Hiawatha, IA

Fay Clark Park

2.555(based on 19 reviews)
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5 0
knobby325
Gold level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 9.3 years 335 played 252 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Wide Open Spaces 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Apr 23, 2019 Played the course:once

Pros:

-Concrete Tees
-Good Signage
-Multiple Pin Locations
-Wide Open

Cons:

-A little long for rec players
-Long back up the hill from #3 basket to #4 tee
-Not a lot of excitement for better players

Other Thoughts:

A wide open course in a large city park. A good place to try new discs/shots with almost no possibility of losing discs. A couple of interesting holes (#6 has a pin in a C shaped grove of trees / #16 has a pin in another grove of trees over a small stream). Park can get a bit busy, but the course works away from the playground and mostly around the walking path. Overall a nice course and would be glad to play again.
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3 1
mgcoleman
Experience: 19.5 years 20 played 17 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Decent course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Aug 9, 2015 Played the course:once

Pros:

Good concrete tees, baskets all in good shape, decent signage. Area is well-maintained. Course is built into a piece of fairly wide open park land. It is 99% mowed grass, so losing a disc here would take a REALLY errant shot. Gives players a chance to work options, rollers are definite players at this place if the wind is howling.

Cons:

Most holes are straightaways, few trees of impact, little restrictions on throws, I found it to get relatively boring after awhile.
No tunnel shots of any kind - sort of like to see at least a couple on every course.

Other Thoughts:

Great course to work on game, try new throws/discs, etc. Most memorable hole from a shotmaking persepctive is 16.
Sort of tucked away and quiet for the most part. Good restrooms and plenty of parking. Not a destination course, but a good course to get some good work in on your game.
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3 0
sisyphus
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 13.2 years 401 played 385 reviews
2.50 star(s)

A couple of highlights 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 9, 2015 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Located in a very nice park with a playground, shelter, parking, a paved jogging path, and very limited underbrush (kept to the park borders only), the Fay Clark Park DGC in Hiawatha, IA plays pretty much wide open for as many as 16 of its 18 holes. The level concrete tee pads are large enough for the distances involved (there are a dozen holes between 230 and 290 feet to the short pin positions, but could be as many as ten holes over 350 feet if set in the longs). The 18 chain DGA baskets are in good shape and catch well.

The feature holes are definitely 6 short and 16 long. Hole six plays into a U-shaped cluster of trees on a slightly rising knoll, and even features a rollaway basket position. It's a beautiful, fun, achievable hole for middle level players. Sixteen plays long and across a marshy creek to the left past the new, metal, arched bridge. Really quite pretty, and fun to see if you can get in close for a putt, but not wind up wet, or blocked by the tree(s) there. A distant third place might be on hole 5, where mist mid-level arms have to decide whether to 'Tin Cup' over the creek bed or lay up. Bigger arms will reach it all day long, though.

In all, Fay Clark is a course that will play long and wide open for players just starting out, but it won't hold enduring interest or challenge for competitive players at Intermediate or above.

Cons:

The one spot with poor course flow (having to walk back up the third fairway to tee off on four) really stands out. The course is very, very, very wide open, does not have any chance to explore elevation or tight lines, and it's a bit repetitive: except for the standout holes mentioned above, you'll be throwing a lot of gently sloping (up or down), wide open tee shots. Might not be a bad idea to play here if you need windy day practice for tournaments like they have in Kansas, though.

Other Thoughts:

If you bring a beginner out like I did, watch out for the drainage run on the right of the first hole: it's about a four foot deep trench. In fact, you'll want to encourage folks to keep all the park edge shots well in on the grass. First timers will be tempted to park up by the shelter and the practice basket (maybe not practice, but long hole nine/ten?), but hole one actually starts at the parking lot entrance on your right (before the playground).
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1 1
Pastortroy
Experience: 22.4 years 31 played 1 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Our "home" course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Mar 22, 2015 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Mostly open, very well kept, good signs. Moderately busy.

Cons:

Windy at times

Other Thoughts:

Awesome course, well laid out & severall opportunities to putt for 2. Has restrooms, water and a picnic area. Has ample parking. This is a great course and very good for practice as welll as the less "pro" of us. If you like a lot of trees this course is not for you.
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1 0
chanowan
Experience: 16.5 years 1 played 1 reviews
2.50 star(s)

The St. Andrews of Cedar Rapids 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 20, 2014 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Ease of access
Open fairways and clearly visible baskets from tees make this very beginner friendly, as well as providing more skilled players a chance to practice shots not normally taken
Considered the least favorite of many CR players, and as such, is almost never busy
You will occasionally see attractive joggers

Cons:

