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St. Ann International DGC reviews
16
0
An afterthought Of A Pay-To-Play 9 That Isn't Worth The Price Of Admission
Reviewed:
Played on:Dec 5, 2022
Played the course:once
Pros:
St. Ann International Golf Course is home to a new-for-2022 disc golf course. This 9-hole pay-to-play course is full of long open shots, giving players an opportunity to unleash some power with less consequence compared to most neighboring courses.
Location of St. Ann is just south of I-70 and Lambert airport, though the plane spotting potential is disappointing from the course. You can either reach this course from St. Charles Rock Rd. from the south or from the Natural Bridge exit on 70 and then go south on Cypress. A couple of turns from there will get you to the course no problem. There are plenty of gas and food options nearby if you have the need. For course baggers, this 9-hole is surrounded by 18s, with Endicott, Carrollton, Creve Coeur Lake, and White Birch all nearby, not to mention other north county courses as well.
Amenities can be found in and around the clubhouse. There's a bathroom if you need a pit stop, as well as water. You can rent a golf cart for $6 if you'd like, but I didn't even see any regular golfers using one.
Course Equipment is limited to Gateway Titan baskets, but the baskets are in great shape. I like the blue tops they have been using more on their baskets lately, as it really helps them stick out more from afar. There are not permanent tee pads, but you'll occasionally find marking on either pathways or the grass notating the different tees.
Course Design at St. Ann is very open, with the main obstacles being tall mature trees that are spaced out enough to give you drive shaping options. There are two sets of tees, with the green tees having some easier tee locations and varying levels of reduced distance. The orange and green tees both have the same pars, with orange really testing your power on some holes.
Shot-Shaping isn't something that you will absolutely need at St. Ann to be successful, but it won't hurt either. The approach to hole 6 is a RH backhand hyzer shot after an open 2nd drive to set you up for a birdie. Hole 9 also comes to mind as a long, right turning fairway that makes for a big anhyzer if you have the arm for it. Other than that, shot shaping will come down to what your lies require, though some holes like 2 and 8 are not going to have much of anything that will get in your way at any point.
Distances are consistently long on this course, even from the shorter green tees. The orange tees will leave intermediate and below skill levels little chance for birdies, with the par-5s being where I personally was able to overcome the longer distances. About three of the holes are reasonably birdie-able from green tees for lower power players.
Water Hazards are present on 3 holes, with Coldwater Creek running through the course. Hole 5 is a pretty easy shot with the creek being early in the fairway, but you will want to be careful with your second drive on 6. Hole 7 will leave you to decide if you want to pitch up from the tee or try and go over the creek on your drive, probably the best design aspect of the course. Fans of documentaries about radiated creeks might find the name of this creek familiar, as it's famous for being heavily radiated from a local landfill up north that's full of waste from the Manhattan Project (yes, that Manhattan Project). The course is upstream from the landfill, so you should be fine if you throw in the water. I suggest avoiding it regardless; I give not throwing discs into potentially radiated water three thumbs up.
Difficulty is kind of mixed here and is completely based on how far you can throw. As an intermediate player that throws 350 at most with little accuracy, I got par with a couple birdies on the par 5s and bogeys on some of the holes with larger distance to par ratios. If you can throw far, you'll do fine here. If you have a noodle arm, you will likely get bored before you get to hole 9.
Location of St. Ann is just south of I-70 and Lambert airport, though the plane spotting potential is disappointing from the course. You can either reach this course from St. Charles Rock Rd. from the south or from the Natural Bridge exit on 70 and then go south on Cypress. A couple of turns from there will get you to the course no problem. There are plenty of gas and food options nearby if you have the need. For course baggers, this 9-hole is surrounded by 18s, with Endicott, Carrollton, Creve Coeur Lake, and White Birch all nearby, not to mention other north county courses as well.
Amenities can be found in and around the clubhouse. There's a bathroom if you need a pit stop, as well as water. You can rent a golf cart for $6 if you'd like, but I didn't even see any regular golfers using one.
Course Equipment is limited to Gateway Titan baskets, but the baskets are in great shape. I like the blue tops they have been using more on their baskets lately, as it really helps them stick out more from afar. There are not permanent tee pads, but you'll occasionally find marking on either pathways or the grass notating the different tees.
Course Design at St. Ann is very open, with the main obstacles being tall mature trees that are spaced out enough to give you drive shaping options. There are two sets of tees, with the green tees having some easier tee locations and varying levels of reduced distance. The orange and green tees both have the same pars, with orange really testing your power on some holes.
