Galesburg, IL

Kiwanis Park DGC

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3.45(based on 10 reviews)
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2 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:Sep 7, 2014 Played the course:once

Pros:

- What a fun round! While not a demanding course, this layout lets you open up your drives, while still requiring a few shot shapes.
- Fantastic use of open, unused space in this large park.
- The course uses large trees to shape shots, and actually a very nice inclusion of the elevation available on 4, 5, 8, 11, 15, 17, and 18.
- There are some lightly used roads, paths, and common areas throughout the beginning and end of the course, but essentially a non-issue.
- Very quick play - I finished a solo round in right at an hour, which included some extra drives on a few holes.
- Great, rough concrete pads. They certainly could tear up some shoes if you're a toe-dragger like me, but I bet they're great in the rain or in the winter. A+
- Signs are simple, just with the #, distance, par, and an arrow. Really all that's required, as most pins are visible, or else it's very obvious where they are.
- #4 is a good demanding shot up and over a pretty tall hill. The basket has been well positioned behind, and in line with, a row of mature trees. This requires you to choose from the tee pad whether you will play to the right or left of the trees, even if you don't have the distance to get up even with them.
- #7 is an interesting swooping left-to-right shot that makes you pick your line. Pretty short, essentially you're driving for birdie, and otherwise being punished with a par. Cool shot though.
- #11 is an S-shaped par 4, winding between some areas of tall rough, and then under a tree or two to get down to the pin. Demanding 2nd shot under the trees to get down there if you come up short of the trees.
- #14 is probably the hardest hole on the course, really the only one requiring pinpoint accuracy off of the tee pad. Driving through a grove of tall, skinny trees 100 feet out, there are many options for lines....but they're all only 5-8 ft wide. Wonderful hole, and a nice change of pace from the previous 6.
- #15 drives over a deep grassy drainage basin, which is certainly a cool design. There isn't a lot of difficulty here - in fact it may be the easiest on the course. However, if you short the drive or get a bad roll-away back down the hill, it will play more like 300 ft instead of 250 ft.

Cons:

- Unfortunately there are some repetitive shots on the course. In particular, you can use the exact same shot shape for both #6 and #7. Worse than that though, I used the exact same L-R BH anhyzer drive for 15, 16, 17, and 18. The only difference being the length of the holes. And even that is a little deceiving, because even the 400 ft #18 is severely downhill, so it plays more like a 300 ft hole as well. Nice holes, just a little open, and not at all demanding.
- Speaking of open, in general this is a very open course that lets you just rip it, without a lot of penalty.
- The Innova Discatchers caught fine, but they are older, and have very deep baskets. Not quite what I'm used to. Don't know how I've never played on anything like that before - the chain area seemed smaller than usual.

Other Thoughts:

- As I mentioned above, the difficulty just isn't supreme on the course. I think it makes it a perfect intermediate course though, and is exactly what courses in parks like this should have. Also, related, it's nice to see 'fair' and 'proper' par values assigned to a community park course. None of that "400 ft holes are par 5's" business. Being a Greg Nettles design (Lake Eureka, Northwood), this is not at all surprising. Kudos.
- For as fun and quick as this course is, I will definitely be stopping by again. Is it a "destination course?" Probably not....but is it a "play it on your way to or from a destination course?" Absolutely.
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5 0
FightingIllinut
Experience: 10.9 years 24 played 6 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Way more pros than cons 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Aug 24, 2013 Played the course:once

Pros:

1) nice large course map at the beginning.
2) underused course means fast rounds
3) ample parking and nice restroom area along with other non-disc golf amenities (splash pool, skate park)
4) 3 minutes from Interstate 74 but also very quiet with no road noise nearby
5) GROOVED concrete teepads provide the best traction from any concrete teepads I've ever used
6) Innova DisCatcher baskets are high visibility and in excellent condition
7) Great mixture of holes...most made me anxious to step to the tee. Very few under 285 and all require some degree of shot shaping. Several holes towards the middle of the round play around and between large grass roughs that are the tallest and thickest prarie grasses that I have ever seen. I threw 2 deep into them and found them within 20 minutes each but felt lucky to have found them at all.
8) adequate signage
9) great use of existing trees and mild elevation to create exciting holes

Cons:

1) Tee signs could be better
2) Those crazy rough grass areas could be a little less jungly and less than 7 feet tall would be nice
3) Tee pads would be even nicer if they were just a bit longer.
4) Occasionally the course flow leaves you looking for the next tee and finding it 200 feet away...again, better signage could fix that

Other Thoughts:

Some small towns are doing their best to keep up with the Jones' by installing disc golf courses in their parks and more often than not it is a park that should not have a disc golf course in it. That is not the case here at Kiwanis in Galesburg. The park fits disc golf well and although I have 20 courses that are closer to me than it is I will still make it a point to visit this park several times a year.
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2 0
Cadmanic
Experience: 11 years 40 played 3 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Kiwanis 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 6, 2013 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Great tee pads. Excellent use of existing elevation and trees. The dgc is under-used, so you can make fairly fast rounds if you can stay out of the rough. Some long holes to work on that big drive.

