Pros:
- large concrete tees
- nice visible red-banded Innova DISCatchers
- some dips incorporated here and there
- some water potentially in play though creek was dry in April
- plays in and out of woods and incorporates obstacles
- respectable length with most holes in 200-350 ft range
- navigation is mostly straightforward
- area of park is mostly isolated for disc golf
- mix of open and more wooded holes
- well maintained and clean park
- ample parking
- bathrooms
Cons:
- tee signs are very basic; no maps, could be much better
- mostly flat
- hole 7 plays too near baseball fields
- lots of road noise from I-80
- hole 9 ends incredibly far from parking lot - poor design choice
- not recommended for Saturday mornings
Other Thoughts:
Lew Clarkson Park is nice 9 hole course pretty close to the better-known Walnut Ridge. The equipment here is pretty good, although the tee signs are pretty mediocre considering how nice the baskets and tees are. The arrows on the tee signs indicating the general direction of the hole are weird - the entire sign is one big arrow. I've never seen this before and really, I hope I don't again. There's so many tee sign approaches out there; this was one of the worst besides a plain post with a number. This park is clearly well kept and most of the disc golf is in its own area - though it does get near the baseball fields at one point.
The challenge here is moderate or a bit lower. Beginners certainly could come here, but there's enough going on with some wooded holes and nothing completely wide open to keep more intermediate players entertained. Hole distances are pretty average/typical, and while there isn't much elevation change, the course does throw over a creek bed multiple times and incorporate some dips.
I mostly enjoyed this course; it would have been nice to incorporate the larger river beyond holes 8 and 9 for some big challenge, but the park district may not own this land - plus, you'd never get most discs out of the water. The navigation and flow here were straightforward until the end, when the course ended at about the farthest point it could have in the park from the parking lot. Admittedly, I'm not sure how much the course designers could do about this given how much of the park is taken up by baseball fields and other sports, but it was frustrating.
On the plus side, the restrooms here are very nice, and the course is a quick play if you are already stopping off at Walnut Ridge. It is close to I-80, so not out of the way, but not necessarily worth a trip all on its own. Don't expect too much nature immersion here with the noise from the interstate. I got here just in time - as I was leaving around 9:15 AM the baseball players were pouring in. If you are going to play on Saturday morning, I recommend getting here very early or the parking lot will be swamped.
Overall, this was a well-designed course except for the end location with decent flow and challenge. It was a fun enough round and probably didn't take over 30 minutes solo.