Not a lot of ground over like you often find in Des Moines courses, which I always find to be very unpleasantly full of burrs and chiggers. The front 9 are very similar to what you find in the Pacific NW, with lots of trees and not much brush. Very, very pretty. Long holes. You hit the back, and it's super fun to really let loose. Folks were extremely friendly, and even at 2pm on a Saturday, with a tourney in progress no less, the traffic was light not heavy.

Tad difficult to navigate the first time without asking for help, and the weird deal where you have to walk back up the hill for the second hole pad is still a thing. There still doesn't seem to be signage with a course map at the beginning. At least that we could find.

I just really liked this well maintained, varied course!

+ Super clear signs
+ Good tee pads
+ Front 9 has this very dense, wooded feel to it and the back 9 is more expansive. Sort of feels like two courses, but not in a bad way - just like a change in personality halfway through.
+ Several long holes, several runnable holes.
+ Elevation used well.

- Baskets often tucked away or far enough away that not visible in the least from the tees - makes positioning of drives a bit of a gamble if playing the course the first time (#5 would be a prime example).
- A couple holes had no clear lines or windows - somewhat of a throw and pray feel to them.

Fun course, one I will definitely play again if find myself within 30-45 minutes of it.

There were tee signs that helped you find the basket and the next hole's tee pad. Large variety of shots. The front nine is heavily wooded with some really cool tunnel shots. Then the back nine is totally different and open and the last two holes were both 650+ feet. A lot of the holes used the trees really well and has very cool layouts like a tunnel across a street into a backboard of trees for the whole.

Not too many. We had trouble finding one or two of the wholes even with the tee signs because there were some many trees. The front nine could get really frustrating with all the trees.

This course is pro caliber. There are more than a couple holes that stretched out 600'-700'. The course also provides a good variety of holes. There are A and B pads for every hole, so you can go through and play two different games (although the B pads were consistently longer). The course is half wooded, half open. There are a number of uphill, over the hill, and downhill bombs. There are some short (<280') tight shots.

This course only lacks water as far as amenities. Unfortunately this course is very well known, so it was packed when I went (April 1st). This is one of the more exhausting courses to complete. It's very long and very hilly. #18 was hard to find. It's a long walk from #17, toward hole #1, past the long, uniform row of bushes. The bushes were flowering purple. We just allowed the locals behind us to play through, and we followed them to the #18 teepad.

The best elevation change I've ever seen in a course

-Two nice concrete pads for each hole
-Easy to navigate, especially with a map
-Very nice park, nice surrounding neighborhood
-Very clean with garbage cans and port-o-potties at the parking lot
-Front 9 wooded holes are pretty excellent
-Back 9 has some very long stuff
-Cool basket placements, 3 placement variety

Elevation changes are not great, but the course works with the terrain very well. It feels like a little bit of a longer walk, and some holes are very long (I think 18 was 720' and had trees surrounding). But great course and worth the trip.

Definitely worth traveling to, a great course. The front 9 is awesome. Its a very balanced course with a lot of variety. Drove out from Colorado, and I wish it was closer.

First half of this course is in a nice wooded area and the second half is more open and longer holes. There is some really good elevation use, protected pins, random trees, left and right shots, and long and short holes. The front 9 makes the most of this. There is a bathroom and a few trashcans. There are some nice tee pads and great tee signs here. Navigation is not too bad. Water is available on #8.

There is some walking between some of the late numbered holes. A couple of the holes should be par 4's in the longs. The back nine is a lot of a straight throwing holes that can get repetitive.

All in all, this course is one of the best that Des Moines has to offer. The fun factor here was really good. There was enough to keep you motivated hole by hole. I would play this one again upon returning to Des Moines.

-Lots of variety
-Very few conflicts with other park uses
-multiple tees on each hole
-Good, descriptive signage
-logical flow
-

-inadequate restroom facilities (porta-jon)
-some holes stay sloppy after a rain event
-Safety issue with #1 (see below)

On Des Moines' southeast side resides a huge city park. The portion used for the course has no other active recreation uses, so disc golfers can throw to their hearts' content with no fear of hitting another park-goer. With the exception of Spring, when the park's considerable number of lilacs are in bloom, there is little else to bring non-golfers to this section of the park.

The course has two distinctive personalities in its looping 9 design. Each 9 starts and returns to the park lot, which is a very nice feature for a course of this length.

The front 9 rambles through a more heavily wooded area that is actually an arboretum, containing many different species of trees. The lengths of each hole are quite appropriate for the tightness of the fairways. There are a few legitimate par 4 holes available. My only knock is #1 when the basket it set in its longest or shortest positions (there are 3 for each hole). When set long or short, the basket will be within 40' of Indianola Road, which is a fairly heavily trafficked street bordering the park and you are actually throwing toward the road.

The back 9 starts with the signature #10 which features a huge, open downhill drive to a circle of crabapple trees that surround the basket. This sets the tone for the rest of the course, which is quite a bit more open and long, but still requires control of the disc to get it where you want without hitting strategically placed obstacles.

What the front and back 9s share is a nice rolling topography that the course uses quite well. Each tee features two substantially sized concrete pads and very good, vandal-resistant tee signs that graphically show the shape of the holes with accurate distances to each pin position. What's missing is a system of communicating which position the basket is in as it's not always apparent from the tee.

Overall, it's a fantastic course. Challenging, varied and fun to play. Some minor improvements and a simple re-design to #1 would bump it a half-star. Adding better restrooms and some on-site concessions would put it in the 5-star realm.

This is one of my favorite disc golf courses I have played. It has a great variety of hole types. You can practice your skill shots on the front nine, where you play through a lightly forested area where mature trees are the main form of vegetation. The back nine starts to open up and there are multiple 600+ foot holes where you can bomb your drivers without having to worry about losing them. Multiple tee pads make this a great course for beginner and advanced players.

The course can be swampy in the spring in a few spots on the front nine.

This is a beautiful course. Definitely a must play if you are ever in the Des Moines area.

-2 sets of tees and 3 sets of pin locations per hole. Good thing about pin location; go by R,W,B and they pick one of the three for all holes so its still relatively easy to locate.
-Nice variation in everything; distance, amount of trees, elevation.
-Very scenic.
-Not too high of traffic for nice course in bigger city.
-Water pump after hole 8(?) for a refreshing drink.
-Park is big and has other things to do.
-Not alot of places to lose discs.
-Easy to navigate to next tee/hole.
-Nice cement tees.

-Par is debatable. Par 3 for 600+ hole? It may be 3 on one of the other locations but not on that pin location.
-I dont have any other complaints. This is a great disc golfing experience.

-18 holes and a big park make for a long round with a lot of walking.

Awesome scenery. Wide variety of shots. Fair test of your playing ability. Nice signs and easy flow. Some memorable holes.

Wet areas mean no mowing and tall grass in places.

One of my favorite Des Moines courses