Pros:
PJ Irvin DGC is a former 18-hole course that is now a 9-hole course with several variations available to players. This course is one where disc golfers can really pick what difficulty level they want to take on, making this a place that can suit a wide range of skill levels.
Location of PJ is in the southwest corner of Bloomington, with Veteran's Parkway being the main road being taken for most folks to get to the park. The I-55/I-74 junction is what most people will use to get here, and there are enough nearby gas stations and food options to appease most folks. Bloomington has a few other courses, including nearby Forrest Park that has a similar set-up. This is a town you could make a day out of if you are bagging courses or stopping through, though Peoria isn't terribly far away and has an advantage with both quality and quantity.
Park Amenities are limited in this 1- acre park outside of disc golf. There is a shelter and playground in the middle of the park near the parking lot. The parks and rec website also advertise a soccer field, though I did not see one set up; my guess is that it is usually set up between holes 8 and 9. The disc golf course takes up the majority of the park.
Course Equipment is really nice overall at PJ. Each hole has two separate concrete tees, all of which are in great shape and nice to throw from. Each hole has a tee sign for both tee pads, which include distances from that tee to each basket, par, and a graphic of the hole layout that includes lines to both pins as well as the direction to the next tees. Each hole has two DISCatcher baskets, colored silver and gold, all of which looked to be in great shape as well. The course has a map by the parking lot that is very informative as well, with an explanation of the ways you can play the course, a full course layout, and reference to the local club's website. There's also examples of distances for different tee/pin combos. There's even a disc lost and found - a very nice touch!
Course Design at PJ is now a 9-hole set up with two permanent tee and pin placements for each hole, giving 4 different options you can use to play each hole. This provides variety in terms of shot shapes as well as a lot of range in terms of distances; the course map shows that over 18 holes if you play each 9-hole track consistently, you can throw anywhere from 4,262ft to 7,280ft, a pretty impressive spread for a 9 hole. I opted for short tees to long baskets for my round.
Shot-Shaping at PJ comes with a good amount of variety, especially considering the different tee/pin options. There still feels like there are more RHBH favoring shots on site, but looking at the course map, there are plenty of RHFH or lefty routes as well. Holes 1, 4, 5, and 8 probably have the best left turning options on the course. Plenty of holes also have straight shots that could be hit with left or right ending shots, or lines that really require dead straight shots to have a good birdie opportunity.
Distances at PJ vary greatly, allowing folks with vastly different arm speeds to get enjoyment out of a round. Some holes offer as much as a 250-foot difference between the shortest and longest options, with most holes having at least a 100-ish foot spread. At its shortest, PJ is an accessible length not topping off farther than 300ft on a given hole. At its longest, the course is a challenging par-29 with most holes near or past 400ft long.
Difficulty Level provides opportunities for a wide range of players. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this course for brand new players, but rec to advanced players will be able to find a layout that suits them well.
Course Upkeep was great during my round. The grass was cut and everything was in great condition. There are even shoe brushes at multiple holes to help with any mud that might be present.
Cons:
This course is a weird case in my opinion, as there aren't many cons in the grand scheme of things. The main con, as you will read in this review and just about every other one, is that the course was redesigned from 18 holes to 9. Creeping through the local club's Facebook page, this seems like it was due to complaints from households neighboring the park. Course designers proposed moving two holes and adding some wooded holes, and this was turned down. This led to what we have now - a complete redesign. While the redesign highly elevates the variety in difficulty, this does limit capacity by half, which is a bummer considering this seems to arguably be the best course in the Bloomington-Normal area.
With the change to 9 holes, and considering the elevation throughout the park, I also wonder if there was some potential left on the table. Some holes, like 1, 2, and 9, have some great use of elevation, but some hills like the one around hole 4 seems underused, as well as the hillside that 8 and 9 play near. With the use of two tees and two pins, it's also hard to get variety out of the space while also trying to find room for all of that equipment, so it's a give and take situation.
Overall, this course's rating isn't brought down by its cons, but rather the limitations both in the design and outside input, as well as the amount of space available.
Other Thoughts:
I don't know the inner workings or back story of this course and what the local club went through other than creeping on old facebook posts, and I also played the old layout a decade ago and have a hand drawn layout to go off of to remember it. The question this course beings up is one I don't end up pondering much, which is which is better - a short 18-hole course, or a 9-hole course with a lot of distance and line variety? I'm not sure which I would prefer, but in the case of PJ Irvin, I'm not sure the local club had much of a choice but to change things up, and the fact that there's still a course here at all near disgruntled neighbors is probably a win in of itself.
I don't know if I prefer the old layout or the new one more; they're probably pretty equal to me in reality, and my rating would probably represent that if I had reviewed the old layout. As a whole, this is a really nice 9-hole course, and I think the only reason it gets criticism at all is because it used to be 18. I had fun playing here, but just like the old layout, it's not a round that I'm going to remember long term.
If you're driving along 55 or 74 and want a round in Bloomington, this is a decent stop. When combined with Forrest Park, there's plenty of options for you in terms of round spiciness. Overall, this is a good 9-hole, but makes you wonder what was and what could have been.