Flower City DGC - Black is a recreational park-style course in Palmyra. This course is the original course to the park installed in 2008, and snakes around different creeks and park uses to create a fun round of golf for both new and experienced players.

Location of Flower City Park is on the northwest side of town, requiring you to navigate a couple local roads after getting off Route 61. Palmyra is a smaller town of a few thousand folks but has all of the food and gas needs you may have before or after your round. When turning onto Breckenridge to enter the park, you'll want to turn left before the tennis courts, and then park along the left side of the road by the playground. This is now one of two 18-hole courses in this park, and when also considering courses in Quincy and Hannibal, there's plenty of recreational courses to make a day out of.

Park Amenities are aplenty in Flower City Park, as this park makes up a good percentage of the city's land. The park has 7 total shelters, three of which have water, electric, and playgrounds nearby. There are bathrooms around the park, though it seems like some of them are seasonal. The park also has a large nature trail in the back of the park, multiple tennis courts and baseball fields, and a community pool. There are county fairgrounds in the park as well, making for plenty of infrastructure for larger events. The second 18-hole course began installation last year, and is located further into the park past the nature trail.

Course Equipment is all in good shape on the black course despite showing a little age. The baskets are discatchers that have some rusted chains, but they still catch well for the most part. Each hole has a concrete tee, and all 18 tees were in great shape and nice to tee off from. The tee signs have distances, pars, and graphics of the hole layouts that include directions to the next tee. Each hole also has a nickname, which adds a little character to this course. There is a course map at the start of the course as well for your reference.

Course Design

Shot Shapes and Hole Designs - This course has a nice mix of shot shaping throughout the 18 holes. There are a good combo of hyzers, anhyzers, straight shots, and holes where you can make a call for what shot you're most comfortable going for. I threw just about every disc in my bag on this course, from anhyzers with my Heat to hyzers with my Runway or Blade, to ace runs with my Buzzz or Envy. For being an easier park styler course, this one has a good amount of variety.

Distances - The holes on this course range from 198 to 680 feet, providing a good combination of short ace runs, longer multi-shot par 4s, and plenty of holes that fall in between those categories. The course has 6 par 4s, and they all feel gettable for intermediate and advanced players while being short enough to not discourage new players.

Elevation - This course highlights some of the elevation in the front of the park, providing a fair amount of downhill holes as well as holes that go through shallow valleys. Hole 13 is really the only hole that goes uphill, as most of the other holes with elevation go downhill and are followed by an uphill walk to the next tee.

Navigation - While there are quirks to the course layout, it is not too hard to navigate overall. The course map and tee signs help with navigation from hole to hole. While plenty of the holes are blind shots to the pin, the layouts on the signs make it easy to figure out where you're throwing. This is a course where I felt more comfortable than usual throwing blind shots around corners, even with creeks and tree lines in play.

Use of Land - This course makes the most of the land available, hugging tree lines, the creeks in the park, and other park uses without being too dangerous at any point. I'd say they maximized the land that was allotted for disc golf at the time.

Difficulty - This course is pretty versatile. Newer players will be able to go for a lot of the shots on this course, while intermediate or advanced players will have opportunities to run riskier shots more throughout their round. There's enough variety to keep most players having fun on this course.

Highlights - Holes 3 and 4 are fun, wide-open shots that require long drives to go for a birdie. Hole 14 is super fun, requiring you to throw between two trees on an otherwise open, downhill hole.

Course Equipment could use some refreshment once they are done with the Orange course. The baskets are starting to show their age with rusting chains, and I had some putts that usually go in either spit out or come close. The tee signs are designed well, but some of the wood or signs are starting to show some age. The design of the signs work great - they just need a little touchups to protect them from additional weathering.

