Bloomingdale, IL

Springfield Park

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0.945(based on 17 reviews)
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4 0
DiscGolfer80
Experience: 4.7 years 57 played 56 reviews
0.50 star(s)

Not Worth Playing 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Nov 15, 2021 Played the course:once

Pros:

Nothing positive to say about this course!

Cons:

Holes 1 thru 3 are laid out on "North" end and holes 4 thru 6 are on "South" End. Hole 2 has no fairway due to a bocce ball court or some kind of court between tee box and basket. Long walk from basket 3 to tee box 4. Good luck playing during the summer..

Other Thoughts:

Not worth playing even in early spring or late fall. Looks like park district just put up tee boxes and baskets with no plan or consideration of playground and sports field.
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6 0
EspressoPatronum
Gold level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 18.6 years 232 played 223 reviews
1.00 star(s)

Wait... what??? 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 14, 2018 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

- beautiful park with a really nice pond/wetland area
- nice baskets in good repair
- very "accessible" course for any mobility, ability, or skill level
- park seems to be mowed regularly and generally taken care of

Cons:

- way too many activities in the same space in this park
- serious risk of hitting people performing other activities or cars in parking lots
- hole 9 has a tree 10-20' in front of tee that makes it really hard to make a decent drive
- tee signs missing on 3 and 5 (33% of this course)
- only 6 holes, most of which are very short and open
- tees are small, gravel, and unimpressive
- long, long walks between holes considering there are only 6 of them
- no practice basket

Other Thoughts:

To me, this hardly qualifies as a "real" course. I'm all for quality over quantity, so smaller courses don't automatically get downgraded in my eyes, but 6 holes is really pushing it, and they're not 6 quality holes at that.

I don't know if the park district was trying to make an "accessible" course, but kudos to them if so - all of the tees and most of the baskets are accessible from the walking paths. I've never seen this before, but it's not necessarily a bad thing.

I feel like the Bloomingdale Park District just tossed in a few baskets to be able to say "we have disc golf" without putting much thought into this. The holes are mostly short, have very long walks between some of them, and aren't anything special. They have added some trees/shrubs to force a bit of shot shaping but it's mostly very open.

Other reviewers hit it on the head, there is just way too much in close proximity in this park. Hole 2 plays directly over the bocce ball. Holes 8 and 9 are way too close to the soccer field. When I was playing little kids were playing soccer and I was legitimately afraid if I grip-locked or something I could hit one of them. Hole 9 threads the needle between the parking lot and soccer field - forced me to make a nice shot, which I did, but just seems like a bad choice. This park has other open space when you only need to find it for 6 holes.

This might be the weakest course I've played in the entire Chicago area. If you live nearby and want a quick round, it's playable, but I can't imagine what would bring me back - maybe birdwatching in the marsh area, but not disc golf.
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4 0
The Valkyrie Kid
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 45.8 years 1563 played 1507 reviews
1.00 star(s)

Does This Factory Tour Take Us Through The Gift Shop? 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 1, 2016 Played the course:once

Pros:

You know when you're on a factory tour and the tour always leads you through the gift shop so they can sell you their cheesy products. Well, the park's department employee who designed this course and obviously has never played the game, took the opportunity here to showcase her entire lovely park by making disc golfers traipse all around the county when they just wanted to play a short 6 hole course. I'm surprised she missed having us play through her office.

The course has decent metals signs that show the hole #, par and distance. The concrete tee pads are always connected to the walking paths. I think Harr might be correct in his thinking that this is some kind of wheelchair accessible course. The course also has the same elongated ugly, eyesore tee pads as Sunrise Pak DGC. The baskets are shiny new Discatchers with the yellow bands.

Cons:

There are so many problems here. The design is terrible. I've never walked so far to play six holes of disc golf.

Hole # 2 plays DIRECTLY over the bocce ball court. It might prove entertaining when some 16 year old punk hits an old guy playing bocce with a disc and the old Italian guy playing bocce was once a hit man for the Chicago mob!