Lack of consistent challenge from natural obstacles
Many holes feel repetitive
Wind can transform what many consider an under par course into an exercise in futility

Other Thoughts:

I play and practice here a great deal due to it's proximity to home. I feel like it gets a lot of disdain from other CR players who say that it's too easy, and for those who can bomb, it probably is. For most amateurs like me, an under par score is something to shoot for, and attainable if you play consistently.
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3 0
MidwestZest
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 24.4 years 103 played 73 reviews
2.00 star(s)

This time I mean it. "Wide Open" 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Oct 6, 2013 Played the course:once

Pros:

- Right next to a very nice sports complex.
- Walking trail, bathrooms, water, and playground.
- Very well groomed and maintained.
- Nice carved signs
- Dual pin placements (although most don't add any variety, just a little distance.)
- Nice, long concrete tee pads.
- #6 plays into a little grove of trees, on an elevated pin position.
- #16 is a longish hole, alongside a drainage creek, and across. Very cool.

Cons:

- Wide open, not much variety. Most of the variety comes from distance, and whether the hole is uphill, downhill, or flat.
- Can get very windy out there.
- Plays alongside and across walking path much of the time, which isn't busy, but just something to be careful with.

Other Thoughts:

- I hereby apologize to any other disc golf course that I have described as "wide open." Because this one truly is.
- I'm glad this park is here though, good for the sports complex and definitely the place to take your kids or straight up beginners. Probably never busy.
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2 0
jacobsladder
Experience: 28.6 years 136 played 10 reviews
3.00 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Nov 23, 2012 Played the course:once

Pros:

Clean, well groomed course
Nice tee pads and baskets

Cons:

Not a lot of trees or challenges. When I played, it was windy and I had to worry about hitting joggers because most of the course is designed within the confines of a jobbing/walking path

Other Thoughts:

This would be a good course for beginners or anyone who wants to work on their driving and putting. Not recommended for those who enjoy a lot of tree cover and challenges.
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3 0
Iowa420DG
Bronze level trusted reviewer
Experience: 13.7 years 457 played 41 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Future Potential 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 29, 2012 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Good for trying out all of your drivers in a wide open area.
Baskets, tee signs, and tee pads are in pristine condition.
Most holes (if not all) have variable pin placements. They all seem to have the typical "long placement" and "short placement" (i.e. they do not create entirely different shots).
No serious problems with hazards or poisonous plants.

Cons:

Holes #3 and #4 intersect each other and make game play a bit confusing.
A lot of flat, long, barren holes make for a tedious and redundant round of disc golf.
Its usually windier here than any other course in the area because it is flat and barren.
A concrete walking path runs throughout the course... one can imagine the trouble that this might create.
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1 0
sasscers7
Experience: 16.4 years 57 played 17 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Wide open 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 17, 2011 Played the course:once

Pros:

Wide open. Good for the beginning players that went with me. Plenty of holes where you can just let it rip with plenty of distance.

Cons:

So open it's a bit boring. Some baskets the walk to the next T box is lots longer than it needs to be with the space available to layout it.

Other Thoughts:

Nice park
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3 0
jph7
Experience: 10 played 1 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Clark Park 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 30, 2011 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Total distance, layout, pin location variance, elevation differences make many holes play a lot farther than their actual distance. Tall corn fields border the park, which is the perfect back drop for a course in Iowa. The course definitely has a lot of potential but is still very new (opened June 6 2008)

Cons:

Very new so 95% of the course is very open/minimal small young trees which makes it pretty easy overall. Mother nature is not really an obstacle except along a creek that makes a natural northern boundary for the whole park. Both sides of the creek have very dense grass and bushes during the summer. The only real challenge on this course is the overall distance to pin, with the longest being 500 ft uphill on hole 9 at the farthest pin location.

Other Thoughts:

(I live nearby and have played at least 50 maybe 75 rounds this season at this course as of July 30 2011) One other hazard at this course is a skinny stretch of DENSE tall grasses and shrubs/bushes that runs through the middle of the course. During the summer this area should definitely be avoided as it is pretty difficult to see discs and the area is kind of marsh-like or "swampy" in some spots. Overall I think this course is pretty cool and needs to be played a few times to be appreciated. Fast forward 15 or 20 years and this course will be somewhat comparable to Jones Park in Cedar Rapids, IA (minus the pond).
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1 2
GabeEtzel
Experience: 13.6 years 4 played 4 reviews
0.50 star(s)

Good for beginners, Horrible for Experienced 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 2, 2011 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Wide open space, long holes (one is 500 ft), hard to lose discs

Cons:

Extremely boring holes (tee off, go 300 ft forward x 18), sometimes confusing where to go

Other Thoughts:

Good to take new people and try news discs, but not much more than that
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1 3
cri5891
Experience: 13.8 years 10 played 2 reviews
3.00 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Apr 2, 2011 Played the course:once

Pros:

Wide open so dont worry about hitting any trees or not having an open shot. Well maintained course. A little creek runs through the course and thats kind of nice since theres no real mature trees yet.

