Hillsboro Disc Golf Course is a short, mostly wooded and technical 9-hole course that snakes around the perimeter of the park. This course, while short, is full of tricky fairways that will penalize you if you don't have your speed or accuracy in check.

Location of Hillsboro City Park is right off Highway 21. You'll want to park in the second parkin lot area, as hole 1 is on the south side of the park loop. You'll see the course map and hole 1 on the inside of the road just past the parking lot. There are some fast food and gas options on the north side of town for any needs you have. For curse baggers, Festus isn't far away with its two courses, as well as Grace Way DGC further south.

Park Amenities, in addition to disc golf, include two rentable pavilions, playgrounds including one by the parking lot closest to hole 1, trails, sand volleyball, and a basketball half court. There are also restrooms on-site.

Course Equipment that is present is nice and in good shape. The baskets are white Patriot baskets that look fresh and catch nicely. The tee signs include hole numbers, pars, a simple but helpful hole layout, and next tee directions. There's also a course map by hole one with a full course layout, distances, and pars, along with disc golf rules.

Course Design is shot and mostly wooded except for a couple of holes, making for a round of golf where accuracy is going to be your best friend. While the round isn't going to leave you with any big highlights, there's enough elevation changes and fairway shapes to keep you interested.

Elevation comes into play on a few holes. Holes 1, 3, and 5 play downhill to varying degrees, while hole 2 plays uphill. Other holes have either nearby hillsides, or in the case of holes 1 and 6 a green that's on a slope, keeping you on your toes a bit as you go for your putt.

Shot-shaping is present and will add to the challenge of a few of the holes on site. Hole 1 is full of trees with a very risky line up the gut, making a hyzer around the left or right a potentially more attractive play. Hole 4 is a RHBH hyzer that has enough trees around to keep you from feeling comfortable just airing one without much thought. Hole 5 is an interesting fairway with trees and a road in between you and the green, with a straight shot or either a left or right fading drive being potential plays. Hole 8 is the most obvious left turning fairway for our lefthanded backhand/right-handed forehand loving friends, as the brush on the right requiring more finesse to get around.

Distances are all pretty short, with elevation making most holes feel shorter than they actually are. Hole 2 is the exception with its uphill fairway, which makes the hole feel much longer than 300 feet. Or maybe my arm was just a noodle by this point in the day trip.

Difficulty is kind of hard to judge here, as the distances scream newcomer friendly, but the woods can be quite punishing. Overall, it's definitely a rec to intermediate track, and certainly one where newer locals can fine tune their accuracy on. The middle of the park I also pretty open with no real established amenities, making for a nice spot to do field work.

Course Equipment falls very short in the teepad department, as the tee areas are either dirt or gravel. While some spots aren't too bad to throw from, many of the tee pad areas seem to get muddy very easily, especially hole 5. Some more permanent tee pads would do wonders for bot the experience of playing this course as well as erosion.

Mud seems to be something that can also stick around long after the most recent rain on this course. There were plenty of spots that felt slick, especially in the wooded parts of the course around holes 6 through 8. It had rained recently when my friends and I played here, but this course was much muddier and treacherous with footing than the other courses we played, including Woodsy Bogler where you'll have more steps on hills than flat ground. Keep an eye on weather before playing here and wear appropriate footwear.

Safety, while a topic I can usually find some excuses for with many course designs, came to mind on a few holes. Hole 1's most open line plays towards the road, which may lead many newer players to leak that direction. Hole 5 plays over the road itself, an while it has clear lines of sight for players looking for cars or pedestrians before throwing, the fun factor of the downhill-ish drive doesn't seem worth the intentional overlap of park functions. Some holes around 6 through 8 also have barbed wire not far from the fairway, I'm assuming to mark the perimeter of the park. I don't think the barbed wire is anywhere near marked well enough for how close it is to the disc golf course, as a tree kick can easily put you on the other side of it.

Course Design is otherwise mostly good, but some spots kind of ride the line for me in terms of the ratio of the skill level this course is intended for and how tight the fairways are. Holes 6 and 7 are the holes that comes to mind for this, as they are pretty tight with plenty of brush or barbed wire near the fairway.

Overall, I don't have much else to say about Hillsboro DGC. After playing Jokerst Memorial and Woodsy Bogler, Hillsboro feels like a much more run-of-the-mill 9-hole. The distances make for a round where many intermediate or advanced players will be able to unload most of their drivers from their bag and really test their accuracy on short wooded lines. Other than that, not too much to write home about on this one, though it certainly has a couple fun moments.

If you're passing through or planning to hit the Festus area, Hillsboro is 15 minutes from West City Park and is a nice compliment to the more open Jokerst Memorial Park course. If you're in the St. Louis area, I think this course combined with Festus and potentially Grace Way is a worthy day trip if you're into course bagging.

The tee for each hole is well marked. Hole #1 is located at the south end of the park and near a parking lot. Hole #9 is located near Hole #1, which makes it convenient to replay all of the holes to get in a game of 18. The course and the entire park appear to be well maintained. There are no water hazards.

The course is located in an area that is rocky, hilly, and is dense with trees. Holes 3 through 9 are in densely wooded areas where players will have to step on rocks and small tree stumps. I recommend players to wear strong shoes that will protect the feet and not casual shoes, sandals, or thongs because stepping on the rocks and small stumps will likely cause discomfort or injury to feet, as what I experienced. Hazards include tripping over small tree stumps which are everywhere from Hole #3 to Hole #9. Because of the density of the trees and the poor quality of soil, there is no grass whatsoever from Hole #3 to #9, and therefore there will likely be muddy and slippery conditions during the winter and early spring. As of 8-30-2020, there are no cement tee pads.

I found this to be a fun course and plan to return. The town of Hillsboro is located in central Jefferson County, and Jefferson County is part of the Saint Louis metropolitan area. The roads and highways that lead through central Jefferson County and into Hillsboro feature spectacular scenery of the northeast edge of the Ozarks.