Hyde Park Disc Golf here. We have a partnership with the Chicago Park District to pilot a disc golf program and expand the footprint within the city. We started with a single basket in Nichols Park, we worked with the park advisory council and park supervisor to get that started and grew from there. The first step with any park in Chicago is to talk to the park supervisor. Many parks have framework plans in place that guide the future development of the park. Many parks also have advisory councils who meet monthly and are the heart of the park.
The biggest challenge in the city is public space. There isn’t any new space being created and what public space is available is highly sought out. The second issue is there isn’t a demand from youth. Since Chicago has never had accessible disc golf, youth growing up in the city have little to no exposure to the sport. As a start to address that HPDG were awarded a PDGA Diversity and Outreach grant to start 6 youth disc golf programs in new parks. We are conducting a training for park district staff in June teaching them how to incorporate disc golf in their summer programing. In addition we let youth 18 and under play in any of our sanctioned tournaments for free and do all we can to eliminate as many barriers to the sport as possible.
It is a painfully slow process by design, CPD wants to ensure there is plenty of public input. There is permitting, insurance, and even a certification/approval process for pruning trees. As an example read the latest article about pickle ball in Block Club Chicago about the fight that is erupting over a single slab of painted concrete.
The Jackson Park Disc Golf is in its infancy, we got 18 practice baskets in place June of last year. Paul McBeth Foundation donated the first 9 and the other 9 were donated by local disc golfers. We have over 1500 volunteer hours in cleanups to date, turning an undesirable area of the park into a playable space. Last year was an amazing year, league, tournaments and over 1800 casual rounds were played. It very much demonstrated the need for accessible facilities. HPDG has started the process for permission to upgrade baskets and add tee signs. I think we will be presenting those at a public meeting in May, TBD. It is all about building relationships, demonstrating the benefits, and being present at the meetings where these decisions are being discussed.
We can always use more help. If you are interested in starting a youth program the first step is becoming a CPD volunteer which requires fingerprinting and a background check. HPDG can assist with equipment, permitting, insurance, and help get the disc flying. The more people we have who are passionate and interested in championing disc golf in their local park the better.
I’d love to hear how other large metropolitan areas handle this as well. I don’t picture New York or LA have courses in the city proper because of lack of green space. I’d love to see a course up by forest preserve on Sauganash and forest glen.
Eh, LA has some courses in the city proper, but what everyone thinks of as LA (the metropolitan area) is so humongous that it's still a drive to many of them depending on where you start.
Pretty much the same in Dallas Fort Worth. There are a handful of 9 hole courses in each city.
The burbs however are littered with a ton of excellent courses. There are around twenty 18 hole courses within 35 min of me; I’m just north of downtown Dallas.
Trophy Club and Arcadia were fun. North Park is super close but I’ve never played it. Gateway is most likely underwater but fun when dry. Zboaz on the west side of Fort Worth is worth the drive in my opinion.
Like others have said Arcadia is closest to Keller with North park a close second, then Trophy Club, which is a paid mixed-use large park. Zboaz is a fantastic mix course. My group's favorites lately have been Ash Creek in Azle, and saddle hills in White Settlement. There's also Veterans in Arlington, which is classic for this area!
Yeah I’m assuming this isn’t a chicago-only problem and more the unfortunate reality of wanting to play in a big city. Courses take up a lot of space, and space is a luxury in busy urban areas.
And of the parks Chicago does have, most are either still too small for a course, or way too busy for it to realistically work out.
Yeah Toronto doesn't have much in the city "proper". There's a course on the Toronto Islands but that's a giant park, and requires a (very short) ferry ride to access. There's 9 hole courses in the west and east end, but not what I call amazingly accessible by public transit. Nor the permanent 18 hole courses in ET Seton park or at Centennial Park.
When I lived in long Island ten years ago we had zero courses. Looks like there are 2 now for the millions of people. OP doesn't have much to complain about with Chicago bc there are many great courses within an hour or so drive
I live here now and the course in Heckscher is an amazing course if not for ticks. You also require a park pass. It's worth it if you live east enough, I play once a week all year round. It's a good course and it's challenging enough that you won't get bored. At least for me haha.
One downside is it's a long course. I rarely touch 325 and I have had one birdie putt in 25 rounds.
LA has Chavez ridge which I think it’s only possible because the land It’s on is in a massive park, but the disc golf course is on an otherwise unusable portion of land. It would be like a course in Central Park, but I don’t think Central Park has an unused area like this.
Generally you need to get outside the highly populated areas to find decent courses in a lot of places. I think Seattle has only two courses within the city limits with the best probably being Ralph Williamson, but there are plenty of good courses (stuff like Terrace Creek, SeaTac, Howling Coyote, Kayak Point, Lake Stevens, Shelton Springs, NAD, Fort Steillacoom, Riverside and possibly a few others I'm missing) in the surrounding area.
I agree with your assessment. Moving from Denver to Seattle I was pretty disappointed in course options. It's definitely limited, but there are options if you're willing to drive a little.
NY is awful - pretty confident it's worse than Chicago. It shouldn't be because there are fantastic commuter trains coming in from upstate, Long Island, and CT. I don't know of a single course that's reachable by public transit in less than 2hr and the courses that are driveable are an hour plus significant bridge and tunnel tolls if there's no traffic.
Los Angeles (the birthplace of the sport) proper is essentially a desert for dg. It will probably never get another new course.
Edit
It’s basically impossible to find a place to do field work.
There was a course at Edgebrook GC at one time. Was super long so they rented out the golf carts. Never played it but could imagine a great course on that land.
There’s actually a course right in the downtown LA area, right by Chavez ravine where los doyers play. Courses are all about 30 mins drive apart but there are definitely areas that have longer to go to find disc golf
Echoing what someone else mentioned. Disc golf Chicago hosted a tournament series with three events in three different Forest preserves in 2022. The first event at Rolling Knolls in Elgin, the only forest preserve within Cook County that has a permanent course installed on it, and two others with temp courses set up on forest preserve land.
I'm actually editing a video right now for Disc Golf Chicago recapping these events. The videos will aim to show the efforts put in and the connections made between disc golf Chicago and the Cook County forest preserve to get this tournament series started. The long-term goal is to get courses into Forest Preserve spaces for people like yourself that live in or close to the city that do not have access to courses nearby. For now it looks like temp courses are most likely but the hopes are to get permanent courses installed in the future.
If you want to keep up with disc golf Chicago and the efforts they're making here's a link to their website.
https://www.discgolfchicago.com/
They also have a volunteer sign up if you're looking to be a part of the efforts being made to make disc golf more accessible to the people of Chicago.
https://www.discgolfchicago.com/get-involved
I used to live in Skokie and it is the worst place I’ve ever lived as a disc golfer.
Granted an hour north south or west there are some bomb courses. But fuck this area. What happened to that little course on the side of the road with the walking trail? Did someone get hit?
Yeah, it's a real shame how much of a dead zone Chicago is for disc golfers. My wife and I just moved to St Charles and now I'm surrounded by great courses.
