Cliff Drive is a fantastic course with lots of fantastic features. Despite being in the middle of the city, it feels pretty secluded, with few other park features in the area and treelines blocking views of the city. At Kessler Park, you'll be throwing a lot of drives near a lot of cliffs… hopefully your disc doesn't go down a cliff.

There are now 22 holes, with plans for 2 more (see the course map). There's an official 18-hole layout, with options for several more holes if you want a longer round. The regular 18-hole layout was changed from a few years ago: old hole 12 is removed, and old holes 14 and 15 are combined as hole 14. In addition, several new pins have been installed in the last year. As a result, the course has a lot more variety and challenge while still keeping the original alignment of the best holes. The tee pads and baskets of the removed holes still exist, so there are lots of options.

In addition to the extra holes, there are extra baskets all over the place. There are approximately 34 baskets on the property, including the extra holes, practice basket, and around nine holes with two baskets each. The "official" basket is the grey one with the flag, while the others are red or blue and less decorated. You can play whichever pin you want or flip a disc to decide. I usually play the longer option unless I'm not sure the long basket actually exists, or if it's a pin I don't like (such as hole 12).

The wooded holes here are absolutely amazing. Roughly speaking, 1-9 and 18 are the wooded ones, and some of them are some of the most unique holes in the area while still being completely fair and challenging. Here are some highlights: Hole 4 is uphill with a curving fairway following a literal cliff, holes 2 and 5 play way downhill into a valley with a tunnel shot, and hole 18 is a down-and-up dogleg right. Hole 7 is an epic tunnel shot that plays through a funnel like a half-pipe. It has a long basket that would be an epic par 4, but it's overgrown so it's unplayable right now.

The open holes still have some decent variety. Since the minor course redesign, all the open holes have some hills or extreme distance to work with. Several pin placements are really precarious: hole 14's basket is under a tree whose branches block a lot of shots coming in, hole 16's long pin is on an island formed by roads, and hole 17's long pin can produce some rollaways.

The "epic value" on this course seems to be better than any other. Especially on the wooded holes, the extreme elevation makes for tons of excitement even if you're throwing off the fairway. Most of the time, there are stairs to help you navigate the hills. It is absolutely mind-blowing that holes this cool can exist anywhere and still make sense, instead of being complete gimmicks. Hole 9 has one basket placement hanging off the side of a cliff and has two completely different lines to get there.

Several of the par 4 holes are super challenging and unique. Hole 16, the island hole is one of them and is super downhill, so there are opportunities for massive shots off the tee, but with OB danger to the left and trees to the right. You can lay up for the par or go for the green in two. Hole 13 is the longest "air it out" hole, but 11 is also open and plays steadily uphill to several basket placements. Holes 9 and 18, in long pins, are fun too, but also have cool shorter placements.

There. Are. No. Tee. Signs. There used to be, but they weren't maintained and got out of date when the new holes came in. With the abundance of tees and baskets, this is a big problem, and not even the newest map can fix the issues; come with someone who has played the course before. There are a few temporary signs on some holes, but not enough to mean anything. Even just the hole number can go a long way toward helping first-timers be confident they're at the right place. I believe there are plans for new signs in the future.

This course is in a rough part of town, so some pretty sketchy stuff goes on sometimes. Avoid this place after dark. I normally like quieter courses because it means I can play faster, but this is one course I want to have lots of other Disc Golfers at, because having more people makes place safer. Trash gets dumped at the course frequently and is difficult to clean up. In the woods, weeds aren't kept at bay very well in the summer.

An old reservoir comes into play on holes 12 and 15 and is super annoying. It's technically possible to retrieve discs out of, but it's dangerous, slow, and makes for a dumb challenge. Those two holes are easily the worst holes on the course. It has a fence around it, so there's a bit of a barrier, but it gets windy up there and discs will do crazy things.

