Pros:
The Vandalia DGC offers a good introduction to disc golf in a small city park setting.
The course definitely fits the pitch-and-putt description as all the holes are 100 to 210 feet in length. The Vandalia course would be a fine choice for someone playing their first few rounds of disc golf. It's fairly flat and straight, though a couple holes prompt a bit of shot-shaping around a tree or two. You could play the course with two discs and be just fine.
There's a gravel parking lot right next to the course, and Hole #9 finishes right next to the first teepad. A sign with basic rules, course map and hole distances marks the start of the course nicely. And the Patriot baskets meet the standard for this course.
Navigation is fairly straight forward after you find the second teepad.
The design is simple but adequate. With limited space to work with, it might have been tempting for the designer to force some oddities into the mix. Thankfully, they didn't.
Cons:
There's not much variety here. Hole #1 is to the right and requires a slight dogleg to get around the large tree, but every hole is basically straight. Also, from the first teepad, you might see the basket for Hole #9 on the left first.
After completing Hole #1, you'll have to backtrack counter-clockwise around the tennis courts to find the next hole.
Some of the teepads are natural, while several of the holes utilize the walking track around the park's perimeter.
This course won't be a challenge for anyone with a few rounds under their belt. Decent players will likely ring up an ace every dozen rounds or less. My drive on Hole #1 bounced off the cage and several more drives landed a few feet from the basket.
The course is fairly isolated from other disc golf offerings; the closest courses are about 30 minutes away.
Other Thoughts:
I played the Vandalia course in about 20 minutes, near sundown, in 30-degree temps with an inch of snow on the ground. I birdied every hole but the last one, and I'll blame my cold hands on that shaky putt.
With its simple style and lack of amenities, the Vandalia nine-holer feels like a 1.0 rating, though it fits the "Passable" descriptor more so than "Bad."
An interesting fact about Vandalia is that about one-fourth of its population of 4,000 is housed in the women's correctional facility. However, I didn't see any inmates during my disc golf round.