Mud and Drainage can be an issue on this course at times. I played this course after some substantial precipitation over the previous couple of days, so I probably saw this course when it was close to its worst in this regard. If it has recently rained, watch out for water runoff around the pin of hole 1 between holes 10 and 11, along 11's fairway, in front of hole 13's tee, and while walking up to hole 16. While I'm pretty sure the course doesn't stay this wet very long, it's clear that soggy ground can stay that way for a while here. Some of the hills can also get dicey with mud, so watch out after rain.

Navigation is weird in a couple of spots. The course starts a little walk from the parking area, which can throw you off when trying to find hole 1 and where to park. There's also a little bit of a walk between 9 and 10, though this walk does take you close to your car which is nice. The walks between 7 and 8, and 15 and 16 and 17 are also a little longer and feel a little disjointed. I get why holes 14 and 15 are designed that way and think they are both a lot of fun, and while 16 is a fun ace run, I feel like there was land to do something different that felt more cohesive. Seeing the tee for 16 next to 15 as you're teeing off down and around a hill doesn't lead to you looking forward to the walk back up the hill.

Course Design - As I touched on a bit already, some of the holes feel like they could have been designed a little better. I agree with Cujo about holes 13 through 16; while I was a fan of 14, it feel like the back part of this course could have been designed to flow better with more fun tee shots. This part of the course stand out mainly because the front 12 holes are designed so well and are so fun to play. The back third of this course isn't bad but doesn't stand up to the front 2/3rd of this course. The course also now just has one pin and one tee per hole, which isn't necessarily a con, but restricts the variety that this land could provide.

Safety - Some shots on the course do feel a little sketchy. Hole 9 plays between a circle drive, so make sure you look before you throw your disc. Hole 15 plays towards the drive to the back part of the park and is a blind shot, so you likely won't see cars that are coming from that part of the park. Hole 18 plays kind of close to the road, but you can see any cars or people, making this less of an issue than the other two examples.

Flower City Park makes it clear that Palmyra puts some love into its Parks and Rec Department. The park was in great shape, with the grass mowed, no stray branches, and plenty of families and folks enjoying the park as I played my round of golf. This park could belong in Pleasantville.

Based on the past reviews of this course, I'm pretty sure this course has gotten improvements over the years. It's clear that the addition of concrete tees and adjustments to the course design has greatly improved the playability of this course overtime. I didn't have too high of expectations of this course, but as someone who visits Quincy on occasion, this along with the Orange course is now my favorite place to play in this area (with a couple more courses to tryout nearby).

Flower City - Black is a nice recreational course that many skill levels can enjoy. If you're wanting to test out new shot lines, or just want a relatively low-key round as an experienced player, you likely won't leave this course disappointed. If you're making your way along I-61 or visiting the Quincy/Hannibal/Palmyra area, this course is worth a stop to play. With two courses in the park, you may want to leave yourself a half-day to cover both, as the Orange course provides a good contrast to the original Black course.

It's always nice to see towns put this much attention into their parks. Shoutout to Palmyra for a great morning of disc golf, and for a fun round at this nice recreational course.

I didn't know what to expect when I got to this course. The reviews and the few pictures that were available were pretty underwhelming. Well let's put all that to rest. This course is solid. Does it require a big arm to score well....yes. This is definitely not a beginner course. On to the review

Lots of things to like here:
-Elevation changes all over this course. There are 3-4 holes on this course that are level. The rest are throwing downhill or uphill. Very fun to throw and it really requires you to know how your discs react in the wind and going up and down hill.
-Length. This isn't your typical city park course with a bunch of 275ft hyzers This course is long. I believe it comes in at over 7,000ft!
-Tee signs and pads. Old reviews talk about difficult navigation and back tracking... Maybe the course had a redesign when signs and pads went it because I didn't find navigation too bad. however wasn't perfect as discussed below.
-Standout holes. There are some really fun holes to throw here:
Hole 3: Nice 2 shot hole across a little valley
Hole 7: Fun Downhill turnover
Hole 12: Another Downhill smash
-Course Maintenance. Park was in great shape. Looks like Palmyra is another small town deciding to send some money on their big major park. I always like to see that.

