Review #100 and Course #149 for me is Perryville City Park, a fun park style 18-hole course that snakes all around a vast, 100 acre park. This course makes the most out of the space provided, and has a little bit of everything you'd expect out of a recreational park course.
Location of Perryville is right on I-55, about an hour and a half south of St. Louis and 45 minutes north of Cape Girardeau. You'll most likely access the park via S Kingshighway, where you can take an immediate left and then complete a U-Turn to the right till you reach the parking lot with the disc golf course map next to it. There are some fast food options, mainly a McDonalds by the highway, as well as independently owned foot stops in town. There are also a few gas stations on Kingshighway. If you are wanting a day out of disc golf, There's also a 9-hole course at Northdale Park, just a couple minutes up the road. There aren't really any other super close courses; going south, you'll find another pocket of courses around Jackson and Cape Girardeau, and Chester and Ste. Genivieve have a couple as well.
Park Amenities are robust at Perryville City Park. This park has pavilions, baseball fields, pickleball and tennis courts, numerous walking trails, wildflower preservation spots, and a dog park, just about all of which you will see during your round. The park also has plenty of bathrooms, and I remember seeing a few throughout my round, including one right after hole 9.
Course Equipment is very nice as a whole at Perryville. The baskets are DISCatchers that I'm pretty sure are the originals installed in 2013, and while they're not looking the shiniest at this stage of their life, they're still catching great. The course also has a practice basket right by the parking lot with plenty of space to practice long putts and even approaches. The tees are all concrete and were very nice to throw from. The tee signs have all of the info you can really ask for, including pin locations, which pin is in use, pars, distances, and a basic hole graphic. The course map is also handy by the parking lot, providing a nice overhead shot of the course along with the park as a whole. My favorite equipment on site has to be the prominent next tee directions on every basket, which single handedly made navigation immensely easier on this course given some of the longer transitions. This course also has benches at plenty of the holes.
Course Design is composed of mostly 200 to 350 foot holes with varying numbers of mature trees to navigate. There's a nice mix of tee shots that either require straight drives, a particular shape in either direction, or careful navigation of low ceilings. The distances are fairly accessible to newer players when considering pars, with this course being more scorable for intermediate and advanced players, especially in the back 9.
Elevation doesn't necessarily vary to the degree the hole info page suggests, but there is plenty of subtle slopes throughout the course. Holes 1, 6, and 14 are the most uphill holes (especially 14), and holes 5, 15, and 17 play the most downhill. Other holes like 2, 11, and 12 have either valleys through the fairway, or pin placements that are on hillsides that make roll aways something to be wary of.
Shot-Shaping is going to be an essential skill for you to have on a lot of the holes at Perryville. Holes 5, 7, 9, and 11 are particularly right hand back hand favoring shots off the tee, while hole 13 is the primary spot where an anhyzer is going to be most beneficial for that same throwing style. Holes 2 and 3 will have you navigating a low ceiling. Many holes like 5, 14, and 15 have multiple lines to the basket. Others like the A pin of 14 and 3 require a pretty straight shot. Overall, you'll need a little bit of everything here at some point.
Distances are mainly in the 200 to 350 foot range, though 16 and 18 have B placements that are par 4s and around 450 feet. A lot of the longer holes feel shorter than their lengths suggest, even those that aren't downhill. For the most part, there's a decently consistent ratio between the length of a given hole and how many obstacles you'll need to navigate, with a lot of the shorter holes having more specific shot requirements.
Difficulty leans towards intermediate players. Newer players that don't have good accuracy or distance on their drives will find a lot of the shots challenging on this course, and may have a little trouble hitting par, as the distance/par combos are fair but tough on a lot of holes, especially in the front 9. Advanced players, on the other hand, will likely be able to score really well on this course. DGCR usually has me in the 890 to 920 range of rating, and I was able to hit a -7 on this course with 5 birdies to end the round. If you can throw 250 feet somewhat accurately, ending with a turkey is in the cards with two fairly open 450 foot holes and a very short hole 17.
Course Highlights: Hole 15 is a fun one, downhill with plenty of trees. You can either go for the straight shot, or hit a wide line either direction. Hole 18 is also a fun design, with 450 feet and a slight hill about 2/3rd of the way to the pins. The A placement is at the top of a drainage ditch with trees on either side, a fun tunnel challenge to end your round if the basket is in that spot.