Starved Rock DGC is a mix of lightly wooded park style and hilly wooded holes. And I mean split down the middle kind of split. It's about 50/50 between the two styles of holes here. The course starts out easy enough with some generic, flat grassy holes with a few trees to navigate. It steadily ramps up in intensity by adding in a few more trees, a little more elevation, and just upping the challenge gradually. Suddenly you're in the grassless, hilly and much more wooded section just like that. It's a shocking contrast and it happens fast. Hole 17 is a beast of a hole and the highlight of the course. It's the climax moment on this course. Hole 18 is back to the opening types of holes, which makes sense since it gets you back to the parking lot.

The baskets are blue Discgolfpark models. These are really nice baskets, basically Discatcher clones if you've never played on them before. One basket and pin placement per hole. These baskets have a metal arrow pointing toward the next tee pad affixed on the underside of the cage. I love this feature on these things.

Two concrete tee pads on every hole out here. Nicely sized and just all around well done for these things. They're framed up with railroad ties on some of the hillier locations which will help with erosion. Very well done with these.

The course design is great for the amount of space available. They used about every last inch that they had to use without it feeling congested or playing on top of other holes. Great mix of different shapes required here too. The woods holes on the back half offer a surprising amount of challenge despite what it looks like at first. The fairways are fast with the lack grass. There's also a legit cliff just behind a few of the holes where you will not get your disc back without some climbing gear.

The tee signs are excellent. Nice looking hole map which shows both tee locations to go along with the hole #, par, distance and even some hole advice/tips. The box with the par and distance will be black for the longs or gold for the shorts.

The park was clean and there's a decent amount of parking. There's a practice basket by the lot as well as a kiosk with a full course map.

A lot of the holes don't offer much of a different look between the two tees. Just a little more distance. The first 8 holes are also pretty standard fare.

The course seems to be a hit with the locals, and for good reason. That being said it can get pretty busy. May be best to get here early if you want to avoid traffic.

There's a real chance to lose a disc out here on hole 12. There's a straight up cliff 25 or so feet behind the pin. The ground is very skippy too so one flare skip and you may never see you disc again on that one.

This course was a good one. It's definitely the tale of two halves as others have said. The locals have clearly taken a liking to it, which isn't a surprise. This is just a damn fun course and in my opinion the best in this area. Absolutely worth a stop if you're nearby or even just travelling through. Starts slow but ends strong. Really liked this one.

9-17 are really fun. The eroded central Illinois riverlands provide some terrain for us flatlanders. These holes are fun to play. Up and down, around trees, through trees, along cliffs, roller potential, ace runs, birdie putts turning into bogie putts, are all part of the fun here. Seeing signs warning you of cliffs is part of the fun. Again, this is Illinois! There are great Tee Pads, maps, and baskets with arrows pointing to the next tee. This is kind of helpful as the course is very compact.

1-8,18 are average midwest center of town park type holes. Some trees, no real hazards, nothing memorable. There's no big bomber holes here, even from the longer tees. 17 requires a big arm, but it's because of the 50 foot hill in front of you that eats up distance. I don't understand the short/long aspect of this course because as someone who doesn't throw more than 250 normally, quite a few long tee's were more attractive because of lines and really not that much more distance.

I really wish somehow the front 8 and 18 matched the back holes, thus my lesser rating. As always I appreciate the people who volunteer their time to build and maintain places like this.

- I'm rating this sweet little layout an overall 3, maybe 3.2 from the longer blacks, and the previous review was helpful for my first trips around Starved Rock. This is a compact, short course, with a beautiful, strategic, wooded, and hillier final ten holes. My average drive is typically 210 to 240ft, and I made five birdies from the shorts. Longer throwers will be playing first or second gear finesse shots constantly. For me, putting many birdie tries, buzzing an ace run or two, and enjoying the woods had me walking right back on for a second round, to mix in a few longer/lower black tees. I will be back periodically, despite a two-hour drive. Very nice new course!
- The course is 15 minutes or less from the I-80/I-39 interchange, for travelers. Tee one, basket three, tee four, tall basket eight, and practice basket 19 are all close to the parking area.
- Holes one thru eight will be grassy, sunnier, and breezier. The final ten holes will offer more shade, up and down walking, and a smaller version of finer, forested Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri standouts. Many skinnies, mediums, and stout defenders to test your flight paths and aim.
- Most small towns will never offer a better, and free, disc golf experience.

- Smallish parking area holds maybe a dozen vehicles?
- A required gas-line metal sign and post, on the #17 left upper flat fairway, is a disc-gouging risk.
- Blind#14 short-tee shot, and likely-blind #17 uphill second shot (stay right of the gas-line sign!). Make sure the landing area is clear.

- A cookie factory is across the park on E. Walnut St. Snackers might enjoy a tantalizing scent with a light southeast breeze?

