Space For More?
12 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: -Concrete Tees
-Baskets OK
-Use of elevation and creek add interest
-Nice map at start and at Tee #7
-Cool Covered Bridge
Cons: -Several strange transitions between hole / next tee
-Pads just a little small
-Four missing tee signs (#1, 5, 9 and 10)
-Seems space for a full 18 in this park
Other Thoughts: Centennial Park hosts a decent 12 hole DGC in the central part of Waukee, IA. A multi-use park, the course mostly plays away from these activities. Hole #1 does play along the outfield fence of one of the ball fields, A very errant shot right on #5 could have a playground in play. The big thing to note here are the odd transitions between holes here. From #1 basket, you have to follow the rest of the outfield fence to the north end of the park. #3 tee is almost halfway back down the #2 fairway. #3 to #4 tee is a long walk past a small parking lot. #7 and #8 play on a section of the park on the other side of creek, if you're not paying attention, you might just end up at the tee for #9. The other big I thought I had while throwing here was that with a few adjustments, you could easily add enough to have 18 here. It would, presumably help the transitions as well. Baskets here catch OK, but are showing some age. With a couple of blind tee shots, a few longer holes, it gives some challenge, but is still accessible for a novice. It is a nice city park and would be above average without the missing signage, smallish tee pads and transition issues. Fix these and I could see a 3.5 here. Not a bad option in town, would play again.
12 of 12 people found this review helpful.
Several safety hazards in a mediocre park.
4 Helpful / 1 Not
Pros: Nice tee signs, concrete tee pads.
Most variety of the area courses, plus an additional 3 holes. Most challenging of the 9 holers in the area.
Trash buckets at many tees.
Some water in play.
Cons: Hole's one and 2 have a baseball field in play. Hole 3 played far too close to a very busy road. Hole 5 throws directly at a swing set.
Hole 9 had no fairway and the tee sign faces the wrong way. a right handed person can throw an insane hyzer bomb and hope to be high and long enough to miss the ravine.
Hole 10 was missing tee sign
Flow got confusing towards the middle. Especially when you have to cross a creek with no clear way of crossing, just remnants of the base of an old bridge.
I drove around the course 5 times looking for hole one. I finally gave up and started at hole 2. Then I saw a group walking up my fairway. I had to stop and wait for them and I realized they were coming from hole one. The walk from hole 1 to hole 2 has you walk over half of hole 2s fairway.
There must have been a large event recently because the course was littered with lights, generators, porto-potties and other temporary obstacles all over the course.
Other Thoughts: This is the busiest of the area courses. The later holes were more challenging, but still nothing special.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.
2 Helpful / 3 Not
Pros: Nice park setting
Nice variety of hole lengths.
The information on the signs that I could find was very useful.
Cons: Very, very difficult to navigate. Print out a map and carry it with you.
The sign on #9 is backwards. Turn around a look for the basket in the opposite direction.
Many holes are missing signs.
Many baskets are not marked with a number and most are missing a flag.
The Friday night football crowd parks all over the park. After a rainy Friday night, the parked was a mess (trash and tire tracks all over)
Other Thoughts: The layout of this course is really bad. If you are a local and have played it a few times, I'm sure you'd enjoy the course, but playing it for the first time, I got really frustrated.
2 of 5 people found this review helpful.
Nice and clean
4 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: First of all this park is very nice and clean. It makes it easy with trashcans on nearly every tee. The park is also very well maintained and in great shape.
Secondly, the signage was decent, not great, but decent. The signs give you an accurate representation of the hole layout, distance, and pin placement.
The layout itself is unique and fun. Hole 4 has a basket right next to the creek. Which, the creek is no serious threat of being a disc eater. You can go after your disc anywhere along the creek. Hole 5 is also neat as you play beside the creek throughout the hole and have to throw around the big, red covered bridge (which is also unique to this park). Number 8 is a blast. It is a wondrous down hill throw that is perfect for RHBH throwers. Throw a couple from here! Number nine is an extreme dog leg left around the trees and the creek. Another fun hole for sure.
The park was full of friendly people. It was not too crowded but others were out on playgrounds nearby (there are bathrooms too) or walking/riding on the park trail. Nice people, nice area/neighborhood, nice park.
Cons: There are some minor navigation issues here. For instance, when you finish number one, you have quite a walk to number two tee. It is visible, but a good distance away. Same goes from number two to number three. It is pretty smooth sailing from holes 3-6 & holes 9-12. However, after hole six go over the bridge to find holes 7-8, then back over the same bridge to get back to nine. Nines tee box will be close to number six basket. Once you get to nine you will finish fine.
A couple baskets (3 & 10) are close to the road. I never felt like it was dangerously close though. Not a major deal, I don't think.
Other Thoughts: This is a really nice park and a really nice area right next to Waukee High School. It is definitely worth the 10-15 minute drive from central Des Moines.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
Working on Driving
3 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: -Long holes to work on driving
-Not to busy, will be able to throw more than one disc if just wanting to practice
-Really clean facility
-Well mowed and hard to lose a disc unless thrown into the creek
-Good use of the creek on hole 4,8, and 9
-Very nice signs and tee pads
Cons: -Signs don't have the par on it or where the next hole is
-If you haven't played there before you are searching where each hole is.
-Some throws are dangerously close to the road if you have a bad shot or wind is carrying the disc
-Hole 1 you're most likely to throw it into the softball field because it is so close.
