Lots of trees to challenge approaches and putts.
Solid, readable numbers on each tee pad.
Good for a quick nine, and close to another course. (Rockwood Central)

You're going to smell some weed here in all likelihood.
It's mostly quite short, so not much opportunity to bust out a long drive.

Great short course
At times, great for kids to play without getting frustrated by long difficult courses
Best times are early morning see below for explanation

Potheads, for the love of Pete smoke at home. Took my son there after school and there were three huge bongs on the picnic bench, about twenty people surrounding them, all baked. A few guys on the course so high they could barely function.

I played this 3 times today (-5, -6, -6) and a local named Chris showed me the layout.
--Very nice long, cement tee pads
--Baskets in good shape
--Variety of shots, mostly short, but hyzers and anhyzers
--Trees provide difficulty

I like this course, but...
--No tee signs
--Although mostly manicured grass, the course is showing signs of heavy use
--Three holes have the pin near a fence that separates the course from a rock quarry, with very steep (60-80 feet) walls. Not likely to lose a disc unless you heavily chunder a drive. But be careful.

Although this course is in a neighborhood that has seen better times, I never felt threatened by any of the park dwellers. In fact, local players were very helpful and nice. As in any urban setting, you get a wide spectrum of people. This park has a swing set, so moms were there with infants and toddlers, not far from some of the more nefarious-looking guys, but everyone was having fun.

-FREE!
-Some really nice holes. Wooded (but not incredibly dense), with a couple open holes peppered in. Fairways force discers to choose between a few tight, deliberate lines. Some uphill, some downhill. Good use of elevation change.
-Concrete tees, all in great shape and clean.
-Solitude. We were the only ones playing when I visited Vance. One walker and one police cruiser (more on him later) were the only other people using the park.
-Baskets are in good shape
-Close to Rockwood, if nine holes doesn't scratch the itch.

-Parking is a little rough. Don't park in the adjacent church parking lot. They will tow your car.
-No tee signs or other navigation aids.
-Locked (apparently long-term) restrooms
-Hole nine tees off behind a big rubble pile and barbed wire fence. I found that tee to be kind of weird. Wished it was off the fence a bit more or coming from a different direction for a better aesthetic.
-Only one set of pin locations

What a beautiful park! Tall, beefy trees and a little bit of up and down make for some really nice (shortish) holes.

Just watch out for car thieves...

After finishing hole three a cop in his cruiser came up to us. I freeze like a deer in headlights (old habit), and he proceeds to ask if we had seen some tweaker chick who had been seen in the area and was on the run after stealing quite a few cars. Remember to lock your doors.

Outside of that, this is a really nice park, enjoyed best with a guide or, at worst, a map. Check it out if you can.

Great use of available space
Lot's of varied shots due to trees
Very easy to navigate, even without the downloadable map
Good course to practice precision shots without much "risk" involved-like losing a disc
Great course for introducing people to the sport while still providing a challenge
Good course to fine tune various shots and shot selection skills

Not many cons, given what this course is...a small city park course.
If your expectations are accurate, you will thoroughly enjoy this course

With this course and Rockwood right down the street--this is a great mini destination to get in a few quick rounds to fine tune your game in a non-crowded setting with 0% chance of losing a disc, so you can throw multiple discs in a variety of ways.
Of the two, I liked this course more because it had more trees...

If you've hesitated playing this course because it's a small 9 holer--I think you will be pleasantly surprised--it'll be worth your time

**It's a little hard to tell from the map...but the tee off for hole one is along the fence behind the church parking lot...once you find that, the rest flows very nicely

Vance park is a very fun course to play, it offers many challenging shots that are friendly to lefties and right handers that throw both back hand and fore arm, allowing a wide arrangement of throwing techniques.

The baskets are in great shape and easily viewable from the tee boxes. The tee boxes are concrete, nice, level and point in the correct direction (w/ the exception of #9's tee box being a tad tricky).

I like the fact that the majority of the course is under shelter of huge trees that kept me dry during the rain.

The course also was well maintained and seemed fairly clean. The holes that were open and unguarded offer many ace ops and the holes that were guarded offer many bird ops if thrown correctly.

The locals were very friendly and kind enough to show me the flow of the course, which i might add is very well laid out. I thought of this course being a smaller version of Timber park and as one person below said a Pier park type setting as well. I would gladly play Vance again and feel at home here.

There aren't many cons to this park other than the fact there are no hole signs or a course map made available. W/ out the fact of being guided by locals i would have had a hard time figuring out the flow of the course. the only other thing i can think of is hole #9's teebox location is next to a fence and makes it an odd hole to tee off from.

Rock Central DGC is located just 3 blocks away making two courses w/ in walking distance of each other. Vance park offers a playground many fields and other sports to play, allowing other activities for those in the family to do, if not playing discgolf. there is also a porta-potty, multiple trash cans and picnic areas provided as well.

-Good baskets
-Solid teepads
-Great course to practice new shots
-Great course to practice "discing down" (using a mid instead of driver and putter instead of mid)
-Enough trees to keep you honest
-Well designed for amount of space given
-Plenty of safari opportunities
-Great fun for players with less D
-Events to participate in

-No tee signs
-No kiosk w/map
-Lots of trash at times
-Lots of crime in the area at times
-A few fairways cross ped paths, unavoidable really, just be careful of walkers.

Vance Park is a really fun course to practice new shots on. Over summer of '07 I started to practice forehand drives, I'm primarily backhand and have never forced myself to "figure out" the forehand drive. Vance was a great tool for me to begin dissecting that shot. I often played rounds throwing only forehand off the tee. All the holes are under 300' so I didn't have to worry about hurting my tennis elbow by overpowering it.

My girlfriend is also a competitive golfer and loves vance. She doesn't have too much D but is excellent in the rest of her game, so Vance was like a playground for her, she could reach all but one hole, and often times can tie or beat me out there because of her excellent putting.

In regards to course design, Jerry Miller did and excellent job in regards to the available space. The tee pads are far enough from the previous basket that you don't feel like you're still in the "fly zone" for people driving behind you. There are also some elements of modern larger courses tucked in. Hole 9, for instance, is a fairly technical big hyzer for righties, and a really fun big putter/roc anhyzer for lefties.

I think that any advanced players that live in the area could use this course and a great practice tool, also when you're done throwing a couple nines, there is a HUGE soccer/baseball field next to hole two that you can use to practice distance.
Golfers of somewhat less skill or distance are really going to benefit from playing Vance Park, and they will enjoy getting birdies and learning the the various shots required to drive well at Vance.