St. Francis Disc Golf Course is set behind the church of the same name. Upon driving up, I was immediately struck with rustic, Appalachian, one tooth in front, sort of feeling, And I don't necessarily mean this complementary. There is is a kiosk, old picnic table, benches and a sani can and it was all just kind of garage sale meets grandma's throwaways. The tee signs are homemade and fit right in with the rest of the decor. # 1 shows three basket positions of 320', 405' and 385'. A golf tee was stuck through the hole next to 385'. Later signs used sticks, old dried french fries, small animal bones and any material they could find. There is a locked donation box and I felt bad about only leaving my last dollar. The course does have nice concrete tee pads.

St. Frankie's has an abundance of some of my LEAST favorite disc golf course design features. In no particular order, they are blind basket placements, navigation issues and long straight, tunnel shots. Most course will have a sampling of each of these but at St. Francis, they were the norm. I don't believe I've ever played a course where the baskets were tucked away so well. I never found # 10 but that's OK because I never found a route to the basket. Maybe I was facing the wrong way? Navigation was a concern playing solo. I spent too much time trying to find my way. Starting at # 11 was the start of the tree farm gauntlet holes. And they went on and on and the baskets were still hidden. Finally on # 15, there was a basket visible and it was 300'. No problem, just fire your disc down there 300' on a line. Players who have played with me lately can testify that my maximum range while throwing a disc straight is about 75' tops. So it can be said that this course and I were not compatible.

However, on the plus side, I did think # 9 was a cool hole with three different routes available to players, straight through a minuscule window, an Annie around or a overhand over the top.

Kind of a grungy feel to everything.

Too many straight throws between rows of trees. I was bored by all these.

No route on # 10. I spent lots of time looking for it and never did find it. And all I accomplished was to get loster.

After playing # 16 on the power lines, I was so happy to come out into the open and I was greeted by ? A 280' gauntlet throw. Just scratch out my eye with a blackberry vine.

I don't think I've encountered a course more ill suited for my meager disc golf skills. The course is not that bad. Some players could flourish here. If I lived nearby and this was my only disc golfing possibility, I truly think I might contemplate a forced retirement. Might watch more Jeopardy.

• Fair variety with regard to fairway shapes, types and distances.
• Challenge appropriate for intermediate players, not too much for beginners,
• Tees, Baskets & Signs in pretty good condition. Signs even show current pin location.
• Front nine seemed decent, if unspectacular.
• Rotating pins keep things changing for locals
• Fun Factor: it's there, but nothing to write home about.

• Back 9 was weak, as if little to no effort was put into them. More strange/stupid than challenging.
• Too many pine tree tunnel shots... gets old fast. Just because they're memorable doesn't necessarily mean they're good.
• Navigation: not a complete disaster, but it's not good ... played with two other experienced players and we spent time looking for next tees, and needed help finding at least 3 holes. Also spent quite a bit of time searching for baskets, despite signs showing current location.

Not gonna spend much time on this review because I doubt I'm really helping anyone decide whether it's worth playing or not. St Francis simply is not a course worth traveling for, and nothing I say is going to affect whether locals do (or don't) play here. I can only recommend this course this course if you're already spending time nearby, or looking to bag a course to bump your courses played count.

18 decent tees, baskets and signs, by themselves, does not a good course make. It doesn't suck out loud, but if most of the courses I played were like this, I wouldn't be so enthusiastic about DG. The property doesn't necessarily stink. so I have to say it comes down' to weak design (particularly the back 9).

I've had a better time playing courses I've awarded 2.5's to, so call it a 2.25. If you're in search of a fun round, you can do better.

Very low traffic and clean since the course is in the middle of nowhere. Starts off promising with well placed baskets with varying left and right shots through young prairie regrowth. Long and challenging shots begin to meander through mixed woods up until hole ten... and that's where the fun ends.

Tee pads are marked with dirt skids and wooden posts that prove to be difficult to navigate. Numbers are found on baskets only, which means no signs are found with vital info. Baskets found on holes 1-10, while the remainder are poorly marked posts and only flags for tee pads. The difficulty to navigate and fairway rough seem to grow worse hole by hole.

A good start, with some promising holes to come. The room for improvement is very evident here with some no-brainer requirements to make this course worth a visit. Holes 11-18 are worth a walk through at best, that is if you can figure out how to navigate it. Holes 1-10 take a little over an hour to play. The far drive will ensure that I will not return for another run through till it is a mature 18 hole course.