New course with a variety of shots needed to score.
Great Mach X baskets
Teepads are large and perfect
Signage is a huge plus especially for a new player to the course such as myself.
The park layout with a creek winding thru it provides a great scenery of bridges and wildlife.
Course is new and while I was playing park employees were cleaning up debris and I could tell that pride is taken in this landscape.

Many long walks between holes
Several easy 250-300ft holes from the "whites"
the long 500ft holes were in the open and didn't take much of a challenge to score.

Please make sure to park in the south entrance to save some walking...therefore if you're coming from the north, turn at the second entrance.
Overall I enjoyed this course and would rank it #1 of the Joliet area courses.
It's worth the trip and keep up the good work!

- The Canyons, just down the road from Trinity, Highland, and West Park, offers yet another quality course for the Joliet area, and adds to arguably the best "destination" spot in all of greater Chicagoland (excepting Lemon Lake).
- Weaving through a nice patch of land utilized as a multi-use public park, the aptly named Canyons offers some of the best terrain in the area for disc golf. Lots of decent elevation exists due to what looks to be an old limestone mining operation. Several rocky cliff walls add a lot of character to this course, with #16 being the obvious example. Throw through or around two trees located right off the tee, with maybe 60-80' of elevation loss, down to a pin tucked on the edge of woods, a rocky cliff providing a backstop. Not too many holes like this one in the area, and it'll have everyone wanting to empty their bags going for the ace. Just super fun.
-Water is used really well here, with several of holes playing along a stream. #2 has a creek to the left of the fairway; #5 is a short RHBH anny, creek to the left, woods to the right; #4's pin is located on a sort of peninsula, and is a fun downhill shot from the tee; #9 has a little waterfall cascading behind the sloped green, and a creek on the left of the fairway awaiting errant shots. #18 finishes on a high note, with a "under the bridge, through the woods, over the stream to grandmother's house we go" sorta shot. A unique hole to cap the round is always appreciated.
- Multiple tees allow white, red, and blue players different looks and challenges. Blue tees are marked with the typical Joliet-area round painted markers, which aren't always super visible; however, they shouldn't prove difficult to find due to the outstandingly detailed (and accurate) tee signage located on each hole. Other amenities are just fine...excellent tees, mulch in the right spots to prevent total muddiness, plenty of trashcans, a port-a-john at the parking lot, etc.
- This course isn't a world-beater in the challenge factor, at least for experienced (if not necessarily good) discers...most players will find this a really good deuce-or-die sort of course, with plenty of tricky little ace runs, some fair punishment in the form of water hazards and trees, and two or three longer holes thrown in for bigger arms to shine.

- There are several spots where overlap with other park activities could come into play during busy times; #3's, 14, and 15 seem to be the main offenders here.
- Muddiness could become a problem here with time, similar to the worst spots at West Park. I hope a good layer of grass can get established here, and where that's not feasible, the local club keeps diligently mulching (their efforts were evident during my most recent round, and much appreciated).

- I really love this course. It's just a blast to play for serious recreational players (say, Am-Int) because there are a lot of opportunities to score well, but plenty of really fair trouble to get into with missed/wayward shots. A great variety of holes, a good nature-y "vibe," and the fairly rare-to-this-area rock walls all give this course enough interesting features to stick out even days after playing. I played this course for two rounds several months ago, and had wanted to get back since. The designer(s) should be commended for really squeezing the best course out of the property.

- Sharp, clear signs
- Very new course, looks like. Wood chip trails and etc

- way too much water. Granted, a guy told me it is not normally as high as the two times I've been here, so I'm going to try it again soon and update here. It was like brown-water rapids when I went. Had to really fight to get my disc back from the depths.

There was a huge highschool running event going on here last time I went. Hundreds of runners. None were in the way of my shots, this is a well-designed course.

Wasnt sure what to expect based on it being an Illinois course but pleasantly suprised. Really good use of the surrounding terrain/water along with a good flow equals an enjoyable experience. Signs are very helpful. Tees are well placed and not too rough on the twisting knees. One other thing is the park is very clean unlike a number of other courses in the area. I hope it stays that way but we'll see. Well worth playing.

Just a couple of filler holes. I can see the multiple pavillions causing an issue during the summer months but most holes have enough space to not be an issue. Could be a bit longer but temp markings are good for long tees. I hope to see multiple tees in the future.

Nice to see a course have elevation and water together in Illinois. Not very common. Worth the drive. Check it out.