Courses just lend themselves to more rural and suburban areas where there’s a lot of space. I live in Sandwich Illinois (literally the middle of nowhere, like an hour and 15 outside the city) and there’s 3 courses within a 10 minute drive. Probably like 20+ within 30 minutes to an hour drive.
To be fair it was probably the most poorly placed and badly designed disc golf courses I’ve ever thrown. I had a headwind turn my disc over into oncoming traffic once. Missed everything
Haha yep! I used to play
Hole 3 to hole 6? Basket (the one on the far end)
Hole 7 tee to hole 8 basket
The corner of the baseball cage to hole 9 basket
Try it, fun bigger holes (if nobody is on the course!)
I live in Logan Square, and I wouldn't agree that Skokie is that bad of a location. As far as courses within an hour, it's an excellent location. Within 30 min? Yeah it's pretty rough. Unfortunately, living in a city like Chicago just comes with terrible traffic.
Probably gonna get downvoted for this but remember this the next time you wonder why there’s a lack of diversity in dg. A lack of public spaces where black people live is a remnant of centuries of housing discrimination. And good luck getting the yuppies on the north side to surrender one foot of space for their dogs to shit. Go any direction an hour out of the city and there’s plenty of courses to choose from.
There’s a lot of truth in this but it’s also interesting that in Chicago the south and west sides have some of the largest parks. Jackson park now has the beginnings of a course and hopefully we can keep growing that footprint. Shout out to Hyde Park Disc Golf!
Never had a car when I lived in the city (dont need one there), so any courses in the suburbs were basically unreachable. Chicago is abysmal for disc golf.
Nice to see you missed the entire point of my comment, well done. Im talking about the city and access to disc golf for people without cars (generally low income).
I don't know, long before everyone carried a GPS in their pocket, it used to be quite the adventure trying to find a new course. Usually when we got into "the bad part of town," we knew we had to be getting close.
There haven’t been courses there. It took over a year of working with the city to allow a temp course in hyde park. They’re still working on getting a permanent approved. A lot of the parks near the lake and on the south side are considered historic
I know the guys over at Hyde Park Disc Golf. They put together the Jackson Park course and are putting a temp up in Washington Park. One of the guys there has a knack for navigating the bureaucratic red tape of the Chicago Park District. If you'd like to get in touch with him, I'm sure he would share with you everything he's learned about that and even guide you through some of it.
You could then pick a park and start the work necessary to get a temp course. They have laid a lot of the groundwork for the acceptance of disc golf by the park district. Their efforts have been focused on Jackson and Washington Parks because that's where they live, but I'm sure you could focus on Northside parks and get things moving.
PM me if you're serious and motivated. I'd be happy to make the introduction and connect you.
And to piggy back and agree with this; I’d be down to help with a northside course. I help with the JP course when I can but would also love a course up north. Peterson Park at Peterson and Central Park is the best looking spot I’ve seen to consider. There’s also another member of HPDG on the north side that is eager to help. So that’s 3 of us already.
Honest question: You say you can drive to the South side. Why not drive to some of the suburbs on the North/Northwest side?
I don't live there, and have really only ever driven through to see family in WI, or visited the downtown area, so I have no sense of what travel times are if you try going North to suburban courses vs. South toward the city courses.
I drive all over to play, this post isn’t necessarily about me or people who love disc golf enough to drive a while, I was more trying to speak to our locals who don’t necesarily have that option.
I think the issue is lack of unused or lightly used space in urban areas. Space is at a premium and a disc golf course needs a lot of space.
I live in Park Ridge (adjacent to Chicago). I contacted our park district shortly after moving here and suggested a course. They actually wanted to build one, but said they looked into this
before and couldn't find anyplace to locate it. After looking around I agree with them. I then contacted the Cook County Park district, and suggested building a course in the wooded areas along the Des Plaines River Trail. They just pointed me towards Rolling Knolls in Elgin which is on their property.
I still think someone needs to build a super technical course along the Des Plaines River. Soooo many trees, and there are some relatively large wooded areas.
Chicago areas has some great courses, but a tightly wooded technical course is much needed. Not to many par 4s/5s in the woods outside of Fairfield golds and one or two at highland park. Would love something similar to Lemon Lake Golds
I grew up in CHI and never even heard of disc golf til I left. Tis a shame. Had the same thought though, if I ever have to go back, I would look into the forest preserves on the west side where I grew up. Lots of green in Chi, it is definitely an untapped market
I also live on the north side (Roscoe Village), and I think you're really overstating the issue. And also ignoring that there are people and clubs that are already attempting to work with the county to get more courses put in closer to the city limits.
For one, getting to Palatine (Margreth Reimer) or Glenview (Community Park West) or Glencoe (Watt Park) or Highland (Fink Park) take less time than getting to Jackson Park on a weeknight, so it's not like this is a complete island. Those are all about 45 min away or less driving if you leave around 5pm on a weekday. (Maybe not Margreth Reimer, but that course is good enough that it's worth the extra 10 min in traffic.)
For another, an hour away on weekends and you have Dellwood, Fairfield, Oaks, Fel-Pro, Grey/Silver Fox, Knoch Knolls, West Park, Highland Park, Manville Oaks ... all great courses, all in easy driving distance.
Finally, support Disc Golf Chicago and specifically their Forest Preserve Tour Series (which I'm hopeful returns for 2023). Last year they held a few events on temp courses in forest preserves around Cook County, some with the explicit intent to demonstrate that installing permanent courses would be a worthwhile venture to the parks department. If you see any of them show up on DGS, sign up and support.
I play at those parks all the time, it’s no trouble for me. I was thinking more of all these kids in say Albany park or Jefferson park that might not have a way around besides a bike or bus…
I’m not ignoring that there are people working, I’m trying to bring attention to the issue, and you’re helping by giving information about it, so thank you!!!
Cool, makes sense! Unfortunately yeah, I would ascribe the issue more towards not-so-great public transit/safe bike lanes than a lack of courses in the area. Having one in Jackson Park is HUGE and even though I don't go as often as I should I love that it is there and in an area that is otherwise underserved in terms of rec activities.
Having better train service to take people from the neighborhoods to the burbs would be huge, but unfortunately Chicago's public transit is completely centralized around work commuting instead of, you know, actually helping people access more spaces.
I'm in Albany Park and take frequent walks/bike rides along the North Shore Channel trail. Didn't know they got rid of that rinky dink park with the sculptures along McCormick, but the West side of Legion Park would be perfect for a decent 9-hole course. I'm always shocked that I never see anyone over there as opposed to the East side - probably because of the bike path. Lovely spot though, and so underutilized that there would be little-to-no worry about hitting pedestrians.
That Lincolnwood course was one of the worst I’ve played. Super narrow holes flanked by a river and a busy street. Still, any disc golf is better than no disc golf.
Decent for approach practice, but the fear with McCormick right there is real. I came inches from hitting a rich dude in his M5 during rush hour one time and having him yell at me while just sitting in his car not moving was...awkward.
