Pros:
Unger is a beautiful and very secluded park in the southwest part of the St. Louis area. This shorter wooden course is great for less experienced players who want some fun but not too hard challenges in a wooded environment.
Location of this course makes for a peaceful and secluded round; If it weren't for the route required to take to get to the park, you'd never know while playing this course that you are between a highway junction and an industrial park. There's a gas station right off of I-44 if you need gas or snacks, and other food options not far down 44 in either direction. If you are looking for a multi-course day, Unger is close to several other courses in the area as well.
Park amenities are limited to fishing, trails, and disc golf at Unger. While secluded and limited in what it offers, this park gets plenty of foot traffic; numerous small groups were making their way around the course while plenty of other park goers were either fishing at the adjacent lake or using the paths in the park to walk or bike. There's also one reservable shelter by the parking lot. There's also a port-o-john by the parking lot.
Course Equipment at Unger has been worked on a lot by the local disc golf club, and the effort shows. The baskets are Discatchers that are in great shape and easy to spot in the woods. The course now has 18 turf tees as of August 2021, with some final clean up around the pads taking place over the next 1 or 2 weeks. The tee signs have now all been installed and are very informative, providing pars, distances, a layout of the hole, and the direction to the next tee. The mulch that has been put down over the past year has also helped the tee areas as well as other parts of the fairways stay in good shape. This aspect of the course was more of a con when I first wrote this review, but this is one area that this course has seen some great improvements.
Course Design at Unger is primarily comprised of short and wooded holes, and really has 3 stages. Holes 1 through 5 are primarily tight fairways but mostly have some grassy fairways and greens. Then, holes 6 through 9 take advantage of the large field that greets you as you park your car, and provide opportunities to air some drivers out. Finally, the back 9 is tightly wooded, surrounded by mature trees and brush that will provide plenty of shade. A lot of players will not find a need for drivers on the back 9 at all except for some hyzers or flex shots that can be easily hit with an overstable fairway. Overall, this is one of the most wooded courses in the St. Louis area, and provides a different experience than some of the other more established local courses like JB, Endicott, and Sioux Passage. This is a good place to hone accuracy in before graduating to other nearby wooden courses like The Bunker.
While many of the holes on this course are tightly wooded, the punishment for going out of the fairway varies from hole to hole. Holes 3, 4, and 5 can be unforgiving and force you to pitch out for a 4, but most of the back 9 is actually pretty forgiving of shots that take a bad hit off a tree. This makes for a course that provides a nice level of challenge for newer players. The longer open holes will provide an opportunity for driving practice, while the back 9 will provide opportunities to practice tighter shots and hitting smaller gaps.
Holes 7, 8, and 9 take advantage of a field that has 1 lone tree in the middle, but I think the designers made the most of this section of the park. I like the mandatory dogleg on 7 that keeps you out of the fairway of hole 6, and requires you to be careful not to leave your first shot short and left. This hole also ends in the woods, requiring you to line up for a gap in the woods. Hole 9 is almost completely open, but a tree to the right could come into play if you want to throw a hyzer approach.
Navigation is easy despite the fact that 6 holes did not have a sign during my most recent round at Unger. While some holes are missing signage, the paths to each hole as well as the tee areas are well defined. The holes that are missing signs are also short enough that you'll be able to see the basket or find it by walking a few steps up the fairway during your first round here.
Course Difficulty favors new to intermediate players, who will find this course to be accessible to their skill levels. This course is surprisingly forgiving for being a primarily wooded course in terms of the ease of finding discs after bad shots, but will also result in higher scores if you throw errant shots. Anyone who enjoys shorter wooded courses will find a round here to be enjoyable.
Cons:
Weather and Year-Round Playability - This course is in a flood plain, and the park is next to the Meramec River, which is known for flooding frequently. Parts of this course may be underwater after storms either in the area or upstream. You can tell where water tends to be located during flooding situations, and some holes may not be playable. It seems like the back 9 stays playable after heavier rains, but parts of the front 9 will flood after heavier rains that St. Louis is prone to getting. Spring and Summer may be dicey times for this course depending on how much rain the area gets. During a Fall round here, it was actually the complete opposite, with many of the fairways being very dusty. The local club has put a lot of mulch down recently, so hopefully this helps with both of these extremes.
Variety - This course has a little variety with holes 6 through 9 providing a break from the woods, but overall the holes on this course are wooded, flat, and between 165ft. and 275ft., requiring a midrange at most. If you enjoy elevation and long drives, you may not get as much enjoyment out of this layout.
Poison Ivy - Be on the lookout for it; while a lot of the areas surrounding the fairways are pretty clear, there still may be some further in the woods if you shank a shot.
Other Thoughts:
This park is kind of off the beaten path, with no obvious signage until the entrance of the park. However, once you find it, it's a nice and secluded setting to throw a round at. Note that the entrance of this course is next to a popular soccer complex, and that many families park their cars around the park entrance during games and practice sessions.
Unger has an interesting history, going from a championship level 18, to a recreational 9, to being taken out due to flooding and lack of attention, back to a 9, and finally to where we are now, a recreational to intermediate 18. It's great to see the attention this course is getting, and continued improvements could lead to a higher overall rating overtime. Flooding will continue to be a factor in how much this course can improve, but seeing where we are now compared to the history of this course is a positive sign. It's clear that there's efforts from the St. Louis Disc Golf Club to improve and maintain Unger. The course continues to get attention, and it is really paying off.
This course is not as challenging as most of the other 18 holes in the St. Louis area, and is a good course for beginners to learn shot shaping on. If you are passing by Unger on 44 and have the time, or are a local in the area, Unger is worth a quick round.