Nice skate park, ball diamonds, bball courts, splash park and playground.

Just off the E.Main exit of I-74; hotels, shopping, bars & restaurants nearby.

Cons:

"Prairie Grass" (5 foot tall weeds as thick as you've ever seen weeds grow...seriously) rough bordering several fairways. This rough is the reason the dgc is under-used. Bring some throwaway discs if you're not a pro or don't want to burn a couple hours stumbling around in a high-pollen, low-visibility, breeze devoid jungle of bug infested "natural beauty".

I found the course layout hard to follow my first time playing. Of course, I didn't study the nice big course map posted at tee #1 before I went. It just seemed to be a lot of holes where you putt out, then walk a couple hundred feet, or in one case, a couple hundred yards, to the next tee pad.

Only one "next tee" sign on the course: after #4, you have to take the sidewalk along the south end of the park to get around a creekbed and go to holes 5 & 6, then back around on the sidewalk to get to #7 teepad. It's rather nonsensical... Hey, but at least they put up a sign!

No water fountains or bathrooms once you leave the parking lot/main recreation area. Bring your drinks.

Used to be a high crime area, though there's been big improvements in the last few years. I play this course alone, but you may feel more comfortable in a group.

Did I mention the rough? "Rough" is not the correct term for the "prairie grass"... Beginners can be put off by this stuff; two of the guys I got started WILL NOT play at Kiwanis... Luckily, they will still play other courses.

Other Thoughts:

This course would be a 3.5 without the prairie grass. I've got no problems with defining fairways and making tough pin shots... I do have a problem when you have to spend 2 hours in head-high weeds looking for a disc that only went 10 feet into the rough. A few mown lanes down the middle of and/or across the weed patches would do wonders to decrease player frustratrion and enable disc recovery. There is simply no reason this stuff has to be so overgrown and impossibly thick.
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3 1
hogleggbob
Bronze level trusted reviewer
Experience: 15.7 years 217 played 47 reviews
3.50 star(s)

galesburg burns!!!!! 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Mar 16, 2011 Played the course:once

Pros:

great course right off the interstate (74). driving home from iowa to charlotte, i was able to play this course in about 45 minutes....nice park with concrete tees and innova disc cathers. good mix of holes with good use of elevation... there wasnt much wind the day i played, but the parks dept. was doing a controlled burn in a few of the fairways, which made for a unique"fire hazard"....

Cons:

i wanted to play it twice ...

Other Thoughts:

this is must if you happen to passing through...good flow from hole to hole and most of the holes were birdiable with a decent throw...i shot a 50 and was re energised for the long trip home to charlotte
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5 0
#19325
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 22.8 years 351 played 175 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Galesburg 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:May 17, 2008 Played the course:once

Pros:

The park is a very well kept park with nicely mowed fairways. It has a few places with minor elevation but overall it's a flat course. There are large mature trees scattered across the course with minimal rough. The course plays near the interstate so there is quite a bit of noise.

Excellent course map near the tee of #1.

Concrete tee pads are very nice. Excellent traction!

Long course playing around 6000 feet. You get to rip some drives out there.
Adequate tee signs and fairly easy course to navigate.

Good use of obstacles and terrain.

Innova Discatcher Baskets.

Cons:

Lack of obstacles and rough. It just doesn't offer that excitement factor that a lot of very good courses.

Other Thoughts:

This course is not far off the intersate and is a good course to get out and stretch the legs. It's a nice walk in the park.

