Wide open. Great place for me to practice my poor drives. Plenty of parking. Always have course to myself in morning.

Not a very exciting course.

My dog and I play this course all the time. I have never seen a sign prohibiting dogs.

9 hole course set up in the school grounds around the athletic fields of McHenry High School.

Nice discatcher baskets, in orange (I assume to match school colors?). Mounted decently, with a couple holes having ok pin placements. Hole 1's basket has a busted cage.

Really nice signage for a HS course. Big, full color, and all the info you'd need. Navigation was a breeze because of them.

A surprising amount of distance on most holes. You really get to pull back and throw here. Several holes over 400'.

There are a decent amount of rolling hills that are used well in the design. Nothing too crazy, but at least some thought was put into it.

When there's nobody around, it's kind of cool to be able to throw around the tennis courts and baseball diamonds.

Being at a high school, the hours of use are quite limited. School hours, and basically anything athletic related are going to shut down the course. We were fortunate to get there on a day with nothing going on.

It's mostly open. A few athletic fields and a couple trees, but otherwise you're just throwing in an open field.

While this isn't a spot to go out of your way for, it's a decent open field type course to substitute for field work. If I lived close, I imagine I'd use it for that a decent amount.

Hole distance is commendable. A good course to figure your discs out, instead of going to an open field and not having a basket to throw to.
Tee signs are good with good am. pars.
Not a very busy course so youll have plenty of time to throw all your discs.
Considering the land avalible the course is set up to be the best it can be.
Basket one for anyone of any skill level is a great place to practice. -Well placed basket on a hill with a few decent sized pines.

Compared to the other courses in the area there is a good deal of walking from basket to tee.
No tees.
Feels repetitive. 2/3 of the course is flat straight shots with no obstacles, though the distance does very.
Its a high school course, so when schools in session or the teams are out practicing the course is closed.

If you live in Mchenry, this is a good course to figure out a disc's flight path.
I will go here and sit on hole one a putt for awhile just 'cause theres so many variations to the area around the basket.
It's a good course to learn on and if it that was the point behind the ratings it would have a better score from me.
This is an awesome class gift. Props to the '09 class for being rad.

Baskets are in great condition, there aren't very many people who play here so you can empty your bag on every hole if you want to.

The course is very open, they aren't any shots that i would say are even remotely difficult. It is very long, which to be honest i don't inderstand becsue this course was put up to attempt to get beginners interested in teh game.

If you are there with nothing to do i suppose its worth your time, but I would not go out of my to play it. With Fairfield, Silver Lake, and Lippold all within a 25 minute drive it doesn't make much sense to play here. Also as a side note, you CANNOT play while school is in session.

- Makes great use of the available land to provide some respectable holes. Good mix of short and long to cater to any level of player.
- The longer holes have minimal stuff in the way, and pretty minimal elevation changes. But, it is always good to have an opportunity to air one out.
- Shorter holes have a few obstacles to keep it fresh. Trees by the basket on #1 block a typical RHBH throw, and #8 has a small baseball outfield fence to avoid.
- Some minor elevation changes throughout aren't too extreme, but still is nice. The biggest change is a small hill that provides a short, but blind, shot to #5.
- Good signs, great baskets.

- Very, very few trees on this course. Most holes are wide open and will allow any line. Some holes are pretty much indistinguishable from the others.
- Lots of other activities could take precedence over the disc golf portion, including tennis, soccer, baseball, etc. Goes hand in hand with the whole high school course experience.

- Not a terrible course at all, especially considering the fact it is on high school grounds. A good place to practice different types of shots due to the wide open fairways. A little bland, but otherwise solid.
- Long walks from baskets to tees, I was throwing in between holes for some additional practice.

