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.

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.

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.

In my eyes, the top rating a nine hole course can receive is a 4.0, and until I played the newly designed PJ Irvin Park, I had not yet given a nine holer that rating. PJ Irvin is nine hole perfection.

The main justification for giving PJ this rating is the fact that it hardly qualifies as a nine hole course. The course really offers 36 unique holes to play thanks to the fact that each hole has two concrete tees and two baskets (one silver and one yellow).

My favorite layout here was the "long pad-long basket" layout. I found myself using a driver on almost every hole, as the drives off the tee mostly ranged 325 - 500 ft. Several holes on this layout stuck out to me as "championship caliber" holes, specifically 3, 5, and 9. Hole 9 is fun because you are throwing from a raised tee over a large field that drops off into a grove of trees. Once you get onto the green, you're putting on a raised basket to finish the round. The holes are not overly difficult, but there is some punishment if you can't hit your line.

To contrast the challenging layout, the "short pad to short basket" layout is very beginner friendly and has a high fun factor for more casual rounds. This layout can be completed in about 30 minutes if you just need to get in a quick round.

The other two layouts here (short pad to long basket and long pad to short basket) present unique options to "mix it up" if you want to try some new holes to throw. The level of difficulty is between the "short to short" and "long to long" layouts.

The course is well equipped with signage that helps you find the correct tee-pads and baskets. Flow is intuitive.

The only con here is that it is a nine hole course instead of 18.

Forrest Park (another one of my favorite nine-holers) is right across the street from this course, which makes it possible to turn your nine hole rounds into 18 hole rounds!

As a obvious major advocate for disc golf, I'm not sure that if I was the city park's director, that I could justify the expenditure here. Think of the funds spent here for 18 cool Inonova Discatchers baskets, 18 trapozoid shaped concrete tee pads and 18 great tee signs which give you all the information you'll ever need. As a disc golfer traveling about the land, I think this system giving you four separate is as good as it gets. Spend those tax dollars, Bloomington! I'm only sorry that this isn't my home course and I'm not in a position to come back repeatedly and chase my personal records in each of the four combinations available.

The course (courses) play at easy recreational level. It's a great course for beginners, families and us older guys. # 9 is a fun 300' downhill to a partially protected basket in the trees.

I loved the navigational aids like the next arrow signs and the taped rungs on the baskets pointing the way to both the yellow and gray baskets.

Staying completely out of the local club's politics, I can't comment on the previous18 hole design. I thought the design was OK, could've better better in places.

Distances are mostly short with quite a few ACE runs.

Maybe the park's elevation wasn't used to the fullest.

With PJ Ervin here and Forest Park just a long Vulcan drive away, Bloomington's recreational caliber disc golfers have two great little courses with eight playing options. It doesn't get much better than that boys and girls. I'm not familiar with Bloomington's other courses but I'm sure the more serious players can find other discing options more suited to their 400' drives.

The usual amenities: Great tee pads, excellent signage, easy to identify baskets - gold and silver.
Loved the variation opportunities- two pads, long and short, two baskets placed at different lines.
I played short tees, long baskets.
The course contained enough quality holes that I even remember a few of them 5 days later as I write this:
#1 Lot of large old trees in the way as you throw down a hill.
#6 Basket on top of a mini hill with a large tree in front
#8 Blind shot to a basket way down in the corner of an open field.
#9 Down the hill thru plenty of trees to an elevated basket.
Having played some pretty boring courses elsewhere, this had variety and a few memorable holes.
Course was clean and had the look of a new course.

I'll second the last reviewer- only 9 holes. But there are four potential variations, which if I had had time would have tried.

I have no background of the previous course, so no preconceived notions... that said, I loved it.... Was travelling from St Louis to Chicago and went through the area too close to dusk to get a second - different round in. Will definitely stop again if I come through this way.
Best rating that I give to a nine hole course.

+Redesign offers a variety of choices
+4 levels of difficulty cater to a wide range of skill levels, which is necessary for a good park
+Good pin placements, bringing into play some wooded area and elevation near pin that makes you rethink running putts

-Only 9 holes, even with the multiple pins/tees
-Some elevation used, but not the most exciting holes. There is only so much you can do with what is there.

Some may complain about the multiple tees/pins setup, but it is much better than it was before. After playing the original, I had no desire to ever play it again. After playing this one, I would go back and play it again if I am in the area. That speaks to the changes, and that they were positive ones.
Worth a look if you are in the area, not worth a long trip to play it.

I'm going into this review without any background information on why the course was changed, but I would assume that some neighbors complained and that is why it had to be redesigned. I'm also a bit nervous to be the first reviewer, but in any case, below are my thoughts.

+ The equipment is awesome. The silver and gold baskets are phenomenal and the tees and tee signs are truly top notch. I dig the creativity involved in the 9th hole, both the elevated tee and elevated basket.

+ The replayability is great. You can play four rounds at the same course and have a unique experience each time.

+ Going from 18 holes to 9 holes, each with two permanent baskets and two tees is a risky and novel idea. I think there are courses where something like this could definitely be effective.

+ The holes are more challenging now than with the old design. They are longer and trickier. Then again, this is something that you would expect by going from 18 unique holes to 9.

+ It's maintained very well. There's very little trash and the grass is mowed. There's a porta-potty on site and a little gazebo where you can eat and hang out in between rounds.

- Personally, I preferred the old layout in terms of fun factor. I gave the old layout a 3.5 overall and this one only a 3.0.

- I'm not the biggest fan of the course design (and the group I played with was in agreement). There was a ton of unused space, some of the basket locations are very close together (like #3), and some of the tees have tree branches either directly in front of the tee (#4) or hovering in the middle of it (#3). If I were in the redesign council meeting, I would have definitely voted against 9 holes, but I'm sure that the BN Disc community was very mixed over it.

- A lot of the holes are very similar to the old design:
New #1 = Old #1 / Old #2 backwards
New #2 = Old #18 backwards
New #3 = Old #16
New #4 = Old #17
New #6 = Old #13
This leads me to believe that there are only 4 or so "new" holes that replaced 12 old holes which doesn't strike me as efficient. For example, new #9 plays through where 5 old holes used to be (#3-#6, #8) which I don't think is worth it (but I could see that some would argue it is because #9 is by far the signature hole).

All in all, I think that this course took a hit with the redesign. From a traffic point of view, fewer people can play this course at the same time (which also hurts tournament playability here).

While the equipment is awesome and it's an interesting idea, I think this course would have been better off with 12 or 15 holes instead of this weird 9x2x2. Just my two cents.