on a day with 10-15 mph winds in the area. But with how open this course is and with the wind off the small lake, wind felt much worse. ... If you're in town, this is a must play -- it's the best course in the area. But please temper your expectations because the courses in the area are pretty weak.

Most of the reviews of this course were written on the front 9 only. But it is now 18 holes -- the back 9 just went in a couple weeks before I played it and are currently natural tees. There are a lot of smaller trees that don't add much to the challenge at the moment, but in 5-10 years, the trees on this course will be substantial obstacles. The back 9 has several really nice holes, I especially liked 11, 13, and 16. 11 is a big downhill shot with some obstructions to the drive and a narrow landing zone, and on a windy day this could be really tough. 13 is a long straight shot on a side-sloped fairway, with a right turning approach at the very end -- this one had a unique feel to it. Hole 16 was an sharply uphill dog-leg right with a thick row of trees defining the dogleg; this one played a lot longer than it is, and it was the toughest 3 on the course IMO.

The high grass presents a significant hazard on several holes, and helps define some fairways nicely. Not hard to throw out of, but could take some time to find discs. If the high grass was played as OB, it would be a really technical course.

One of the biggest pros for this course is that it offers really significant elevation change, and from what I've seen that is pretty rare for Chicago area disc golf.

There are quite a few holes in the 240-280 range, especially in the front 9, where there is not as much variety as the newer back 9 holes.

There are not enough big trees on this course, but this will develop over time.

A couple of blind baskets is kinda cool, and you expect it on par 4 doglegs. But this course had several blind shots, and it gets annoying when the baskets are blind on par 3 holes, for no apparent reason.

There are no true par 4 holes on this course.

When I was there, something had died in the brush by hole 12 and 14 baskets, OMG the stench on a 90 degree day was freakin horrible, even with the wind.

I give this course a bonus +0.5 because the Chicago area has so many bad courses, this one is pretty solid by comparison. If it were located in an area that had better courses I might give it a 3.0, but I am giving it a 3.5.

In my reviews I normally try to write just enough to be descriptive and helpful. For this course, my home course, I hope readers can tolerate a bit more.

Margreth Riemer Disc Golf Course has just been expanded to 18 holes. I may be biased because I have been working on the expansion for several years, but I truly believe that once tee-pads are in and the back nine is "broken in" a bit more that this course will be one of the best in the Northern Suburbs and will be a true 3.5 rated course.

But that's an opinion subject to debate. What can't be debated are the facts.

*The scenery here is unlike any course in the area. From hole 15's teepad on the hill you can see all of Palatine and can even see the Chicago skyline on a clear day. The hill is one of my favorite places to be because it's such a great view!

(Okay that was more of an opinion, now onto the facts)

*This course is the only course in the area where elevation drastically comes into play on just about every hole on the course

*There is a huge variety of distances in the hole lengths ranging from just under 200' to the upper 400's and everywhere in between.

*Even though the park is busy, the course is well isolated and other park users don't come into play. A lot of park district run courses in the Chicago area are cramped... not the case here. The course is sprawled out over an 85 acre park.

*Walking through this course is quite a workout... the hilly terrain makes for great exercise.

The obvious signature hole on the course is hole 15... a huge 420-ish foot bomb down a giant hill. But holes 2, 8, 11, and 16 are also epic holes that would fit right in on high caliber courses.

Since its installation in 2004, the front nine has not been super popular among the DG community, mostly because it does not have nearly as many trees as is often preferred, making for a relatively easy round. Now, however, the challenging back nine compliments the "warmup" front nine nicely.

This course is not perfect, and it never will be. The underlying "con" of the course as a whole is the dismal state of the roughs. It can get very very long and can eat up discs unless you watch carefully and use a spotter. It's very unpleasant to walk through and I hate it! The Park District will never go wrong with mowing more here.

Also,

*Most disc golfers, myself included, enjoy trees. There aren't a whole lot of them here!
The dearth of trees means there's not much shade on hot Summer days, and a round of 18 holes can be pretty grueling.

I think this review will be lost in the reviews since it was originally an older one, but that's okay. Hopefully some people will see it and find it helpful.

As I mentioned earlier, once the back nine of this course is broken in a little it should be a great Chicagoland destination course.