Cons:

Very flat so if theres any wind its a little harder. Everything runs nice but at the end of hole 8 you have to walk around the creek to get to 9 and 10 then you walk back around to 11. We got lost there cuz the tee for 11 is right next to hole 8. So dont go with the flow of the course at that time or youll mess a couple holes.
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9 0
Martin Dewgarita
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 15 years 1600 played 95 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Let er rip. 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Mar 8, 2011 Played the course:once

Pros:

Amenities. Shelter, Bathroom, Parking, Playground. Next door to a sports complex.

Primarily Disc Golf. You may have to wait for an occasional walker on the path, but shouldn't have to really worry about other users.

Tees. One set of concrete tee pads are level and in good shape.

Ace/Birdie opportunities. If you can throw 300 feet accurately (and can you putt?) you should be able to score well, none of the holes are overly short so a birdie is relatively rewarding.

Navigation. Simple to follow, pay attention to what hole you're on though, I accidentally skipped a few holes and had to go back and play them.

Map/Scorecards. A map is provided at the start at the information kiosk if you're worried about getting lost. A box was provided for scorecards, but it was empty.

Baskets. All were in good condition and most had multiple positions.

Elevation/water. The little elevation and water that exists keep things at least slightly interesting.

Access. Just off the freeway for a quick 18 holes.

Clean. Very well manicured park was clean and kept in good condition.

9 hole loops. If you only have time for 9 holes, the course flows back to the vehicle after 9 holes.

Beginner friendly. Relatively impossible to lose a disc and wide open shots make this an ok place to practice drives, upshots, and putts without having to worry about hitting a specific line. Though I think If I had learned at this course I would have thought this game was kind of dumb.

Cons:

Variety. My biggest gripe is that this course is boring, I could accomplish almost the same thing with a practice basket in an open field throwing at it 18 times from 200-400 feet. Holes 5 and 6 are a little more interesting, with 6 being on top of a hill guarded by trees, this course needs more holes like that.

Scenery. You get a view of the highway and a wide open manicured park, not very scenic.

(with only two cons you might ask why such a low rating? The rating is based mostly on variety and enjoyment/replayability factor, I probably will not return to this course)

Other Thoughts:

If open unobstructed courses is your thing you'll love this course, if you prefer more of a technical challenge I'd head to one of the many other local courses.
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6 0
lazy42
Silver level trusted reviewer
Experience: 15.3 years 40 played 39 reviews
2.00 star(s)

Wide Open 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Aug 15, 2010 Played the course:once

Pros:

New park, almost felt unused, maintained incredibly well. Multiuse park, walking path in and around, playground equipment for the little ones, shelter available. Nice looking tee signs. Concrete tee pads. Great place to bring newbie's. Very few chances to lose a disc. Fun park if you prefer to do nothing but throw medium to long drives, then putt. Multiple pin locations available. Really nice bridge structure on 16.

Cons:

Very open park. Even though there wasn't much wind in the area, park was so open that it was very gusty; no tree's to slow down the gusts. Lack of available shade on most of the course, unless you walk off to the side and hide under a tree next to edge of park.

Have to say, game play was boring due to the lack of obstacles. I do like an occasional open hole, but this became very repetitive. Holes 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 are basically the same hole. A little back tracking after you hole out on 3, you sort of walk back up near the fairway of 3 to get to the tee box of 4. Tee signs were confusing, I think the areas representing bush rows were not correct, and the tee pads pointed differently than noted, just made it difficult to figure out which pin location you were trying to throw at.

Other Thoughts:

Well, this will never be a wooded course, but that's not how the designers wanted it, and that is totally fine. There is nothing wrong with an open course, but this one did become a bit repetitive. Mostly flat, however there are some slight elevation changes (more like simple inclines). There is a small stream running through the center of the park, which is the lowest elevation. If you're throwing towards it, you'd be throwing slightly downhill, away from it, just the opposite.

