Canton, IL

Big Creek Park

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3.325(based on 11 reviews)
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2 0
ToddT
Experience: 96 played 10 reviews
3.50 star(s)

2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Dec 12, 2014 Played the course:once

Pros:

I really enjoyed playing this course. It was a bit of a drive but was worth it.
- Excellent elevation changes
- Good range of right and left baskets
- Good use of terrain
- Baskets and tee pads were in great shape
- No garbage at all. This is very unusual.
- Small quiet town with low traffic on this course
- Intuitive layout of the course and easy to find the next hole
- Signs are more informative than most

Cons:

- Had only one problem finding a hole on this course. Hole 17 loops back around to the left up the hill
- I never use course par, but clearly this course should be a standard 54 par course not what this site or the course signs say
- Not really on the way or close to anything:
Route 9 and part of Route 24 are single lane not fun to drive roads.

Other Thoughts:

Directions: The entrance is directly across the street from the High School with a big park sign. The gates were closed when I played that allowed access to the lower parking lot, so I parked just after you enter on the left. Hole 15 is in the open field to the right, just start their as walking to hole one is pretty far away.
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1 5
Donkeybong
Experience: 9 played 5 reviews
3.50 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Oct 3, 2014 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Playing this course, you wont realize you are in a small town. Nice baskets. I do think it is over pared. Nice elevation changes.

Cons:

Several parking lots, and the one for golf isn't marked. took a while to find. It is the one after the skate park at the bottom of the hill on the left.

Other Thoughts:

I am a new player and this course is perfect for me.
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3 0
MidwestZest
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 23.8 years 103 played 72 reviews
3.50 star(s)

#FUN 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 7, 2014 Played the course:once

Pros:

- Quite possibly the easiest navigation of any 18-hole course I've played. Great course flow, without really sacrificing too much in the way of individual hole design. How often do you see that as the first 'Pro' on here?
- #1-#9 and #10-#18 both loop back to the parking lot, which is always great in a design. They each kind of have a different feel to them.
- Wonderful tee signs.
- Concrete tees (although very slick when wet).
- Great elevation, and used in quite a few places. Only 5 or 6 holes that I would call "flat." Simply fantastic.
- Good variation in distance. Some shorter ones that really give you a run at the basket from the tee.
- Pretty well secluded from other activities.
- Nice use of the mature trees on a few holes for obstacles. While none of this course is really technical, the run of #6-#9 is a nice change of pace, requiring better line-control.
- Course 'builds' towards the end, with more memorable holes.
- #9 plays longer than it's listed, since there is some serious 'line-choosing' going on. The most wooded hole on the course, with the lowest green ceiling.
- #12 is a scenic 350 ft shot over some rolling hills, with huge roll-away potential.
- #14 was probably the most memorable hole for me, framed up nicely by some overhanging trees and a little valley below.
- #15 is wide open, but a fun hole to decide on an approach angle. The putting green drops off dramatically to the right, so you have to be careful. I threw about 6 shots until I got it right.
- #16 is just a great downhill bomb to empty your bag on. You can throw your drivers with ease, or just rip on your mid-ranges and putters. 325 feet plays like 225 with probably a drop of 30 feet in elevation. Would be a great hole for closest to the pin.
- #18 - I'm so glad this monster is here. Great finishing hole, even if it's flat and relatively open. If you want to drive for distance, you'll have to pick a shot shape to give yourself a chance. Great pin placement, guarded by two large mature trees.

Cons:

- First three holes are pretty lackluster. All flat and open, just different lengths. Smartly, these are the first three holes, so you forget how boring it is once you get into the rest of the course.
- No real penance for bad shots on the course, aside from roll-aways or a tree knocking your disc down.
- Course Par is quite generous (65) - it's really a beginner's course par. Probably should be 55 - 57 for the experienced player.
- Sign on #5 is missing. Also not a huge fan of the uphill-slanted tee pad.
- #12 pad not pointed in the correct direction. Almost looks like it used to play to the #11 basket location.
- Tees were very slick the day I played, a couple hours after a rain. Just not as rough as they could be.
- A little erosion here and there, especially in the more wooded holes, as would be expected.
- Some of the baskets aren't in the best of shape, and some are installed oddly. I seem to remember a couple of the first baskets being a bit low to the ground, and #5 basket is no longer plumb.
- Not a lot in the way of amenities. City pool at the entrance to the park, but otherwise not a lot of benches or trash cans.
- No practice basket, which would have been nice.