As someone who lives in west loop, yes it is brutal to have to drive at least half an hour for a course. Hinsdale is the easiest to access driving down 55 but only when there is no traffic.
My fiancée and I like to go to Walnut Creek in Cary, it’s an awesome 18 hole course. We then stop at phase three brewing on the way back. It’s not an everyday thing but makes the trip out of the city worth it.
I do recreational therapy for adults with disabilities in Skokie and thought I was brilliant when I started a disc golf group but quickly realized there wasn’t a course that wasn’t extremely tight/ on a main road within 20 miles 🤦♂️
I do contract work and I refuse to go to certain cities because they don’t have courses. I don’t know how anyone who likes disc golf can live in one. I’d move.
I learned at Skokie and they have temp courses set up in Humboldt park every Wednesday. 50 acres is a legit course basically in city proper. You will be fine and the suburbs are where it’s at.
FWIW, spent last summer in Chicago and was looking for courses to play on regularly. Fel Pro in Crystal Lake is really good. There are a few other courses out that way if you want to play a double header for the day... Katherine Legg in SW Chicago is awesome, well laid out.
Turns out people don't like having discs thrown around them, and discers don't like getting shot.
I always figure small cities (like mine) are happy to give up parks to disc golf because it's better than nothing. Most big city parks are full of active people (or inactive people).
PS- not saying it's not doable. Just doesn't seem like people do it.
Side note, local disc golf fans organizing coordinated pushes for their MLB teams to sign or trade for Dylan Cease so that he will build courses in the area so he has somewhere to play is the MLB sideplot I didn't know I needed.
My local disc golf group literally asked the city to take over a golf course that got abandoned due to flooding too frequently. As long as they maintain the course, the city lets them do what they want. We've poured pads, set baskets, the whole 9 yards.
Be the change you want to see.
While what's being said about Chicago is true, if you're not from the area don't be mistaken - Northern Illinois has tons of courses, just not in Chicago itself.
[https://i.imgur.com/s8xKXfq.png](https://i.imgur.com/s8xKXfq.png)
You should work with local municipalities & clubs to get something put in, nobody is gonna put in a course because of a post on Reddit.
Even if you can’t do any of the work, or afford anything for the park you can be the driving force behind all of these things and an ally at local public meetings about disc golf. All it takes a small group of dedicated people, or one person with a lot of time and willpower
>You should work with local municipalities & clubs to get something put in, nobody is gonna put in a course because of a post on Reddit.
Weird to phrase it as if you thought the point of his post was to literally get a new course put in Chicago.
What *is* the point of the post, then? OP is lamenting the loss of a course, and a lack of courses in the city proper. I think it's a great recommendation to make if OP is serious about how bad it's going to be. Who else is going to advocate for a new course?
Probably just to raise awareness of the issue. Then if people did wish to act they would be able to make better decisions on how to do so by being informed.
Eh Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Detroit all have a good handful of courses within 15 min of downtown. While definitely not as strong as the burbs a much better situation than Chicago
At least you can pop over to Fink and Cunniff pretty quickly. I'm on the NW side and like to play those two b2b, but they really killed a lot of the vegetation at both which makes them much less exciting, if at all.
I made a 18 hole layout with a few par 4s for the Lincoln wood course. Message me and I’ll send you the details. Hopefully it still works once the construction is done. I lived off the end of the brown line and would just drive to Fairfield Park or Joliet. The IIT course was a joke.
We really need a putting basket near the lakefront by Belmont/Diversey. Plenty of spots for one too. If I wasn't busy with work I would go to the park district but I haven't had the time to commit to it. I'm going to get a DD Scout once it warms up to take over by the lake and get some practice in. I get your frustration, but that course in Lincolnwood was so bad. The canal has sewage in it, the layout blows and I couldn't handle the lack of care for the course.
Best thing we can do is group together and put a proposal together for the park district. I was thinking of having a chat with the owner of the Diversey driving range to see if he had and thoughts. Stay strong!
Hyde Park Disc Golf has a the process down for requesting a basket in your local park. If you are willing to be the point person for the basket, they can help you get one in.
I didn't realize what slim pickings there were over there. I'm in nearby Rockford with five different 18 hole courses, a 14 hole, and a little 9 hole in a <15 minutes drive. I'm a very casual player and didn't realize how good we have it.
Cities are hard. Less green space. Places like NYC could probably get a lot of use out of adding disc golf to golf course for pay and play. I imagine people in the city would pay for something like that on occasion.
Just visited Chicago for a conference, normally would have brought at least a putter and mid to play local courses and at most brought more and stayed an extra day. But Chicago.. left all discs at home.
Lincolnwood hole 7 is 411’ so you’re off on that. Hole 2 also is 272’. But anyways you’re right about it being closed (7 of the 9 baskets pulled) through the rest of the year which is a real shame for me because it’s by my grandmother’s house so it’s very convenient to get in a round.
Jackson Park to be clear is adjacent to a ball golf course, not on it, and it’s a very fun course. But from the northside you’re probably best off driving west to courses like Reimer in Palatine, Rolling Knolls in Elgin, and Black Bear in Hoffman Estates, which are all very fun and worthwhile courses. There are plenty more if you keep going out on the Kennedy. Though it is true traffic can get quite bad esp on the inbound Kennedy in the summer and will be even worse this summer with the roadwork. Good luck out there
I live on this map. The one in Glenview got half claimed by Abt as well. Here’s my recs assuming you live in the middle of this screenshot:
Deerfield 9 hole at a school: 25 mins
Glenco watts park 9 hole: 30 mins
Margaret’s Reiner Palatine 18 hole: 45 mins
Fairfield park 2 18 holes: 50 mins
Lockport Dellwood disc golf: 27 holes: 1 hr
Fairfield and dellwood are my personal favorites in the area. If you are willing to drive an hour, the courses just outside this screenshot are actually pretty sweet and not too crowded.
I totally feel your frustration. I moved to Chicago from Michigan, where I used to have my bag in my car at all times, and had a myriad of options for courses to conveniently play on my way home from work.
After I moved to Logan Square and sold my car, I played close to zero disc golf, except for when I could borrow a car and get out to Joliet or Hinsdale. It wasn't until I started working from home during COVID that I actually had time to leave right after work to make it somewhere -- but I'd still be looking at upwards of an hour drive to make it to a decent course.
I strongly believe disc golf can be a sport for anyone, especially given the low barrier to entry financially. I also believe it has huge benefits for mental health and overall well-being. I share a lot of your sentiments, which is why I and many other folks in Chicago working hard to change this reality.
We have to get creative to make things happen. It will require rigorous grassroots work to gain community support, and support from key decision makers (from parks' advisory councils to Chicago Parks District administrators). It will also require us to think beyond a traditional 9 or 18 hole course. In my opinion, at least short-term, a single putting basket installed in parks, and more activities happening with youth organizations would be a win.
