Pros:
Northdale Park is home to a hilly 9-hole rec course that makes use of an otherwise empty 6-acre park. While some tee shots have a little challenge to them, this course overall is open enough to be accessible to varying skills levels.
Location of Northdale is off Old St. Marys Road in north-central Perryville. Perryville is off exit 129 on I-55, and from there you can take HWY 51 into town; Northdale requires just a few turns to get to and is only 5 minutes from the interstate. There isn't a clear parking area for the course, but net to the park along Northdale Dr. seems to be the best place to do so. Perryville has enough gas and food options to take care of any needs you have, including a taco bell of the highway if you have a gambling problem. For course baggers, Perryville also has a fun 18-hole course, both of which can be played decently quick. Other than that, you can go north or south to find more courses closer to St. Louis or Cape Girardeau, and Chester and Ste. Genevieve both have a course as well just a bit to the north.
Course Equipment is pretty good at Northdale. The tee pads are all concrete. The baskets are Dynamic Veterans and are in great shape being only a couple of years old. The tee signs include hole number, par, distance, and a description of the hole when water or OB are a factor.
Course Design is mostly open on this course, with mature trees playing a factor on many holes but aren't too overwhelming. Elevation is probably the biggest obstacle on this course, with the park seeming to otherwise be a glorified drainage ditch with a creek running down the middle of the park. Overall, if you have decent accuracy and distance, you can find plenty of scoring opportunities during your round.
Elevation includes plenty of uphill and downhill shots. Holes 2, 6, and 8 are downhill tee shots, with hole 6 being an especially tricky shot with the creek in front of the green. Hole 5 plays uphill, making it deceptively long. S 7 and 9 also have pin placements that are on a hillside, making rollaways a risk factor to consider. Other holes like 1 and 9 aren't up or downhill from the tee but have hillsides they play along that can be tricky. Hole 1 is especially hard with the road being directly to the right of the fairway but the left side being significantly downhill at times.
Shot-Shaping is also a factor on some holes. Hole 1, with the roadway, is either a straight shot or a right ending shot if you opt to swing out wide to avoid the road. Hole 2's pin is directly behind a tree, with left or right ending options available to you. Hole 3 is a right turning shot with the mando in place to stay clear of hole 2's fairway. Hole 7's fairway makes for kind of an S bend, or a straight shot if you want to really try to pipe a low laser under the trees. Hole 9 can be a left ending tee shot or straight shot depending on how much distance you want to take off your first shot, with this hole probably having the most trees to navigate.
Difficulty isn't to high at Northdale, with most of the holes being pretty accessible to newer players. Holes 1 and 9 will likely be the most challenging for players to birdie just because of the distances, but par can be achieved on every hole pretty easily with smart play. More experienced players will be able to challenge birdie on just about every hole here.
Cons:
Drainage is an issue for a good portion of this course, as there are drains that dump water into the lower areas towards the creek. Holes 6 through 9 all can get soggy after rain and based on my experience here I'd bet they can stay pretty soft or muddy for a while after a good rain. Hole 3's fairway also can get bad.
Course Design just about maximizes the 6 acres of land here. That being said, hole 1 is WAY too close to Old St Marys Rd, a road that had plenty of traffic during my round. There's a mando sign down the fairway telling you to no throw over the road; if you need a sign telling you that's a bad idea, you're probably going to do it anyways. Besides, talk to Richard about how well that sign will prevent grip lock.
Other than that, some of the fairways place very close to each other, and while I had the course to myself, it sounds like it can actually get some decent traffic, so that could play a factor if you're throwing near others.
Creek Crossing is something that should be added, as there's no path or bridge over it. Hole 5 and 6 both cross the creek, and there's currently wildflower restoration in that part of the creek as well. A little bridge would go a long way, so folks don't have to jump the creek or walk around it.
Other Thoughts:
Overall, Northdale makes for a decently fun round of golf, with most of its cons being related to limitations of the land available. Perryville required an hour and 20-minute drive from my home one way, and it was worth it and made for a fun 27 total holes of golf between the two courses in town. If you're driving up or down 55, this town is an easy stop right off the highway to get a couple of courses bagged without too long of a detour. Give this one a shot if you're already playing Perryville City Park.