Woodland Chains is a classic feeling short park course in the Metro East region of St. Louis. It's among the oldest, if not the oldest, course on the Illinois side of the area, and snakes all around Woodland Park. This course has seen a lot of equipment upgrades in recent years, though the course layout itself is unchanged.

Getting to this course is pretty easy, as it's just a short drive from Interstates 55 and 70, and right off of Highway 159. Olivers Road is the drive that goes around the park, and either park entrance will eventually get you to the start of the course. There are multiple parking lots around the park, and several baskets and tees close to the road, but the course bulletin board and practice basket are next to the parking lot you want. Taking the second junction with Olivers Road will put you at the course start.

Disc Golf takes up the most land in the park by far. Other than Disc Golf, the park has 3 or 4 shelters, 4 playgrounds that each serve a shelter, and two baseball fields. There are bathrooms throughout the park, with 1 set being at the course start and another set located by holes 7 and 8 (these close over winter but there was a portable one near the course start this past weekend when I last played). While there aren't trash cans along the course specifically, there's enough trash cans around the park that you shouldn't have to hold on to any trash for too long.

The course has seen a lot of improvements in the last couple of years. The practice basket is located near the course start, and has enough open land around it that you can not only practice putts, but even approach length shots without getting in the way of other folks in the park. The course has recently replaced its older and rusting baskets with new DD Veteran Baskets. The red bands and blue baskets really add some pop to the course. The course signage has been improved as well, with all of the course signs being in great shape, and giving hole layouts, tee locations, and distances. The blue and red tees are now concrete, with only the white tees being crushed limestone now. In addition to these improvements, there is a large, very hard to miss bulletin board that has a large course map on one side, and an announcement-league board on the other. The course map is very handy, and I highly recommend you take a picture of it before starting your round (more on that later).

This course has among the largest number of tees and pin placements in the area, with each hole having 3 different tees, and a basket that can be found in one of 2 pin placements. This allows for multiple unique rounds in one day, and helps the course cater to a wide variety of skill levels. Newer players will find the red tees challenging, while advanced players will find the Blue tees to add considerable distance or new lines to their round. The different tees really make a difference on a lot of the holes. Holes 10 and 18 are a great example, where the blue tees are put across the lake to require a drive over the water. Hole 9 is also an interesting example, where the Blue tee is actually shorter than the white tee, but it's location makes it a more challenging shot.

Woodland Park is by no means the largest park you will find an 18 hole disc golf course in, and the course really makes the most out of the land that isn't used by other park amenities. The course snakes around creeks, the small lake in the middle of the park, a baseball field, and shelters to fit all 18 holes. Even with the amount of obstacles to navigate with the course design, this course manages to top 5,200 feet from the red tees, and an additional 1,600 feet from the blues.

Most of the course plays between 180 and 325 feet, though there are 3 holes that come in between 400 and 500 from the red tees. Despite the relatively short holes, this course has a considerable amount of elevation throughout the park. This results in uphill shots like holes 11 and 12, tricky downhill holes like 5 and 16, and other holes like hole 4 that are level, but with a risk of downhill rolls. Most of the holes are pretty open with only mature trees to navigate, but some holes like hole 7 bring more dense brush or tree coverage into play.

In addition to the obstacles listed above, this course has more water in play than most of the other courses in the area. The lake and creek that the park surrounds comes into play on at least 5 holes, plus others if you have a wild enough throw. These water hazards add a good level of risk/reward that wound otherwise not exist, as a bad tree kick on 9 or 10 can leave your disc in the middle of the lake, which has some very unsavory looking water.

Despite a lot of the holes being pretty open, getting a 2 can be very challenging on a lot of the holes here. This makes the shorter holes feel like must gets, especially 11, 12, and 16. After getting through holes 3 and 4, the distances feel pretty consistent as a whole, with 10 and 18 being longer exception. The variety on this course is enough to keep a round interesting, especially if you do multiple round on different tees or want to use a different tee from the last time you played here.