Other Thoughts:

- This was just a downright carefree and FUN course to play. Not the most technical, and really no epic or jaw-dropping signature holes, but man is the scenery great. Avid discers can have a good time, with beginners not finding it frustrating. A top-end 'intermediate' course, with the chance to reward players with very low scores.
- I could see this course benefiting greatly from alternate pin locations, assuming the player volume is there. There's room to lengthen a few holes to add challenge, or dive into some more wooded areas and get out of the clearings.
- Unfortunately, this course is 30 minutes off of the interstate (I-474 around Peoria), which doesn't make it the easiest to stop by for a round. I will have to plan a detour in my future travels to return.
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1 0
JohtoVillage
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 24 years 160 played 73 reviews
2.50 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 24, 2014 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Big Creek Park is a short and easy course that is not a hard play. Here are my pros:

1) Awesome signs that really do a great job of laying out the hole.

2) Hole 18! This was such a surprising hole to come to after playing 17 holes that were nothing like this hole. This hole almost felt out of place but its a huge pro for me because I love great finishing holes and I like to air the disc out and this bomber hole satisfied both of those for me.

3) Navigation was very easy - its a huge plus for me when I can get through a course without any issues and without having to pull out a map.

4) The course actually had some nice elevation and allowed for some nice ace runs. If I can't play a challenging course I don't mind playing a course that allows for some ace runs.

5) This is a great "everyday" course. Its an easy play and really a quick play.

6) Memorable holes for me included 9 and 16. Hole 9 is a slightly downhill, low ceiling shot that requires a perfect shot to get in the circle. Even though its only 325 feet its a tough line to hit and if you hit it you feel like you have thrown a great shot. Hole 16 is just a fun shot to throw as its a nice downhill hole with a real chance at an ace.

Cons:

Here are my cons for this course:

1) Some of the holes were just too open for me. They were very easy and I felt that maybe some of the more wooded areas of the park could have been used. There also was a nice creek that would have been great to see utilized. If holes had utilized this water hazard I could easily see this course being a 3.5 or above. Unfortunately the course didn't have a lot of memorable holes and a lot of times came close to the creek but didn't really use the creek.

2) This course was very easy. Through the first 17 holes this course was mostly a deuce or die course. Hole 18 is actually a nice par 4 but up until that hole the park was fairly easy.

3) Like with most easy courses, bad shots simply don't get punished. The fact that its mostly an open course means that saving par is not a hard thing. There is not a lot of challenge here except for hole 18 and even then the main challenge there is the distance.

Other Thoughts:

This is not a bad course by any means. I think this course is an average course that could have been better if more wooded areas of the park had been used. There is nothing spectacular about the course but its worthy of an Average/Typical rating.
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0 4
chefarf1
Experience: 5.8 years 42 played 1 reviews
4.00 star(s)

very satisfied 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 9, 2013 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

-very clean park
-easy to navigate
-nice hole maps at each tee
-all concrete tee pads
-some good variation in holes

Cons:

-some very simple treeless holes

Other Thoughts:

I play here all the time and always look forward to it. Good course for all levels of players.
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0 1
donny vomit
Experience: 12.2 years 18 played 8 reviews
3.50 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Feb 9, 2013 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

This place is fantastic! Great fun park . Lots of different elevation shots. A long 715 ft par 5 finish hole is beautiful.really can let one rip on this hole. Park is very well maintained. Flows great ,#18 ends back up where #1 starts.parking lot in between holes.

Cons:

A little generous on a couple of the pars posted . But hey its fun.

Other Thoughts:

I've played this course twice and its always fun and low scores . Great for beginners , looking forward to playing again.
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4 0
ElementZ
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 14.9 years 212 played 197 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Fun! 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 13, 2012 Played the course:once

Pros:

This course honestly took me by surprise! After just playing the Spoon River course a few miles away beforehand, this course really outshines it's complement.

Cement tees, signs with distances and map at every hole, mowed grass, and still very empty when I played!

The course has some fun rolling hills, wide open shots, tight shots that are guarded by trees, hyzers/anhyzers, and a sweet 700 foot finishing hole.

What also really impressed me here is the incredibly easy navigation. The course flowed very, very well and there's only 1/2 spots where the next tee wasn't 100% obvious. A+ on that aspect.

Cons:

Some of the holes are a little repetitive...open 250ish foot holes where a birdie is a must for any serious player.

While the park has some cool scenery, it's still a park and doesn't have that "wow" factor or seclusion that the higher quality courses have.

Other Thoughts:

Looking back, the 1.5 hour drive to get here was absolutely worth it.

