4 days in Peoria: which courses?

[Lynn LeFey]

My husband and I are going to do a 4-day road-trip to Peoria in October.

We haven't gone on vacation in quite some time. Funds are kind of tight, but we live in St. Louis, and Peoria is just a few hours up the road.

Looking at the map, there is Northwood Park, Megiddo, McNaughton Park, Sunset Hills DGC, and the Wildlife Prairie Park that are all well rated.

We will certainly be doing the Wildlife Prairie Park. This will be for both DG and the wildlife portion.

We have 3 days left, after that. I expect that means 3 other courses. We are amateurs. I'd rather not play a course where I end up heaving half my discs into water hazards. I don't mind scrambling through underbrush, though.

Suggestions and feedback are greatly appreciated.

Also, we're probably going to drop by Plastic Addicts. I'd like to know anyone's opinion of the shop and whether it's worth our time.

 

[sisyphus]

I've only been to Peoria once, myself, but as an out- of towner, was able to play six area courses and write up some reviews. In no particular order:
McNaughton McNaughton kind of has it all as a DG destination.
Illinois Central College Surprisingly fun wooded, technical.
Creve Coeur Not a bad little nine hole leg-stretcher.
Meggiddo Meggido is a workout, but scenic. I'd recommend it if it's dry.
Sunset Hills There's some water to clear at Sunset Hills, but it's kind of unique to opt to drive a cart.
Marquette Heights Real old school 'Frolf'ing experience.

 

[da Crippler]

Don't forget Laura Bradley Park, I played it at Ledgestone and it's a really fun course. It's right in town and the park is beautiful, lots of mature trees. Sunset Hills is long, but it has carts and a full service bar. The only other course I played was Eureka, which is a half hour east of Peoria. A stop at Plastic Addicts is definitely worth your time, especially if you plan on playing Sunset Hills since it's close by. They will be able to tell you anything you want to know about disc golf in Peoria. Cool store too, lots of stuff.

 

[Gflap]

Also recommend the course in Hopedale on the way up just south of Peoria

 

[PRkilla]

A trip to Peoria..that's funny. Have fun the people there are interesting to say in the least!!
I lived there for 1 year back in 93'. I don't recall any disc golf courses back then..were there any back then in that area?

 

[Discette]

I love Peoria. I have played many, many courses and Northwoods and McNaughton are two of my all time favorites!

I always enjoyed playing Bradley and don't care much for Washington.

 

[Brodysseus]

McNaughton. If you only play one, play McNaughton. Then Northwoods, then Megiddo. If you have any extra time to play, just play McNaughton again.

 

[Lynn LeFey]

Thank you all for the input. Please keep it coming.

I watched a video tour of 'Plastic Addicts', and keep thinking... Mmmm, October... maybe I can get a Plastic Addicts hoodie for when the weather turns cold.

 

[ElementZ]

I think McNaughton is over-rated. I would advise (in order of my personal fun factor)...

1. Megiddo : Challenging, memorable, and exhausting. It's a great time (if dry).
2. Eureka : 16 par 3s in the woods, two par 4s (9 & 10) out of the woods. Accuracy and a love of trees is a must.
3. Creve Coeur : New and extremely fun 9-holer. Every hole's unique and replay-ability is high.
4. ICC : If Eureka didn't have enough trees for you, ICC is the course for you.
5. Northwood Park : Hole 4 is legendary. All around a great course.

Honorable Mention: Sunset Hills. It's fun to play on a manicured ball golf course, it's not fun to have to share it with ball golfers (and truthfully kind of annoying/scary to never know if golf balls are coming your way. We almost got hit twice.)

I think (and hope) that you'll have a wonderful time at any course in the area though.

 

[JC AceHole]

My husband and I are going to do a 4-day road-trip to Peoria in October.

We haven't gone on vacation in quite some time. Funds are kind of tight, but we live in St. Louis, and Peoria is just a few hours up the road.

Looking at the map, there is Northwood Park, Megiddo, McNaughton Park, Sunset Hills DGC, and the Wildlife Prairie Park that are all well rated.

We will certainly be doing the Wildlife Prairie Park. This will be for both DG and the wildlife portion.

We have 3 days left, after that. I expect that means 3 other courses. We are amateurs. I'd rather not play a course where I end up heaving half my discs into water hazards. I don't mind scrambling through underbrush, though.

Suggestions and feedback are greatly appreciated.

Also, we're probably going to drop by Plastic Addicts. I'd like to know anyone's opinion of the shop and whether it's worth our time.

A lot of it depends on what kind of courses you want to play. I would add Eureka and ICC to your list as those are both very nice and heavily wooded.

Here are links:
Lake Eureka DGC
http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=1443

Illinois Central College DGC
http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=1378

In my opinion, I would honestly skip Wildlife. The course is far from complete and very rough still. Teepads and signs are not present on many of the holes. It can be tough to navigate in some spots and is a LONG course which make the navigation issues worse. There is no doubt that this course will be great soon but at this point I would skip it given your posted skill level as you would find yourself more frustrated than anything. If you read the reviews on it, the latest one sums this place up VERY well.

I would also skip Sunset Hills given your skill level. There are several water shots here which you could lose discs in. It is a lot a very long course with some distances as it is on a ball golf course. The plus side for this course is that you can rental golf carts pretty cheap. I think it was $10 last time I played there.

