Pros:
What to Expect - Water Works is the gold standard for free to play public park courses in the Midwest. Though showing its age, the original design and continual upkeep make this course a gateway to the west destination course for almost any bagger. It still holds up against all of the litany of courses in the area. Expect beautiful views, moderately wooded to semi open bomber holes, and tons of steep hills. Water Works will test your shot shaping, distance control, and your ability to survive the hills.
Amenities - Large well loved city park with ample parking, two practice baskets and several benches and small trashcans throughout the course. No modern bathrooms (only saw a single port o john near the parking lot). Only water spigot I saw was adjacent to Hole #1.
Tees/Signage/Baskets - Single set of tees for the course, large textured concrete built up in a lot of areas to aide against erosion. Still in very good shape for the courses age. Large course Map Kiosk with all relevant information, well worn and probably in need of replacement, but still a good source of information. Tee signs show all 4 possible pin locations on each hole complete with Par and distance. (only knock here is lack of anything indicating which pin position the basket is currently in). Tee signs were a little confusing the day we played as the KCW open corrogated plastic tee signs were still all over the course, but some of the pin positions were moved. Baskets were DGA Mach X in great shape (even though they don't like catching low left or low right) lol. Next tee signs spread throughout the course but not on every hole.
Design - Course designers saw a change in elevation and squeezed every inch of it out 18 times over. You will bomb downhill throws, have to control uphill throws, and try and land side slopes all over the course. There are problematic trees on every hole and utilized extremely well. The more open bomber holes have a tree or two either in your direct optimal line or guarding the safe optimal approach to green, or both. The more heavily wooded holes force low ceiling, tight gaps, or winding fairways that require precision to navigate. Definitely get to empty your bag out and use everything here and you don't ever get the feeling of repetitive holes.
Signatures - Many players who come here will point to several different holes (Hole #1 the big bomber hole, Hole #4 with the beautiful Terrapin Station shelter and the Peace Sign Rock green, Hole #14, Hole #17 and the Arrowhead made of rocks around the pin, etc) as their signature hole. For my group it was Hole #1. The view, the landscaping around the tee, the massive daunting downhill Par 3 to the long pin position. Having no idea what disc to throw being our first time there, the nerves of tons of players getting out of their cars and getting ready to play right behind you. Realizing the course may still be set up in the Pro positions from the KCW Open and that you may have to play all the longs with your noodle arms and old knees and back. lol #1 was definitely the Hole that stayed with me after wards.
Extras - Make sure you use the bathroom before you start your round, as one of our group found out while playing Hole #5, it is a long, long, long way back up the hill to the port o john. Take a moment to rest and take in the beauty of the course, you'll need the breather on some holes for sure and the course is quite pretty.
Cons:
Trash - This is a big pet peeve of mine. Despite multiple small trash cans on most tee areas there were just endless piles of beer cans and bottles all over this course. The trash cans that did exists were overflowing and food wrappers were getting strewn about by the wind. I usually try to pick up trash as I play and toss it after the round but my grocery sack was full before I even left Hole #1 tee pad. Broken glass bottles were an issue as well and I had to keep an eye on my dog to make sure he didn't cut himself.
Flow - Some very unintuitive transitions between holes that other reviewers have mentioned. In some cases this is aided by next hole signs, but these are not well placed and can easily be missed, especially if you are playing to an alternate pin location and unfamiliar with the course. After Hole #1 we proceed straight to the tee pad in front of us, which happened to be Hole #8's tee and confusion immediately set in. Took a while to find Hole #2's tee as U-Disc was not much help and the course map made us think we were in the right spot (as Hole #2 tee is just on the other side of the tree line we were at almost adjacent to Hole #8's tee).
Pin Locations - While I love courses with multiple tees and/or pin locations, a common fail among them is the lack of pin location indicators at the tee. First time players are forced to spend far too much time trying to find what pin position baskets are in, especially for blind shots.
Erosion - Erosion is a pretty big deal here because of all the hills and slopes. It makes walking the course mildly treacherous, leads to wet spots after rain, made using a cart harder but not impossible.
Busy - This is an extremely busy and well used course. Expect backups and groups piling up on you as you play. We played no a Saturday afternoon and there were cards on practically every hole.
Variety - This course is pretty much all Par 3's in most pin positions, I can only remember one Par 4. This I feel holds this course back from being a top tier course. While the course is very good at a lot of things, this hurdle shows what the course is not.
Other Thoughts:
Bucket list course in every sense of the word for what I would consider a non-championship level course (due to lack of long two shot par 4's and any par 5's). 4 stars is about as high as I am willing to go on public park courses but this is the gold standard for what park courses should aspire and rate themselves against. The nostalgia, fun, and challenge this course provides is enough for it to hold it's place in my top 50 courses, but falls short of courses in the likes of Idlewild, Eagles Crossing, and Mahr Park for me personally.