Pros:
-Secluded, wooded area
-wildlife (rabbits, frogs)
-low course traffic
-free
Cons:
Note: This review is written two years after the most recent review of the course; I am reporting on it as it was when I visited. It is different than it was two years ago.
-schule and ground cover everywhere; easy to lose discs
-poison ivy almost everywhere
-thorny brambles on every hole
-mosquito, gnat, and horse fly infested
-no "next tee" or tee pad signs after the first 8 holes
-virtually unidentifiable dirt tee pads
-overgrown course; nine-foot, fully matured weeds on the later holes
-all short holes
Other Thoughts:
Upon entering the park there is a tree with poison ivy growing up it and a sign explaining the aphorisms "leaves of three, leave it be" and "hairy vine, no friend of mine." Although I can see how such an exhibit can help educate park-goers, the irony of its existence is overwhelming when one enters the forrest of poison ivy that exists on the course.
With a house on Diamond Lake I'm in the area often and I was really hoping for this Vandalia course to be another quintessential escape from Chicago suburban life, but let it be known that this course is abyssmal.
Also: Bug spray does nothing to keep the Michiana horse flys away.