WHAT TO EXPECT: Beautiful park with a giant pond, artwork, sculptures, walking trails and plenty of things to help one enjoy some peace and quiet.

TEES/SIGNAGE/BASKETS: Tees are natural grass with no indication of which side of the tee sign to tee off from. No course sign, Holes that have tee signs have a simple ball golf style placard with hole # and distance. Oddly they list a Pro and Am distance but I didn't see alternate tee signs from long tees or alternate pin positions to indicate a long layout. Baskets are older yellow discatchers that were still in good shape.

DESIGN: Plenty of large mature hardwoods throughout the park that help shape some difficult to execute lines on this Par 3 course. Varying distances with multiple low ceiling shots and tight gaps. With the property available for disc golf use, the designer did an amazing job.

EXTRAS: Extremely well kept park. Freshly mowed, benches and trash cans throughout. For the holes still available for play, tough but fair design that varied in distance and shot shape.

COURSE UNDER CONSTRUCTION: This is a warning to anyone planning on playing here, a new Police Station was built on a portion of this property. It appears that the parking lot and building took several holes and they have not been replaced, added, or redesigned as of my playing the course. Holes #2 and #3 are completely gone with no tee pad/sign/basket. Holes #4 and #7 are missing a tee sign and tee pad location as a result as well, the baskets however are still in place but each would be a 100 foot hole if you were to tee off in the space remaining now after the police station construction.

NATURAL TEES: Minor con here as I don't mind natural tees, it would have just been nice to know by some indication which side of the tee sign the designer intended us to throw from.

UNUSED POTENTIAL: The course plays through a smaller disc golf dedication portion of the back of the park while avoiding the more picturesque pond and recreational area. While I'm sure this was intentional to avoid pedestrians as much as possible. It would have been nice (and might be possible in the future if the course gets a redesign) to have included a hole or two that features the pond.

Really unfortunate that new construction gutted a large chunk of this course as I really would have enjoyed playing this course in its entirety. As is, the holes remaining are still fun and challenging, but in it's current state of 5 full playable holes, this course rates as passable. It would certainly rate much higher if all the original holes remained in my opinion.

- tee markers, Discatcher baskets
- decent course flow, some reasonable challenge given such a small course (in other words, not a pitch and putt)
- simple holes and lack of rough make the course beginner friendly
- good grassy surfaces
- restrooms on site, lots of parking and easy access

- no concrete tees, poor tee areas
- path/hole interactions

This was a quick jog off of I-64, and little courses like this are becoming almost as essential to my road trips as food, gas, and restrooms. I made use of the facilities here before a quick round and then getting back on the road. The course was easy to find (Google Veteran's Memorial Park in Mt. Vernon, IL; head to the left, or north, side of the parking lot to the side of the big community building) and also easy to follow overall. Some tee signs were missing, but most of the poles (that used to hold signs) were in place and I didn't have problems finding tees. There weren't real tees to speak of, but I found most of the blocks marking the front of tee areas.

It was a reasonable city park course. There aren't particularly defined fairways, but I did find the trees (and pathway OB) to provide some decent challenge and line restriction. More experienced golfers should be able to finish under par, since errant tee shots will still have a fairly simple up and down for par, and it should be simple to get a few birdies. That said, it's the kind of simple and relaxed play that I enjoy balancing with more challenging courses, especially to practice putting and my mid/putter game. I'd definitely be back here frequently with a small bag and extra putters/mids if I lived in this area.

I played on a Saturday afternoon. There were surprisingly few people walking on the path, but there was a busy birthday party at one of the park's gazebos. I simply chose a shot with no chance of errantly heading that direction. I encountered no significant safety issues.

Rating: 2.0 (reasonable) is about right to me. It ain't fancy or super special, but it's a nice play with what I find essential, i.e. baskets, tee locations, simple course flow, and some lines to hit.

(1.256 Rating) A nice introductory course.
- BEGINNER FRIENDLY - Beginners and Rec players will like this course. No threat of losing a disc unless it gets lodged high in a tree. Fairway widths are generally wide and forgiving. Four holes are in the sub 250 foot range, so even newer players will get a look at birdie from time to time to keep things exciting.
- ACEABILITY - Several good looks aces on this course for skilled players. (1, 2, 7 and 8) are all fun light obstacle ace runs.
- QUICK PLAY - I had this one wrapped up in 30 minutes and I spent some recon time to find the next tee. Figure a group of four should play this one in about an hour.
- FORGIVENESS - Errant shots are not further punished and there is no overgrowth to be found.
- CHAINS - DISCatchers that are still looking good.
- MAINTENANCE - The grounds appear to be mowed weekly and it was very clean despite a lack of garbage cans along the layout.

