A gem in small town Iowa.
5 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: -Very clean park. No trash can on every hole, but were strategically placed to be useful on many holes.
- Great use of elevation. Lots of up and down shots.
-Not too open, but not super wooded. There's just enough trees to make things interesting.
- Great shot length. This is a pretty small park, but the way it's laid out there's some long holes we weren't expecting.
- Great use of the stream. From throwing along it to baskets right up on it. If you land in the water though don't worry, it was probably less than 6 inches deep when we were there.
Cons: -No signs. There was a hole number and par painted on the pad, but no indication as to where to go next. It flowed really well, and wasn't hard to figure out, but there were a couple places that signs or at least a course map would have been nice.
Other Thoughts: Watch out for hole 12. It's a very long hole, nice and open, but there's a baseball field and basketball courts right there. One of us ended up in the outfield, and the other hit a pole to a basketball hoop. This wasn't really an issue as no one else was using the park, but a good thing to keep in mind. Also the only restrooms avaliable were by the bandshell on hole 11, and they were locked. I'm sure this was due to covid and they're normally open, but there was a port-a-potty available to be used in the mean time.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.
Good for most levels
6 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: Concrete Pads
Nice baskets
Good mixture of long/short, uphill/downhill
Minor water in play
Good parking
Cons: No tee signage
No benches, 1 lone trash can (may be better in summer)
Map has wrong location for #8 tee (on west side of shelter)
Other Thoughts: Franklin Park, nestled on the east side of Belle Plaine, IA is a nicely done DGC. The course utilizes many open areas of the park with a few jumps over/around a small stream. The elevation comes into play (especially on 14-17). While there are several other park activities, the course stays away from them for the most part. This course has interest for the more seasoned players, but is not so harsh as to be too rough for the novice. I enjoyed my round (only had to pull 1 disc from the stream) and would play here again.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.
Worth the drive
3 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: + Plenty of parking.
+ Well-maintained grounds
+ Good tee pads (concrete) and baskets
+ Mix of several runnable short holes and the rest were reasonable long holes (several legit grip-it/rip-it holes too)
+ Plenty of uphill, downhill, sidehill shotmaking required
+ Most holes were accepting of either FH or BH, though a couple were highly easier one way or the other (like that when course forces you a bit to have a decent FH or BH).
Cons: - No signage for next hole, so some minor hunting around required (we did suggest to the grounds maintenace guy they could paint a spoke on the basket to point to the next tee pad, he thought that was something they could do).
Other Thoughts: Franklin Park was on our way west as part of a DG weekend, but I would still recommend it as being worth the drive from the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City corridor.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
Belle Plaine
1 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: Well maintained
Baskets in fantastic condition (mach 3)
Great use of elevation
Small hazards (creek and tree's) requiring skill shots on a few holes
Cons: No Signs. Tee pads had hole number, par, and distance stenciled on them however many were pretty worn down.
Uneven or angled Tee pads poured above ground
Tee pads were also short and as they're poured above ground be careful not to slip off when throwing.
Other Thoughts: Over all this was a very fun course to throw. Beautiful scenery with mature tree's and the creek. Somebody takes fantastic care of the lawn out here as well. If you are in the area stop by and try her out.
Signs and a map would push my rating up another point.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
Krankin at Franklin
2 Helpful / 1 Not
Pros: Awesome TURF
+ Concrete tee pads
+ Mach 3s
+ Great use of elevation changes.
+ Hole 15 beautiful downhill bomber shot.
+ Easy to navigate.
+ Hard to lose a disc. Only one real water hazard.
+ Clean restroom after hole 10.
+ Nice shelter after hole 10 for break time.
+ Never crowded
+ Beautiful park with majestic trees scattered across course.
+ Course loops back to parking lot after hole 7.
Peaceful & rarely busy this park has something for everyone. Long short wide narrow and all in between . Though a little short for big arms there are still 4 or 5 holes to fire the big gun.
Cons: A few jagged edges but overall very beautiful.
- Short concrete tee pads play above ground with 3 or 4 inch lip so take care.
- Though signage is non existence course navigation is a breeze. See course map in links tab.
Other Thoughts: Off the beaten path with small town feel. The whole posse gets excited when we pull into Belle plaine. Don't bypass this great course.
