Wide Open Spaces
3 Helpful / 0 Not
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.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
Decent course
3 Helpful / 1 Not
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.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.
A couple of highlights
2 Helpful / 0 Not
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).
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
Our "home" course
1 Helpful / 1 Not
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.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.
The St. Andrews of Cedar Rapids
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.
This time I mean it. "Wide Open"
2 Helpful / 0 Not
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.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
1 Helpful / 0 Not
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.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
Future Potential
2 Helpful / 0 Not
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.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
Wide open
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
Clark Park
2 Helpful / 0 Not
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).
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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1 
8/9/2015 
8/12/2015
Review By: mgcoleman 
This review was updated on 9/30/2015
Hole #11 (Taken 8/2010) 
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