Knoch Knolls Disc Golf Course

Knoch Knolls is the Naperville Park District's only disc golf course, 18 holes inside a 263-acre park where the West Branch of the DuPage River meets the main channel. The layout mixes open field holes with wooded stretches along the river corridor. It started life in 2000 as a nine-hole course designed by Naperville resident Tom Wehrli with Disc Golf Hall of Fame player Gary Lewis, picked up concrete tee pads in 2006, and was doubled to 18 during the park's roughly $6 million nature center redevelopment — Steve Matul and Doug D'Arcy laid out the new holes with park district project manager Peggy Pelkonen. To clear the overgrown ground for them, the district turned 45 goats loose on about five acres in September 2013.

It's free, open sunrise to one hour after sunset, and the park district publishes a map and score card for the full 18. The course sits next to parking, restrooms and the DuPage River Trail, and discs can be purchased at the Knoch Knolls Nature Center during its open hours. Because half the holes are barely a decade old and were cut from cleared land, the newer side plays more open than the original nine.