Hey, it's not that the Chicago guys don't try. They are stuck in a weird political situation. The Park Districts up there traditionally have not tried to gather up large portions of open space because there are Forest Preserve Districts. So the Park Districts have small parks that they like to develop. The Forest Preserve Districts have large pieces of undeveloped land that they manage as open space.
The Park Districts do allow disc golf, but by in large they don't have the space for appropriate courses. The Forest Preserve Districts DO have the appropriate land, but every Tom, Dick and Harry special interest group that wants access to a plot of land is knocking at their door. If they allow any group access, they open the door to all groups. Since their mission is to protect and manage natural open space, they can't do it. So disc golf gets a "NO" along with everybody else (except ball golf, which they make an exception for because they make a TON of money from it.)
Also, there are so many people that there is incredible pressure to develop land. The land prices are sky high. Nobody with 15 acres in their right mind would pass on the big payday of selling their land to a developer so they can install a private disc golf course and charge people $5 to play. The land also is some of the best farm land in the nation, and many of the counties in the area are putting the kibosh on converting any more farm land to any other use due to the wild population spread out of the traditional Chicago area. Add to that the fact that the land around there is flat-flat-flat.
What you end up with is the best you can get...A whole lot of very unremarkable flat, wide-open 9-hole pitch and putts. Sadly, that's all those folks really can expect.