# 3 sign is gone. And this hole might unplayable during some soccer games.

# 5 sign missing. Tee off by the memorial to Ellanor Winkler. Could she have been the Fonz's mother?

# 6 is a straight 225' throw to a basket set 15 from the parking lot on the left and about 10 feet from the outfield fence on it's right. Did anyone consider that this might not be such an ideal location for a basket? How many cars have to get hit? Or little league right fielders?

Ugly tee pad areas need a front board installed so players won't keep trying to cheat up on these lengthy holes.

Another thing I can't quite get right in my head is, Who is this course designed for? Beginners? Recreation players? Wheelchair bound golfers? Pros?

Other Thoughts:

If I were in charge of this railroad, I would shorten the course and have it finish out in the trees where the current # 4 basket is. As it sits currently, it's one of the poorer designed courses I've encountered.

And what in the hell is this cornhole that Mike Harr is writing about in his review? We used to talk about cornhole in previous times but it had nothing to with parks, disc golf or people from fine families!
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5 1
booradly
Bronze level trusted reviewer
Experience: 11.9 years 165 played 24 reviews
0.50 star(s)

lolololololol 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Dec 9, 2012 Played the course:once

Pros:

-nice baskets
-decent park
-a good place to practice your puts
-a good place to teach young children how to play maybe
-this course seems handicap friendly

Cons:

-bad gravel pads that are to short and are uneven
-very open course almost no trees that come into play
- the lay out of this park is beyond bad the last 2 holes are on the other side of the park and took me forever to find
-the signs looked good but they are turned in random directions that make using them very hard and almost pointless to have
-super short course bring a mid and a putter and you will still overthrow a lot of the holes
-only 6 holes

Other Thoughts:

this park might as well just be 6 random practice baskets in a field
i don't mind open courses to much because they make for good courses to test out new drivers but this course is to short for that
- i don't mind short courses as long as there are some fun technical shots but this course is far to open to have any technical shots
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5 0
harr0140
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 15.2 years 1508 played 475 reviews
1.50 star(s)

Cornhole and Disc Golf 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 11, 2012 Played the course:once

Pros:

1) Nice course map on the snack shop wall.
2) Portopotty available by the first tee.
3) Wheelchair accessible because they have little gravel walkways to each tee and basket from the main paved sidewalk.
4) Beginner friendly because it is wide open and fairly flat.
5) Discatchers are nice baskets and very visible.
6) The park actually has permanent cornhole and horseshoes and plenty of other activities. When have you ever seen cornhole in a park though?
7) Tees are gravel which is better than grass and they seem to be maintained to be kept fairly level (which normally is a problem with gravel tees).
8) Distance variation is moderate, one hole in the 100's, two in the mid 200's, one in the upper 200's and one in the 300's. Not bad for a 6 hole course.

Cons:

1) Most of the holes are short, open, and too simple to be enjoyed by non beginners.
2) Hole #6 is actually dangerous for both the cars parked in the lot and the people on the baseball field. I imagine there are a lot of issues here.
3) The main sidewalk gets within 30-40' of each tee and basket which makes it wheelchair accessible but it also brings the walkers into play.
4) Long walk from #3 to #4 and #4 to #5 might get confusing. I just kept looking for the gravel off of the sidewalk, since I didn't see the course map when I walked up to #1.
5) There is a firepit and small seating area just short of #4 basket. I sure would hate to think of someone getting hit here unknowingly . . . or someone throwing a CE disc into the fire.

Other Thoughts:

I am not sure if this was designed as a wheelchair accessible course or not, but it works very well. I guess it would be difficult to push a wheelchair through the turf especially on the small hills on #4 so they would have to throw it all the way to the basket in order for it to work. Regardless the paths of gravel work well to keep the traffic to a confined area. If this wasn't done I suspect worn areas would appear.
It isn't a great course, but it isn't the worst in the area. It has a couple of fun shots on the course and some safety negatives. It just falls right in line with so many of the courses out there, but the park is very well maintained and they have permanent cornhole (supply your own beanbags).
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2 1
Whicho
Experience: 12.9 years 84 played 7 reviews
0.50 star(s)

Disappointing 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Oct 12, 2011 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Compact Gravel Tee Boxes
Disc Catcher Baskets
Good Course if you want to practice short open holes and becoming more accurate with a mid or fairway driver.
One hole does offer the challenge of trees blocking the approach to the hole.

