Wild Times is the hotly anticipated second 18-hole course to open at Eagles Crossing, a disc golf destination northwest of St. Louis. The course had a "soft opening" in 2023, and is likely to officially open in 2024 (I'd guess). This review reflects the state of the course as of my visit on October 19, 2023.

The caddie book for the main Championship course states that "Unlike the Championship Course, Wild Times is carved through the woods and creeks and is set in a natural state." After reading this, even though I was exhausted from my round on the Championship course I knew that (as both a trusted bagger/reviewer, and lover of technical wooded courses) I needed to find a second wind and check this place out.

Wild Times currently consists of a single 18-hole layout, that I'd say plays closest to the White tee level on the Championship course. That makes it equivalent to a challenging Blue tee layout on a normal course (I finished 16 over par here, and DGCR says that's still a 930 rated round).

As the caddie book alluded to, this course does feel a little bit more "wild" than the Championship course. I'd say it plays slightly more technical overall but there are still several holes that are only lightly wooded, and nothing thread-the-needle tight as far as I remember. I wrote in my notes that I felt the mix of holes and distances was actually a little bit better than the Championship course. Don't misunderstand that claim from my noodle arm though - this course is long and challenging. Eight par 4s and one par 5 are sprinkled in throughout the round, with hole distances ranging from 230' to 957'.

There is a lot to like about the terrain used for this course. The course basically plays down, back up, and within two different large valley areas in the woods. The hills are used well to create some very satisfying elevation challenges. To add even more intrigue, the bottom of each valley has potential water hazards that vary from a tiny creek bed to a much wider river that may sometimes be capable of swallowing discs. I say "potential" and "may" because I visited in the fall after an abnormally dry summer, so all of the aforementioned areas were basically bone dry. It was easy to imagine what the course might look like with the water present though, and I got excited just thinking about that.

Some standout holes for me were:
- #6 is a fun 383' downhill throw in the woods. The fairway curls ever so slightly to the left, but is slanted left to right. Just a pretty throw that bigger arms may see as a birdie opportunity.
- #7 plays 626' along a slight reverse "S" shape fairway, down a valley then back up and then down again to the basket.
- #8 is the first hole in the larger valley. You'll tee off across the creek then keep it on your right for the remainder of the 795', dodging the occasional tree trunk throughout. The creek also curls around behind the basket.
- #11 is pretty jaw-dropping off the tee. It starts by playing maybe 100' across the creek, then it hits a STEEP 200' uphill with two large trees at the top framing the switchback path up. The basket is another 150'ish beyond the crest of the hill. I didn't even mind the triple bogey I took here.
- #13 has a fairly open look down the hill for players to bomb it off the tee - but the creek bed is at its widest at the bottom of the hill. It undulates around on the fairway for the rest of the 683' distance.
- #18 is a nice 522' finishing hole that curls to the right down a steep valley, then back up the other side to the basket.

Despite the newness of the course, the infrastructure is already mostly good. The baskets were some old white painted things that looked portable, but honestly caught just fine. The tee pads are the same huge concrete ones you see on the Championship course. The same huge stone benches also appear behind each tee pad. Navigational signs are present where needed.

You'll have access to the same Eagles Crossing pro shop with restroom, practice baskets, and driving range.

I noted one safety issue with hole 15. This is the par 5, 957' challenge. The final part of the hole has what UDisc shows as a huge sweeping left turn to the basket. The problem here is that in the middle of that turn is #8's tee pad, and currently there is nothing preventing players on #15 from cutting off the corner. Some OB or Mando signage is needed here to address this.

Another issue with hole 15 is that the middle part of the fairway is set in an area that is apparently prone to being quite muddy. The pro shop employee was aware of this and gave me little boot bag things to put over my shoes on that hole. I'm a bit skeptical of this as a longer-term solution though, as the course was definitely very dry when I visited. With the amount of mud I experienced there, I'd hate to see what it's like in the spring or after a heavy rain.

There are a couple of places where steps have been cut into the hillsides, but a couple more places where that would be beneficial but hasn't happened yet.

The tee signs are currently just garage sale style with a hole number. I'd prefer real tee signs over another caddie book for this course, but even the latter didn't exist yet as of my visit. I was told to use UDisc to look at the layout when needed.

Installing a second layout here would be very doable, and add replay value to the course. An EASIER second layout would also increase the attractiveness of Eagles Crossing as a whole to rec level players.

The number of baskets raised on rocks was a bit ridiculous, and started to feel VERY gimmicky to me. It was something like 7 or 8 baskets out of 18 holes.

The course doesn't yet have the trash cans or free WiFi that the Championship course theoretically offers. There is also spotty to no cell service, so be sure to load your scorecard before teeing off down the hill on hole 1.

Unlike the Championship course, this is an out-and-back design so pack everything you need into your bag before starting. A related note is that like the Championship course, this one is definitely not a quick play. It took me about 2.5 hours solo with no one else on the course. I was on site at Eagles Crossing for about 8 hours to play a single round at each of the two courses with a snack/rest break in between. If you have other people in your party, it might be a squeeze to get through both courses in one day so be sure to arrive early if that's your goal.

I paid $32 on site to play my round here, which was in addition to the $40 I paid to play the Championship course. There is no way to book a tee time for the Wild Times course online yet, but presumably that will soon change. The pro shop guy was very clear about saying that this course was "unfinished", and that initially made me a little miffed to still be paying $32 to play. However, once I got out there I realized that by "unfinished" he really meant "unfinished by Eagles Crossing standards". As explained above, this course is very much playable. It just lacks the extra decorations and polish that the other course has. I hope they can add some cool touches here (more statues, etc.) without making it feel too manicured or gimmicky.

I'm giving this one a 4.0 rating for now, but once dialed in I'd say it has the same high ceiling as the Championship course. Those who prefer technical wooded courses might actually find that they prefer Wild Times over the Championship course. Most visitors to Eagles Crossing won't mind the price of admission and should enjoy the contrast between the two courses. Congrats to the Eagles Crossing team on this worthy sequel to their attention-grabbing debut!