- good quality baskets with numbers
- good quality tee pads
- tee signs have mostly all the info you want
- good use of elevation
- good variety of distances ranging from 150 to 700 feet
- nice variety of both tight technical holes and long open holes

- navigation can be a bit confusing at some points
- several holes play along a rode that can be somewhat busy
- a couple long walks between holes
- a few holes feel very poke and pray, no real line

Fun city park course with a good variety of shots but the course could use a redesign or at least some navigation signs.

-Concrete Tees, nice and large
-Good Baskets
-Challenging Layout (Ups/Downs, L/R, alternate lines, Open, tunnel)
-Decent Signage
-Good Map
-Good amount of benches (especially after a climb)
-Nice tribute to disc golf legend

-Strange Layout, map necessary
-Rec players will be gassed after #4, 5, 6, 7 and 8
-Plays more of a Front 8 / Back 10
-Needs trashcans / pickup of trash 9 (especially bad on 1-8)
-Never found teepad for #16 (as others have mentioned)
-Some areas could get very slick when wet

Becky Zallek DGC is a tribute to a local legend of disc golf and located in Prospect Park on the north side of Des Moines, IA. The course breaks down into a front 8 and back 10. 1 is a tunnel with 2 and 3 open. 4 plays over the stream. 5 is a climb. 6 is on top. 7 is a descending hook, 8 plays along the edge of the creek. 9-18 play mostly flat on either side of road with 16-18 between the road and the river. Each hole has a name, which is interesting. A copy of the map is a must, especially for 1-8. While there is much variety, the hills on 4-8 can get a novice quite winded. The back 10 may get a tad boring for the more seasoned players. A few holes have alternate tees and there appear to be up to 3 basket locations for some holes. The front 8 wants to be a championship course with tough lines and terrain, the back 10 wants to be more of a decent, park setting course more for novice to mid-level players. The tribute by the Des Moines Disc Golf Club is good, but the identity problem, the trash problem and potential slip hazards make it fall short. There are several courses I would rather play in the area, but would potentially play again here.

Amazing baskets. If every course had these, no one would complain.

The layout makes pretty good use of the elevation.

Decent scenery.

Some really fun woods holes with interesting shots to consider.

Only way you would likely lose a disc here is if you overcooked one on one of the last couple holes and threw it in the river. Most of the course your disc is safe.

Any golfer I asked for guidance about tee locations was happy to help.

The first two holes are the hardest on the course. Starting out with two Par 4s is not a good idea IMHO. Especially when neither one really has what I would call a fairway. Creating actual fairways on these first two holes would help this course immensely.

Terrible flow. Big hikes between several holes made worse by the worst aspect of this course:

BAD to NO SIGNAGE!!! So many times I would be scratching my head trying to figure out where the next box could be.

Fell off one of the tee pads twice. Slippery pads that I bet would be rough in any kind of wet weather.

Garbage, garbage, everywhere. To the point where my Dad was hypothesizing that the course is located at an old dump. IF those hills are really built on garbage, hmmm...

Tough, tough course for small arms and beginners like my Dad.

Even intermediate players will likely struggle a bit from even from the short tees.

Several times that I smelled some funky aromas. Kind of like garbage. Hmm.

Sketchy park with one homeless camp sighted back in the woods as well as lots of people gathered in the park, homeless or not, with Covid-19 going on. Saw a few sketchy characters roll by, one of them with a sweet whip and 20-inch spinners who drove on the wrong side of the road to avoid my dad's errant toss. Wherever you are dude, thanks for being cool!

This course could be nice if it weren't for the smells, poor flow and lack of signage. Could be fun on the right day with the right crew I suppose, but I won't be back soon with so many other jewels to explore in Des Moines' disc golf crown.

PLEASE, PLEASE CREATE REAL FAIRWAYS ON ONE AND TWO.

The scenery!! Up and down through large old river trees. Than playing along the river itself to finish. Good baskets. Decent signage, Plenty of parking. Good use of elevation. Multiple pads for most holes. Each hole had multiple placements. It seemed like it was setup very forehand/lefty friendly, but a lot of the baskets had placements so that it can easily be a balanced course. Lots of tight lines.

The front 9 was very clean but the back 9 had lots of trash all over the course. There was a lot of tiny tree stumps that I tripped on and more than once I twisted an ankle. A lot of the holes you couldn't see the basket from the tee pad and the signs didn't have Indicators of which placement the basket was in. Some of the holes had a little too much "plinko"(lots of small trees along the fairway), It wasn't enough to make me not want to play again though. Some of the fairways could be a little more fair if a few small trees were removed.

This is the type of course that the more you play, the better you will get at hitting lines. It's also the type of course where if you play clean you should place well in a league or tournament. A lot of places where shots can go wrong. The rough can be punishing here. The river holes you can kiss an errant disc goodbye! The trash and stumps hurt the rating but could easily be improved with some course maintenance. Same with the plinko. I love this course despite the negatives and would definitely play it again. The scenery was amazing, while playing the river holes, two groups of rowing teams paddles up and down the river. Plus this would be a good place to practice in the wind with I can imagine decent wind coming off the river.

Excellent variety of shots. Forehands and backhands are required for a successful round here. Baskets are very nice and don't spit out. Fantastic use of elevation changes.

Many circles are reachable from the tee, but you could also be punished with a bad kick. Some open holes on the back portion as well as a 700+ ft bomber before a tight tunnel hole and then a picturesque downhill shot.

This course is absolutely perfect for a round of match play.