Cons:

Course is very short
The signs aren't very good indicators of which basket you need to throw towards on the first couple holes.
The design is horrible.
After the first 3 holes you have to walk across the park back to the begging of the park for hole 4 and then cross 2 softball fields to get to holes 5 and 6.

Other Thoughts:

This course would be almost impossible to play at if there were any events going on. Hole 5 throws across one of the fields and the other few have the path very near play where if you throw a bad shot you could take out a pedestrian.
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1 7
phildafunk1
Experience: 16 years 46 played 6 reviews
1.50 star(s)

So-So discing, but... 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 1, 2011 Played the course:once

Pros:

The park has a canopy with bocce courts, bolted to the ground boards for bags, horseshoe pits, and tables with checkers/chess

Cons:

6 holes, good for practice. Hard to find tees. Don't have anything else to say
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4 1
flingkaching
Experience: 43.8 years 124 played 10 reviews
1.50 star(s)

For kids & beginners 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Oct 8, 2010 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Scenic park, well maintained, new discatcher baskets, nice tee areas, course map & signs.
Holes 3, 4 & 5 aren't bad, has playground & other stuff for kids.

Cons:

Course layout confusing (check the map on park house near hole 1), there are a couple long walks between holes, the park is often crowded & other users get in the way, hole 2 is too close to a picnic pavilion and area where kids play.

Other Thoughts:

Located in a pretty nice park. Took kids here to play DG & go to playground, they love it & rate a 4.
There are nice walking trails along a couple ponds. Could have made a nice DG course here had the space been available.
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1 3
ufcliff
Experience: 14.8 years 5 played 2 reviews
0.50 star(s)

Plain Jane 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 9, 2010 Played the course:once

Pros:

None

Cons:

Could not find the "tee" for Hole 4. Almost every hole could have challenges from other activities.

Other Thoughts:

Should not be considered a course. Should set up 1 or 2 holes and reclassify as a practice range.
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4 2
notapro
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 20.6 years 568 played 281 reviews
0.50 star(s)

Beginner 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 7, 2010 Played the course:once

Pros:

- There are a few holes that would be legitimate holes at other courses. One has a good amount of pine trees to avoid, and another has some length.
- For the most part, holes do not interfere with other park activities.
- Good teepads, signs, and baskets.

Cons:

- Most holes are short and open. Very little challenge, and very little enjoyment.
- One hole does have some bocce ball courts in the fairway to avoid.
- Extremely long walks in between some holes. Pretty sure there is more length to the course in between holes than the holes themselves.

Other Thoughts:

- Really not much to say about this little 6-holer. A good course for brand new players to learn the basics, such as putting. For anyone else, just a practice round.
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6 2
wolf1616
Experience: 13 played 3 reviews
1.00 star(s)

Waste Of Time 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Oct 10, 2009 Played the course:once

Pros:

A couple of the holes are actually kind of fun to play. This would be a great course for a child or someone not really into the game. If you just want to go throw a disc for 10 minutes of so this is the course for you.

The course is designed in a reasonably innovative fashion though, I liked where they were going, but unfortunately they never got there.

Cons:

Obviously I didn't like it. The first few holes are extremely short and easy and then as previously mentioned by others, there's a huge walk to the next 3 holes. Basically, if I was interested in teaching my 7 year old nephew to play I might think about bringing him here. Although, if he ended up being interested and wanted to play more, this course would quickly bore him with all the walking between holes and that there aren't any more holes to play.