Just a quick note, make sure to park in the 2nd parking lot, not the one by the pool unless you want to start at #15!!
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1 0
gregwil2
Experience: 12.9 years 61 played 9 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Nice little course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Nov 23, 2011 Played the course:once

Pros:

This course had nice concrete tee pads, great new signs for each hole giving distance, trees, and hill slope around basket. The grounds were kept up really well and there was minimal trash around the park. There were a few holes with good use of trees that made short holes a little challenging. The final hole is very long (715') and can be a hard for those without long drives. There are a lot of short holes that gives even intermediate players several chances to get an ace. Great course to introduce a new player to the game since most holes are visible from the tee and are shorter.

Cons:

The pars for most of the holes was pretty easy to get even a first time player of the course with only 6 months of disc golf experiance. Many holes were short and others were pretty wide open with minimal obsticles to impeed the disc path.

Other Thoughts:

It was nice to see a full 18 hole marked course. I was told by others it was previously two 9 hole courses both numbered 1-9. Since they just put up new 1-18 signs they probably don't want to change any pin placement, but there is some room to make a second set of more challenging pin placements to make this a very good course. This is defaintly a good starter course because of the high par. Would be fun to play over and over just for the chance of getting another ace.
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3 0
#19325
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 22.8 years 351 played 175 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Canton 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:May 15, 2006 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Canton is a nice park located in a small town off the beaten path. There are some nice rolling hills that add minor elevation to it. It has scattered mature trees and the fairways are nicely mowed.

Cement tee pads and nice baskets.

Easy to navigate

Some nice elevation with several uphill and downhill holes.

Great beginner course.

This is a quiet park and is not played much. You'll most likely have the course to yourself.

Cons:

It is fairly short and open.

It lacks challenge to warrant a better rating.

It has many of the classic walk backs. You finish a hole and walk back the length of a hole and play the next.

There were several areas in the park that were not utilized. Those include water and rough.

Other Thoughts:

I would not suggest driving out of your way to play this course.

With some redsign and use of all the land this course has the potential to be a VERY fun course!

Check out my Illinois Top 10
http://discontinuum.org/index...1486.msg68704#msg68704
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2 0
hognosesucker
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 24.9 years 443 played 85 reviews
2.50 star(s)

nice quick rec course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 7, 2009 Played the course:once

Pros:

-concrete pads
-easy to navigate
-good use of elevation (many uphill and downhill shots)
-some shot variety (1 hole was a rhbh anny, many straight shots, a couple hyzers)
-some variety in length (3 holes over 300', 1 700' hole, most well below 300'
-portajohns at the 1st hole
-single use area of the park
-well maintained

Cons:

-some of the tee signs were missing or broken
-no facilities besides portajohns
-most of the course was wide open, only 4 or 5 holes were wooded
-Pin placements were lacking imagination-most were placed near trees but not close enough to them to be obstacles
-teepads were a bit short

Other Thoughts:

Overall, this course is a good rec course, but I was really let down when I saw the area of the park that wasn't utilized (nice forest, a creek running through the bottom land). They could have made an easy par 54 course into a tough par 60 course no problem.

At the same time they did utilize the available elevation well. Overall a nice rec course.
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5 1
Dwiggy444
Experience: 17 years 90 played 13 reviews
4.00 star(s)

A Hidden Gem 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 23, 2009 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

- A tournament-quality 18-hole course with cement tee pads and optional grass pro tees for every hole. Park is also large enough to accomodate additional holes which could be added in the future to make the course even more outstanding.
- Excellent variety of holes. The course has a little of everything: wide open, tight and wooded, finesse, bombing, lefty, righty, uphill and downhill.
- Beautiful landscape. The course is set among rolling hills, covered with a wide variety of large trees, with mowed grass fairways throughout. A great place for a walk or a picnic, even without a bag full of discs.
- Blue pro tees are extremely challenging and make the course 8 or 9 strokes more difficult. If you play a round on the concrete tees first and then play the pro tees, it's almost like playing a totally different course.
- Plenty of space for parking and pre-round warm-ups.

Cons:

- Some tee signs missing, damaged or defaced.
- Tee pads were a little shorter than I'd like and were sometimes placed at an odd angle (uphill or pointing directly at a tree).
- Blue pro tees could be hard to find without a course map (blue bricks placed in the ground).

Other Thoughts:

I played this course for the first time at a tournament this weekend and was completely blown away. It's located in a small town about 30 miles off the interstate - a true hidden gem. If this course were closer to me, I'd play it at least once a week. This course is yet another Peoria-area masterpiece that is a must-play for any disc golf trip to central Illinois.
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