Small parking lot is about the only issue. Still a work in progress so some benches and signs would be nice (this course is so new I really knock this yet). One could say the 16 and 17 are boring but in my opinion you can't have it all. More than made up for by the rest of the course.

Not a long course but it does have a few longer holes you can take out the drivers on. Needs some time to grow in and take shape. BZDGC really adds something different to the already stellar Des Moines courses. It's perfect for a fun round with friends (especially if they aren't advanced players). I'm giving it a 3.5 for now but after a few years of more TLC it'll easily be a 4+. The mix of a shorter overall length and wooded + open holes makes it unique among the already stellar Des Moines courses. HATS OFF TO THE DES MOINES CREW!!!

Fairly technical.

Fun use of the woods (all but holes 2, 3, 16-18 use or along the woods; i.e., not completely in open if I remember correctly.)

While there are some technical holes, a lot are fairly short so they are still birdie-able which will make games fun and interesting. This also keeps it somewhat accessible for beginners. Even if you smack a few trees you'll likely be able to approach to make par or bogey at worst

The above make it unlike any course in Des Moines area.

Still in progress. No signs, still appear to be cleaning up and manicuring so to speak. I wasn't sure where the 16th tee pad was - ended up playing from a square pad that was really close to the basket and it felt like cheating.

I wasn't overly concerned about the sketchy locale....I played mid day with a buddy and felt safe... but should probably be mindful.

I think this will be one of my favorite courses and the use of the woods make it unlike any others in Des Moines.

There are some water hazards. 3 holes are along the river. Couple other chances to get wet.

***UPDATE: fyi, played yesterday(Monday 1/9) and my buddy had his passenger window knocked out and bag stolen. The sketchy locale issue is unfortunately real. This was between 3:00-4:00. Let's help keep an eye out for each others cars. Thank you to the other disc golfer that gave us a heads up.

Also there are a lot of signs of work being done since I first played this. Going to be a great course.

- Awesome equipment! Boasting concrete pads and state-of-the-art Mach X baskets, Becky Z offers what could arguably be called the most advanced disc golf course in the state, certainly the most advanced in Des Moines. (With respect to equipment, that is.) Another plus is the fact that many holes have long and short tees as well as alternate pin locations (some as many as three) that can make it feel like an entirely different course.

- Well rounded! Winding its way up and down the hills and through the woods set along the Des Moines River, this course is technical to the extreme. It gives you opportunities to air it out on several holes with both drivers and mids, but a big arm will NOT get you birdies on most holes. Hitting your lines as you carve your way through the very tight fairways is an absolute must if you want to shoot par or below here. If you fail to hit your line, trees and their subsequent kicks could have you rolling like a phat blunt all the way down one of the many steep hills or worse, OB into the creek or the river, leaving you wetter than your girl's Levi's when I light up my Sketchers. However, she gives you opportunities to redeem yourself in the form of a few short ace runs and ridiculously fun downhill shots. In short, Becky Z has a little something for everyone.

- Technical! I know I said it before, but it bears repeating: Becky Z is FULL of technicalities. (Not sure I'm using that word right, but you get my drift.) Between the tight woodlands (which are straight-up North Carolina, by the way), numerous water hazards, blind uphill shots, steep drop offs behind the baskets, and deceiving fairways that end abruptly which you can't see from the tee, you must put an absolute premium on accuracy here. If you want to know if your game is ready for Steady Edd, Jim Warner, and W. R. Jackson at the IDGC down in Appling, Georgia, Becky Z would be an excellent way to put your skills to the test here in good ol' Iowa.

- Close to amenities! If you want a snack or a frosty adult libation during your round you don't have to travel far. The course is set between Hickman Road and MLK Boulevard (both major 515 thoroughfares) and it won't take much out of your tank to go scoop up some refreshments.

- Beautiful! Play this course in the fall and guaranteed you fall in love.

- Sketchy locale. The city wanted the Des Moines Disc Golf Club to build a course here because of the illegal activity and somewhat unsavory characters that have called Prospect Park home for a while now in the hopes that more traffic will drive out the shenanigans. While it's getting better every day it's still a pretty risky place to play by yourself or, God forbid, glow. As of this writing I wouldn't play there without a squad or packing unless you got something on Deebo's 40, homie.

- Navigation. They made the best possible use of the land when designing this course, but the layout - specifically the march between holes - can be a little ambiguous. The walk from 4 to 5 is a little wonky and from 15 to 16 is a bit of a hike across the road. Not terrible, but if you're playing this course for the first time by yourself (which I wouldn't recommend anyway!) you may find yourself a little frustrated if you don't have a map handy.

- No topless Hooters girls frolicking along the #8 fairway.

Becky Z at Prospect is a brand-spankin'-new course in Des Moines dedicated to a local legend (Becky Zallek #9388) who passed away too early from cancer. It was conceived, designed, and put together with the tenacity and love of many, many local Des Moines players who take a lot of pride in their community, both city and disc golf. As any new course does, it has some rough edges to smooth out - I was going to call not having benches or trash cans a con, but dang...it's not even done yet! - but in a year or two this course will either meet or exceed the standards that have made Des Moines one of the true Meccas of disc golf in the Midwest, if not the country. But even so, if you find yourself passing through Iowa's capital anytime soon, do yourself a favor and check out Becky Z...I guarantee it will not disappoint. I'm giving it a tentative 3.5 now, but that's damn good considering baskets were just installed last week. I'm betting this will be a 4 to 4.5 very soon and it's only going to get better as the years go by. Becky Z is gonna be a true gem in the Des Moines disc golf scene...just like her namesake.