-Can be extremely challenging with the woods, drop off to the creek, and having baskets next to the drop offs making you want to throw a hair short. Makes for a skillful play threw.
-Well maintained, Tee Pads, signs, and baskets in great shape.

-A lot of very challenging shots which limits this course to the more skillful players. Not a good course of newer players still working on form.
-If it's wet its a very messy
-Several shots go over the cross country track so please be mindful of runners.

Personally I'm never a big fan of tightly wooded baskets but it is a great course for fans of challenge. Most of the wooded holes are fairly short which helps not losing discs however there are a few drop offs that can claim a disc easily.
The beauty of nature is very well shown off on this course, I enjoyed the hike.

good signs, tee pads and baskets, layout is decent, good mix of shot types, lots of fun

quite a few opportunities to lose a disc

I always love playing this course, pretty diverse hole types, worth checking out,

This course offers many different shots that will challenge LH and RH players throwing both backhand and forehand throws. This course offers open longs shots and also tight wooded shots.

It would be nice to have the poison ivy and brush cleaned up on some of the holes. It can be very easy to lose a disc on some of the holes if you throw it in the woods. the underbrush is often very heavy.

It can also get very wet and muddy if it has rained that day and sometimes the rain sits or pools.

Great course overall. Once you play it once to get the hang of it you will want to come back again and again!

Tees, baskets and tee signs are all top notch. Large concrete tees, Mach 5 baskets and signs on every tee. The signs tell the distance to the basket and the direction to the next tee; information that comes in handy in between holes 16 and 17.
I don't recall any benches, but there were trash bins at almost every tee off area.
The course map said that the Kuyper Athletic Center (just East of the parking lot) has water and restrooms and vending machines; didn't utilize.

Many of the holes, 9 to 10 of them, are nothing more than straight shots.
You get some fun technical shots on 7 to 8 of the holes.
About half of the holes are basically open with the other half quire wooded or have notable tree obstacles.
I feel this course presents a fair mix of open distance shots and challenging tight shots.

The terrain varies from grassy open parks, tall prairie grass to wooded underbrush.
On 6-7 holes there is notable elevation change, e.g. elevated tee offs, up hill approach shots, down hill putting.

I can't complain about the layout. Its a good use of the space within the Central College athletic fields. Hole 13 plays right along side 14 and 15 with only a thin barrier of trees between their fairways, but 14 and 15 are "in the woods" so you don't feel like you're playing at people.
A few of the holes (8, 12, 13, 15 and 16) feel like they have undefined fairways or are blind shots, so if you are unfamiliar with the hole layouts you might not be sure where to place your drive. The signs do what they can to direct you but sometimes it still feels like you're throwing off aimlessly into a field.

There are a few picturesque views from the first couple tees. I also enjoy seeing the neat tree-fort you play under on hole 4. Otherwise the course looks just like beautiful central Iowa.

Traffic: We saw 3 other groups that Sunday afternoon in May, for a total of 6 other.
The weather was pretty nice, too, not overly windy which is quite a treat in Iowa in the springtime.

Foliage Maintenance: Where there was grass it was mowed, but much of the course, holes 3, 4, 7, 9, 11, 14 and 15 are played almost exclusively "in the woods" so there could definitely be some brushy undergrowth issues later in the season. It was very nice in May. I played the last 6 holes barefoot because I ended up calf-deep in mud while retrieving a wayward drive from the small creek. Even barefoot I was able to traverse the wooded holes comfortably. It was very clean, to litter.




There is camping a few miles away at Roberts Creek State Park, and there's disc golf there, too!


This course is challenging and fun. I can't really drive further than 275' so making par on hole 13 wasn't really going to happen for me. I do love the challenging, short, tunnel shots and curving technical shots on holes 3, 4, 7, 11, 14, 15 and 16.
Parking is ample and right by tee 1 or basket 18.
The one group of players we interacted with let us play through wile they looked for a disc and were friendly and nice enough.
If you're driving through on 163 ,or not too far away, I'd give this course a shot.

Somewhat ambiguous sign-age on blind shots.
Tight fairways could punish some players.
Muddy water hazards.
Tall grass can hide wayward drives.
Its a pretty good car ride away from Des Moines.

I can't think of anything specific I'd change about this course and there's not a lot of reasons to rate it any lower.
The few cons listed above are merely challenges that will grow you as a player and refine your shot selection process.