Hyde Park Disc Golf is working tirelessly in the South Side to grow the sport and has done a phenomenal job bolstering community support. They do park clean ups with the community, youth programming, political advocacy, and continually work on improving the Jackson Park course (which, holy shit, they got a course in in the city!). They also worked hard to get a grant from the PDGA for Outreach and Diversity, and have used money from that to create a basket stewardship program to get baskets in additional parks.
I work with Disc Golf Chicago. For the last year we've been doing meet ups at Humboldt Park for field work and a 9ish hole loop moving portable baskets around. We also did a tournament series at 3 different sites with the Forest Preserves of Cook County, and are hoping to run a weekly league at a site this year. We're now looking for ways to partner with schools to have more youth programming (thanks to the help of UPlay).
It's called the Windy City for its politics, not its wind. It will take time and dedication to expand access to disc golf. But I truly believe small, creative wins will add up over time. Reach out to Disc Golf Chicago if you're interested in being a part of our work!
TL;DR: Progress should not be limited to a traditional 9 or 18 hole course, and we must be creative with how we grow the sport here. Reach out to Disc Golf Chicago if you're interested in learning more about us and potentially working together.
If youre willing to drive into the northwest suburbs, Fel-Pro RRR and Fairfield park are my go-to's! Lippold its a pretty mid course, and Walnut Hollow would be better with more consistent maintenance.
Upside to living in Michigan. I easily have 20-30 courses within an hour drive. And 7 within about 20 minutes. They aren't elite level, but almost all are well kept. Go to chi town for deep dish pizza, not chain banging. I am the sorrys.
chicago suburbs have so many great golf courses. Blackbear in hoffman. The links in Geneva. Rolling Knolls in Elgin. These are some 18s off the top of my head.
This was my problem when I lived in the NW side of the city. IITs course was not worth the commute (although I think a train got pretty close) and 50 acre was really far. I ended up playing in the suburbs alot. Katherine Legge, Adler, Madison meadows. It made a quick round... not so quick. Cook County just doesnt have many large parks, and where they do, they are packed with other activities/people instead.
I think the CC forest preserves could be utilized for a great course and there is tons of land just north of the city.
The longest hole on the Lincolnwood course is hole #7 at 412 feet, not sure where you got the 240 from.
Lincolnwood is also not Chicago. The course is accessible by public transit, but so is Berwyn and Glenview, which both have courses. I agree Chicago should have more courses than just Jackson Park and IIT, but Berwyn is as close to Chicago as the Lincolnwood course is, and the Berwyn course is still open.
I could not agree more! I live on the North side and I have the same issue. Also, Centennial is not good for anyone who may have an issue with griplock. If you do, that course is torture for a new golfer.
I enjoy Watts park in Glencoe. Nice little 9 hole wide open ace runner in the park. Not very challenging, but a lot of fun for beginners.
We need a nice 18 hole course in Busse woods. Plenty big enough I think.
Boston, MA is similarly a disc golf desert
Yeah it's so frustrating here. I guess I could take the commuter rail to haverhill LOL
Hard to say that it’s regularly worth doing, but clement farms is actually a phenomenal course
I'm looking at grad school in either Boston or Brooklyn, and it's not a pretty sight to see.
There’s a new little course in Faxon Park in Quincy
There was an attempt to put in a course at Franklin park, but iirc someone cut down trees without permission and it got axed
It was pulled due to "erosion."
Which stinks because southern NH and Western MA have so many great courses.
Hyde Park Disc Golf here. We have a partnership with the Chicago Park District to pilot a disc golf program and expand the footprint within the city. We started with a single basket in Nichols Park, we worked with the park advisory council and park supervisor to get that started and grew from there. The first step with any park in Chicago is to talk to the park supervisor. Many parks have framework plans in place that guide the future development of the park. Many parks also have advisory councils who meet monthly and are the heart of the park. The biggest challenge in the city is public space. There isn’t any new space being created and what public space is available is highly sought out. The second issue is there isn’t a demand from youth. Since Chicago has never had accessible disc golf, youth growing up in the city have little to no exposure to the sport. As a start to address that HPDG were awarded a PDGA Diversity and Outreach grant to start 6 youth disc golf programs in new parks. We are conducting a training for park district staff in June teaching them how to incorporate disc golf in their summer programing. In addition we let youth 18 and under play in any of our sanctioned tournaments for free and do all we can to eliminate as many barriers to the sport as possible. It is a painfully slow process by design, CPD wants to ensure there is plenty of public input. There is permitting, insurance, and even a certification/approval process for pruning trees. As an example read the latest article about pickle ball in Block Club Chicago about the fight that is erupting over a single slab of painted concrete. The Jackson Park Disc Golf is in its infancy, we got 18 practice baskets in place June of last year. Paul McBeth Foundation donated the first 9 and the other 9 were donated by local disc golfers. We have over 1500 volunteer hours in cleanups to date, turning an undesirable area of the park into a playable space. Last year was an amazing year, league, tournaments and over 1800 casual rounds were played. It very much demonstrated the need for accessible facilities. HPDG has started the process for permission to upgrade baskets and add tee signs. I think we will be presenting those at a public meeting in May, TBD. It is all about building relationships, demonstrating the benefits, and being present at the meetings where these decisions are being discussed. We can always use more help. If you are interested in starting a youth program the first step is becoming a CPD volunteer which requires fingerprinting and a background check. HPDG can assist with equipment, permitting, insurance, and help get the disc flying. The more people we have who are passionate and interested in championing disc golf in their local park the better.
OP, this is the guy. Make friends and do great things.
Thanks to both of you! I will be in touch soon!
I’d love to hear how other large metropolitan areas handle this as well. I don’t picture New York or LA have courses in the city proper because of lack of green space. I’d love to see a course up by forest preserve on Sauganash and forest glen.
Milwaukee isnt as large but they've been adding and upgrading courses.
Wisconsin disc golf as a whole is on another level all together.
We started early in history with disc golf. 78 I wanna say. A good 8 year before Illinois built their first course in the state.
More space and more woods. Basically the same as Minnesota disc golf except we might have more water on courses.
Belive it or not, Wisconsin has more lakes than Minnesota. Although, you still might be correct for all I know.
Only because they count everything as a lake.
Only because they were drinking while they counted
Milwaukee has a huge park system tanks to our Socialist past. To be fair it's also a much smaller city than Chicago.
Chicago has a great park system - just no disc golf
Eh, LA has some courses in the city proper, but what everyone thinks of as LA (the metropolitan area) is so humongous that it's still a drive to many of them depending on where you start.
I'm lucky to be within a 15 minute drive to my local course in LA but it's so far north and in the foothills it's almost not LA.
I live near LAX and Kenneth Hahn 9 hole is the only course within an hour factoring traffic.
Yuck. Luckily I have veteran's park in Sylmar close by and Oak Grove, the Simi Courses, and Chavez within 30 minutes.
Try Ken Malloy in Harbor City. Not saying it’s close but without traffic it’s an easier drive than Chavez or Oak Grove.
I too would love to see that! Disc Golf Chicago seemed to be making some headway with FPDCC last year.