Shot-Shaping isn't something that you will absolutely need at St. Ann to be successful, but it won't hurt either. The approach to hole 6 is a RH backhand hyzer shot after an open 2nd drive to set you up for a birdie. Hole 9 also comes to mind as a long, right turning fairway that makes for a big anhyzer if you have the arm for it. Other than that, shot shaping will come down to what your lies require, though some holes like 2 and 8 are not going to have much of anything that will get in your way at any point.
Distances are consistently long on this course, even from the shorter green tees. The orange tees will leave intermediate and below skill levels little chance for birdies, with the par-5s being where I personally was able to overcome the longer distances. About three of the holes are reasonably birdie-able from green tees for lower power players.
Water Hazards are present on 3 holes, with Coldwater Creek running through the course. Hole 5 is a pretty easy shot with the creek being early in the fairway, but you will want to be careful with your second drive on 6. Hole 7 will leave you to decide if you want to pitch up from the tee or try and go over the creek on your drive, probably the best design aspect of the course. Fans of documentaries about radiated creeks might find the name of this creek familiar, as it's famous for being heavily radiated from a local landfill up north that's full of waste from the Manhattan Project (yes, that Manhattan Project). The course is upstream from the landfill, so you should be fine if you throw in the water. I suggest avoiding it regardless; I give not throwing discs into potentially radiated water three thumbs up.
Difficulty is kind of mixed here and is completely based on how far you can throw. As an intermediate player that throws 350 at most with little accuracy, I got par with a couple birdies on the par 5s and bogeys on some of the holes with larger distance to par ratios. If you can throw far, you'll do fine here. If you have a noodle arm, you will likely get bored before you get to hole 9.
Cons:
Course Equipment is far from complete at St. Ann, with the baskets being the only real aspect of the equipment that is in place. There are some tees that are marked on pathways or by wooden markers, but some are completely unmarked and require UDisc to find. There is also no signage or scorecards on site for the disc golf course, making UDisc a requirement to navigate the course as of the writing of this review. The tee pads are effectively natural except for the tees that use pathways, though the grass is going to always be mowed being on a regular golf course. Still though, additional equipment would be nice, and is arguably necessary, though it doesn't sound like it's coming anytime soon after talking to folks in the clubhouse.
Course Design is very straightforward and doesn't really cultivate a big fun-factor. The shots are all open, with mature trees with generous amounts of space being the main obstacles. There are no real shots that force players to go away from their comfort zone unless you have MPO level power, which gets old after a while. The distances leave you without any real ace runs except for perhaps hole 5, so other than occasional birdie opportunities, you can easily find yourself with 9 pars with few possibilities to go for more. It's nice that the disc golf course mixes between using the gold fairways and spaces adjacent to being more trees into play, but you could keep things in the open and still get pars without too much trouble.
Pay-To-Play - as a regular golf course, I don't have a problem with them charging for disc golf; same goes for private courses. I personally don't factor cost into my course ratings but do consider whether the course is worth the fee. This course is $10 on weekdays unless you live in St. Ann and will cost more on weekends. Eagles Crossing is the only other course I know of within an hour that charges and is much more complete than this course is. The regular golf course costs $13 and has all its amenities and equipment in place. I think $10 is a steep for a complete 9-hole, and given this one is incomplete and relatively basic, I can't say I see myself going back anytime soon. Knowing the ball golf course that is fully set up is just $3 more than the disc golf course also felt like a slap in the face pretty quickly after starting my round.
The Creek also gets a con. I'm not against water hazards, but radiated creeks are sketchy.
Course Design is very straightforward and doesn't really cultivate a big fun-factor. The shots are all open, with mature trees with generous amounts of space being the main obstacles. There are no real shots that force players to go away from their comfort zone unless you have MPO level power, which gets old after a while. The distances leave you without any real ace runs except for perhaps hole 5, so other than occasional birdie opportunities, you can easily find yourself with 9 pars with few possibilities to go for more. It's nice that the disc golf course mixes between using the gold fairways and spaces adjacent to being more trees into play, but you could keep things in the open and still get pars without too much trouble.
