Pros:
Dunegant Park is home to a decent 18-hole course that uses a lot of the open space and wood line around other amenities around the park. This course provides varying feels between the front and back 9s, and is a fun option for beginner to intermediate players.
Location-wise, Dunegant is very convenient. Located just off of I-270, you can be in the park just minutes after getting off the highway. There's construction as of the writing of this review around that part of 270, so be ready for slight delays or small detours. There are plenty of restaurants and gas stations nearby if you're hungry or need gas. If you're trying to play multiple courses, this course is minutes from Hudson Park, which makes for a fun and relatively easy going 2 course combo. Dunegant is also one of many courses in this part of St. Louis, with White Birch, the Sioux Passage courses, Carrolton, and Endicott all being nearby. Creve Coeur Lake's 36 holes are also not far.
Park Amenities at Dunegant provide options for families across its 52 acres of land. In addition to disc golf, this park includes handball courts, ball fields, a soccer field, tennis courts, and a multipurpose blacktop. There are also picnic areas and pavilions available, as well as a playground.
Course Equipment at Dunegant is all in good shape. The concrete tees at each hole are in great shape and provide good space for run ups. The titan baskets are also in great shape and catch well. The tee signs are in good condition with the exception of hole 2's seeming to be missing. As for the rest, they include a graphic of the hole layout, par and distance to pin, and direction to the next tee.
Course Design for Dunegant is fairly straightforward, incorporating a lot of the open space at this park as well as some of the neighboring wood lines. The front 9 play along the south side of the park, using the wood lines and brush as hazards. Hole 1 could be considered the hardest hole on the course, as it's a 340 foot, slightly downhill blind shot over a line of thick brush. The landing area and green are also a little small, so be weary with your drive! The rest of the front 9 uses a mix of wooded greens and open field drives, with 7 and 8 being the most guarded and wooded greens on the course. The back 9 plays very open around the north portion of the park, with high grass being the only obstacle among most of the fairways. Holes 14 and 15 bring woods into play if you misjudge your angle of release. Most of the tall grass doesn't actually play as OB, and I didn't find the grass to be hard to find a disc in. The fairways look like they are also mowed often. Hole 18 is an island hole, and while the grass around this hole was all short, you can make out the lawn pattern well enough to see the island.
Variety is limited here in regards to wooded and open holes, but there is a decent amount of variety in terms of shot shaping and distances. Most of the holes range from around 250 to 375 feet, with some longer holes peppered around the course. Holes 4 and 17 will be your best opportunities to crush a drive here, with 17 being a very gettable 780-foot par 5. While many of the holes on this course play straight on, some do provide opportunities to shape a shot. Holes 1 and 7 have left-ending drives and approaches, while hole 9 is the best hole for those who enjoy right ending drives. Hole 8 also has a right ending shot that includes a tight gap into a guarded green. Most of the other holes can be approached in varying ways, with different shots having slight advantages over others.
Course Difficulty at Dunegant is ideal for newer to intermediate players. The back 9 is all open, making it one of the better 9 holes around St. Louis for newer players or kids to try out if they're playing a round with you. The front 9 has some holes that will require good accuracy, making it a harder run of holes that intermediate players will likely have more fun on.
Cons:
Course Equipment, while overall in good shape, has some small details that leave a little more to be desired. Hole 2's tee sign seems to be missing, and while you can see the basket from the tee and the tee is easily found from hole 1's pin, it would be nice to see a complete set of signs on the course. The blue tees are also an afterthought on this course, as I was only able to find a couple sets of blue bricks that signify these natural pad options. A lot of the blue tee placements seem to also only add a little distance to each shot, with most of the blue pad locations not seeming to add too much to the holes.
Variety and Course Design also have some lacking aspects at Dunegant, mostly due to the limited nature of the land available. Most of this park is wide open field, which is why the back 9 is largely mowed fairways with sparse trees. This is certainly not everyone's cup of tea, so if you don't like this style of course, Dunegant's back 9 will not be fun for you. It's really the most that the designer could do though. There are some more open holes on the front 9 as well that mainly only have distance as a difficulty factor. I found this course to provide a fun 18 holes of golf, but keep in mind that it is not the most exciting 18 holes of disc golf you will find in town.
Safety is a slight concern for a couple of pin locations next to Pohlman Road. Holes 12 and 14 ends near the road, with hole 12 being especially close. Hole4 also plays kind of close to the park's drive. Just be careful with your shots.
Mud, Poison Ivy, and other unsavory plants are present in some of the wooded areas in the park, so if you have a disc land in the woods, watch where you step. A couple of spots in the fields of the back nine also seem to stay wet and swampy long after the last rain, though this was minor and didn't effect my round.
Other Thoughts:
Overall, Dunegant provides a fun and chill round of disc golf. There aren't many issues with how this course is maintained or designed; everyone involved with this course seems to be making the most of this park that won't ever be the setting for a championship 18. As for a rec course, this one certainly gets the job done, and I will be back to play this course more in the future.
Note that the map on DGCR is out-of-date, and some of the back 9 has changed. UDisc is up to date, and navigation on site is pretty easy to follow.
Check out Gateway Discs in Maryland Heights if you're in town and they are open - I think they are still having some staffing issues as of the posting of this review, but their online shop is up and has plenty of options.
If you're visiting St. Louis, I'd probably recommend a decent number of local courses before this one, but I think that speaks more to the quality of the courses around here. This course and Hudson likely get overlooked by some folks given their location between the more historic and popular Endicott and Sioux Passage courses. If you're a local to the area though, or you want a chill round on a fun rec-18, give Dunegant a try - it's a great contribution to the local disc golf scene that could end up being a favorite among newer to intermediate players.