The additions of new tee pads, signs, and baskets, is really nice to see on this course. With these improvements in place, the biggest con to this course is not without a doubt the flow and navigation. When you look at the maps on this site, it doesn't take long to see some of the wonkiness of the flow. The walks between 1, 2, and 3 on the map look significant, and they are a little bit of a hike on the course. I'm pretty sure 2 was missing a tee sign, which didn't help. Hole 6 is another awkward spot, requiring you to walk all the way back from hole 5 to find the tee pad for 6, and then requiring a walk across the parking lot from 6's pn to the tee pads for 7. Hole 12 requires a walk that I feel could be remedied if you flipped the tee pads and the pin locations around, since the tee pads are out of sign and down a hill from hole 11's pins, and 300 feet away. A map makes it a little easier to navigate, and the extra navigations signs around the course help as well, but some awkward transitions don't have signs and can make finding the next tee hard for first time players. There's also 1 tee sign per hole that serves all 3 tee pads, which makes finding the blue pads a little awkward at times. I think the designers of this course did just about the best they could with this course given all of the obstacles in the park, but these issues still persist. I don't think there is a way to reorder the existing holes to eliminate all awkward transitions either. It's kind of clear that some of the smaller holes are in place to make a full 18 fit as it is.

The tee signs, while nice and in good shape, also lack 2 important pieces of information. The first one is which pin placement is in use. Each hole has 2 placements, but no hole has a way of showing which is in use. While you can see the basket from the red tees on many holes, there are some critical placements that you want to know with other holes before you throw. Hole 5 has placements that are a good 80 feet away from each other, but you have to walk up the fairway to see which is in place. The same is the case for 6. Hole 9 is a blind shot where the basket could be located on either side of a creek next to the lake, Hole 14's placements are far enough a part where the pin placement could mean the different between a hyzer backhand or a hyzer forehand, and if you want to know which basket is in place, you have to walk through a small valley to see. Having a way of know which pin is in place would be very appreciated.

The other piece of information missing from any sign on this course is, oddly enough, the par for the course or any of the holes. DGCR has par at 55. Udisc has it at 61. While I don't imagine par is very high here, it would be nice to know for sure what it is. It's nice to have a course par, or even a rec and pro par, to compare yourself to, instead of leaving yourself to just trying to beat your personal best.

Even when it's been a long time after the last rain, this course has some muddier areas, even away from the water. Hole 7 was the part that stood out to me in this regard, as the placement was up on a steep hill, and you could tell that other folks have slipped trying to get their disc from the basket. Some stairs here would be amazing. That being said, the 2 bridges on the course do a great job of traversing the water while being far enough away from the water to account for wetter periods with elevated water levels.

While I'm not the biggest stickler for safety in terms of how close disc golf gets to other parts of a park, this course feels risky in a lot of areas. There's a few holes that I would say play pretty close to Olivers Street throughout the park, where a bad release could hit he road without any trouble. Other longer holes or blind shots feel a little off too, since this park does get non-disc golfers who may not know the fairways as well as those playing. Holes 3 and 9 have pins close enough where drives and approaches could conflict with an errant throw, for instance. Just make sure you are aware of your surroundings.

The white tees are still crushed limestone and could be prone to water or overgrowth. That being said, they looks to be in better shape than usual. I'm sure making these concrete is on the wish list for those who look after this park.

Overall, this is a fun course. It's not the most well kept park in the world, but it makes for a fun round of golf. It's clear that it gets a lot of traffic from a variety of players, and it's designed to make for a good round of golf for anyone that wants to play here.

Shoutout to everyone who looks after this course. It's far from perfect, but it's clear that it gets a lot of love, with so much money going into improvements in such a short period of time. This course makes the most of a smallish, busy park, and if you're in the Metro East area, it's worth a quick visit. If you're looking for disc golf merch in the Metro East area, Van Man Discs isn't far away in Swansea and a great opportunity to support a local vendor if Smokin' Aces is too far a drive for your liking.

Significant improvement in the last year.

New concrete tees. New baskets. New signs on most holes.

Gumballs, which were EVERYWHERE one year ago, are still there, but nowhere near as bad as they were.

Trash cans and bathrooms are readily available.

A good mix of uphill/downhill shots, with water coming into play on a few holes. All in all, a very nice 18 hole layout.

Par is not indicated on all signs. Why? There are some directional signs, but the course could use a few more.

One year ago (summer 2018) I decided not to play Woodland due to gumballs. They were everywhere. This year, not so much. I've played the course twice in the lat week and enjoyed it both times. Kudos to the group that did all the work. It has really paid off in a much improved course.

This course offers good elevation on several holes and there is also good shot variety here.
A good mix of short, moderate, and longer holes will keep things interesting.
Also there is a bit of water threat for that extra pucker factor.
Low ceiling shots and many good lines to be shaped on this course.
Signage was adequate and dual tees were offered on many holes.
Multiple pins placements to keep things from getting stale.
Sloping greens to keep you on your toes as well as protected/guarded pins on some holes.
There were a few chances to air out some drivers here as well.