- The orange on the Innova baskets match the school colors.
- Tee signs
- Used the hills on the property
- ummmmmmmmmmm

- Wide open
- Boring
- Not that easily navigated
- Same shot over and over just different distances.
- Hole (8 i think) by the baseball field makes it dangerous for non-golfers
- Dogs not allowed

Its sad I'm even leaving a review, I played it once and never had a desire to go back. I'm glad that McHenry finally got a course. Hopefully it will be a success in the cities eyes and they can put-in a better course in one of the nicer parks.

This is a very cool idea for a class gift! Thank you Class of 2009! It is great exposure to the game for lots of kids - I love that these sort of courses exist.

Unfortunately, my rating scale (and review verbiage that is there to back that up) compares this course to all the "real" courses out there, so my appreciation seems diminished....but it is not.

What I personally like and how this course stacks up in my list of 9 hole courses:

1) Holes with good risk/reward. Fair, but harsh punishment for bad decisions or execution. == D+
(Hole 1 has pine trees guarding the right side of the basket which sits on a berm for a little terrain variety. Very nice start, but after that things are wide open.....other than hole 8 that plays around the outfield fence of a softball field.)

2) Holes that have rewarding birdie opportunities for me. I'm a Blue level player (950ish skill) who throws 300' accurately, 360' max. == D+
(Less than half the holes are a distance that makes them challenging/rewarding to birdie....but there are no obstacles to add any spice.)

3) More wooded than open - lots of variety of shots required caused by hole shape and topography == D
(Hole 1 takes a dead straight or anny for a RHBH to park it. And, hole 8 forces a left turning shot around the outfield fence. Other than that, things are wide open.)

4) Natural beauty (Appalachian beauty preferred) and seclusion. == C-
(The high school is new, the grounds are well maintained and very green, and the surrounding neighborhood is tidy. Seclusion is nil although things are spread out enough that you are not on top of people unless there is a soccer game - they put a soccer field right in the middle of hole 3......how rude! .)

5) Bonus points for multi-throw holes with defined landing zones, good risk/reward and multiple options to play them. == D+
(There is one 600+' hole that is a true par-4. It's wide open, so no real added intrigue. So, no real bonus points in this department.)

It's all about feeding the addiction, so I ranked this course subjectively based on my own "personal addiction factor". The grades above tell how well this course will draw me back to itself again and again and again. See my profile for specifics on my rating philosophy.

I fancy myself as a connoisseur of good course design and I am a competitive Blue level (950-ish rated) with mid-level power (accurate to 300' with max D of 360'). Since I have played a decent number of courses (150+ 18-hole, 90+ 9-hole as of late 2009), my hope is that players/explorers who have similar addiction tastes will find my ratings list helpful as they choose courses to play and explore.

I fully expect others with different tastes/philosophies to disagree with me.....and that's the fun of things here.

The course is located at McHenry West HS Campus. Excellent exposure to the game and the PE classes use it.

The baskets are Innova Discatchers. The bands are orange.

There are nice tee signs.

There are several holes where you can flat out grip it and rip it.

Holes 1 and 5 have great greens. #1 sits atop a mound with an evergreen protecting the right side. #5 is a blind shot that sits on the back edge of the hill.

The tee pads are natural grass.

The course is closed during school hours and sporting events. #3 plays directly on the soccer field.

There are very few obstacles. This course is wide open.

Repetiitve. Throw a righty hyzer and throw it long. Revers if you are a left.

There are several long walks to get to the next hole.

Here is a course map.
http://discontinuum.org/forum...0;attach=2319

Check out my Illinois Top 10
http://discontinuum.org/index...1486.msg68704#msg68704

The course is on the campus of a High School, so it's a fantastic exposure point to new players. It always makes me really happy to see schools embracing the sport and giving kids a chance to try something new.

The campus is relatively flat, but the couple small elevation changes available were used pretty well to create some interest and difficulty. There is a mix of shorter holes, and some long bomb shots where you can really open up and throw.

The course doesn't have a lot of trees, but the tennis courts, baseball field, and other sports fields are used to define fairways, and this makes it so a player will need a few different shots to score well.