- Wonderful park to put a course in. Great setting and very scenic.
- Nice variety of holes. There are some wide open long holes, as well as some tighter, wooded ones. Some holes that play through more open, mature trees. Even others have huge elevation changes. Very nice, all-around design.
- Plenty of parking, and couple different places to park. The day I was playing guys were forming up retaining walls for the new parking on the south end of the course.
- GREAT, professional signage. This is how all signage should be. Shows the direction to the next hole as well.
- Multiple pins and pads. Just the one main set of white tees are concrete, and the reds and blues are marked with stone markers. Very well done.
- Great brand new baskets. Swank!
- Practice basket at the south parking lot.
- Good distance variety, even among the red tees.
- Wooded holes (or freshly constructed portions) were covered in new mulch. I hope the park can keep this up, as it is needed to keep some portions from being muddy. Great to see that the time, effort, and money has been allotted for this.
- There are several holes that were cut straight into the timber, which is wonderful. Previously unused space, #5, 6, and 9 are great hole designs, offering great variety.
- #4 - Love this hole, and I can imagine it will break-in and be better with time. White tee is from up on top of the hill, driving down into the little creek flood-plain. Great design. Short red tee is more of a straight shot with a similar drop.
- #9 - LOVE this hole. And man is it hard. There is ONE specific line to hit. And once you get near the pin, it is guarded by a tight row of 4-5 trees that may or may not give you a clear putting line to the pin. Only 238' but I think I missed a putt and carded a 5. Also one of the most scenic pin placements I've seen on a disc course, right next to a babbling brook. Seriously, this location will now be what you think of any time you hear the term "babbling brook."
- #16 - Epic downhill drive with two trees right in the way. I doubt many people actually play the gap between them, but it's interesting. Plays really short, but a fun hole.
- #18 - A pretty cool and unique finishing hole, driving through a smallish window across the creek to a clear landing zone. Very scenic.

- Could use some stairs in a few places, namely #4 white. Also #18 back to the parking lot.
- A couple holes did feel a little out of place, or like add-ons. I realize that's not the case, but finding space obviously was a little bit of an issue. #7, 8, 11, and 12 felt a little bit this way. More open, quite unlike the rest of the course. Just feels a bit monotonous. I WILL say however, that the designers did a good job of guarding the pins on all of these open holes, or tucking them back into the timber.
- Running/biking path and some other roads do come into play in several places. I played on a weekday morning, so it was not at all busy. I imagine it's very busy on the weekends.

- Navigation isn't an issue on the course, but there are a lot of long walks throughout the course. I don't mind, but I suppose it could be a con for some. Holes were fit into the land with the best hole design in mind. I appreciate that.
- Loved this course very much. Great setting for a course, and as with all well-maintained courses, it makes your round more enjoyable when you see good signage, and mulch, and well groomed areas.
- Most of all, love the obvious commitment by the park district and the community. Keep it up!

What an awesome course. They did a great job on the desing and use of elevation.
- Very beautful Course/scenic
- Couldnt have chosen a better play to put a course
- Holes are placed perfectly arond tree placement.
- Great use of natural structures.
- Tee sings are perfect and point you to the right direction.
- Each sing tells you where the next tee box is.
- Versatile to both left and right handed players.
- Awesome mix of long rippers and short placement shots.
- Has a pavilion for hosting events.
- Awesome job is using the canyon for tee shots.
- Course flows well.
- never a whole your will look at and be "oh god"
- Mach X baskets are a big plus.
- Super Super clean.
- woodchips prevent from tee box areas to get muddy.
- cement pads are in perfect condition.

- More benches would be helpful.
- Windy days don't play well (8- 12)
- super packed at times because of how beautiful it is.
- Parking looks as if it will become a little better with it expanding.

- Concrete Teepads

- Mach X Baskets

- Easy to navigate because of all the signs along the paths that point you to where the next hole is.

- Good mix of short and tech, with long bombers.

- Absolutely beautiful old park. Even if I didnt go there to play disc golf, I would still be happy just to walk around and look at the park.

- A lot of fun holes with some challenging elevation changes

- Challenging holes that play along side a creek, which makes for the possiblily for some scoring seperation if you are off of your lines.

- There are a few holes in which you have to throw over pedestrian walkways. I see this becoming an issue in the future with some idiot golfers out there.

- There seems to be multiple parking lots around the park, which can lead to people parking at different ones and just starting at the closest hole. So there could be a lot of people cutting in at random places.