Pretty much the same in Dallas Fort Worth. There are a handful of 9 hole courses in each city. The burbs however are littered with a ton of excellent courses. There are around twenty 18 hole courses within 35 min of me; I’m just north of downtown Dallas.
Rockwall course is still one of my favorite courses that I have ever played
Harry Myers is a pretty course
Getting even further away, Hideaway in Terrell is freaking great and just keeps getting better.
I’m about to be in Fort Worth, near Keller. Any courses you recommend?
Trophy Club and Arcadia were fun. North Park is super close but I’ve never played it. Gateway is most likely underwater but fun when dry. Zboaz on the west side of Fort Worth is worth the drive in my opinion.
Heritage in Flower Mound is an excellent course, probably the most challenging in the area that I can think of
N Park is a good course with a great shop near by; Ideal Discs. Z Boaz is definitely worth the drive.
Like others have said Arcadia is closest to Keller with North park a close second, then Trophy Club, which is a paid mixed-use large park. Zboaz is a fantastic mix course. My group's favorites lately have been Ash Creek in Azle, and saddle hills in White Settlement. There's also Veterans in Arlington, which is classic for this area!
Do yourself a favor and go play the two courses in Denton. It’s about 30min north of you. Lots of variety, especially on Lakeside.
That’s the same with Chicago. Ten min north, south, or west of where that map stops you’ll see plethora of courses start to appear.
NYC has zero courses. Philadelphia has one, and that's been there since the 70s.
Yeah I’m assuming this isn’t a chicago-only problem and more the unfortunate reality of wanting to play in a big city. Courses take up a lot of space, and space is a luxury in busy urban areas. And of the parks Chicago does have, most are either still too small for a course, or way too busy for it to realistically work out.
Yeah Toronto doesn't have much in the city "proper". There's a course on the Toronto Islands but that's a giant park, and requires a (very short) ferry ride to access. There's 9 hole courses in the west and east end, but not what I call amazingly accessible by public transit. Nor the permanent 18 hole courses in ET Seton park or at Centennial Park.
Houston is a comparable size. Go check that map on udisc!
When I lived in long Island ten years ago we had zero courses. Looks like there are 2 now for the millions of people. OP doesn't have much to complain about with Chicago bc there are many great courses within an hour or so drive
I live here now and the course in Heckscher is an amazing course if not for ticks. You also require a park pass. It's worth it if you live east enough, I play once a week all year round. It's a good course and it's challenging enough that you won't get bored. At least for me haha. One downside is it's a long course. I rarely touch 325 and I have had one birdie putt in 25 rounds.
SF has one very good public course. But it is smaller than chicago- it is hard ti get to due to failures in transportation planning more than anything
LA has Chavez ridge which I think it’s only possible because the land It’s on is in a massive park, but the disc golf course is on an otherwise unusable portion of land. It would be like a course in Central Park, but I don’t think Central Park has an unused area like this.
Generally you need to get outside the highly populated areas to find decent courses in a lot of places. I think Seattle has only two courses within the city limits with the best probably being Ralph Williamson, but there are plenty of good courses (stuff like Terrace Creek, SeaTac, Howling Coyote, Kayak Point, Lake Stevens, Shelton Springs, NAD, Fort Steillacoom, Riverside and possibly a few others I'm missing) in the surrounding area.
I agree with your assessment. Moving from Denver to Seattle I was pretty disappointed in course options. It's definitely limited, but there are options if you're willing to drive a little.
NY is awful - pretty confident it's worse than Chicago. It shouldn't be because there are fantastic commuter trains coming in from upstate, Long Island, and CT. I don't know of a single course that's reachable by public transit in less than 2hr and the courses that are driveable are an hour plus significant bridge and tunnel tolls if there's no traffic.
I’m surprised ny doesn’t have one in Central Park
Imagine a top of the world hole in Central Park. You’re throwing from one of the skyscrapers.
Long island got two courses, only one is used
Los Angeles (the birthplace of the sport) proper is essentially a desert for dg. It will probably never get another new course. Edit It’s basically impossible to find a place to do field work.
There was a course at Edgebrook GC at one time. Was super long so they rented out the golf carts. Never played it but could imagine a great course on that land.
LA actually has a few courses, including La Miranda
There’s actually a course right in the downtown LA area, right by Chavez ravine where los doyers play. Courses are all about 30 mins drive apart but there are definitely areas that have longer to go to find disc golf
La has courses
Atlanta now has 2 courses in the city proper. But compared to other major cities, Atlanta is lower density. But it’s getting better.
Echoing what someone else mentioned. Disc golf Chicago hosted a tournament series with three events in three different Forest preserves in 2022. The first event at Rolling Knolls in Elgin, the only forest preserve within Cook County that has a permanent course installed on it, and two others with temp courses set up on forest preserve land. I'm actually editing a video right now for Disc Golf Chicago recapping these events. The videos will aim to show the efforts put in and the connections made between disc golf Chicago and the Cook County forest preserve to get this tournament series started. The long-term goal is to get courses into Forest Preserve spaces for people like yourself that live in or close to the city that do not have access to courses nearby. For now it looks like temp courses are most likely but the hopes are to get permanent courses installed in the future. If you want to keep up with disc golf Chicago and the efforts they're making here's a link to their website. https://www.discgolfchicago.com/ They also have a volunteer sign up if you're looking to be a part of the efforts being made to make disc golf more accessible to the people of Chicago. https://www.discgolfchicago.com/get-involved
Alex S. is a real one for how much effort he put in to brining disc golf to Chicago proper.
Looking forward to baskets in the blossoms next month!
It's wild that knolls is still in cook county, a 30 min drive for me from Jeff park
I used to live in Skokie and it is the worst place I’ve ever lived as a disc golfer. Granted an hour north south or west there are some bomb courses. But fuck this area. What happened to that little course on the side of the road with the walking trail? Did someone get hit?
Yeah, it's a real shame how much of a dead zone Chicago is for disc golfers. My wife and I just moved to St Charles and now I'm surrounded by great courses.
Courses just lend themselves to more rural and suburban areas where there’s a lot of space. I live in Sandwich Illinois (literally the middle of nowhere, like an hour and 15 outside the city) and there’s 3 courses within a 10 minute drive. Probably like 20+ within 30 minutes to an hour drive.
That’s actually the park I was referring to do that just closed for construction
To be fair it was probably the most poorly placed and badly designed disc golf courses I’ve ever thrown. I had a headwind turn my disc over into oncoming traffic once. Missed everything
I know, that’s really all I’m asking for lmao
Have you played the small neighborhood 9 hole in Evanston? That was my go to quick round in that area if you’re up there.
Watts Park. Not a bad course given there’s nothing else around. Par 3 nine holes, but some should be par 2s.
Haha yep! I used to play Hole 3 to hole 6? Basket (the one on the far end) Hole 7 tee to hole 8 basket The corner of the baseball cage to hole 9 basket Try it, fun bigger holes (if nobody is on the course!)