Tees are rutting and hold water after a good soaking rain.
Hole 2's sign was missing upon my visit.
Baskets are showing signs of aging, they still do their job however.
Long walks on multiple holes slow the flow of the round down a bit, 1's basket to 2's tee, 2's tee to 3's basket, 4's basket to 5's tee and 11's basket to 12's tee all come to mind. I know thats the way the park is spread out but it does slow the flow of the round down a bit at times.
Scouting ahead was necessary on some holes to see where the pin was located.
Be careful on hole 8 to stay on the top side of the hole as there is a pond on the right side of the fairway and a roll a way disc could end up wet very easily.
There was a bit of trash on the course upon our visit. Maybe some trash cans would help deter the litterbugs a bit??

This is a solid park style course that offers a nice variety. I like the fact that it offers different pins placements on multiple holes and holes like 9 offered players the chance to throw across the creek. If players aren't quite as skilled there was another pad so that the threat of disc loss wasn't as great.
Overall there are good lines here and the golfing is fun. With the upgrading of the tees and maybe some new baskets this course would get a bump up in ratings IMO. As it is its still a solid course that was seeing some traffic upon my visit. Worth the stop if you are in the area.

Nice wooded, technical shots. Short runs for the most part. Scores well for the intermediate level player. Good overall design. Not too long to play 18 holes. Water comes into play which makes those holes interesting. Multiple tees and multiple pin placements. Pro pads are concrete

Hard to navigate. Chains are pretty rusted and dead. No concrete pads for short tees. Lots of fairway traffic from others in the park. Trash littered everywhere. Water in the creek and lakes are super nasty and stinky

Overall i like this course a lot. I tend to shoot low scores and there are a lot of good ace run holes that are a lot of fun. The holes with water i think are great. You want to run them but the water makes me nervous sometimes because I'm not going in that water. My buddys dog went in it and stunk the rest of the day. Its pretty bad. I would suggest to take a picture of the course map at the bathrooms by hole 1 the first time you play, and definitely take PLENTY of practice putts to get used to the chains. Iv had more than a handful missed putts hitting dead center chains. There have been arrows placed at pins pointing to the next hole so that helps a lot too. I give it a 3 overall. I think the designer just decided to put a couple holes' baskets behind a tree and said ok its a hole. That and the lack of course maintenance. Hardly any benches and a lot of trash.

The Pros Include:
-Concrete Pads
-Multiple Pads
-Multiple Basket Locations
-Restrooms
-Pavilions
-Lake/ Stream
-Shots over water
-Great mixture of shots throughout the course
-Awesome Old Trees

-Odd walks to some of the holes
-Sometimes there are some shady crowds loitering around.
-Possibility of hitting moving cars if you go OB on a hole

Pretty good course.. I haven't made it out to the area to play it enough

1. 3 Different sets of Tee pads
2. Can do long run ups on big tee pads
3. Good use of terrain
4. Well designed holes
5. Chance for aces on a couple of downhill shots

1. tough to know where the next hole is at in several spots
2. bad course flow in general
3. chances to lose discs in water

Overall I liked this course but we spent about 20 minutes extra trying to find all the holes. Print out the map from the links/files section! I did not and paid for it!

-Feels like its a mix of different courses all in one.
-Great use of land and space.
-Beautiful trees and wild life.
-Has 3 different tee off spots for different skill levels.
-Easy to get to and right off I-70.
-Takes a certain degree of skill to curve around trees, lakes and ditches.
-The rolling hills and elevation is fantastic.
-A lot of birdie chances.

-Please please please print off a map of the course before going. Impossible to navagate and play without map.
-Some holes play just feet away from the lake making it easy to lose a disc.
-A lot of trash and glass on the course.
-The course is right on top of a lot of roads and playgrounds.
-Baskets are older and the chains are hard. Easy to bounce a disc off the chains and out even if its a perfect throw.
-Seems the course is hardly used and can use some up keep.
-The course isn't very fluid and sometimes have to walk long distances to play the next hole.

Overall this was a fun course and I will play it again. It felt a lot like JB except smaller and with water hazards. I would advise not playing later in the day or the weekend just because the playgrounds may be packed with kids and people making some of the holes difficult to play. Print a map out of the course before playing or you will be unable to find your way around.

This park is beautiful adding a challenge with water, hills, trees, and awesome scenery, IE ducks, geese, birds.
This park is very easy to find and easily accessible.

