The Higginsville course has all the gear necessary to fill out 18 holes. A course map in the parking lot, concrete tees, and nice baskets with flag toppers. There are a couple of par 4 holes and one par 5.

The park is large, grassy and is lightly populated with mature trees. Water is a hazard on a couple of holes, featuring tee shots across ponds. There are gradual, mild changes in elevation on a few holes. The grounds are well kept and clean.

The layout makes the best of the trees available. There are some low ceiling shots, and tight windows here and there. Hole 7 is a tough line with a row of trees on both sides. The basket is in front of the road at the end and access is blocked by the last tree on the right. Hole 12 is the monster par 5. Distance is the main impediment now, but there are young trees planted that will make the first shot a bit tougher in a couple of decades. 13 is a fun drive over the pond that is reachable, with the pin sort of close to the waters edge. Hole 14 has trees to the left and right immediately off the tee, and the distance along with several large trees on the other side dictate a very tricky line. 16 plays with water to the left side, and a handful of trees to navigate around on the way to the pin. 17 might be the toughest drive on the course. A slight incline, lead up to a very tight gap as you near the basket. 18 is one more play across the water. It is shorter than 13, but it is a nice finisher.

The drive to the small town is significant and there isn't much else to do there that I saw. I wouldn't exactly call it a destination course. One note would be harsh, but not a ton of variety in shot making demands. It is in a nice setting, and has a few pretty good holes. The rest are at least average at worst.

Higginsville was my first new course of 2023. It was a nice day for early January, but it would be nice to see the place in peak Spring green.

I was a few strokes over par at 63. I took my only birdie on hole 11, the shortest hole. 6 bogies and the rest at par. Not my best round, with a couple of missed putting opportunities. I'll live with it. At least it was good to be out of the house and back on the course.

Higginsville packs a well manicured course in the state park which stays out of the way of other park activities nicely. Bright white DisCatchers and concrete tees are the fixtures, with tee signs obviously on the way with the ground markings.

A decent amount of water threats on the back half set this course apart from the rest. Going directly across on 13 and 18, lurking near or behind the greens of 9 and 12, or all the way down the left side of 16 and 17, it'll be happy to eat your disc for good if you aren't careful.

Some elevation is present, most noticeably on 8, 9, and 12... but those are all downhills. The less noticeable uphills throw down the tougher challenges on 1, 6, and 18.

There are good tree challenges and bad tree challenges. This being the pros these are the good ones: the big tree in front of the pin of 1, the two positioned to perfectly guard the forehand line on 3, and the fairway trees of 8, 9, and 14 make solid challenges.

There are multiple pin spots poured for each hole. I only saw 2 on each, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a third hiding on some holes.

The poor tree challenges: too low of a ceiling on 6, and random clumps that don't add much challenge on 11 and 17.

Playing close to the road all through the park. 3, 4, 8, 12, 15, and 18 all are quite close to it, but luckily it's a one-way loop which cuts down on the traffic. Unfortunately, there's only one parking area so everyone who comes through will have to use the entire loop at some point.

Hole 12 is a very soft par 5. Even an average player like myself can take advantage of the downhill drop to bite off 450+ feet off the tee, and the trees on the green don't do much to prevent a chance at the 3 being pretty common.

Holes 5 and 18 (even with the water) just have nothing really going for them. A strange contrast to the rest of the course, as is walking all the way back down the fairway of 3 to play 4.

Overall, this course is definitely worth making the drive off of I-70 for. It sits in a quiet park, it's well manicured, and it never tries to do too much with itself. The designers managed to pull off some quirky holes while keeping good disc golf holes at the forefront of the design. It's a fun course that is accessible to most, but keeps the challenge up well. My only advice would be to add some shorter tees on the water carry holes so those are accessible for newer arms.