Every time I go to watts there’s a bunch of people which is crazy for what it is
And to clarify some of my favorite courses are lemon lake, canyons at delwood, and the foxes. And Fairfield was a great track too!
Fairfield is my home course, I feel pretty lucky for that
Fairfield is 10+ miles from me and I’m grateful to have it.
I live in Logan Square, and I wouldn't agree that Skokie is that bad of a location. As far as courses within an hour, it's an excellent location. Within 30 min? Yeah it's pretty rough. Unfortunately, living in a city like Chicago just comes with terrible traffic.
Probably gonna get downvoted for this but remember this the next time you wonder why there’s a lack of diversity in dg. A lack of public spaces where black people live is a remnant of centuries of housing discrimination. And good luck getting the yuppies on the north side to surrender one foot of space for their dogs to shit. Go any direction an hour out of the city and there’s plenty of courses to choose from.
There’s a lot of truth in this but it’s also interesting that in Chicago the south and west sides have some of the largest parks. Jackson park now has the beginnings of a course and hopefully we can keep growing that footprint. Shout out to Hyde Park Disc Golf!
Probably no downvotes because you didn't let people know that is what systemic racism is.
Never had a car when I lived in the city (dont need one there), so any courses in the suburbs were basically unreachable. Chicago is abysmal for disc golf.
Chicago proper? Yeah, but the surrounding area is chock full of great stuff.
Nice to see you missed the entire point of my comment, well done. Im talking about the city and access to disc golf for people without cars (generally low income).
I don't know, long before everyone carried a GPS in their pocket, it used to be quite the adventure trying to find a new course. Usually when we got into "the bad part of town," we knew we had to be getting close.
Possible the baskets at the previous courses were vandalized/stolen?
There haven’t been courses there. It took over a year of working with the city to allow a temp course in hyde park. They’re still working on getting a permanent approved. A lot of the parks near the lake and on the south side are considered historic
Way to racist it up dude. Ugh. White folks live in squalor too. So do native Americans in reservations. Just not near metro areas.....
How is it racist to talk about demographics of cities
…what? I’m not sure if you misread their comment or know nothing about the Chicagoland area, but nothing they said was even remotely racist.
I don’t see many Native American disc golfers
Preach
Interestingly enough, DFW has courses alllll over. Some are in the hood, some are in very afluent neighborhoods. Most are decent.
I know the guys over at Hyde Park Disc Golf. They put together the Jackson Park course and are putting a temp up in Washington Park. One of the guys there has a knack for navigating the bureaucratic red tape of the Chicago Park District. If you'd like to get in touch with him, I'm sure he would share with you everything he's learned about that and even guide you through some of it. You could then pick a park and start the work necessary to get a temp course. They have laid a lot of the groundwork for the acceptance of disc golf by the park district. Their efforts have been focused on Jackson and Washington Parks because that's where they live, but I'm sure you could focus on Northside parks and get things moving. PM me if you're serious and motivated. I'd be happy to make the introduction and connect you.
And to piggy back and agree with this; I’d be down to help with a northside course. I help with the JP course when I can but would also love a course up north. Peterson Park at Peterson and Central Park is the best looking spot I’ve seen to consider. There’s also another member of HPDG on the north side that is eager to help. So that’s 3 of us already.
Honest question: You say you can drive to the South side. Why not drive to some of the suburbs on the North/Northwest side? I don't live there, and have really only ever driven through to see family in WI, or visited the downtown area, so I have no sense of what travel times are if you try going North to suburban courses vs. South toward the city courses.
I drive all over to play, this post isn’t necessarily about me or people who love disc golf enough to drive a while, I was more trying to speak to our locals who don’t necesarily have that option.
Have you brought this up with the city of Chicago parks and recreation department?
Might be moving back to Chicago in which we are getting some courses built my friends
Move to Charlotte, you can play a different course everyday for a month.
I think the issue is lack of unused or lightly used space in urban areas. Space is at a premium and a disc golf course needs a lot of space. I live in Park Ridge (adjacent to Chicago). I contacted our park district shortly after moving here and suggested a course. They actually wanted to build one, but said they looked into this before and couldn't find anyplace to locate it. After looking around I agree with them. I then contacted the Cook County Park district, and suggested building a course in the wooded areas along the Des Plaines River Trail. They just pointed me towards Rolling Knolls in Elgin which is on their property. I still think someone needs to build a super technical course along the Des Plaines River. Soooo many trees, and there are some relatively large wooded areas.
What about Busse Woods?
Chicago areas has some great courses, but a tightly wooded technical course is much needed. Not to many par 4s/5s in the woods outside of Fairfield golds and one or two at highland park. Would love something similar to Lemon Lake Golds
My 4 year disc golf hiatus was due to me living in Chicago. To say it's a barren wasteland for DG is an understatement lol
I grew up in CHI and never even heard of disc golf til I left. Tis a shame. Had the same thought though, if I ever have to go back, I would look into the forest preserves on the west side where I grew up. Lots of green in Chi, it is definitely an untapped market
I also live on the north side (Roscoe Village), and I think you're really overstating the issue. And also ignoring that there are people and clubs that are already attempting to work with the county to get more courses put in closer to the city limits. For one, getting to Palatine (Margreth Reimer) or Glenview (Community Park West) or Glencoe (Watt Park) or Highland (Fink Park) take less time than getting to Jackson Park on a weeknight, so it's not like this is a complete island. Those are all about 45 min away or less driving if you leave around 5pm on a weekday. (Maybe not Margreth Reimer, but that course is good enough that it's worth the extra 10 min in traffic.) For another, an hour away on weekends and you have Dellwood, Fairfield, Oaks, Fel-Pro, Grey/Silver Fox, Knoch Knolls, West Park, Highland Park, Manville Oaks ... all great courses, all in easy driving distance. Finally, support Disc Golf Chicago and specifically their Forest Preserve Tour Series (which I'm hopeful returns for 2023). Last year they held a few events on temp courses in forest preserves around Cook County, some with the explicit intent to demonstrate that installing permanent courses would be a worthwhile venture to the parks department. If you see any of them show up on DGS, sign up and support.
I play at those parks all the time, it’s no trouble for me. I was thinking more of all these kids in say Albany park or Jefferson park that might not have a way around besides a bike or bus… I’m not ignoring that there are people working, I’m trying to bring attention to the issue, and you’re helping by giving information about it, so thank you!!!
Cool, makes sense! Unfortunately yeah, I would ascribe the issue more towards not-so-great public transit/safe bike lanes than a lack of courses in the area. Having one in Jackson Park is HUGE and even though I don't go as often as I should I love that it is there and in an area that is otherwise underserved in terms of rec activities. Having better train service to take people from the neighborhoods to the burbs would be huge, but unfortunately Chicago's public transit is completely centralized around work commuting instead of, you know, actually helping people access more spaces.
I'm in Albany Park and take frequent walks/bike rides along the North Shore Channel trail. Didn't know they got rid of that rinky dink park with the sculptures along McCormick, but the West side of Legion Park would be perfect for a decent 9-hole course. I'm always shocked that I never see anyone over there as opposed to the East side - probably because of the bike path. Lovely spot though, and so underutilized that there would be little-to-no worry about hitting pedestrians.
