Beautiful
1 Helpful / 2 Not
Pros: Loved this course for its beauty and scenery.
It is very established so clear fairways
and the rough is not too bad.
Cons: Had trouble finding correct lot - follow the sign to the Day Use area. The nice guard at campground helped us.
Other Thoughts: Great course. I want to go back soon!
1 of 3 people found this review helpful.
Nice course, showing a little age
9 Helpful / 1 Not
Pros: -Concrete tees
-Good mixture of holes (distance, open/wooded, left/right)
-Multiple pin locations
-Decent use of area / disc golf only area of park
-Decent signage (with a bolt showing which location at the moment)
-Good marker signs pointing to next hole in areas
-Some benches
Cons: -A few missing tee signs
-Some benches in sad shape
-No trash cans (may have been to closed facilities at park)
-Only 1 hole marked a Par 4, all others a 3
-No 9 hole hole wrap around (Hole 9 ends at other end of area)
-No map at the start (although maps easily found online)
Other Thoughts: Sugar Bottom Recreation Area DGC is a moderately skilled course that is part of the Coralville Lake area and overseen by the Army Corps. A good mixture of open/wooded, right/left, up/down/flat holes throughout the 18 holes gives good interest without being so overbearing as discouraging to the recreational player. A somewhat unique sign with a bolt indicating the current location of the basket (with up to 3 locations for some.) There were at least 3 missing tee signs, though and some of the benches were in rough shape. I did not see any trash cans, but this may have been with the facilities closed (due to COVID-19.) I like the Prodigy baskets, as they caught well. Especially for a rec player, like myself, all but one being a Par 3 seemed a bit harsh. A couple of those are more a 4. The pars and the somewhat degraded aspects (missing signs, sad benches) keep this from a higher rating. Would love to see a little love put in this course to bring it back to glory. Overall, a fun course to play. I will play again.
9 of 10 people found this review helpful.
Bras on the back 9
2 Helpful / 5 Not
Pros: It's a free course that they keep generally well maintained. There are a few holes that are fun to throw through and you can really let #18 rip going downhill. Nice mix of trees and open holes.
Cons: No signage to tell you where the pin is located or the next tee box. A number of times you had to backtrack to get to the next hole. Not having signs you had to walk the course to find the pin you were throwing to. Lots of underbrush and narrow paths.
Other Thoughts: Course is in need of a remodel as it is really starting to show it's age.
2 of 7 people found this review helpful.
One of my favorites
0 Helpful / 6 Not
Pros: Good variety of hole types. half is in forest and half is open. makes it easy to only play 9 if your in a rush or a beginner. Very cool scenery. Always awesome and friendly people around. parts of it make you feel like your on a hike. plenty of other activities to do in the park. Highly recommended!
Cons: Not a whole lot to complain about. Tends to be quite busy so you may have to wait. No water hazards, which can be good or bad. holes in the open area sort of overlap, so if its your first time you may be a little lost on what basket your going for. Some blind shots with with thick foliage toward the end, ive seen many people searching for their discs.
0 of 6 people found this review helpful.
Very Enjoyable Course
0 Helpful / 3 Not
Pros: Nice mixture of open and wooded shots. Very good use of the terrain. Very enjoyable and quick course, was able to finish in just over an hour.
Cons: I did not bring a map, so I did get turned around a couple times, getting from 3-4 and from 16-17, if you have your phone snap a picture of the map in the case at hole 1.
Other Thoughts: I definitely look forward to playing this course again.
0 of 3 people found this review helpful.
Fun
0 Helpful / 5 Not
Pros: The course was well marked, good mixture of hole placements, not too crowded, decent length, benches or something too sit on at every hole, people nice to get along with that u run into, we had a guy join us at the begining that was just practicing his throwing at the bgining of the course, and nice mixture or open and wooded
Cons: muddy and buggy but that really is expected in Iowa lol
0 of 5 people found this review helpful.
FUN!
10 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: - Very nice park, with a great mix of open and wooded holes. And they're not all grouped together either, which is nice. A few open, a few wooded, a few open, a few wooded, etc. Most of the open holes are on undulating fairways, and not at all flat. Very well-manicured.
- Completely dedicated to disc golf in this part of the park. Very close, however, is a beach, bathrooms, and shelters. Also a very extensive biking/hiking trail.
- Trash cans here and there on the course, as well as benches.
- Plenty of parking, easy to find and start. Kiosk at the course start, with a map and scorecard pinned inside. You can take a picture of the course map if you'd like, but it's really not needed. Good signage for navigation, even though the layout is pretty obvious.
- Fantastic concrete tee pads and tee signs. Signs have movable bolts to show pin placement. Each pin has distance listed on the sign as well.
- Multiple pin placements on each hole, most have 3, a few have 2, and a few have more. Definitely adds good variety. For what it's worth, I talked to some of the caretakers in passing on the course. They mentioned that traditionally the pins have been changed 3 - 4 times each year, but they're going to try to be out to change them monthly. A course like this with so many pin options deserves great attention like this.
