- nice color tee signs with maps
- course map
- large concrete tees
- well mown and manicured
- baskets are basic but serviceable, and are numbered
- a few rolling hills
- navigation is pretty straightforward
- gravel around baskets

- very limited elevation change and a little too open
- holes get repetitive with 5-8 being relatively straight and open
- par is unrealistically generous
- some safety hazards with walking paths, though the holes are mostly designed to try to avoid this
- minimal amenities: no practice basket, no benches, minimal garbage cans

This course honestly didn't leave a ton of impression on me. It's a nice enough course, and is very well maintained. It's just so similar to all of the other suburban 9 hole courses in the Chicago area; nothing about it stuck out.

It's a bit light on amenities but I can forgive that. The general con here is the lack of elevation change and challenge. It does have a few more tree obstacles than the average park course, but otherwise it's pretty open and uneventful. This would be a good course for a beginner to learn on.

That said, the course really is well kept - the tees and tee signs are high quality and the park was in great shape. I wouldn't hesitate to play here, but definitely wouldn't go out of my way for it. Navigation was pretty clear except for the walk from 3 to 4 - after 3, follow the path to the right until you see the tee for 4 to the right of the path.

The pars are crazy high on both the Buffalo Grove courses for whatever reason. The safety hazards with the walking path aren't great, so just exercise caution. I've never hit a complete stranger with a disc and I'm really hoping I never do.

Overall, I think this course will just blend with the 50 or so others I've played in the Chicago area and sadly I won't remember much about it. It's fun enough but doesn't have anything to set it apart.

It's short and basic, so it's great for beginners.

It's short and basic, so if you're not a beginner you'll find it boring.

This is a course for beginners and families. It's a nice addition to the park, but this is not a destination course.

Willow Stream is a 9 hole course located in a quite large city park. Several other activities in this park, with lots of open spaces.

DGA baskets, all in good repair and mounted well. The site lists some dual pin positions, but I don't remember seeing them. The baskets have really nice, bright yellow number signs on top. Very helpful with navigation.

Typical cheap-ish park signs, but they get the job done. Distance and hole number, and just having them helps with navigation, especially in the winter.

Huge concrete tee pads. Long, wide, and well constructed. One tee per hole.

Good distance variation. From ace runs, to 400+ drives. Also, good use of the little bit of available elevation. Hole 2 sticks out for this.

Very wide open for the most part. You really aren't forced to take certain lines for the most part. It's a little odd that the clump of available trees in the middle of the course wasn't utilized....it could have made for some cool pin placements, at least.

We were here on a winter weekday, and there was still people active in the park. I imagine it could get quite full during the summer.

As far as open city park 9's go, this isn't too bad. Unless you''re a beginner, you won't get much challenge here, though. If you're wanting ace runs and easy going golf, this is the spot for you.

Certainly not worth going out of your way for, but you could do worse in a pinch.

Willow Stream Park is another one of those Chicagoland 9ers, but I'll have to give the designers some credit on this one. Despite not having a lot to work with, they made a decent course. The key to that is that there is some variety in the shots. They used basically the one hill they had to work with for a 400' uphill opening shot. #2 uses the hill to give you a blind up and down shot, and #3 is a slightly downhill ace run. The course flattens out a bit from there, but the hole distances go back and forth from 220' to a 428' air-out shot. You end up with four <250' holes, two holes between 250' and 300', one 300' shot and two 400'+ shots. That helps mix up an otherwise unremarkable course. The site is lightly wooded, but holes #7 and #9 at least make you miss a few trees. The ace run on #3 uses some evergreen trees to force the RHBH hyzer line. It's not a huge challenge, but there is enough going on here to keep a round fun.

The course has the signature Buffalo Grove ginormous tee pads that are big enough to park a semi with a trailer on, so there is good footing off the tee. The course has serviceable DGA baskets in good condition, and the grounds seemed well maintained. I don't recall the tee signs but I don't recall hating the tee signs so I'm going to assume they were OK. The course flows around in a circle so it is easy to follow and you end up right back where you started.

The site doesn't have a lot of potential, so while the design does a good job of taking advantage of what the site has it still is just a so-so course. The course is lightly wooded, so you can basically throw RHBH hyzers all day. Other than the distances of the longer holes, there just isn't much challenge to the course.

Like most other parks in this area, there is a popular and heavily used walking path that winds thorough and conflicts with several holes. You have to be prepared to wait and let walkers/joggers clear the area, which is tough since the course is popular and often backed up with players.

The tee for #4 is too close to #3's basket.

The course winds around a wooded spot. It seems like maybe some of the pins could have been tucked into the woods to take advantage of that and increase the challenge of the course a bit.

