Pros:
What to Expect - Madisonville City Park is an older HB Clark design set around the picturesque park in downtown Madisonville. With multiple ponds/lakes, a classic old time stone walled baseball stadium, an outdoor concert stage and venue, miniature golf course, pickle ball courts, tennis courts, the park is not only visually stunning but there is a little something for everyone.
Amenities - There are multiple buildings on site, the baseball stadium, the main assembly hall, the miniature golf course, the traditional golf course clubhouse next door, etc where modern bathrooms are available. There is a small pro shop that sells a small assortment of disc golf discs and equipment inside the traditional golf pro shop. Not a big selection, but worth checking out this is also the location for the lost and found.
Course Design - Long for a city park design coming in over 7'500 feet. The course dances the line between open long Par 3's and more guarded tweener Par 4's. The start and end of the course are much more open regular park style golf while the middle section is much more moderately wooded. One set of tees and one pin location. This course borders on the intermediate scale of difficulty due to its length which is a little much for beginners/novice players, but can be absolutely shredded by advanced and pro players.
Tees/Signage/Baskets - Tee's are skinny and a little on the small side (product of an older course) textured concrete but in great shape for their age. They are almost flat to the ground surface so running up from behind or off the side isn't a huge issue. Tee signs are simplistic full color with generic hole maps in old HB style but still contain all relevant hole information. Definitely showing their age but still provide everything you need. Baskets are older Discatchers that are showing some rust on the chains here and there but still catch well.
Maintenance - This course is almost always immaculate. The fairways and park itself are mowed and clean overall every time I have played here. The rough is VERY rough and thick but is rarely ever in play (Holes #3, #6, and #8) are the only holes where this should come in (and only if you make a terrible mistake to get there). Small trash cans at most tee pad locations and they are rarely full or overflowing.
Signatures - Hole #7 is a beautiful hole visually, and probably one of the only legit Par 4's on the course. With the lake to your left you must throw over the corner of the lake to a very well protected landing zone on your tee shot, then navigate a low ceiling approach into a basket location pushed right up against the bank of the water. Probably only 575 feet in a straight line over the water from tee to green, but forcing you to play straight over the corner of the lake, then diagonally left to the green makes the hole play more in the 700 foot range. (This Hole and Hole #8 both have short tee pads for players without the power to throw over the water). Hole #8 is a straight bomb over the water (300 plus feet of full water carry) to an upward sloped green, plays roughly 425 feet tee to green (and add the elevation distance) and is listed as a Par 4. There is a tricky landing zone to bail out to on the right side of the lake, but it is heavily guarded by trees and the lake wraps around blindly on the front side so if you throw too far, you are still wet. Soft Par 4 for the players with power to get over the water, a daunting nightmare (especially in the wind) for players with just barely enough power to get over in perfect conditions, and a definite lay up hole that becomes difficult to par for anyone without 300 plus power. Probably the two most signature holes on the course back to back, maybe not the most loved, but definitely the ones everyone talks about. Hole #16 gets an honorable mention for its beauty over it's difficulty.
Extras - This course doesn't provide much punishment on the open holes outside of some pretty forgiving OB in the form of roads that slice through the course. You can rip on the disc and not really concern yourself with the result. Couple this with a lot of tweener distance Par 4's and Eagles are definitely on the table throughout. The middle section of the course provides much more wooded lines that force some shot shaping, but are pretty wide and extremely fair. The elevation is utilized more in this section too which makes these holes more challenging and fun to play. Outside of the two water holes (#7 and #8) big numbers on your score card should be very difficult to incur.
Cons:
Navigation - Pretty straight forward but not always intuitive. Hole #2 basket to Hole #3 tee pad is weird for first time players (You have to walk around the bathrooms and find the tee beside the playground about 100 yards away) Be careful as Hole #16 will be teeing off blind right at your head if you stay on the grass instead of taking the sidewalk to the left of the bathrooms. There is a cluster of 3 tee pads here, #3, #9, and #16 so take a second to make sure you are playing the correct hole. Take note of where #16 tee pad is so that when you complete Hole #15 down in the bowl you will remember to walk up to it (and dodge tee shots coming down to your left from Hole #3 and to your right coming down to your right from Hole #9).
Tweeners - As with a lot of park courses there are 10 holes here between 350-450 feet. A couple are Par 3's, but most are Par 4's. This course has I believe 10 par 4's in total throughout which is a lot, with only 3 that are certainly two shot par 4's.
Benches - Lack of benches throughout, would be a nice touch, especially on a course that is heavily played and sees a lot of backups.
Safety - This course is in heavy use and people are spread out everywhere. The slight elevation changes throughout do create blind areas from the tee and make it difficult to insure others are not where you are throwing. (Actually played a tournament here with a full on Christian Rock festival going on the same day and had to throw our tee shots on #16 over the crowd, which was completely nerve wracking)
Lost Disc Potential - Huge lost disc potential with the lake holes, especially with the close proximity of the baskets to the water and the forced water carries off the tee.
Potential - Huge potential for alternate tees and/or pin locations here that isn't utilized. Though I do understand with having Little Mahr park for the beginners and Mahr Championship park right down the road for the advanced and pros, why leaving this set up for players in between that skill level is done.
Boredom - This course suffers from having too many similar lines and similar shaped holes that aren't bad, but aren't spectacular. There are multiple forget me holes, or holes that obviously only exist to get from point A to point B. Hole #18 is one of the most lackluster finishing holes I've ever seen, just a wide open uphill righty hyzer in and open field to an unguarded pin that gets you walking back towards the parking lot (though you still have to walk straight down #1 fairway to get back to the parking lot a couple hundred yards away). Low score variance, especially among more skilled players, leaves this course unremarkable, and that's a shame because it is gorgeous and well maintained.
Other Thoughts:
This course falls short of the Mahr Park complex on pretty much all fronts. Though wonderful in aesthetics, the game play is a little flat. It falls victim to being too close to one of disc golf's stellar Championship courses and being directly compared to it (even though HB designed both for completely different end goals). All that said, Madisonville City Park is still an above average intermediate skill level course that deserves a play through. Paired with Mahr Park, these two courses combine to create a must play destination in the city of Madisonville. While bland it always is a peaceful and enjoyable outing when I play this course, and it is a wonderful bridge course when you just aren't feeling like tackling "Big Mahr".