Coralville's local course has just about everything except massive distances, but I hope to convince you today that a course can be quite incredible even with just one hole over 450ft.

The course comforts are all in place and in great shape. Large concrete tees, tee signs showing both pins, and 19 bright orange MachX baskets if we include the practice green.

Elevation is the prime part of the land. Big, consistent ups and downs are the stars of the show on 7-10 and 13-14, but the other stellar uses like hole 1 or 11's's fairway falling away to the pin and the greens of 4 and 5 shooting upward (tempts an ace run when throwing into a hillside) really solidify this factor of the course as the best.

Even most of the flatter holes provide some good challenge. Hole 2 has a tree ceiling late on the left line and a 3ft high downed tree on the right line. Water sits to the left of holes 5 and 6, and the tight woods on 15-17 make what would be below-average holes into good ones.

Flow of the course is excellent, and the one long walk (from 6 to 7) was necessary to reach the next part of the course while keeping the level of difficulty consistent. Maintenance to differentiate in and out-of-bounds was excellent as well as strips between holes.

No two holes feel the same, and without long holes that's impressive. The unique combinations of uphills, downhills, and other challenges is unparalleled in courses sitting below 6500ft.

Holes 3 and 18 are the only "bad" holes. 3 is a flat, wide open mid-range or fairway driver shot, while 18 is a treeless slight downhill that does add some OB to keep it from being the easiest 600ft par 4 ever.

Holes 8 and 18 have fencing down the left side. 8 has prominent "No Trespassing" signs to keep people out of the quarry, but I think 18's is just next to the road.

Hole 10's right line plays pretty close to the pad of 14, and the fairways of 7, 9, and 10 - while separated by large swaths of OB grass - could get dangerous if the wind decides to kick up.

For the parcel of land given, Coralville has pulled off an excellent course. Keeping every hole fresh but not overly easy was the key to making this such a good round of 18. The level of difficulty isn't the highest, but the work put in to make the course clean and un-monotonous takes it to the next level. I recommend a playthrough for anyone coming by Iowa University or even just going by on I-80.

Tee pads and baskets are top notch. Course amenities are plentiful - benches on most holes and good signage.
The course is very fun to play and offers more elevation than the average course. One hole is played on sand, and water is a hazard on two holes. It is true that half of the holes can be easily reached with a RHBH hyzer, but the distances vary. There is a nice mix of wooded and open holes, and nothing unfair or absurd. The last hole could play as a par 4, otherwise the course is pretty easy.

The walk from 4-5
The walk from 6-7

Edit/update: My review considers long and short on all holes (one set of baskets are moved between two positions that are currently installed on every hole). The easiest layout (5098ft) was in place (except for a couple holes) for Sept-Oct 2018 for the park's grand opening, and has fewer technical shot-shaping requirements:
1 left-to-right (hole 5)
2 right-to-left (holes 16, 17)
3 straight tunnels (holes 6, 12, 15)

The longest layout (6239ft) has more protected greens and technical shot-shaping requirements:
3 left-to-right (holes 6, 11, 14)
2 right-to-left (holes 1, 16)
3 straight tunnels (holes 5, 12, 15)
Holes 3, 7, and 8 are right-to-left but are wide open on the right side.
Holes 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 have more protected greens in the long layout.

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This course is known as Altmaier Park, or "The Farm". Brand new park, grand opening was yesterday (Sept 30 2018). Nice fresh teepads, new orange MachX baskets. This course has a little bit of everything. The variety is its strongest suit. Each hole has two basket positions, usually a little different on the distance, but also different types of shot shaping required. There are several ace runs, and up to three par 4s (holes 10 long, 12 long, and 18 in both positions), so depending on the layout the par ranges from 55-57.

There are a couple of flat open shots, several wide open shots on steep uphill and downhill. A highlight of these is hole 9, a 400+ foot downhill shot from a teepad with expansive views of the valley. One of hole 9's basket position is set right at the edge of the woods, and it's deceptive...a throw that can reach the circle will look like it's going to end up deep in the woods. Also, there are several tunnel shots with varying degrees of technicality. The more technical ones are carved out of dense cedar forest, and it can be very tough to save par if you penetrate any distance off the fairway. Holes 3-6 play along a large creek with some sections having 10-12ft vertical banks, and it is a severe penalty to go in there -- even if you want to try scrambling down, you might not see your disc at all when the water is high and silty after rainfall.

This course is an excellent complement to nearby courses - it's quite different from Peninsula, Sugar Bottom, Lake Iowa and all the Cedar Rapids area courses (and I think it's better than all of these). Several holes are unique, unlike any I can recall from playing about 150 courses in 22 states. When it comes to "fun factor", this course really nails it.

Although there are a handful of holes here that will definitely challenge the best pro players, that's less than a third of the course, so it's still fair to say that overall this isn't a "championship-level course". Most holes are reachable by intermediate-level players with 320-ish driving distance, and the longer holes are not very technical (except for 12 long).

Since it's a really new park, there are still some amenities that are in progress. It's not equipped with decent bathroom facilities or drinking water, although there is a portable john. I think they underestimated the amount of parking needed...probably should be doubled. Where the creek banks are vertical, some access points for disc retrieval would be helpful, but I can understand there might be feasibility and safety concerns. These cons don't have much affect on my rating which is based mostly on the course itself.