I find Willow Stream to be on the better side of Chicagoland 9ers, but in the end it is still a classic Chicagoland 9er. The design does a pretty good job of utilizing what the site has to offer, but the site doesn't have much to offer. The course has some fun elements to it, so it should be an attractive spot for local recreational players. That's about it.

Baskets, signs, and tee pads are all good.

Course circles a patch of woods as you play around them.

Some good use of elevation on a hole or two.

Was well maintained and clean.

Easy to follow flow of the course.

Course has few obstacles to throw around.

The course was crowded when I went and it was not worth the wait to play the holes this course has to offer.

Course is very short and really does not pose much of a challenge to players intermediate and up.

I played here with my girlfriend and it was fun, but I would not come back by my own doing. I would not recommend this course to anyone who has played for over a year.

Nice park
Large tee pads
Good use of elevation
Good signage trees provide obstacles
Nice distance variety
Very hard to lose a disc

When there are swim meets holes 1 and 9 are closed
Crowded
Crowded path.
Nothing stands out.
All holes relatively straight.
Only beginner course not to much challenge here at all.
Very open

I saw woods here as well if they could expand it and make it 18 holes. This course would have more variety and be more desirable.

-As a fairly basic course without too many hazards to watch out for and not incredibly long this is a good course for beginners to learn the game on.
-Giant cement teepads are in great condition (almost unnecessarily big).
-Elevation on first 3 holes adds some difficulty (1 is a long uphill shot, 2 has a reservoir-like area to the right, and 3 is a short downhill shot around a decent sized tree in the center that I like)
-Being more on the open side versus wooded, good winter golf location and nearly impossible to lose a disc on.
-Decent baskets and signage.
-Ample parking, and course loops around right back to hole 1/parking lot (easy navigation)
-Port-o-potties present

While this is one of the courses I learned on and play the most often due to location, the negatives pile up. I want to rate it higher and I do enjoy getting some rounds in here, just cannot rate it higher for the following reasons.

-My biggest gripe is due to the beginner-friendly nature of this course. The course gets CROWDED (sometimes you have to wait for 4 groups til you can tee off and pace can be slow). Highschoolers and beginners flood the course, which I wouldn't mind because I want the game to spread, but groups of 8 who are slow and have no etiquette annoy me.
-Course is short and overall boring. Holes 1 and 8 are really the only holes where big arms can let it rip. I don't mind short courses if they're technical, but this course is on the boring side and only uses the woods on the borders. It'd be nicer if they'd utilize the woods a little more with a few wooded tunnel shots.
-Safety-Bike path with oblivious bikers/runners crosses holes 4,5, and 7 in particular. How there have not been incidents similar to the recent problems at Lombard blows my mind. The soccer fields can pose some safety issues on holes 4 and 5 but nothing major in my opinion as long as you don't shank it to the left
-Layout does not force any good RHBH hyzer routes. Open holes you can throw whatever. Shorter/tighter holes favor a RHFH or RHBH anhyzer.
-Pool along hole 9 can have some annoying music sometime and can affect your shot if you shank it to the left.

Overall a decent 9 hole course for beginners or to use as practice. Course is set in a multi-use community park that has tennis courts, soccer fields, baseball fields, running/bike path and pool. The course itself loops around some woods. As a RHFH thrower who relies on accuracy over distance, I like 6 and 7 which are short holes with a few trees to get around. Wind can be a factor at his course as well. While I still enjoy playing there it can get boring at times, but there's not many decent courses in this area, so it's better than nothing if you live nearby.

- Great! cement teepads.
- Good tee signs
- Hole 1 and 9 are good holes.
- Well manicured
- Play when windy if you want it to be somewhat challenging
- Descent attempt to put in a course.
- Good for beginners

- SOCCER!!!!!!
- Too easy!
- I would say par is more realistically 48-50
- Needs better pin placement and a couple moves of the tee pads - see below
- There is way too much going on in this park. My guess would be morning to early afternoon weekdays would be best for playing
- The woods in the center of the course were not used at all
- Not a repeatable course, i will only play this once a year when the doubles tournament is held.

The designer of the course tried to put in a nice course, he really did (i think). There is alot of limitations to what could be put in, from walkers and bike riders on the path to the hordes of soccer families clueless as can be.
A intermediate player should easily shot a -4 to -8 first time through. Play it through twice and forget about it. Even when the wind is super strong its not much of a challenge.
Here is what i think could be done to make it a much better course:
-Move hole #2's basket to the other side of the ravine to the right just inside the treeline (obviously clear a green area.
- With #2's basket move you can bring #3's tee further back and to the left. Or leave #3's tee and make #4's basket the pin for #3.
- Take out #4
- move #6 tee pad much further back by the intersection of the bike path.
- With #4 gone now you add a wooded hole through those wonderful woods. Very easy to find discs
- #7 move the pin about 50-100' to the right and longer into the woods.
- **not necessary** Move #8's basket a little further closer to the pine trees
- **not necessary** #9 would be really sweet if the tee pad was about 50ft further back

Favorite hole #1 - Hole 1 is a bit deceiving. When you look at this 390ft uphill drive into a light patch of trees, you think your about to play a sweet course. Especially when you consider looking at hole #9 behind you. The basket on 1 is at the crest of the hill protected by 2 trees. There is a tree directly behind and to the right that acts as a backstop. The pine trees short and to the left will also catch shots, leaving a descent putt.