Go have a birdie fest. It's a blast!!!
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.
A decent fast playing city park
1 Helpful / 1 Not
Pros: Mildly rolling fairways (slight elevation changes) with mature trees
Well groomed
Almost no rough
Creek running through presents only a minor hazard with unlikely loss of disc unless it is very high
Cement pads
Mach 3 baskets with numbers
Good use of space with very short walks between tees
Nearly all fairways to basket visible from the tees for safety purposes in seeing other park users
Toilets
Cons: No practice basket - but a couple of baskets are very near the parking lot with good visibility of their respective tees
No tee signs or distances - paint stenciled hole numbers and pars on the pads
Other Thoughts: Flow is logical, but with no signs it would be a good idea to have a map printed or pulled up on your phone
WYSIWYG forgiving holes without need for much shaping, shot variety, or extreme distance to score well
Would be a great course to introduce a new player
Well worth the stop if in the area especially as it can be played very fast
Perhaps worth the extra country drive time and avoidance of I-80 between Cedar Rapids and Des Moines once
-My 2.5 might look low too some, but it is a truly nice city park.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.
Solid Course, Play If Traveling Through the Area
3 Helpful / 2 Not
Pros: Good tee pads
Good baskets
Very well maintained
Fun to play
Easy to Navigate
Nice mix of short, medium, and long holes
Just the right amount of trees for a really fun round
You can score on this course
Other Thoughts: If you are traveling through the area you should stop and play this course.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful.
Hidden Gem!
3 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: This course flows very well and is easy to navigate, but a map wouldn't hurt for first timers. The course utilizes the land perfectly and makes great use of the elevation and a creek that runs through.
Hardly anyone is ever playing this course! Its well maintained, and they frequently change pin positions to keep the course interesting. More often than not, I'm the only person (group) playing this course.
Par 3's, 4's, and a 5 are included and marked on the tee pads. I always like to see that someone took the time to denote pars for the holes, rather than just call them all 3's.
Cons: Sometimes there are kids playing on equipment that comes near play on one hole (#12).
The pars marked on the tee pads are fading.
No tee signs
Other Thoughts: Holes #1 and #2 are on the other side (south) of the parking lot near the pool. They seem to be separated from the rest of the park/course.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
No Challenge
2 Helpful / 4 Not
Pros: Very well kept grass. Big park with a pool, playground and baseball diamond (although that has nothing to do with the disc golf course). The only good this course has going for it is the beauty of the park.
Cons: This course lacks any sort of challenge. Every hole is wide open with very few trees to force the shape of your shot. The whole course is built around a large hill at the park. It reminds me a lot of Jones in Cedar Rapids. It is very wide open to the point that you can see any hole from any other hole (I would consider this lightly wooded). Each hole may have a tree or two but they mostly do not affect your shot or present any sort of challenge.
There are no maps, just hole number and par written on the tee pads. First timers at this course will likely have trouble navigating to the next hole as there is nothing to direct you to it. The pars are much too lenient for such a wide open course (if par 2 existed, this course should have it).
Other Thoughts: The waterfall is anything but a waterfall. It's more like a drainage pipe for the cess-pool of creek water filling up in front of it.
All in All this course was not worth the drive out into the country as it presented no sort of challenge. Unless you live nearby, I would suggest skipping this course.
2 of 6 people found this review helpful.
A Belle of a course
2 Helpful / 2 Not
Pros: A large variety of shots needed.
Beautiful park with a creek running through.
You can jump on the course in many places.
More than one restroom, 3 if you include the pool facilities.
Not a lot of traffic on the course.
Cons: It plays LONG, both in terms of the holes and in the amount of walking needed.
Course set on a hill, lots of up and down.
The park is prone to flooding, the holes through the middle of the course can be VERY wet.
Other Thoughts: Although you can jump on in a variety of spots, don't miss holes 1&2 which are across the parking lot of the pool. Playing across the creek and then crossing at the dam is pretty cool. Steer clear of the large spruce coming down the hill, they are known to eat discs!
2 of 4 people found this review helpful.
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2-4 
7/26/2015 
7/29/2015
Review By: air show 
This review was updated on 1/9/2016
Hole #7 (Taken 5/2009) 
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