Other Thoughts:

I was hoping a town like Bloomingdale with all their money would be able to provide an amazing course to play. This was a sad attempt at shoving a bunch of activities into one park, and half-___ing each.
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8 1
Countchunkula
Gold level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 17.7 years 210 played 68 reviews
1.00 star(s)

Inept design 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Mar 15, 2010 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Nice, new Innova Discatcher baskets
Decent crushed gravel tees
Visually apealling tee signs

Cons:

Very little challenge
Some holes are very dangerous:
2 throws over a bocci ball court
4 benches to close to basket
6 basket is too close to baseball field and parking lot
Short holes
Long walks between short holes
Almost no elevation change
Only 6 holes
Only one hole requires more than a midrange

Other Thoughts:

1 170' Easy wide open shot, the only obstacle is a small tree 15' to the front left of the basket

2 240' The one over the bocci ball court. If no one is playing bocci, it's a wide open straight shot. If the court is in use there are some low obstacles.

3 240' Slightly downhill, scattered, small evergreens provide minor obstacles

Walk around soccer fields

4 290' Decent hyzer shot over small rise and between evergreens. Watch out for benches to the left of basket.

Next tee is on the other side of baseball diamonds

5 370' Longest hole on the course. Pretty wide open for RHBH.

6 225' Dangerous basket placement between outfield fence and parking lot.
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10 0
mashnut
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 22.1 years 831 played 767 reviews
0.50 star(s)

Odd little course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Oct 4, 2009 Played the course:once

Pros:

The course is in really good shape, with brand new baskets and signs that have no wear at all yet. The signs are very nice, with distance and hole layout, and are very brightly colored and easy to see from a distance. There is a nice course map right by the first tee. The tees are nice crushed gravel that provides good footing even in wet weather.

The park brings the couple tiny hills in the park into play to add a little interest on a couple holes. There are a couple holes where the basket is protected by trees and isn't just an easy straight shot.

Cons:

The course was clearly not designed by anyone who really understands disc golf. 5 of the holes are silly little ace run holes, and one is a longer, but still open easy shot. One hole plays directly over bocce ball courts, most of the rest play dangerously close to walking paths and sports fields.

There are very long walks between a couple of the holes, so the course has very little flow. Check out the course map carefully so you'll know where to go. There are a couple places where the tee signs are facing the wrong way, and make it unclear which way to throw.

Though the tees are a fine material and well packed, they are ridiculously short and unlevel. They don't allow for any kind of run-up, though that isn't really necessary here.

Other Thoughts:

Many of the holes are ok for beginners, with reasonable lengths and no real chances of losing discs. It does seem quite dangerous to have a course clearly intended for beginners to play so close to so many other park activities, along with the parking lot with players who probably don't have the best control. More experienced players won't find anything interesting or challenging here.

This course isn't really worth playing. Though it's a quick 6 holes, the long walks make it take at least as long as a 9 hole course. If the weather is nice, you'll spend a ton of time waiting for people to walk by or clear the fairways. I don't recommend playing here, and I especially don't suggest driving any distance to play this course.
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4 0
Blonde Thunder
Experience: 14.8 years 65 played 12 reviews
1.50 star(s)

Love the gravel tees 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 24, 2009 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

The gravel tees are my favorite thing about this course. It is the perfect combo of grip and slip for me.
The course is well manicured.
Signs at each hole with little gravel paths around baskets.

Cons:

Only six holes.
One hole literally places two bocci ball courts and a pavillion directly in between the tee and basket and another is tucked within feet of a home-run fence and the parking lot.
Very short on all six holes.
Long walk from 3 to 4 and 4 to 5 keeps it from being a quick six.

Other Thoughts:

I use this course for a driving range when I dont have much time or the weather is bad. Hole three (can park right by tee #3) is 240ft with the basket surrounded in back by three medium pines and plenty of room to the right or left. So, you can practice accuracy or boom to the left or right and take the path around to pick up discs easily.
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8 0
Nosh
Experience: 15.9 years 13 played 5 reviews
1.00 star(s)

Why Bother? 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 21, 2009 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

-Park maintained well.
-New everything (2009)
-Plenty of parking
-Course map & tee signs clearly visible
-Extra park accommodations (bathroom, benches, etc..)

Cons:

-Very short
-Not enough thought in basket placement
-Not too much challenge (unless you count dodging pedestrians =3)
-Bit of a walk from 3->4 & 4>5
-Did I mention short?

