College Meadows is an 18-hole recreational disc golf course behind St. Charles Community College. This course is on land maintained by the county parks department, and mostly plays across open land with plenty of prairie and tall grass to keep you honest.
Location-wise, College Meadows is relatively easy to get to. St. Charles Community College is off Mid-Rivers Mall Dr. Which connects to I-70 and 364/94, one of which you're likely to take to get to this course. There are plenty of gas stations, restaurants, and other stores along Mid Rivers Dr. if you need to make a stop before or after your round. There is also a Play-it-Again Sports just up the road by I-70. Depending on where you're coming from or going, Smokin' Aces Disc Golf in Wentzville or Gateway Disc Sports in Maryland Heights aren't too far away and worth stopping by. If you're wanting to make a day out of golfing, Laurel Park and The Fort are the closest courses to College Meadows. Other than those, this course resides around the mid-point between the other St. Charles courses to the west, and Creve Coeur and Carrolton to the East.
Amenities are limited at College Meadows but will check all the boxes needed by disc golfers. As you drive along the outer loop of the college, you'll come across the gravel parking lot for the course. There is a port-o-john next to the parking lot in case you need to make a pit stop. In addition to disc golf, there is also a walking trail that goes off to the left; I'm not sure how much traffic this trail gets, but it's the only thing here other than the course itself.
Course Equipment at College Meadows has seen significant improvements recently, making the current photos on DGCR outdated. This course has 18 Dynamic Veteran baskets that I believe are brand new. There is also a practice basket next to the parking lot that has plenty of space for practicing longer putts. Each hole has two concrete teepads and a tee sign for each pad. The teepads are concrete and more than long enough for most run ups. It started raining during my round here, and the pads stayed grippy and were not sketchy to use at any point. The tee signs are robust in the information they provide, like the new signs up at Quail Ridge. Each sign has a graphic of the hole layout, distances, pars, elevation changes, direction of the next hole, and which pin is in play. There are also benches at each of the original 9 holes at the short tees.
Course Design at College Meadows mostly plays open through hills and wild prairie. Except for the last few holes that play through some tight woods, most of this course will just require you to stay on the fairways between prairie patches, which varies in difficulty across the course. Overall, this course is probably the most beginner friendly of the courses that St. Charles County oversees, with Indian Camp Creek being the course College Meadows resembles.
Navigation was probably the thing I was wondering about the most going into a round here, especially after seeing no course sign on the bulletin board by the parking lot. However, there was no point when playing this course did, I get lost or walk to the wrong hole. The navigation of this course is very natural, even with some spots of prairie grass being short during my round. There are paths between every hole, and once you find hole 1, you should be good to go on your round.
Elevation is prominent on this course, especially on the front 9. Holes 2, 3, and 5 all play downhill to varying degrees, which holes 4 and 7 both require you to really launch drives over blind hills. Other holes on the course have mild but noticeable differences in elevation, while a few holes do play flat.
Distances also vary greatly on this course. While there are plenty of ace runs on this course (especially in A placements), there are several longer holes as well. Depending on pin placement, you will likely see at least a few holes top 400, with hole 5 topping 500 feet.
Variety of shot shapes and between woods and fields is limited but improved with the recent addition of a back 9. The green on hole 15 as well as holes 16, 17, and 18 play through tight woods between the campus and a neighborhood. After 15 holes of open shots, this end to a round can be brutal if you underestimate it.
Difficulty is variable at College Meadows, with the longer tees adding distance to each hole as well as some additional gaps to mind. The tall grass can really add risk/reward to a round if you want to go for some greens and may encourage some players to play it safe for a birdie. The tall grass can really hide a disc if you have a bad throw, but other than that, this course is pretty beginner friendly overall. As an intermediate player, I found the course to play relatively easy minus the wooded holes but was still fun from both tees.