Check out my Illinois Top 10.
http://discontinuum.org/index...1486.msg68704#msg68704
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2 1
hognosesucker
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 24.9 years 443 played 85 reviews
3.00 star(s)

good park for dg 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Nov 29, 2009 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

-Kiwanis, although mildly flat, makes great use of the available elevation holes 3,7,8,11,14,15,17,18. 15,17,18 play in a big bowl where you either throw from ridge to ridge, into the bowl or across the bowl. A good variety of holes for the same piece of land.
-Although not all holes have a ton of trees, there are some fairly wooded holes out there that force accuracy and shot placement. Holes 1, and 4-6 are great examples and all good holes.
-A couple of holes are prairie lined which shapes the shot and forces you to throw it, unless you want to be looking. They should be ob IMO.
-Some decent length here also which has been stated. I think my favorite long hole was 11 which has open fairway for about 200' then a line of trees to the right of a large patch of prairie, from there the fairway and pin are downhill another 275-300 with a nice fast green if you overshoot.
-Nice concrete
-There is some decent pin protection.

Cons:

-Signage is a bit lacking, they are the standard Peoria type signs, with hole number distance and an arrow from tee to pin with general hole shape. Not really descriptive, but suitable. Some of the signs have been damaged or vandalized.
-I really wish some of the holes had more trees to shape them. Holes like 13 and 16 are just kind of blah. They are pretty much just wide open. 13 is long 16 is shorter.
-Course plays along a walking path so be careful.
-I didn't see any water or bathrooms. Although there could be some by the skate park.

Other Thoughts:

This course is a fun one to play right off the interstate. It has a lot of things that make a course good ie concrete, some elevation, some trees, but just not quite enough of either to bump the rating up in my opinion.
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7 0
Donovan
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 37 years 300 played 187 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Move It On Over 2+ years

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jun 22, 2009 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Many course make you throw a shot to put a move on the disc early in flight. This course has some holes that make you put a move on your disc at the end of the flight path. I love the pin placements on many of these holes as they have some guarded pins. There are some elevation, scattered trees, and wide-open type holes. This course does have cement tee pads and simple tee signs. The message board is well taken care of and parking is close to #1, #14, #15, and #18. This part of the park is mostly just disc golfers.

Cons:

I really hate those "up to 5-feet tall" grassy rough patches and this course has some of those. I feel this does nothing for the play of the course except to slow play down. After a good rain #17 & #18 can get a bit soppy, but this course is not a bad option when wet.

Other Thoughts:

The fun factor for this course was pretty high. Working the disc to get to the guarded pins was really fun. This was wasted land at one time and it is great to see how it has really developed. I hope Galesburg will put some more courses up soon.
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2 4
SpikeHyzer
Experience: 21.1 years 110 played 33 reviews
4.00 star(s)

A pleasant surprise 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Apr 4, 2005 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

I make it a point to play this course everytime I come back from the Bowling Green Am's tourney. The first time I played the course, I was completely blown away at this gem. It has a great mix of short and long holes. You can work on every shot in your bag on this course. It is a great roller course too. The 18th hole is a blast to play.

Cons:

It's been a while since I have played, but I don't remember there being any restrooms here.

Other Thoughts:

This is definitely worth playing if you are in the area.
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5 0
white_zac34
Experience: 20.5 years 49 played 1 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Landfill to DGC 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jan 11, 2009 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Let's start off what you will see first, the tee pads. The pads at Kiwanis are some of the grippiest tees that I've play. There is deep brushing in the concrete that allow for an optimal run up.
Kiwanis Park DGC is a fun course for those have lots of power with two holes over 500' and two over 400'. They are mostly wide open holes where you can grip and rip. Don't worry if you do not have a cannon, there are plenty of holes to make up for the long ones.

Cons:

There is not a lot trees, althought that does not mean that there isn't a tree that will knock down the perfect shot. The trees are placed in goods spots to make you think alittle. There is trash on the course all the time which makes it not look as beautifull as it should. I do my best to throw away whatever I see.
Between strong winds and ice stroms, Kiwanis is missing acouple key trees and branchs.

Other Thoughts:

Back in the day Kiwanis Park use to be the landfill for the town of Galesburg. What a way to turn trash into treasure.
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2 3
riecker2
Experience: 7 played 7 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Play it While You Can 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 10, 2007 Played the course:never

Pros:

There's a really good mix of shots for a place that doesn't have a lot of trees. There are holes under two hundred and couple over four hundred. All concrete tees. The majority of the holes set up really well for a lefty or a righty with a good fore hand. It's a challenging course in general--there are at least three blind tee shots that I can remember--but it's even harder in the wind. A really good time and a good walk. The park has plenty of parking and there's a good foot path. They just installed some prairie plots that bloom into wildflowers and make for a really beautiful OB. It's a good course for beginners and advanced players alike.

Cons:

I'm pretty sure they voted to build on the land where the course is located. It's a great course and I'd recommend trying to play it before it's gone.

Other Thoughts:

If you know any different about the course, please post it.
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