- Some elevation change on first 3 holes. 1st hole is 400'+ up a hill, which makes it tough to get a 2, or a 3 for some people (including me). Second hole slightly downhill, with a blind basket, and a depression to punish shots that go too far right. Third shot a short downhill shot.
- Two holes over 400' to satisfy the bigger arms
- Shorter holes still require some thought, only one has straight line to basket. Requires minor line shaping, nothing crazy.
- Excellent tee pads, signs, and baskets are OK too.
- Almost always windy, which helps add to the difficulty.

- Packed packed packed. Groups of 8 almost guaranteed. People are always on the walking path, at all times. Soccer spilloff, occasional cross country meet, there is always something to ruin an afternoon.
- People on the walking path probably know more about the game than most people with discs on this course.
- Watch your back on almost all teepads, even a good shot can seem to head towards the next tee. Especially true on Tees 2, 3, 5, 7, 8.
- Kids used to steal discs, but I think the recent removal of a big chunk of the forest has cut this down a bit.

This course is very Jekyll and Hyde. You can go on a windy day, and fight your way to make par. You can go on a calm day, and get 2's on all seven holes under 400'. Sometimes there is nobody there, sometimes there are 20 people waiting to tee off.

I want to rate this course higher, but the cons just pile up too quickly. If it was in the middle of nowhere, I think it would be better received. Whenever I am off of work at odd times, I always try to fit a round in when nobody is around.

Great big Concrete Tee Pads

Very Nice Signs

A few holes to break out the drivers (1,8)

Good distance variety 195'-420'

Very nice park

Some good elevation:
1: Big Uphill drive
2: Rolling hills with blind basket because land ultimately slopes down and steep trecherous green
3: Nice little downhill putter shot with many plants around basket

Easy to navigate

Great family course

Gets very crowded and backed up

Too many duece or die holes in between 190 and 300. Overall the course is not very chalenging at all for expirienced players.

4-9 are pretty much flat

Boring holes: 4,6,7

Some baskets and tees are too close together. 2tee is too near 1 basket, 2 basket way too near 3 tee (and its a blind shot over the hill so you cant even tell where they are), and so on...

A very nice 9 holer if you're in the area

Like i said in the title, this course is great for beginners. The holes are relatively short, making it ideal for practicing short/approach style shots.

Tee Pads and Baskets are in great shape. And the landscaping is very well kept.

Only nine holes, and quite short. The course encircles a small "forest". This makes just about every hole look the same. Right forehanders or left backhanders would have a very easy time.

There are little to no real obstacles, other than the "forest" if control is lossed on the throw.

I would recommend this course to all players who are looking to improve their short game. The course is set in a beautiful park right in the heart of the town.

The problem with this area is that there just aren't all that many quality courses. I have played this more than a few times because, when I lived in the area, it was the best course around, atleast to my knowledge.

Its not challenging, but its great for whats available.

Easy going course, few hazards, easy to navigate with the worlds largest tee pads. Decent mix of hole lengths, but only a couple that are even remotely long.

Not challenging, can be slow going on Friday and Saturday evenings when there is tendency for large groups to play together who are relatively clueless

The course has gone through some significant changes. Spring 2015 they re-worked the course and some things are better, some worse. Holes 1 to 3 are the same, but 4 and 5 are totally new, and probably adds a little length over the previous 4 and 5. The path than ran near 6 to 8 has been moved, and is no longer a concern. 8 has changed twice in the last few weeks, but the last change was to give it back most of the length it originally had. 9 is a new hole, which is too bad, since the old 9 was one of the few challenging holes as far as trees, but now that area is a parking lot. 9 has also changed twice in the last few weeks, since the first time they seemed to set it up backwards, and have now flipped tee pad and basket.


This is my 'home course' and I play it quite frequently since it is just a mile from my house. You can play two rounds of 9 in about 45 minutes, so works well for a quick round after work. The paths others have talked about are rarely a big issue, most rounds I rarely have to stop play to wait for pedestrians to get walk by. Bigger issue is large slow moving groups, but you typically only see those in the very late afternoon. Often the are oblivious and won't give you an opportunity to pass (so, if playing in afternoons, plan to play multiple discs on each hole). Mornings on weekends and during most days the course is quite empty. A couple of times a year on weekends they close off part of the course due to soccer tournaments.