Suspending my cons portion of my review until played again after notice of changes for the better.

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> Excellent and creative use of terrain, water hazards, trees and shot shaping opportunities.

> Three tees for every hole that mostly (especially the blue/pro tees) make a big difference in the way the hole plays.

> Multiple Pin placements are obviously available on the course, but not listed on the map or signs.

> Scenic park complete with ducks, geese and swans for added entertainment value.

> Good mix of short and long holes that don't feel like anything is missing or a shortcut.

> Tee signs did a good job of showing the multiple tees.

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> The course layout is beyond confusing. Even with 2 really good maps, you spend a good deal of time wandering (and wondering) to look for the next tee.

> Some areas of the course really need some maintenance and rebuilding. A few spots were actually dangerous due to poor construction or rotting wood and sinking cement blocks.

>The baskets have seen better days and could use a refurb. They also need a coat of bright paint so they can be seen from further than 60 ft. away.

> Trash, trash and more trash. Not much in the way of garbage cans, but mostly the park is just littered up from one end to the other leaving the impression that a dump must be just right around the corner... yuck.

> No respect for the course from other park patrons. We had to have several confrontations with folks who were picnicing, taking pictures, playing catch and just lollygagging about on the fairways and would not move, even when asked very nicely twice.

>Many holes and basket placements are simply too close to parking lots, streets, playgrounds and pavilions to be safe and make me wonder who thought that was a good idea. Some tees even require you to throw over a parking lot, roadway or walking path... stupid idea.

> Tee signs were really cheap and did not do a good job showing actual pin placement.

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Don't take the heavy ratio of Cons to Pros as a reason to skip this course: The Woodland Chains DG Course wins BIG on actual playability and I will plan on coming here more often. Considering how far I had to drive, take that as a good sign.

I look forward to building the confidence to play some of the blue tees that required huge throws over the water or through really tight wooded corridors to break into the fairway. The topography is some of the most dramatic I've ever played and gave me plenty of cause to stop and second guess my normal shots to account for a fade that might backfire and go an extra 70 ft. because of a steep slope or a tree that could send me sailing into a water hazard. I truly had a great time with this course.

The things that were annoying about this park (as mentioned in the Cons) were not caused by the actual "playing" of disc golf on the course, but just the frustration of it all between shots:
You had better plan on taking a good map (or two) and allow plenty of time on your first visit for searching for tees and baskets. If your game goes like ours, you will also probably have to give up a shot or two to avoid the dangerous possibility of hitting a bystander who won't move off the course because, "disc golf is no different than playing catch, just throw your frisbee's somewhere else... this is a public park." Fair enough, but I was shocked by the total lack of willingness for folks to just step 30ft. out of the way for a few seconds... jeesh.

The parks deparment and the city of Collinsville really, really need to address the littering issue here. I don't know how it gets to the point that a park that should be a real gem of the community ends up looking like a landfill? This park deserves better.

The course plays through a large park with lots of hills, and scattered mature trees. Some areas are more heavily wooded and make for more technical shots, and some brush comes into play as rough. There is a nice lake that comes into play on a few holes and adds a nice challenge. The hills are used very well to make the design interesting, and keep the holes varied throughout the course. There are a number of baskets on slopes which makes for an added level of difficulty.

There are tee signs showing the hole layout and the three tees for each hole. The different tees usually gave totally different looks at the holes, and made for very different levels of difficulty which is nice.

There is a really nice variety of holes here, with everything from ace run holes to more difficult and technical shots. The land is used well to really make a set of fun and interesting holes that challenge many different parts of your game if you want to get birdies here.

The navigation on this course was pretty bad in spots. I don't like having to wander around the park looking for the next tee, and there are definitely places where this was necessary for a first time player. I would definitely recommend a map or guide the first time you play here, and that will make the course much more enjoyable.

There were a few places where the course played very close to heavily used areas of the park, and this meant there was some pedestrian traffic on some holes. The other park users seemed polite and aware of disc golf, but you'll still need to watch out for people wandering on to some of the fairways.

This course offers a lot of different challenges, and would be a really nice course if it had enough signage to take care of the navigation issues. The multiple tees mean that it is accessible for beginners but can still offer good challenges to more experienced players. There are places to lose discs here, so watch out for the lake and some areas of thick rough.

This course was a lot of fun to play, and I would definitely recommend making a stop here. If possible, play with a local or take a map, otherwise expect to spend time trying to figure out the course layout.