-Not enough trees to use as obstacle for challenging shots
-It is all straightaways on 8 out of 12 holes
Other Thoughts: Very good course to work on your driving. When I go there I will throw a couple of discs because you have a chance to better your drives. It is right in the heart of the park so sometimes worried about hitting other people or cars driving through.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
Redesign me!
3 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: -Good signage
-Decent sized cement pads
-Nice Baskets
-Good length and variation of length
-Elevation on a few holes
-Creek comes into play on a few holes
-Some more open bomber shots with just a few carefully placed trees in the way
-Bathrooms
-A lot of other courses nearby if you are planning a road trip
-Even with the hazards it is unlikely that you lose a disc
Cons: -They could have used the creek and hills a lot more. I liked a few of the holes but many were just ok. The layout is pretty average. I would like to see more done with this decent piece of public land.
-Could be busy in the summer
-Paths and sport fields near the course. It is also on school grounds so that may present some issues.
Other Thoughts: The directions that I followed from this site lead you to the start of hole 7. Also, hole 7's basket is labeled 8 for some reason. This is fine because the course eventually loops back. This is a course that I found fairly fun but couldn't help but think of what could have been. It is worth a stop but don't expect the greatest challenge except maybe on some of the longer holes if it is windy.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
bummer bro
4 Helpful / 1 Not
Pros: It's a disc golf course. The red bridge of madison county thing is cool. The creek is fun to shoot around. Cement tee pads (if you can find them) not all pads were marked
Cons: ROCKSTARVALKYRIE said it best... Weak layout! Really bummed they didn't take advantage of the hill and creek combo a little better. Don't be fooled by this being called a 13 hole course, it isn't. There is no hole 5 and the last hole is 12 on the sign. So call this a 11 hole course. It's long, and there are no ace shots. The baseball field fence gets annoying. Not all tee pads are marked.
Other Thoughts: The guy who designed this course was having a bad day when he came up with the blueprint. You had a gem of a piece of land, but the layout and flow is lacking something. Epic fail.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.
Every time I play I swear it will be the last...
4 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: Well maintained, hard to lose a disc, there a few fun holes otherwise its just average
Cons: The layout is a little weak especially the hole 1 to hole 2 transition, there isn't a hole 5 that I've been able to ever locate, the baskets do have numbers on them and I've walked to every basket and none of them say 5, it goes from 4 to 6 so not sure if this is a true 12 hole or not because of that, windy b/c it's on the edge of town so on non windy days this course can still be windy enough to affect throws
Other Thoughts: with a few tweaks they could make this a really sweet 9 hole but the layout could use a little adjusting, some cool features like a covered bridge and a creek that winds through out keep it a little interesting, one of my least favorites in the Des Moines metro area
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.
a walk in the park
4 Helpful / 1 Not
Pros: Centennial Park has great DGA Baskets, 12 of them, and nice, big concrete tee pads, too.
The signs that exist are good enough.
Some holes don't have signs. More on that in Cons.
Lots of parking.
You could start this course from 3 places (holes 1, 5 or 8).
Its a good course to learn on. Intermediate players should enjoy honing their skills here, but more experienced players may not be challenged by what Centennial has to offer.
The fairways are pretty well defined with the possible exception of the longer holes (2, 3,7) where its just so very wide open.
This course is fun to play because its relaxing and easy to traverse.
The most memorable holes for me are:
Hole 5: Doglegs around the covered foot-bridge and over the stream.
Hole 9: Downhill shot through a tree-line, all while avoiding the stream.
Hole 10: Dog leg has you shooting under trees and over the creek.
This park is really well maintained; mowed often. The plentiful garbage cans at the tees keep the litter down, too.
When the season is full-on, there are restrooms at holes 1 and 8.
Cons: The signs are lacking. Hole 4 was removed a few years ago when they installed an culvert for the small stream that flows through the park (which, by the way, improved the sogginess of holes "5" and 6 greatly) but was never replaced. Hole 5 is also unmarked for some reason, as are holes 10-13, but they are newer (added in the end of 2008, I think).
The layout could be better. There are a few long walks between a basket and the next tee that are so long they almost could almost put another hole in, from 2 to 3 especially.
Many of the holes don't have too much to offer: Straight shots, flat terrain, medium distance and few or dangerous obstacles like softball fields that are very often in use.
The brush and undergrowth around the stream on holes 9, 10 and 11 can get pretty thick and nasty. I try really hard not to go in there. I've found three disks on hole 9 (all unmarked).
There can be heavy pedestrian traffic on the playground equipment found on holes 6, 7, 8. I've seen players skip holes 8, 12 and 13 because of kiddy sports team practice.
Other Thoughts: I think adding 5 more holes to make Centennial a full 18 is a real possibility and a good idea.
As is, the course is fun without being super technical and frustrating and a good place for beginners to get a feel of the sport.
I think redoing the signs would help many new players.
After you've played Centennial once its easy to find your way around for your next round.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.
Fun Little Course
3 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: - Fairly wide open course
- Good scenery with a covered bridge and creek running through
- Not many trees to get in the way
- Concrete pads are nice
Cons: - No signs on some of the holes
- Current signs looking pretty weathered
- Some holes run a little close to baseball/softball fences
Other Thoughts: It is a fun little course and I have been playing there to practice since I am very new to disc golf. Close to my house and I can go there and get in a round in around an hour typically.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
Join Disc Golf Course Review for free to add your review. Have an account already?
Sign In to add a review.
1 
8/30/2014 
8/30/2014
Review By: Dsjoats 
This review was updated on 9/14/2014
Report this Review