Pros:
- fairly well maintained park
- nice collection of mature trees add some challenge and line shaping
- nice concrete tees
- navigation is generally straightforward
- dual tees on most holes (all but 1 and 18, I believe)
- all tees are concrete
- next tee markers on baskets
- DISCatcher baskets are in good shape
- white tees add some distance and challenge for intermediate players
- area mostly dedicated to disc golf, minimal safety hazards
Cons:
- fairly basic amenities, port o potties only, no practice basket
- very flat
- some private property boundaries that make losing discs easy
- fairly open course overall
- no real X factor or uniqueness to the course, feels very repetitive
- some of the fairways go back and forth and play closer to each other than is desirable
- unfortunate amount of trash on the ground in some places
- very rudimentary tee "signs: pavers on ground, old tee signs appear to have been damaged/removed
- secondary tees don't create a particularly unique course experience; not as beneficial as they could be
- overly tight mando on hole 8 doesn't offer a great line
Other Thoughts:
Based on the ratings, I expected to like this course more than I did. Looking back, most of them are from inexperienced reviewers, and there aren't that many to begin with. Ingersoll is a perfectly nice park adjacent to a golf course and some private property. As others have mentioned, the designers did a decent job of fitting 18 holes into the space, but I'm not sure if it was even worth it. The course is flat, repetitive, and really doesn't have anything unique. While they made good use of the mature trees to create some challenge, this is no different than any number of city park courses I've played.
This course is certainly worth playing, but with 3 18-hole courses at Anna Page down the road, as well as others, this would probably be about the 5th course I'd play in the Rockford area, if that. It just didn't do anything for me. On holes 7 and 8, you have to be very careful not to stray to the right of the course; both have private property, first a quarry with some huge dropoffs if you venture a bit out of the park, and then someone's private land with farm animals that you wouldn't want to enter if you didn't have to.
Otherwise, the obstacles and OB are pretty pedestrian. I don't love overly strict mandos, and there was one on hole 8 I thought was a bit much, actually forcing you to the right when that's exactly what you want to avoid with the private property. Some may enjoy this, I feel like the course should generally have its own obstacles to create challenge rather than mandated directions, but that's just me.
There's a lot of back and forth here without much variety. It's nice they have port o potties and some garbage cans around, but that's about it for amenities. It was deserted except for a few walkers when I was here at 7 AM on a Friday. It's a pretty typical 1:30 play solo if you don't spend a half hour hunting for discs like I did - outside of holes 7 and 8, I think this is pretty unlikely, and discs should be easy to find.
The baskets and tees are clearly newer and are in great shape. Hopefully the tee signs are next. Each tee has a paver next to it with the hole number and distance stenciled on it, and sometimes a white or red stick/flag to designate which tee it is. There are no maps and the markers are about as minimal as it gets. Still, navigation was not difficult. I'm becoming more and more of a fan of next tee arrows on the baskets themselves; this really helps know where to turn next, especially on more open courses like this without obvious defined trails.
There is ample parking in various places on the road circling the park. If you park in front of the stone structure to your left after entering the park, you are near 1 and 18. While this course didn't do a ton for me, it's a respectable course, and I grudgingly awarded it a 3, though I was on the fence for 2.5 or 3. I think at present it's a bit too highly rated and I strongly recommend checking out Anna Page first.