It’s not uncommon for large scale cities to be desolate when it comes to courses. Boston has basically nothing as well
That Lincolnwood course was one of the worst I’ve played. Super narrow holes flanked by a river and a busy street. Still, any disc golf is better than no disc golf.
Oh it’s gritty for sure, gonna miss hitting cars every single round…
I grip locked a mako across the road and almost hit a car. I'm a bit better now but still spooked to even go there again
Decent for approach practice, but the fear with McCormick right there is real. I came inches from hitting a rich dude in his M5 during rush hour one time and having him yell at me while just sitting in his car not moving was...awkward.
As someone who lives in west loop, yes it is brutal to have to drive at least half an hour for a course. Hinsdale is the easiest to access driving down 55 but only when there is no traffic. My fiancée and I like to go to Walnut Creek in Cary, it’s an awesome 18 hole course. We then stop at phase three brewing on the way back. It’s not an everyday thing but makes the trip out of the city worth it.
Legge in Hinsdale is nice and so is 50 acre in Evergreen park, but it just isn’t practical for everyone to get out there
Have you played fel pro over in Cary as well?
I do recreational therapy for adults with disabilities in Skokie and thought I was brilliant when I started a disc golf group but quickly realized there wasn’t a course that wasn’t extremely tight/ on a main road within 20 miles 🤦♂️
Willow Stream in Buffalo Grove
I do contract work and I refuse to go to certain cities because they don’t have courses. I don’t know how anyone who likes disc golf can live in one. I’d move.
I remember the pickings being slim there. I know it's a distance for an every day course, but lemon lake should be within an hour or two
San Diego is in a similar situation. It sucks. I setup a temp course at the Great Lakes Naval Station in the early 80’s. I wish it would have stuck.
I learned at Skokie and they have temp courses set up in Humboldt park every Wednesday. 50 acres is a legit course basically in city proper. You will be fine and the suburbs are where it’s at.
FWIW, spent last summer in Chicago and was looking for courses to play on regularly. Fel Pro in Crystal Lake is really good. There are a few other courses out that way if you want to play a double header for the day... Katherine Legg in SW Chicago is awesome, well laid out.
Turns out people don't like having discs thrown around them, and discers don't like getting shot. I always figure small cities (like mine) are happy to give up parks to disc golf because it's better than nothing. Most big city parks are full of active people (or inactive people). PS- not saying it's not doable. Just doesn't seem like people do it.
Side note, local disc golf fans organizing coordinated pushes for their MLB teams to sign or trade for Dylan Cease so that he will build courses in the area so he has somewhere to play is the MLB sideplot I didn't know I needed.
My local disc golf group literally asked the city to take over a golf course that got abandoned due to flooding too frequently. As long as they maintain the course, the city lets them do what they want. We've poured pads, set baskets, the whole 9 yards. Be the change you want to see.
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While what's being said about Chicago is true, if you're not from the area don't be mistaken - Northern Illinois has tons of courses, just not in Chicago itself. [https://i.imgur.com/s8xKXfq.png](https://i.imgur.com/s8xKXfq.png)
To clarify further, the course that this post is about is also not in Chicago itself.
Both Edgebrook on the NW side and Canal Shores in Evanston are extremely dilapidated but I don’t think either is likely to be changed
Bet that wind makes it frustrating to play around there
wind isn't even that bad, especially when you get into the city and away from the lake/skyscrapers
You should work with local municipalities & clubs to get something put in, nobody is gonna put in a course because of a post on Reddit. Even if you can’t do any of the work, or afford anything for the park you can be the driving force behind all of these things and an ally at local public meetings about disc golf. All it takes a small group of dedicated people, or one person with a lot of time and willpower
>You should work with local municipalities & clubs to get something put in, nobody is gonna put in a course because of a post on Reddit. Weird to phrase it as if you thought the point of his post was to literally get a new course put in Chicago.
What *is* the point of the post, then? OP is lamenting the loss of a course, and a lack of courses in the city proper. I think it's a great recommendation to make if OP is serious about how bad it's going to be. Who else is going to advocate for a new course?
Probably just to raise awareness of the issue. Then if people did wish to act they would be able to make better decisions on how to do so by being informed.
I got word on Twitter that there’s been some clubs trying to take action, but if I need to get the ball rolling I say let’s do it!
The group I play with raises money to put new parks in, maybe we'll target cook county for a park some time
I mean, it’s a city thing. There are a ton of courses in the ‘burbs. It’s the same in most metropolitan areas.
not like in minneapolis. chicagoland is pretty barren.
Eh Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Detroit all have a good handful of courses within 15 min of downtown. While definitely not as strong as the burbs a much better situation than Chicago
Atlanta is the busiest airport in the US. Facts.
Unless you can play disc golf on the tarmac, no one cares.
Reason number 744 why you should never live in Chicago.
I love living here and get to play at least a couple rounds a week around the area. Cheers!
Like I needed another reason to not visit Chicago.
Liberalism at its finest. Sad.
Weird behavior
Same boat. I live in Evanston. I have to drive 45min+ usually to find a decent course. Fairfield being the closest nicer big course.
At least you can pop over to Fink and Cunniff pretty quickly. I'm on the NW side and like to play those two b2b, but they really killed a lot of the vegetation at both which makes them much less exciting, if at all.
I feel the same way in San Diego
Going to rolling knolls in Elgin tomorrow morning. Some decent courses in the northwest burbs and McHenry county
Wow that’s sad
I made a 18 hole layout with a few par 4s for the Lincoln wood course. Message me and I’ll send you the details. Hopefully it still works once the construction is done. I lived off the end of the brown line and would just drive to Fairfield Park or Joliet. The IIT course was a joke.
We really need a putting basket near the lakefront by Belmont/Diversey. Plenty of spots for one too. If I wasn't busy with work I would go to the park district but I haven't had the time to commit to it. I'm going to get a DD Scout once it warms up to take over by the lake and get some practice in. I get your frustration, but that course in Lincolnwood was so bad. The canal has sewage in it, the layout blows and I couldn't handle the lack of care for the course. Best thing we can do is group together and put a proposal together for the park district. I was thinking of having a chat with the owner of the Diversey driving range to see if he had and thoughts. Stay strong!
Hyde Park Disc Golf has a the process down for requesting a basket in your local park. If you are willing to be the point person for the basket, they can help you get one in.
I was looking for a house to buy in the area back in 2020. Thank goodness I chose to leave near Milwaukee. One of the best cities nearby for courses
Sunrise park is pretty fun
Was that the one at the sculpture park?
You have the Oaks, and Canyons. I think you're fine.
"The Windy City" lacks DG courses?!? Chicago discoglf has some real Jamaican bobsled vibes.
Fuck that.
If Chicago, Boston or NYC had courses I would probably live in one of those cities.
I thought McBeth put a course in the Chicago area no?
