Pros:
Plays through a popular, well-maintained, city park city.
• Disc Play: Wonderfully hilly terrain featuring nice elevation changes and some interesting pin placements. Most fairways have enough trees to obscure some routes, but not so many that there's only one or two. Several ways to play these holes, but all require reasonable shot shaping and control. Several holes are fairly open off the tee, playing to well-guarded baskets (depending on the current placement). #15 is a tight tunnel shot, and there are at least a couple of other tight fairways to challenge your precision. Not quite as long as some other courses in the area, there's still a nice mix of distances to encourage using everything from putters to distance drivers from the tee. Current pin configuration has a major impact on hole shapes, as well as overall distance, with some placements being significantly longer/shorter, guarded/accessible, left/right/straight ahead, behind/around obstacles, on or near slopes/flat ground, but it seems they rotate them to provide a decent balance overall.
• Equipment: Single concrete tees are in good shape, so are the baskets. Quality tee signs were free of graffiti and show all possible pin locations and distances. Scorecard w/map at kiosk.
• Routing/Nav: Front 9 is a bit broken up, crosses the park road and walk trails a few times, not optimal, but not the worst I've seen. Loops back to parking after #9. Back nine flows out from parking, then back in an uninterrupted and fairly intuitive layout. Tee markers and concrete tees make it easier to get around, as does the map on the scorecard.
• Aesthetics: The combo of park style setting and substantial elevation changes makes for a pleasant, visually appealing course.
• Fun factor: Routed to provide several downhill tee shots. Many holes open just enough to allow for par saving recoveries if a tree takes you offline. Although the back is a bit brushier than the front, it's not thick brush lining the entire fairway - doesn't seem like there's a particularly high risk of disc loss.
• Rotating pins is a nice plus, but only for locals - that said, I wish my local courses did it!
• Rest rooms near parking, and between #5 & #6.
Cons:
Pretty solid course overall - take these with a grain of salt. Some are more informational than ratings oriented.
• Not disc golf dedicated land and several holes play close to the road and walkways. Far from the worst I've ever seen, but I can see some potential for disc vs. non-player interaction.
• A few of the "guarded" placements seemed ridiculously so - such that they force a layup to set up a good look at the pin, thus nullifying good drives, resulting in less score separation.
• Course is still in decent shape and seems to have aged pretty well to this point, but erosion is taking its toll and is evident in many spots. Some tees could be surrounded with landscaping timbers or stones set flush to the ground to help prevent washing away the remaining soil.
• Some fairways are close together (9 and 10 for example), leading to possible interference - be aware of what's going on around you.
• Visitors may want to avoid this course after a good soaking. Some slopes will be slippery and low lying areas will be soupy.
Other Thoughts:
Not overly challenging, JB is well suited to beginners and intermediate players. It's also one of those courses that would be fun to play repeatedly, and even though they might tear it up, I can see advanced players having a blast here.
Although it wasn't busy when I played, given that it's one of the few 18 holers in the immediate area, and the fun to play setting, I can see this course attracting crowds. Although it could be played fairly quickly, you might want to arrive early if you plan to do so.
Only 12 miles from downtown, the Gateway Arch and Busch Stadium