This course really lets you air it out, gives you chances to throw max distance turnovers and flex shots and the grass is cut short to allow for some rollers.

And yet there are still a sprinkling of holes under 275ft where you step up to the tee and think "yeah, this is a birdie for me"

It's not all rainbows and lollipops.

I really wanted to give this course 4.5 stars but there are a couple frustrating issues with the design that really grate on you.

1. Hole 1 is not the closest tee to the parking area. That would be Hole 10. It's not intuitive. Luckily Udisc makes any navigation issues irrelevant. Sadly not everyone uses Udisc so in that case you need a big sign that says "Hole 1 this way!"

Crummy hole design on the back nine. Hole design on this course starts out great and by the time I got to hole 10 I thought "Wow, what a hidden gem this town has" Well perhaps whoever designed or redesigned this course thought the same thing and then went on holiday or walkabout sometime while designing the back nice. There is some real dross on this back 9. The real low light is the run of holes 13-16. Hole 13 is the best of the bunch which is like saying it's the best trip to the dentist. Its a 2 shot hole that plays uphill out a tiny gap into a huge field.

Then you have hole 14. The tee sign for hole 14 should be a Six Flags caricature drawing of the designer flipping you the bird. It's another downhill tee shot that a backhand putter or more likely a flick with an OS fairway driver. But thats no fun! How about I, the genius course designer, stick a double mando with a a low ceiling between two tree that are not in line with the basket. These two tree are about 15 feet and 40 feet to the right of the basket so the only playing is a rhbh hzyer with something really fast and OS and hope you get a skip or the roller which has a much better chance of rolling down the hill and actually making it to the basket thanks to the low ceiling. I'm sure when the course was built the 2 tree made a gap that an air shot could go through but now, years later, the trees have grown and your forced to throw under vs through.
Hole 15. There are several holes on this course where the basket is tucked into the woods and completely out of sight from the tee...Did Gateway have a part in this design.. on this hole the designers got really creative and force you to throw a blind shot around a corner with a gravel OB road right on the line. Also these woods are dense and your throwing a huge spike hyzer in the back door to park this hole. if you miss the circle you're probably not finding the disc. it would be fun to throw with spotters. without spotters its terrifying. I threw a Gateway Prophecy bc I didn't care if I lost it and it carried straight over the road into a ditch.
Hole 16 is just a bland 225ft hyzer to get you back up the hill.

The run of these holes really puts a sour taste in your mouth after playing such a fun course and lowers my rating to 3.75

As I was playing this course I could not believe the rating was under 3.0. By the time I was finished with my round I'd settled on a 3.75. Sadly the site goes in .5 increments and this course is better than 3.5 so I bumped it to 4.

I'd love to play this course in a tournament setting with spotters or in a group of 4-5 players were we could find discs. Several of the downhill holes on this course offer a risk reward of throwing rollers or huge turnovers that could disappear into the treeline out of your immediate view. So playing solo I didn't throw those shots. I threw shots where I knew I would have to search for an errant throw.

So many of these tees you get to step up and unload and most of the throws are downhill. It's a hoot.

Go play it and after hole 13, just walk right pat the playground to 17 or walk down the hill a little ways to throw 16 since it's 1 of only 2 super shorty sub 230ft holes on this course.

One of the best courses in the area in my opinion. Course is very long compared to other courses around. The holes make good use of trees and elevation. Scenery on the course really is exceptional.

As other reviews have already stated, the navigation on this course really is abysmal. Several makes you back track to get from the previous basket to the next tee pad, and every single hole requires at least a bit of walking to the next tee. (The walk from hole 9 to hole 10 and the walk from hole 15 to hole 16 are the worst by far)

Overall, this is a great, long, challenging course that experienced players will surely love! Long holes that you can really give all you got are few and far between for more advanced players in the area but this course gives you plenty of opportunities to throw over 400 feet. Would not recommend playing this course for the first time without someone who has played it before, it would be almost impossible to find every hole. If navigation on this course was some sort of resemblance of coherence this course would easily be 4.5-5 stars for me.