Veteran's Memorial Park is lacking in a lot of key areas.
- UNIQUENESS - I played 13 courses on a trip from Florida to Wisconsin and I had this course at the bottom for variety. All the holes play though undefined fairways with a spattering of trees. There is no elevation or water features to consider. Other than maybe hole (9), none of the holes are exceedingly difficult. None of the holes are doglegs or have defined pockets. All of the holes play fairly straight. There are no par 4s or 5s and the longest hole is sub 400 feet.
- LACK OF CHALLENGE - Skilled players should be able to break par with ease. I could see advanced players shooting 5 or 6 down on a routine basis. Rec players should break par from time to time. I'll also add that for the most part, shot shaping is limited.
- MISSING SIGNAGE - Four holes had missing signs, making judging the hole distance to the basket on these holes a guessing game (2), (4), (6) and (9). Hopefully they'll be back in place for the next reviewer.
- NAVIGATION - In addition to the missing signs, figuring out where to go can be confusing. I walked to the wrong post several times due to no tee sign and just a faded sharpie mark on the hole post. I threw to the wrong basket on (5) as the signage that is here, is just a number and the distance.
- TEES - Natural tees with a concrete paver defining the front of the tee. A couple tees had sizable tree root protrusions making a wonderful tripping hazard. According to the tee signs that are in place, there is suppose to be a second tee, but I never stumbled upon a tee marker indicating as such.
- MULTI USE HAZARDS - Several walking paths parallel the hole fairways. I had to wait several minutes during my round for walkers to clear. Don't you just love it when they stop to check their phone by the basket.
- CHARACTER - Basically just nice baskets and natural tees. You won't see the amenities here like that of well established courses. No seating, no course map, no practice basket and no extra basket placements. There are nice shelters with picnic tables and I'm sure there's a restroom somewhere in the park.
- NATURAL BEAUTY - Nothing exotic about this park. As stated under the uniqueness con, no water or elevation features. The backdrop views comprise of park buildings and residential houses. The tree coverage in the park is light to moderate.

The first course I ever played in Illinois. It was a good leg stretcher after a 3 hour drive. Only a 10 minute detour off of the interstate if you're looking for a quick pit stop course. This course is perfect for beginners and recreational players or for those looking for a laid back round. Players in town that have advanced beyond the recreation level will need to start looking elsewhere though, as the challenge here is limited. This course could impede continued development for those wanting to expand their game.

My usual review disclaimer: I love city park courses!!
I'm a 55+ y/o disc-er with a mediocre tee shot and city park lengths generally give me at least a few birdie opportunities...

That said, this course was very enjoyable.

Love the mature trees as basket protection and while this course was relatively flat, the trees were obstacles enough to make it challenging.

Couple of memorable holes:
#1 Solid mature trees providing basket protection.
#2 Low hanging trees forcing a solid low throw
#7 Had a narrow path through the matures trees as did #8. Picturesque view of the basket from the tees!!

There was some subtle elevation (either #2 or #3) which probably added about 20 ft to your shot and was deceptively longer.

Again, while distances aren't long, the obstacles make the course a challenge and enjoyable to play.

Some missing signage... though the poles were intact marking the tee spots...

Natural pads getting rough... couple of throws had to watch footing

Course #1 of a 6 course So. Illinois trip originating from St Louis.... was the second best of the lot, only trailing the new 18 recently installed down in Marion.

Add concrete pads (which none of the 6 courses on my trip had- is that a So. Illinois thing??) and get the signage redone and complete and this is easily a 3.5 in my book. As it was it was the most fun of the 6 courses today...

Course is in decent condition and enjoyable to play. Nice public park with only minimal numbers of dog walkers, joggers, etc Baskets are in good condition.

Tee configuration is a little confusing. The signs are at the front tee, so to find the back tees (a block in the ground with no sign), you simply walk away from the hole the required distance until you find it. Course seemed to be a bit long for the distances given, but maybe I was just having a bad round.

Probably a good course for a beginner like me. There is enough distance that you can try to open up with a fairway driver (and usually hit an obstacle when you do!)

Great Dispatcher baskets!

Disc Golf!

In my eyes, this course is the stereotypical 2.0 course. Nine very similar holes in a small public park in a small little city.

The design is very plain, the landscape/terrain is very plain, the whole park/course is very plain.

This course offers you standard, vanilla disc golf. No hole will "wow" you and nothing stands out as special in a good way or a bad way. If this course was a high school girl, it'd be that plain, average looking girl who does some average activity (like band), but doesn't stand out as being great or bad. Just completely unmemorable.

I don't know what else to say. I've been reviewing courses for over five years and not a single thing struck me as worth mentioning. This truly is your average joe course.

Going here instead of Centralia is a decision I will probably regret for the rest of my life.

Mt Vernon has a great course with lots of potential.

It currently has nine holes but has red and blue tees so it can be played as a 18. There is not much elevation variety but plenty of right and left variety. If you mix in the blues you will also get plenty of distance.

The park is groomed and mowed weekly no fear of ticks and snakes here.

There is a local club that host plenty of tournaments and a league.

The snow cone stand has the best snow cones in the world! Yes the world! When you come be sure to try one.

No concrete tee pads yet. I hear they are planning on some in the future.

This is a heavily used park be cautious of people walking, biking that sort of thing.

There is 9 holes at this course now.

Not the placement for the last two holes we wanted, but they play nice.

possibly adding more holes in the future, the park has seven acres across the street that they might let us use.

There's a course in Mt. Vernon, so that's a pro. The course is laid out in a fairly simple way to figure out where to head. I hear they're moving this up from 7 to 9 holes soon, so that's a pro as well.

The course is really easy. The holes are fairly short and they have so many lines of attack that it'll be a huge ego boost for anyone playing this course for the first time. I think I shot a -3 the first time I played the course--and that was from the "pro" tees. I'm not a pro, but it seems like a super easy course. Also, some of the shots go over walking paths and there are very often pedestrians on them. It's a little dangerous--especially considering most of the people walking the path have no idea what you're doing.

Overall it's a nice way to spend about 30 minutes, but it could really use some reshaping for a little more challenge on the course.