The 18 holes at Starved Rock play like 2 distinct courses. The first 8 holes and hole 18 play through a grassy, fairly level park with some mature trees. Holes 9 - 17 play in a mature forest with significant elevation change on most holes. The front 9 is solid, but the back 9 is where the magic happens. Almost every hole from 9-17 requires a different line; due to the mature tree trunks and good use of the hilly terrain. Through hole 12, most of the elevation change is of the uphill variety, but 13 and 16 payoff all the climbing with significant drops from tee to basket.

Hole 17 is the only par 4 on the course and it is legit. Only 572' from the longs, but it plays up a maybe 30', steep hill starting 175ish feet from the tee (short tee is at the base). After you crest the hill, there's still another maybe 200' to the basket. The fairway is wide enough to be very "fair", but I still threw a mid off the tee to be sure to not trickle into the wood lines. Tough hole after a run of fun ones.

This is a Discgolfpark course, so expect the usual baskets, signs and course map. There are two concrete tees for each hole with the standard discgolfpark tee signs at both. Tees are decent length and plenty wide, but those with long runups may wish for a couple extra feet on the longer holes. Short tees are labeled gold (play as red) and the long tees are labeled black and play mostly as whites (with a few more blue level holes).

Although the back 9 play in the woods, there's a dense mature tree canopy with very little undergrowth. Tree trunks force you to shape your shots, but you're not going to lose a disc in the schule. Most holes don't punish bad shots too severely, but I did manage to find a spot I needed to pitch out to the fairway from.

You could lose a disc by going over a cliff though. Hole 12 plays down about 25' from tee to basket and there's a 50'+ cliff just beyond the circle. 14 from the longs plays with the cliff to the left and a shank or a bad kick is goners.

Navigation is pretty easy. I didn't grab a pic of the course map by the parking lot or feel the need to consult an app. Each basket has an arrow in the cage pointing to the next long tee. Usually it's the same way to the short as well. Not for holes 14 and 17 though. 14 short is on the opposite side of 13's basket from where the arrow is pointing and on the same side of the gully. 17 short is almost 90 degrees right of where the arrow is pointing, but you can see it clearly from 16's fairway and green.

The front 9 is pretty bland. Just basic Midwest park style dg. Nothing in particular wrong with it, but it's on a level below the back 9. Small gripe, but I would have liked to see a couple of really tight lines in the woods. There were a few holes with fairly tight gaps to hit, but a true gauntlet would have helped to better balance out the mostly open holes on the front side.

The Discgolfpark baskets are similar to Discatchers, but I find them slightly inferior. The two layers of chains both terminate at the same ring. I don't have any evidence, but I think having each layer linked to a separate ring absorbs energy better and should catch better.

While I love holes 9-17, the dense tree canopy results in dirt or mud fairways depending on the recent weather. There were a few places where I was struggling to climb the slopes (or stay on my feet on the descent) due to the slippery mud. Stairs would be a welcome addition in a few spots.

The cliff is a potential safety hazard for flatlanders. The drop behind 12's basket is well marked when you're down there (signs plus a line of downed branches), but I almost skipped over it and had no idea from the tee. The way the area surrounding 14's green slopes, shots should funnel away from the cliff edge, but some people are going to land in sketchy spots. Use caution out there!

Starved Rock state park is about 3 miles away from the course and is known for rocky bluffs and canyons with seasonal waterfalls along the Illinois river. When I saw this course pop up, I immediately zoomed in on the map to see where it was in relation to the park. It's about 3 miles away in a residential area. After the first third or so of the course, I was feeling like there was a bit of a bait and switch going on. Why call it "Starved Rock" when it's a flat, grassy park? I think most people from north eastern Illinois who like the outdoors are familiar with Starved Rock state park. That name comes with expectations and thankfully the back 9 does a decent job of living up to them. You don't get to play dg in the canyons like they have at the state park, but there's enough elevation change that it's somewhat justified.

I played one round of long tees, but played with my sons who played shorts on all but a couple of holes. There are a few holes where I was questioning whether there was enough difference in length or difficulty to make having two tees worthwhile. In most cases though, we're talking about a significant difference in length or elevation between the two tees.

This is a really good course for red and white level players. Blue level and above will be bored with the front 8, but should find some enjoyment on the back half.

If all 18 holes were on terrain similar to 9-17, this would be an easy 4. Take a look at the courses I've given a 4 to, (some used to be in the top 10 on here) that's how good that stretch of holes is.

Hole 1 plays close to some backyards on the right side across the access road. There's a 20' high net running between trees starting from just past the short tee and going for maybe 100' that protects the road and the yards. I couldn't see it from the long and threw a disc that I knew wouldn't turnover. I might have played it differently if I knew I didn't have to worry about landing in someone's backyard. One of those houses was BLASTING mainstream (uncensored) hip hop so loud that you could hear it clearly throughout the first 4 holes or so.