Side note: the course offers two tee locations for every hole, this is listed on this website as well as on the teepads. The long tee pads are the concrete tee pads and the location of the tee sign is the location of the short tees, this may clear up some confusion over the "random" tee sign placement!

Beautiful and spacious park; nice elevation changes, mature trees, green grass.

Total missed opportunity. The only explanation here is that the course was designed by someone who has never played disc golf before. The layout makes no sense at all. Navigation is very confusing. The signs seem to be arbitrarily located somewhere between the long tee pad and short tee pad, but since there are not tee pads for all of them it is hard to tell really. The signs are terrible, the absolute worst I have ever seen- they offer barely a clue as to which direction you are even supposed to throw. The design does not take advantage of the elevation changes or trees. Most hole layouts are redundant, not very interesting.

This park has all the potential for a 3.5-4.0 rated course, but it would take a complete redesign to get there.

Concrete tee pads for the white tees on 15 of 18 tees.
Big signs that at least got you in the neighborhood of the next tee.
Beautiful park, well manicured (getting first mow of season as I was playing)
Good mixture of hole length.

Holes 4 and 5 had no concrete pads- construction of baseball field looks to have been where the tee pads should have been- no sign for hole 4.
Absolutely hated the layout. Way too much walking around looking for signs or where the baskets were located.
Hole 15 throws away from everything and you have to walk back the same way to get to 16!?
Looked as though 12-13-14 were reconfigured from attached map.
Worst flow of any of the 70+ courses I have played.

I travel from North Dakota to St Louis regularly and am trying to hit as many courses as possible. That said, I wish I had read the reviews prior to going.
all had the same theme re: the layout.
Wanted to quit after about 7 holes, stuck it out but regretted every minute of it.
Someone needs to reconfigure the layout to give it an acceptable flow.
Only gave it as high as a 1.5 because it is in a nice park.

-The white tee pads seemed nice if you can find them.
-There are also a variety of long, short, technical, open, uphill and downhill holes.
-Baskets were in good shape.

-I did not like the sign/tee pad lay out. If you wanted the white, you had to find the red sign then walk backwards (unless you saw it on your way), if you use red, it was often bumpy footing. Also not all signs were accurate and not at all aligned with the hole. A couple blind shots I aimed 40 yards off because the sign pointed me in the wrong direction.
-The walk from (I think) 8-9 was pretty lengthy and some holes I had to take a detour because it was too wet or the ground was tore up.

-I think it would make more sense to put the signs by the white tees, then maybe a post or something to mark the red tees. Another option would be to just have one set of tees.
-Some of the holes have an alternate location that has added distance. The signs do not note this change.
-The course basically makes two loops, one that goes through the western part of the course and the back 9 through the northern section.

Nice mixture of hyzer and anhyzer shots. Well maintained.

No concrete tees, hard to find where the tee is.

I spent more time looking for the tee than I did playing. The signs were easy enough to find, but most of the time they were not near the tee. The only thing around to show you where the tee is are tiny concrete markers, but not all the holes had them. Hole 9, in particular, had it's white tee 50 feet away from the sign.

Make the tees/signs less confusing and you have a pretty decent course that is great for beginners and long time players alike.

Wide open spaces. No real traffic to throw near. Beautiful woods.

Layout is a little bizarre at times and poorly marked. Not as much variety as other nearby courses.

Fun course, yet it is just not as good as 2 other courses in a drive nearby.

Some long holes for the big arms as well as some birdie and Ace runs. Uses the elevation to the most part, shooting downhills and up some hills. Lots of people at the park but they really did not come into play.
The course was very well maintained, clean and the grass was thick but cut short. Good baskets.
Room for alternate pin placement. Was easy to find way around once you played it, but I had a map.