- I played a mostly longer setup today, and as would be expected it does seem as though it plays 3 or 4 strokes higher on a longer setup.
- #1 is a great opening hole. Plenty of room, but not overly easy.
- #4 is a long, wider tunnel shot that still requires very straight drives and approach shots.
- #6 is really the first encounter of a 'tight' wooded hole. Nice, small gap to hit right off of the tee.
- #10 is a wicked blind shot from the open fairway, hard left into the woods, with the pin 80' back into the woods. Cool design.
- #11 is a great downhill hole through the woods and across a dry creek bed. Not particularly hard to three, but probably decently hard to deuce. Great terrain.
- #18 was in the short position on my play-through, but I do enjoy long finishing holes, especially when they're not completely wide open. As if to say, "Whatcha got left in the tank son?"
Cons: - Looks like some holes can probably get wet and stay wet after a bit of rain. Was also extremely buggy the day I went. Some other players mentioned that's not uncommon.
- The course did get very busy on the Saturday morning/afternoon that I went. A few very large groups at that (8+).
- Erosion around most tee pads.
- Not particularly impressed with #7 or #8. Fine holes, and not many other choices. Just a nice reprieve I suppose.
- I saw some, but not a lot of poison ivy on this course. The conditions are perfect for it however.
- Graffiti on quite a few signs, including plenty of male genitalia. Boys will be boys I suppose, but it's really quite unfortunate for a course of this caliber.
Other Thoughts: - Aside from dealing with the bugs (which I assume is mostly seasonal) I really enjoyed my time here. Definitely worth a stop, and I will be returning. Right up there with Shaver Park for my favorite course in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City area.
- Great shot lines and unique shots at every turn. Still areas to air it out and let loose too though, which is always great.
- Some easier holes, but none I would call 'gimmes.' Just reprieves.
- Not the most difficult of courses or layouts, but much more enjoyable to play than many, while still offering a solid challenge.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful.
excellent variety
2 Helpful / 0 Not
Pros: This course is a very well-balanced course, in almost all respects. Densely wooded and scattered trees. Some short some long. Left, right, and straight holes. Uphill, downhill, and flat. Great variety.
Most holes, other than #10, have two or three basket positions and they are frequently moved. Only one set of tees, except for 14 which has a recently installed rubber pad for a long tee. There is OB road which is a factor on holes 17 and 18. A small creek (usually almost dry) can come into play on a couple of holes, and several holes have fairly thick rough so sometimes there is a reasonable penalty for going off the fairways. There are two legit par 4s (14 from the long tee and 18 in the two long basket positions) and two that might be borderline par 4 (9 and 16 in long positions) but its not hard to get 3s on these so some probably would consider them tweeners.
The disc golf area is segregated from the other park uses (which include hiking trails, a beach, a campground and a top-notch mountain biking trail network). Except for league nights or summer weekend afternoons, the course is not heavily used. Great location to get away from the daily stressors.
There is drinking water and bathrooms near hole 1, but they are seasonal.
Cons: The road into the course closes during winter. It's possible to hike in during the winter but round trip that adds a couple mile to your walking.
The quality of some baskets is suspect. Hole 3 is frequently wet when the reservoir is high, and sometimes closed due to flooding. Hole 2 has the most horrendous poison ivy patch (behind and left of basket) I have ever seen.
There are a few short holes that are heavily worn and need redesign IMO, but they are locked in by surrounding holes and a neighboring mountain bike trail, so I doubt much can be done about that.
Other Thoughts: Given the location near a network of coves of a big reservoir, it is regrettable that some of that land could not be used to create some more dramatic OB water hazards, but the water level is always changing and there are other park users in those areas so it is not really feasible.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
Sugar Bottom Rec. Area
0 Helpful / 3 Not
Pros: -Well maintained park
-Good tees and baskets
-Easy to follow, the signage is good.
-Good variety of holes in and out of the woods
-Benches on almost every hole
-Multiple pin locations
-Quite challenging, especially 18
Cons: -Seemed like there were a lot of throws that cut hard to the right, but that may have had to do with the pin locations on the day that we played.
Other Thoughts: This park is worth the trip out there. I very much enjoyed it and would go play again!
0 of 3 people found this review helpful.
Good Not Great
0 Helpful / 3 Not
Pros: Well maintained with concrete pads and maps with alternate pin locations. Nice variety of wooded and open/hilly holes.
Cons: Some of the open holes seem to lack challenge in not only shot shape but length. Some holes have been known to flood in the past rendering them unplayable.
Other Thoughts: All around a nice course that can present a challenge but isn't too much for beginners at all.
Also there's something I like about courses ending with an extra long hole like 18 at Sugar Bottom, don't know what it is though...
0 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Hole #12 (Taken 6/2009) 
1 
9/20/2020 
9/28/2020
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