Here are the courses I would recommend for you:

Northwood Park in Morton, IL. This is a great course. It is moderately tough but fair. There are a lot of great shots out here. Healthy mix of wooded and more open and some cool elevation changes both ways out here.

McNaughton Park in Pekin, IL. This is a longer course but the lines in most cases are pretty fair. There is a good amount of elevation here. I would play the short tees as the long tees make this course play VERY TOUGH. It is one of the better courses in the area.

Megiddo in Morton, IL. This is a heavily wooded course with some good distance on many of the holes. It has a great amount of elevation and plays pretty much entirely in the woods. I would stay away from here if the ground is wet or if it has recently rained as it can make walking tough in some spots.

I would also recommend you play Eureka and ICC or even just one of the 2. If I had to pick one over the other, I would pick Eureka. These are both shorter with some long holes mixed in. Both are heavily wooded with defined lines.

Hopefully this helps. Whichever courses you decide, you will have a blast. There is no shortage of good disc golf courses in the Peoria area!

 

[JC AceHole]

Thank you all for the input. Please keep it coming.

I watched a video tour of 'Plastic Addicts', and keep thinking... Mmmm, October... maybe I can get a Plastic Addicts hoodie for when the weather turns cold.

I almost forgot, Plastic Addicts is worth the trip for sure. They have a huge selection of discs and some sweet gear. Owner is a good dude as well.

 

[Lynn LeFey]

We're taking off for our trip in a few days. Anyone else have comments or suggestions for our trip? Good food spots? Attractions? Anything?

 

[Cool]

Hi, Lynn. I live in Champaign (90 miles away), but have spent quite a bit of time in Peoria.

The gambling boat is fun, right there on the river; does not move, though, it just stays parked.
http://www.paradicecasino.com/

Starved Rock State Park (64 miles from Peoria, but scenic drive) is nice for easy hiking, nature, wildlife (I think better than Wildlife Prairie Park, but I have never been to WPP, only heard what the other poster said about disc golf there: its not ready for prime
time yet). Very highly ranked nature park for Illinois is Starved Rock. (check out DGCR for frolf links on the way to Starved Rock; I don't know which tbose might be...Washington, IL? To play 18-holes on the way, and spend 4-6 hours or so at Starved Rock, would be ideal).
http://www.starvedrockstatepark.org/

Spirit of Peoria has some cruises, great way to spend a couple hours, leaving right from downtown Peoria. Bring binoculars!
https://spiritofpeoria.com/

I've never been, but if you are into some couples adult fun, Big Al's is right downtown and quite a local legend.
http://worldfamousbigals.com/

Have fun! The other commentors know much more than I do about the courses, but the big ones mentioned--McNaughton, Megiddo, etc.--have Youtube videos on them (especially since most are part of the Ledgestone Pro-Am Open) that will give you a taste of each course; just YT search the course names, or Ledgestone Open (note: Eureka plays on a temp pro course for Ledgestone)

Sincerely, Steve

 

[puttlikeablowfly]

I haven't seen Wildlife other than practice for Ledgestone, but I would skip it unless I knew some more work had been done. Play Bradley in its place ... a nice classic parkland course in an attractive park. For the other three days, consider at least one two-round day, but a second would be nice. Pair up Meggido (at Westwood) and Northwood, which are both in Morton ... that will be a great day of disc golf, and I would highly recommend both courses even if you did them on separate days. Then pair Lake Eureka and Illinois Central College ... go to Eureka first, and then decide on ICC on your way back to Peoria if you're up for it (skip Washington which is between ICC and Eureka). ICC is a nice short, technical, wooded course that would be a fairly easy play for a second round. Eureka is also shorter, but has more elevation change. Finally, I would play McNaughton. Sunset Hills was not my cup of tea, even without having to worry about ball golfers ... fairly open and set up for big arms.

If you were set on only one round per day, go for Meggido, Northwood, McNaughton, and Bradley.

 

[Lynn LeFey]

We played McNaughton today, with highs in the upper 80s and 20mph winds, sometimes shifting. I lost my beat up champ sidewinder on 12, but that thing has always been hard to spot. Sad but not crushed. Otherwise we had a great game on a gorgeous day on a fantastic course.

We'll likely be playing Northwoods tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone for suggestions.

 

[Lynn LeFey]

So, day 2, we played Northwood this morning. It kicked our a$$. In reality, we shot about the same as if we were shooting our home course.

We hit Plastic Addicts, where I got a replacement Sidewinder in Starlite, as well as a DX Dragon (for $4). I also got a sweatshirt with their logo on it.

We tried to play Creve Coeur this afternoon, but they were mowing, so we did the back half of McNaughton. 18 is super fun and I'm got to give some shots with the new sidewinder.

 

[Dana]

Make sure to hit up One World Cafe in Peoria, it is only a few minutes from Bradley Park and they have great food (and good beer on tap if you're into that).

 

[Lynn LeFey]

We went to Wildlife Prairie Park, looked at the animals, then played the disc golf course. Well... hmmm...it seemed a lot more like half hike, half disc golf. And I would rate some of the trails as straight-up treacherous.

Beautiful park, but wouldn't play it again, given the chance. Oh, and 'elevation change' seems to miss descriptive by a mile. ��

 

[Countchunkula]

Anyone played Wildlife Prairie Park recently? The most recent detailed review has a bit of age on it. Sounds like maintenance has been an issue in the past. Wondering if that's still the case.