1) Nice concrete tee pads (ridiculous how big they are!!!!) I played with Doktor John and I agree with his assessment "There must have been a sale on concrete!!!!!"

2) Nice park with lots of other activities and plenty of room. A pool and athletic fields, basketball and other activities including a lot of walkable sidewalks.

3) Nice changes in distance. Ranges from 195' to 420'. It is nice to see a course vary their distances so much allowing for different discs to be thrown.

4) Course is very beginner friendly because it is open with almost no place to lose a disc.

5) Gravel around the baskets help mark your target and also keeps the dirt down from compaction.

6) Although there isn;t a lot of elevation changes it does use the hills as well as it can. #1 goes up the hill, #2 goes up and over the crest of a hill. #3 goes back downhill slightly to a protected basket.

7) Nice tee signs with maps and distances.

1) Course doesn;t incorporate the wooded area that the course runs completely around. I would like to have seen a hole or two through the woods maybe instead of all 9 out in the open (for the most part)

2) Walk path comes into play too often, there seems to be enough room in the park to have altered the course to avoid the paths or vice versa. If it is crowded with other people doing other things I can imagine it taking a long time to play a round. I was there early so we didn;t have to wait more than 1-2 times and only briefly.

3) Fairly simple boring holes. Not enough obstacles used and no other course features like wooded holes, water, elevation, etc. etc. etc.

4) Missing the one great hole to make it a course to keep people coming back. #9 is the best hole with the large trees on the left and the woods on the right. Skip one off the path for a birdie opportunity, but it just isn't a hole or course that says come back and play me again. I would play it again but only because I am hooked but I wouldnt go out of my way for this course alone.

Not a bad 9 holer, but the park seems like it could have been better used for disc golf to incorporate the wooded area and avoid the walk paths on some of the other holes. It is beginner friendly which is always a positive. There isn;t a lot of elevation chainge and no water in play (except maybe in spring on the right of #1 and #2) Not sure if that low area holds water or simply is a low area.

The course is in one part of a large park with some hills, and a central wooded area that provides a nice rough along 6 of the holes. Most of the holes have some scattered trees on the fairway or protecting the pin. There is some nice elevation on the first three holes for the Chicago area, adding a different dimension than many other area courses.

The holes are a nice mix of lengths, from under 200' to over 400'. The trees in play define some differently shaped fairways, that encourage a variety of different shots to score well. The holes range from ace runs to longer or more technical holes, and offer more challenge than any other of the mediocre 9 holers around.

The amenities of the course are very nice. There are excellent large concrete pads on all holes that are in perfect shape. There are nice tee signs on all holes with accurate hole maps and distances that make the course very easy to navigate.

The course tends to be crowded on weekends and in the evening. In the summer if you play at a busy time, expect to wait on nearly every hole, and wait a while at the beginning of each round.

A significant number of the players are young and/or inexperienced, and so there is a serious lack of education on proper course etiquette, and no real desire to learn it. Along with this, a walking path is in play on 7 of the 9 holes, and only about half of the other park users seem to have any idea that they are also on a disc golf course. This slows play down even more, as you'll end up waiting for walkers and joggers to clear the fairway.

Right now, basket 7 is missing the basket, though the pole and chains are still there. You can still tell when a putt would have probably gone in, so it's not a huge deal.

Update: The basket is back, now all 9 are in good shape and playable.

This is one of the better 9 hole courses in the area, and is slightly more interesting and challenging than the rest. For me, this is overshadowed by how long a round takes with so many new players, and so much overlap with other park users.

If you can play this park during the day on a weekday, it's a fun little course. Otherwise it's not worth driving out of your way to spend a lot of time waiting.

Very well maintained, easy to follow course. Concrete tees and decent baskets on all holes. Slight elevation changes on the opening holes is nice. Good course for a beginner or an easy round.

Very simple course, as there is very little by way of obstacles. Any trees on the course don't really serve as obstacles. There's a stretch of holes, I think 5, 6, and 7, that were just ridiculously short and easy. More holes were flat and boring than were elevated or somewhat interesting. The course is in the middle of a busy park, so it's easy to hit pedestrians or to have play interrupted by wandering park-goers. First hole is awful close to the parking lot, definitely dangerous for anyone parked there.

This was not an awful course, but there is very little you will find to be memorable. I had an okay time playing there, but by the time it was close to the end of our second round, I'd definitely had enough. I would say it's a good course if you're in the area or want a quick, stress-free round. There's just nothing remarkable or particularly interesting about this course.