Pay-To-Play - as a regular golf course, I don't have a problem with them charging for disc golf; same goes for private courses. I personally don't factor cost into my course ratings but do consider whether the course is worth the fee. This course is $10 on weekdays unless you live in St. Ann and will cost more on weekends. Eagles Crossing is the only other course I know of within an hour that charges and is much more complete than this course is. The regular golf course costs $13 and has all its amenities and equipment in place. I think $10 is a steep for a complete 9-hole, and given this one is incomplete and relatively basic, I can't say I see myself going back anytime soon. Knowing the ball golf course that is fully set up is just $3 more than the disc golf course also felt like a slap in the face pretty quickly after starting my round.
The Creek also gets a con. I'm not against water hazards, but radiated creeks are sketchy.
Other Thoughts:
First off I want to get a gripe out of the way. I know the regular golf course uses typical colors for tees like red, white, and blue, but as a red-green colorblind individual, the choice of using orange and green for disc golf tees is obnoxious. C'mon St. Ann.
I spoke to the guy in the clubhouse about the course, and it sounds like Dave McCormack approached the course about installing a disc golf course for a weekend tournament this past summer. He designed 9 holes for a permanent course, with another 9 temp baskets ready to go to make a full 18. Evidently the tournament fell through, and Dave moved on to other projects. I asked the guy in the clubhouse about tee signs and tee pads, and he said Dave didn't make it clear if that would happen or not, which didn't instill confidence.
This leaves St. Ann feeling like an afterthought of a disc golf course, with 9 baskets, sparsely marked tee pads, and no signage to tell you where to throw from. The open shots also lead to what I felt to be among the more boring rounds of golf I have played in town. Sure, some holes like 4 and 9 can bring trees into play depending on where you land, but there are few enough trees on site that you are not likely to be too challenged by a lie due to obstacles.
There are around 11 courses within 10 miles of St. Ann, and countless other options in the St. Louis area. Just about all of them are more fun than St. Ann. Outside of Eagles Crossing (if you want to even count that as a St. Louis area course), all of them are also free. I haven't played too many pay-to-play courses, but the ones I have played have at least been a good time. St. Ann doesn't seem like a course that will be improving anytime soon, and just equates to 9 leftover baskets from a failed tournament that the golf course is now making money on.
Having played a few courses like this now, I find ball golf courses to be at a disadvantage or lacking in fun factor due to the openness of the course and the tendency to have fewer interesting lines. St. Ann really highlights these issues and reasserts to me that while it can be a fun novelty, ball golf courses should not become the norm.
If you're a dedicated bagger of courses, hit St. Ann if you have played everything else in town. There's simply too many fun 18-hole courses nearby to spend time here otherwise. As a local, I won't be playing this course before additional equipment is in place, nor am I likely to play it after that point either unless I feel like burning money.
I spoke to the guy in the clubhouse about the course, and it sounds like Dave McCormack approached the course about installing a disc golf course for a weekend tournament this past summer. He designed 9 holes for a permanent course, with another 9 temp baskets ready to go to make a full 18. Evidently the tournament fell through, and Dave moved on to other projects. I asked the guy in the clubhouse about tee signs and tee pads, and he said Dave didn't make it clear if that would happen or not, which didn't instill confidence.
This leaves St. Ann feeling like an afterthought of a disc golf course, with 9 baskets, sparsely marked tee pads, and no signage to tell you where to throw from. The open shots also lead to what I felt to be among the more boring rounds of golf I have played in town. Sure, some holes like 4 and 9 can bring trees into play depending on where you land, but there are few enough trees on site that you are not likely to be too challenged by a lie due to obstacles.
There are around 11 courses within 10 miles of St. Ann, and countless other options in the St. Louis area. Just about all of them are more fun than St. Ann. Outside of Eagles Crossing (if you want to even count that as a St. Louis area course), all of them are also free. I haven't played too many pay-to-play courses, but the ones I have played have at least been a good time. St. Ann doesn't seem like a course that will be improving anytime soon, and just equates to 9 leftover baskets from a failed tournament that the golf course is now making money on.
Having played a few courses like this now, I find ball golf courses to be at a disadvantage or lacking in fun factor due to the openness of the course and the tendency to have fewer interesting lines. St. Ann really highlights these issues and reasserts to me that while it can be a fun novelty, ball golf courses should not become the norm.
If you're a dedicated bagger of courses, hit St. Ann if you have played everything else in town. There's simply too many fun 18-hole courses nearby to spend time here otherwise. As a local, I won't be playing this course before additional equipment is in place, nor am I likely to play it after that point either unless I feel like burning money.