The course was a gift from the class of 2009, and so it's still in really nice shape. The baskets (in the school's color - orange) are still perfect, and there are nice signs. The signs are large and easy to read with the hole distance and layout. The campus was impeccably maintained.

The course did a good job of using the available space, but there weren't really any trees available to use here. The couple places there were some trees weren't in play on the course, and it seemed like they could have been. Although I understand the necessity of designing the course around the other sport fields, it could easily make the course unplayable and dangerous if there was any kind of activity going on.

The main obstacle on this course is length. None were excessive for experienced players, but they seemed a little long for beginning players who might get quickly frustrated by the 600'+ hole.

The tees were grass, and weren't always level enough to do a full run-up, which was necessary on the longer holes. Over time, the grass will likely turn to dirt spots, which could be an issue with rain and field watering. There were a few places that the flow of the course wasn't immediately obvious, some next tee signs or a painted basket spoke would make a big difference.

This course is open enough to be beginner friendly, and only one hole even offers a real possibility of losing a disc, but the length might be discouraging to many new players. More experienced players will have fun throwing some long drives, but won't find a lot of interesting shots or risk/reward decisions to keep them coming back.

If you're in the area, stop by for a quick, stress free round on nice grassy fairways, and see how the school is incorporating disc golf into their campus. The course itself isn't quite good enough to justify much of a drive to play it though.

1) This course has so many cool features and a nice variety of obstacles and hole design.

2) #1 has a nice elevated basket on a mound and is also protected by a few evergreen trees.

3) #3 uses a long gulch (I would call it) to differentiate the intended throwing route. It doesnt say it is a mando to stay left of the gulch, but I would assume it was their intent because of the soccer field. It is a dogleg right so a throw over the soccer field that makes it back to the fairway could cut at least 50-75' off of the total distance (609') of this hole.

4) #4 is a great hole with plenty of distance. Lay up to the drainage area and scrub brush to a nice simple approach to the basket.

5) #5 is a nice hole with a basket that is subtly tucked over a slope. You cannot see the basket from the tee in fact if you walk towards the basket you can't see it until you are about 30-40' short of the basket because of the sharp slope.

AIM AT THE SATELLITE DISH ON THE DECK OF THE RED/BROWN HOUSE!

6) #8 is the old mandatory hole running around a baseball diamond outfield. Every school course I have played has one of these. Keep the disc off the field by throwing out to the right.

7) Overall distance of this course sets it apart from most beginner school courses. There is a 600' hole 2 400' holes and 2 over 300'. The shortest hole is 244 (#1)

8) Beginner friendly course because it is so open, but the distance will catch up to the beginners!

1) Long walk between holes on a few occassion. However I will take the long walk because the course uses the best features on the entire property as well as they can!!!!

2) Lack of signage to point you to your next tee after hole #3 is a little confusing to a first timer.

3) I would like to see one easy ace run on this course (meaning less than 200') just because it is a school course and it might be introducing the next Ken Climo to the game! Anyone that hits . . . let alone witnesses an ace (at gym class no less) will certainly be hooked. Otherwise it might just be another day throwing frisbees to these kids!

4) Grass tees will eventually deteriorate to dirt from compaction.

Nice Class gift! THANKS CLASS OF 2009! This is the best school course I have ever played. It has so many cool features ont he course and is very well designed. It has nice signs and very nice custom painted baskets (school color of ORANGE I assume).

Not sure what else to say about this course. I am glad I drove out of my way to go to it. It was about 20 miles out of my way on my 8 course trip, but it was worth it especially to be the first review of yet another course. I love hitting a course I can truthfully recommend to people. Now it is only 9 holes, but more than half of the holes have something cool about them. On a school course that is tough to do! If you get a chance to play it do so, but keep in mind it is fairly open, but the distance and the few property features are what make this course good. It will never be a great course because it won't get much better unless some trees are planted to create some shotmaking holes.