This is now my favorite course in IL. The course is absolutely beautiful with a lot of fun and challenging holes. Yes there is a bit of walking to do around the park but it did not bother me in the slightest. They are in the process of making the parking lot bigger. You can tell that who ever disigned the course put a lot of thought and hard work into making the course what it is today.

- Excellent, varied disc golf from start to finish
- Variety of shots required, and challenges that need to be faced
- Great equipment, Mach X's catch incredibly well and tee pads and signs are as good as you could wish
- Plays through a very pleasant park, simply walking through it without the golf would be enjoyable on a nice day

- Some longer walks between holes, notably 4-5, 12-13, 18-parking lot
- Public use park can be busy and a number of holes play close to or across walking paths
- No major water carry if that's your thing

The Canyons at Dellwood is an absolutely fantastic addition to the Joliet area disc golf scene. Playing through a beautiful park with its namesake features, The Canyons makes the choice of which courses to play during a day of disc golf in Joliet and surrounding communities an increasingly difficult in a very good way.

A healthy dose of elevation change, creeks bordering fairways and backing baskets, tightly wooded and more open bomber holes are all present and used to good effect throughout the round. The course is challenging without being frustrating, and really seems to reward good play.

This course does not have quite the challenge or valley shots of the nearby Highland Park, or the water carries of Round Barn if that kind of risk/reward is your cup of tee, but there really isn't much of anything to complain about as far as the quality of golf is concerned.

The equipment really is top of the line, after playing to Mach 3s (and really just about any other baskets) at neighboring courses, the Mach Xs are a delight. Over 3 rounds with 4 people, I don't think I saw a single good putt spit through or bounce out. The tee pads are large and grippy and the tee signs give all the detail you need before throwing the hole.

A couple of longer walks slightly break up the flow of the course, but a little extra exercise never did anyone any harm, and the course is pleasant enough to walk through.

I played on a day representative of what I would imagine is the busiest the park gets. A cross country meet resulted in dozens of middle and high school runners and their parents running along the paths and spectating. This resulted in us waiting to throw on a couple of holes, and deciding not to throw on 17. My other two trips to the course did not result in any disruptions to our round by other users of the park.

I've loved each of my rounds at The Canyons, and will certainly be putting it near the top of my rotation of courses to play in the Joliet area.

Update (7/5/2016):

I have increased my rating from 4.0 to 4.5.
The addition of Holes 6A, 6B, and 8A-8D, the new concrete Blue tees on many holes, new and updated tee-signs, and all the other improvements the park district continues to make easily bump up my rating. The new holes are great and add more wooded, technical holes that this course needed, and you can now play multiple different 9 and 18 hole loops that end back at the parking lot as well as all 24.

This is a fantastic course that just keeps getting better. Currently my favorite in Illinois.

Dellwood Park is a fantastic 150 acre multi facility park. It has restroom facilities and a whole lot more. There is a good mix of land that includes woods, open. shallow creek, elevation, and more.

The equipment is great.
Brand new DGA Mach X baskets with themed number plate.
Awesome descriptive tee signs.
Navigational signs all over.
Spacious concrete tee pads on the White tees.
Landscaping is awesome. Gravel paths and wood chips all over.


Hole #4 is a fantastic hole. You throw from the top of the cliff. The creek lines the right side and deep of the basket. More skilled players have a shot to get a 2 on this hole.

#18 is a pretty cool finishing hole throwing under the bridge.

There is a good variety of holes. I was able to throw quite a few different shots using my full bag.

My biggest con on this course is the amount of walking between holes. The flow is pretty poor especially with several of the added holes. The walk from 4 to 5 is pretty crazy too. I understand there was a challenge to link the sections of the park together but the flow takes away from the course. Some of the design came after the fact and pieced together.

This is more of a classic par 3 disc golf with no 2 shot holes par 4 or par 5 holes. Even on from the long tees there are only a few you'd call par 4.

With all the ravines and grades it would have been nice to have a spectacular green.

When the creek is full it's easy to lose discs. Losing discs sucks! Good 6-8 realistic chances of going into the creek off a errant shot or bad kick.

With a long term plan there could have been 2 really good flowing 18 hole courses on this property.

This is a great addition for the area and has become the popular place to be. It's busy out there!

Big shout out to Lockport Park District for doing an awesome job committing to disc golf. All disc golf courses should be done this way.

The Canyons is a brand new 18 hole course in Lockport's Dellwood Park. The park is a mix of open and wooded terrain, with a creek and some limestone walls. The course has excellent equipment including roomy, level, concrete tee pads (white tees only), DGA Mach X baskets, descriptive tee signs and tons of easily visible signs pointing you to the next tee. There are natural surface red and blue tees to adjust the difficulty for beginning or advanced players. I played the white layout, and my comments are based on that layout only.