NO CONCRETE PADS!! It's been addressed in most reviews, but with them it would greatly improve this course. Need to at least place them on the white tees. Not sure why they placed the hole signs at the red tees. Have to walk way up to see the sign to get info, the walk back to white tees. I didn't hit any of the signs, but if you do, it's going to put one major gouge in your disc. Dumb sign placement. Looong walk from hole 9 to 10. Was hard to find hole #3 basket.
Need some trash cans on at least a few of the holes.

Going to be top notch once they put in concrete pads and move the signage. Would like to play it again once they have real pads.

Some nice elevation change throughout the course. White (long) tees are fairly easy to find and were where I played from.

The course has some length that will allow even highly skilled golfers to unleash some big drives. Several holes over 400 feet and several more in that 280-360 range. Hole 7 is a nice looking 280 foot snaking downhiller that requires a good shot through the trees. About 9 of the 18 are somewhat interesting holes that demand good shots to take birdies.

Overall, this course is pretty boring and not fun to play. The grass tees are often not level and were difficult to throw from in the morning dew. Alot of unecessary walking back and forth is required due to a poor design. The biggest disappointment is that severl of the pins could be extended to areas that would have made them great holes. Instead the best sections of the park are left mostly untapped. Hole 12 was the best example of this in my mind. A nice little turnover 280 foot downhill shot to the crest of a hill. But when you get to the pin and look how far the hill goes down into the woods, its mind boggling why they wouldn't have put a pin down there. Instead you walk down the hill to the next tee. Often there is a bit of a walk in between holes which is perplexing. Why not just use every inch of the park instead of spending all this time walking just to play a wide open hole? The fact that most of the holes offer few obstacles contributes to the lack of fun factor.

With a redesign to better utilize all sections of the park and eliminate the long walks, this could be a 4/5 course I believe. Also, the signs should be next to the white tees. Those wishing to play the reds could then walk forward to the tee instead of the current situation where you walk to the sign and see where the white tee is and then backtrack.

After reading the other reviews, most of the cons pointed out have been addressed, except the desire for concrete tees. The park and course are very well maintained. It`s a big park so the course is spread out nicely. A nice mix of long and short holes with some elevation changes. There were a lot of people in the park when I played but they were never in play. I never had to yell, "FORE".
Theres a lot of signage on the course, the white tees are easy to find. The red tees are just the area near the hole sign. There are a few hole in one opportunities if you have a long accurate drive, I do not, LOL.

The only real con was that though there was a lot of signage/directions on the course, some was innacurate or misleading. Particularly holes #5 & #9, the basket is not where the sign indicates. On the front nine when they thought there might be a problem finding the next tee, they put up a "to next tee" sign. On the back nine there are no such signs and the course can be hard to follow. To find hole #10 I had to go back to the main course directory. Then I had to backtrack from the basket on #13 to find the tees and baskets for 11&12. If not for this problem, I`d have rated the course a 4.

WORTH THE DRIVE

This was a nice course. There is a good mix of long and short shots. The skill set needed for the course makes it good for beginners yet being challenging enough for more experienced players.

The location for the red tees was easily found but I didn't want to play the short tees. I therefore spent too much time figuring out where the white tees should be. The layout left a little to be desired, causing one to cross other hole's lines of play. Bring a copy of the course's map because the layout is quite confusing without it.

If the designer would make a few changes to make the holes more contiguous, mark all the tees and install concrete tees, I could easily see this becoming a 4 rated course.

i played after a long winter and they have done a lot of work to the course of that time...they got all the signs in, the now have white intermediate tee markers so you can find your way to the tees easily, and the grass is well taken care of

the course is hard to find your way around but its set and if you havnt played herer bring the map

Layout was good. Lots of open area to throw in. Rolling hills with some finesse shots on a few holes.

Signs need to be put up and a map somewhere to look at. But in their defense, it is still a course being put into place.

Beautiful location and easy to find with my GPS.