By far, hole 6 was the best. Though a short hole, you throw from an open area, into a protected pin. The area protecting the pin is a "U" shaped group of trees around a small hill or at one time pile of dirt. 16 and 17 were fun also, that was mostly due to that being by the stream and there was vegetation and trees around, so a break from the openness of the rest of the park. Hole # 9 was more difficult than it looked. 500ft up a slight incline, making it play quite a bit longer. I think that once the saplings grow a little, and maybe the planting of more trees would make this park much more enjoyable. With that said, it was fun to see how close I could get to each basket on my drives. Lots of chances for 2's.
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8 1
medicinalfunk
Experience: 14.7 years 48 played 7 reviews
2.50 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:May 30, 2010 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

- nice, open course. load the bag up with drivers because you'll be letting it rip all day. flat course with few obstructions makes it a good place to work on your fundamental game.
- very clean course. each hole is well maintained, little to no garbage lying about. no vandalism, but that probably has to do with the lack of traffic.
- great place to go for a quick, easy round. course is rarely inhabited by more than 2 or 3 groups at a time. not tucked out of the way too far, but simply not that popular of a course. a decent course for a first timer still learning to throw a disc. forgiving course without many areas of thicket
- excellent sight lines with almost all baskets visible from teepads
- signs all in good shape, teepads clean and free of surrounding litter, nice quality garbage cans too.

Cons:

- not exactly a challenging course, though 3 or 4 holes built to test beginning to intermediate players.
- fairways are wide open, sometimes causing you to fall in the habit of just gripping and ripping
- a bit redundant, course goes back and fourth too often
- course is mostly surrounded by cornfields, so if you overshoot big time or griplock on the edge pretty much any time after mid june until the harvest, you'll have to hunt for it.
- any bit of wind makes it a difficult course to play. little to no tree cover causes the wind to blow straight across the course constantly
- only five or six benches, not many places to sit and rest out of the sun once you get into the meat of the course
- most holes really offer no opportunity to create new lanes and challenge yourself to have to thread the needle and put your disc right through tight windows. its just launch it and see how close you can get it to the basket. not a very "inspired" course, you could say*. HOWEVER (read other thoughts)

Other Thoughts:

*there are young trees and young bushes over a lot of the course. possibly in five, six, maybe seven years when all of the foliage has grown out and matured and more things have been added, this could be one of the more enjoyable courses in the area. its well taken care of and the signs and pads and baskets are all very nice, all thats missing is a course design thats at least a little more creative, but it does well with the space its given
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4 0
wolito
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 17.7 years 88 played 87 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Open course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Dec 15, 2009 Played the course:once

Pros:

Brand new disc golf course. That means the baskets are in great shape, the teesigns are all present and teepads are excellent shape. Parking is easy and plentiful and there is a info kiosik right by hole 1. Most hole are pretty straightforeward and navigation is easy. I enjoy the use of the elevation changes to mix things up. The first few holes are next to a creek which adds a nice challenge.

Cons:

This course is a little too open for me. More trees on this would add a lot to it, otherwise you just throw your disc straight ahead with nothing to get inyour way. Also with no trees, the wind could be a factor on several of your shots. The cement teepads are a little short and definately too narrow.

Other Thoughts:

This could be a great option to take newer players to. Rather easy for a pro player, but a new player will appreciate the obstacle free course. A walking trail runs throughout the length of the course cutting across the fairways so look out. The wood teesigns were well done. If you need a place to try out your new driver come here, if you need some trees to deal with then go elsewhere.
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4 0
Conler Milrad
Experience: 17.5 years 150 played 5 reviews
3.00 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Mar 21, 2009 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Maintained well resembles a ball golf course. Not the typical course obstructions. There are bushes and berms to play around instead of just trees. So clean it is near impossible to lose a disc.

Cons:

Wind, and lots of it. It is a new course and the trees are small.

Other Thoughts:

Holes 3 and 4 run side by side, so after you tee off 3 take the few discs you'll need and leave your bag between the two teepads. Thus saving you from carring your bag down and back.

Hole 16 plays accross a marshy area with constant standing water, but someone has made a makeshift bridge out of pallets an stones as of the last time I was out there.
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4 0
kilrsmurf
Experience: 38.4 years 113 played 1 reviews
3.00 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Mar 5, 2009 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Well maintained grounds/facilities. Fairly easy course, good beginner course.

Cons:

Couple holes (16,17) don't seem finished yet. 16 goes over a marshy creek bed at the pin, must walk all the way around to get back to hole, needs bridge or walkway. 17 is better, tee box concrete finally poured but erosion damage on hill alongside hole diminishes playability slightly.

Other Thoughts:

Very well thought out course for the space available. Holes 1-4 play back and forth pretty close to each other but it opens up after that.
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3 0
ziggy5250
Experience: 25.5 years 14 played 6 reviews
3.00 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Nov 14, 2008 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

It's brand new and it shows. Very well maintained park. Decent mixture of long and short holes. They did the best they could with a wide open flat park.

Cons:

It's really wide open but there are some trees. There are better courses in the area.

Other Thoughts:

It will age well I'm sure, within the next couple years I'm sure it will grow into itsself.
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