Other Thoughts:

The park is easy to find off of Springfield Dr. between Schick Rd and Route 20 (Lake St.). There was plenty of parking even with a soccer game and some baseball practice going on. I spotted the course map on the side of an out building right away near tee #1. I was not impressed by the distances of most of the holes but with all the foot traffic for the other park elements I'm not surprised. There was quite a bit of foot traffic even on a Sunday morning especially on hole #2. I can't imagine the amount of people on a weekend afternoon with all fields in play. If you don't know where to go after hole #3, just follow the asphalt path to the right and you will find tee #4 at the back corner of a soccer field. Speaking of hole #4, there are some benches not far from the basket behind the pine trees. An off shot could startle someone sitting there if it doesn't hit them. Get back on the asphalt path and follow it around the baseball fields for hole #5 & #6. Basket #6 is between the parking lot and a baseball field so take care when throwing. All in all with plenty of other better parks within a 5-15 minute drive there is no reason to bother with this one. It will most likely leave you disappointed that you wasted your time.
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5 10
Dave242
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 29.8 years 393 played 271 reviews
0.00 star(s)

D Grade = Dud....a 6 hole dud 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 17, 2009 Played the course:once

Pros:

The first review sums up the details very well. I do not have much to add to that other than noting that this course (if it gets any play) is in a very nice, high profile park so it has the opportunity to introduce many people to DG who have yet to be enlightened.

What I personally like and how this course stacks up:
1) Holes with good risk/reward. Fair, but harsh punishment for bad decisions or execution. == D
2) Holes that have rewarding birdie opportunities for me. I throw 300' accurately, 360' max. == D
3) More wooded than open - lots of variety of shots required caused by hole shape and topography == D
4) Natural beauty (Appalachian beauty preferred) and seclusion. == C- (Clean new park)
5) Bonus points for multi-shot holes with defined landing zones, good risk/reward and multiple options to play them. == N/A

Other Thoughts:

It's all about feeding the addiction, so I ranked this course subjectively based on my own "personal addiction factor". The grades above tell how well the course will draw me back to itself again and again and again. Since I have played a decent number of courses (125 18-hole, 64 9-hole as of mid 2009), my hope is that players/explorers who have similar addiction tastes will find my ratings list helpful as they choose courses to play and explore.

Over time, I expect to fill some of my reviews in with more descriptive verbiage...if what I can add anything to what has already been written. For now, my list is more important to me than the verbiage of my reviews.

I fully expect others with different tastes/philosophies to disagree with me....that's the fun of things here. See my profile for my rating philosophy.
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10 0
lko102
Experience: 17.8 years 20 played 14 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Good for families, vetrans need not apply 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 17, 2009 Played the course:once

Pros:

- Brand new course
- Well manicured park
- Clear, new signage for each hole
- Restrooms/water fountain available
- Ample, off street parking

Cons:

- Mostly short holes
- Layout problems with other park elements
- Potential issues with crowds
- Difficult to find a few tees

Other Thoughts:

First, let me say this: Not all golf courses have to challenge Tiger Woods, and not all Disc Golf courses have to be pro caliber. Also, the more baskets we have in the ground, the better the exposure and future of the sport.

That being said, this course could be a great family/beginner course to introduce new players to the game, but with a few layout problems. The course itself is brand new, so new gravel tees, new baskets, and new signage everywhere. The course does it's best to fit inside a small park with several other areas, but there are a few issues with overlap. For instance, on hole 2, you throw directly over top of a Bocce Ball court! Obviously there is a hyzer line around the end, but for a course that should cater to beginners, this might not be readily apparent.

Also, there is a long (200+ yard) walk between holes 3 and 4. If I hadn't been taking pictures of the signage at the course and gone back to review the camera, I wouldn't have known where to walk for the next hole. Similarly, to get between hole 4 and 5, you have to walk almost completely around the end of a baseball diamond.

If you are looking for a place to bring mom and dad or the kids to give disc golf try, this would be a great course. If you are looking to test out your new driver or practice 400ft bombs, there are much better courses in the area to play.
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