The thing that stands out the most about this course are the risky greens. There are a good number of baskets placed in close proximity to the stream that winds its way through the course and a few baskets on hillsides with rollaway potential. The terrain is excellent for disc golf and has been used to create several memorable holes with very few throwaways. The elevation changes have been taken advantage of to create fun, but tricky downhill holes and a couple of challenging uphills. Hole 16 (250' with a ~30' elevation drop) is the type of cliff shot that is rare in the Chicago area.

There are several two-throw holes to break up the standard par 3s. Of these 8 and 11 are probably the best. They are both in the mid 500's distance wise. For the white level player, this requires two well executed long shots to card a birdie three.

The excellent and thoughtful design extends to the paths. In several instances, instead of walking along the edge of the woods, a path has been constructed a few feet into the tree line. This keeps the sun off your head, and you safe from tee shots from the next hole. I love to see when a longer route for a path is taken, so that it comes to the back of the tee area instead of to the front. Paths are either woodchip or crushed gravel.

This course has a few issues, but none of them are major problems.

There are a few long walks between holes. They are well marked, but it breaks up the flow a bit.

The layout loops back upon itself in a few places. No fairways cross, and the signage makes it obvious which way to go; but this is still not ideal.

In two instances, fairways play parallel to one another in an open area (1 & 2, 16 & 17). These fairways are open and almost entirely visible from each tee. The chances of hitting someone are slim as long as people are paying attention.

A few of the two-throw holes feel like tweeners for the intended skill level (3, 4 and 17). On all of these holes, a good shot should get the majority of the way down the fairway, but be outside of putting range. The player is left with a routine layup.

Tee signs are at the white tees only. For those playing the red or blue layouts, this creates some extra walking if they want to know hole distances.

The Canyons is a great addition to the Joliet area disc golf scene. The park is very scenic and has plenty of fun throws. For a course that just opened, there are very few rough edges.

The course is not stroller or cart friendly for anyone but the truly determined. This doesn't factor into my rating, but it's something to keep in mind.

*2019 Update*
A lot has changed since 2014. The course has expanded to 27 holes and has added additional pin placements (sometimes with 2 permanent baskets) on several existing holes. Quite a few holes now have concrete blue (long) tees which in some cases really change the way the hole plays. There's a pro shop now. Multiple practice baskets.

I gave this course a 4 in it's original 18 hole layout and with all of the improvements it's easily a 4.5. The added holes bring more severe elevation changes into play and are accessed by picturesque boulder bridges across the stream.

-awesome baskets
-nice full concrete tee pads
-great signage
-fairly well balanced for left and righties
-visually gorgeous

-part of a multi-use park
-some people may not like the long walk between some holes

With the course being less than a week old it is obviously in phenomenal condition. Time will tell if players will take care of it and the park district remains as invested as they are now. With it being located in a multi-use park I cannot rate this course five stars because I feel that true five star courses inhabit their own space thus creating an ambiance unique to their own. Also, I knocked the course for the sole reason that it scores very low. There are a lot of birdies from the whites tees. IMO a five star course plays tougher than The Canyons. All that aside this a visual stunning course with some outstanding pin placements. It truly live up its moniker as the course makes great use of the canyon walls. Some people may be bothered by some of the lengthy walks between holes but I have always been willing to walk a little farther for better hole quality. All in all, a super fun course that has quickly propelled itself as a must play in the Joliet area.

Great clear printed signs that show the distance, path and OB and next tee direction.nice long concrete tee pads.brand new baskets,mix of long and short shots some uphill shots and nice drop shots.Also a few nice holes are in a wide open field changing things up before you head back into forest .Nice size 18 hole park.seems longer than most other 18 hole parks in area.Theres lots of garbage cans which are great to keep the park clean but also keep alot of bees when its nice out.Amazing views throughout including rock formations and creek beds.It really is a great new addition to the J-town/lockport area.lots of other courses near by make this a hot spot.Considring how new the course is it looks great alreadg and yet they continue to work on it everytime im there which is of course awesome!

Gravel parking lot isnt as nice as asphalt.No alcohol /cans permitted in the park.longer walks from some baskets to the next tee kinda break up the vibe of things.other than those minor things there really are no cons. At this park.

Thanks to the designers, workers, volunteers and the town of lockport for allowing us to have another awesome park and thanks for continuing to work on it for everyone else to enjoy! Cheers