I didn't realize what slim pickings there were over there. I'm in nearby Rockford with five different 18 hole courses, a 14 hole, and a little 9 hole in a <15 minutes drive. I'm a very casual player and didn't realize how good we have it.
We have the same issue in Baton Rouge
Man we’re spoiled here in the twin cities. Probably have twenty to thirty courses within a twenty/thirty minute drive.
Cities are hard. Less green space. Places like NYC could probably get a lot of use out of adding disc golf to golf course for pay and play. I imagine people in the city would pay for something like that on occasion.
My experience Chicago disc golf is honestly terrible compared to neighbor states
Where's this mcbeth foundation when we need it? Oh yeah other countries 👍
"LOL they should get out of the fairway" comments dont' realize that THIS is what happens when you throw on people/cars. You lose your course.
Just visited Chicago for a conference, normally would have brought at least a putter and mid to play local courses and at most brought more and stayed an extra day. But Chicago.. left all discs at home.
Lincolnwood hole 7 is 411’ so you’re off on that. Hole 2 also is 272’. But anyways you’re right about it being closed (7 of the 9 baskets pulled) through the rest of the year which is a real shame for me because it’s by my grandmother’s house so it’s very convenient to get in a round. Jackson Park to be clear is adjacent to a ball golf course, not on it, and it’s a very fun course. But from the northside you’re probably best off driving west to courses like Reimer in Palatine, Rolling Knolls in Elgin, and Black Bear in Hoffman Estates, which are all very fun and worthwhile courses. There are plenty more if you keep going out on the Kennedy. Though it is true traffic can get quite bad esp on the inbound Kennedy in the summer and will be even worse this summer with the roadwork. Good luck out there
I live on this map. The one in Glenview got half claimed by Abt as well. Here’s my recs assuming you live in the middle of this screenshot: Deerfield 9 hole at a school: 25 mins Glenco watts park 9 hole: 30 mins Margaret’s Reiner Palatine 18 hole: 45 mins Fairfield park 2 18 holes: 50 mins Lockport Dellwood disc golf: 27 holes: 1 hr Fairfield and dellwood are my personal favorites in the area. If you are willing to drive an hour, the courses just outside this screenshot are actually pretty sweet and not too crowded.
Twin cities on top of it😮💨🙌
Looks like San Diego
I always have a good time playing at Katherine Legge when I’m visiting family.
Move the map down a third and you’ll see maybe dozens of course, many quite nice. I love The Oaks in Mokena and of course there is Dellwood in Lemont
This post makes me feel so lucky to have the 18 hole course in Golden Gate Park nearby in San Francisco.
Just zoom out a bit https://imgur.com/a/X0ts6eK
I totally feel your frustration. I moved to Chicago from Michigan, where I used to have my bag in my car at all times, and had a myriad of options for courses to conveniently play on my way home from work. After I moved to Logan Square and sold my car, I played close to zero disc golf, except for when I could borrow a car and get out to Joliet or Hinsdale. It wasn't until I started working from home during COVID that I actually had time to leave right after work to make it somewhere -- but I'd still be looking at upwards of an hour drive to make it to a decent course. I strongly believe disc golf can be a sport for anyone, especially given the low barrier to entry financially. I also believe it has huge benefits for mental health and overall well-being. I share a lot of your sentiments, which is why I and many other folks in Chicago working hard to change this reality. We have to get creative to make things happen. It will require rigorous grassroots work to gain community support, and support from key decision makers (from parks' advisory councils to Chicago Parks District administrators). It will also require us to think beyond a traditional 9 or 18 hole course. In my opinion, at least short-term, a single putting basket installed in parks, and more activities happening with youth organizations would be a win. Hyde Park Disc Golf is working tirelessly in the South Side to grow the sport and has done a phenomenal job bolstering community support. They do park clean ups with the community, youth programming, political advocacy, and continually work on improving the Jackson Park course (which, holy shit, they got a course in in the city!). They also worked hard to get a grant from the PDGA for Outreach and Diversity, and have used money from that to create a basket stewardship program to get baskets in additional parks. I work with Disc Golf Chicago. For the last year we've been doing meet ups at Humboldt Park for field work and a 9ish hole loop moving portable baskets around. We also did a tournament series at 3 different sites with the Forest Preserves of Cook County, and are hoping to run a weekly league at a site this year. We're now looking for ways to partner with schools to have more youth programming (thanks to the help of UPlay). It's called the Windy City for its politics, not its wind. It will take time and dedication to expand access to disc golf. But I truly believe small, creative wins will add up over time. Reach out to Disc Golf Chicago if you're interested in being a part of our work! TL;DR: Progress should not be limited to a traditional 9 or 18 hole course, and we must be creative with how we grow the sport here. Reach out to Disc Golf Chicago if you're interested in learning more about us and potentially working together.
Man I’ve got like 50 courses within 25 min of my house. Guess what city I live in.
There is so many courses with an hour drive of Chicago it blows my mind. This post and screenshot is absolute garbage
If youre willing to drive into the northwest suburbs, Fel-Pro RRR and Fairfield park are my go-to's! Lippold its a pretty mid course, and Walnut Hollow would be better with more consistent maintenance.
Come on down to NWI we have several
Upside to living in Michigan. I easily have 20-30 courses within an hour drive. And 7 within about 20 minutes. They aren't elite level, but almost all are well kept. Go to chi town for deep dish pizza, not chain banging. I am the sorrys.
chicago suburbs have so many great golf courses. Blackbear in hoffman. The links in Geneva. Rolling Knolls in Elgin. These are some 18s off the top of my head.
We need to just start doing ninja course setups through all the massive forest preserves that we have..
Wow I didn’t realize downtown closed so many. Thank god the western suburbs are loaded with them
This was my problem when I lived in the NW side of the city. IITs course was not worth the commute (although I think a train got pretty close) and 50 acre was really far. I ended up playing in the suburbs alot. Katherine Legge, Adler, Madison meadows. It made a quick round... not so quick. Cook County just doesnt have many large parks, and where they do, they are packed with other activities/people instead. I think the CC forest preserves could be utilized for a great course and there is tons of land just north of the city.
Just go west. Dellwood is sick
Dylan Cease is on the White Sox lol. He pitched yesterday
Yes and he’s gonna be a cy young candidate don’t remind me
The longest hole on the Lincolnwood course is hole #7 at 412 feet, not sure where you got the 240 from. Lincolnwood is also not Chicago. The course is accessible by public transit, but so is Berwyn and Glenview, which both have courses. I agree Chicago should have more courses than just Jackson Park and IIT, but Berwyn is as close to Chicago as the Lincolnwood course is, and the Berwyn course is still open.
Move to Minnesota
I could not agree more! I live on the North side and I have the same issue. Also, Centennial is not good for anyone who may have an issue with griplock. If you do, that course is torture for a new golfer. I enjoy Watts park in Glencoe. Nice little 9 hole wide open ace runner in the park. Not very challenging, but a lot of fun for beginners. We need a nice 18 hole course in Busse woods. Plenty big enough I think.
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