The wooded holes become near-unplayable if there has been any rain recently, since several hills get muddy easily. There are stairs or tree roots that help, but they only go so far. And when your disc inevitably goes off the fairway, good luck. Speaking of fairways, the rough can be really nasty, especially during the summer. It's not impossible to avoid, but like all courses, anyone without multiple rounds of experience won't know what the best lines are and will find themselves searching for discs annoyingly often. Hole 2 eats up discs especially often, as can kicking or rolling down hills on 3, 7, and 10, not to mention over the fence into the reservoir itself.

Because of the many holes and baskets, there are several variations available. You can play a "rain course" that includes 12A (between 12 and 13), 13A and 13B (between 13 and 14), and split 14 into two holes. That will give you the ability to remove 4-7 and possibly even a few others that become dangerous during and after rain. You can also split holes 11 and 18 into multiple holes or even make a 27-hole layout.

There isn't much in the way of amenities here, but I don't think that's a big deal. There's an oddly placed drinking fountain near the tee of 16 that I'm not 100% sure still works. There's no official parking lot near hole 1, but you can park on the side of the road pretty much anywhere and no one will complain.

This is one of the few courses I've played that can't improve from a redesign. That's not because the land is trash, it's because the holes here are just so good and cleaning out that long pin on 7 will make it even better. Signage is the main thing this course needs now, so once that's fixed, I might be giving this place a 4.5 rating. At that point, a few of the open holes (and maybe the litter and overall sketchiness of the park) will be the only thing keeping this course from a 5.

This course is truly a great course. It still has its drawbacks but is one of my favorites. Come during the day, preferably with someone who's been here before, and enjoy a super grueling round. It will be worth your time.

Elevation change. All the elevation change.

Practice basket.

Baskets are regularly changed.

Tons of options. There are more than 30 baskets on the course, and at least 21 tee pads.

Front 9 are the most technical fun in the city. 10-17 offer a lot more open shots with several bomber opportunities, and 18 is pure joy in hole form.

Excellent views of downtown KC on 13. The reservoir you play around had some excellent graffiti art... just hope you dont have to go in to get your disc.

Trash. 1, 2, and 18 regularly get trash dumped in their fairways. There's an excellent group of guys that try to stop this but some things can't be avoided.

Navigation. Most of the front 9 has obvious paths to the next tee, but the back 9 have some very frustrating issues. 11 and 17 cross paths. 11 has 3 pins, 13 has 2 pins. Going from 16 to 17 can be hard. Basically, have a map, and play the extra holes if you want.

There's an unused hole that presents some real lost disc danger. It used to be hole 12, and is still playable, but if you go too far right, kiss your disc goodbye down a 200' cliff. (Cliff Drive, get it?)

The front 9 are almost unplayable when it's been rained on. The erosion is super bad. Definitely just make up some of your own tees and play the back 9 if it's wet.

11 to 15 can get... a little dull. There's just not a lot of variety, but I won't lie, just playing purely for distance on 13 can be really fun.

Unless you're a runner, your calves are going to HURT after a round here. Lots of up and down walking in general, especially in between holes.

Lots of lost disc opportunity on the front 9.

No tee signs.

The company you'll have on the course is... interesting. For the most part, leave them alone and they'll leave you alone.

Gosh I love this course. Holes 3 to 9 are just pure joy to play. There's a ton of safari opportunity. Tournaments can be organized on just the top half if there's been rain, and I've personally mapped and played out a 27 hole round with a buddy. The scenery is excellent, with a super cool reservoir to poke around in if you have the time. It's not a high traffic course, so don't expect to get slowed down by groups. It needs some work, but the baskets and tee pads are excellent. It's also being maintained incredibly well for the amount of trash that gets dumped on it. I get so much joy out of this course that it gets an extra 0.5 out of me. I'll stop gushing now, but go play this course... as long as it's dry!

Kessler Park is a good disc golf course, that is not easy. 18 holes, and a number of them feature lots of elevation change and/or trees.

The concrete tees are huge, and the baskets are fairly good. There is a practice basket, and 2 baskets on the 10th hole, as well as on the 18th. Most of the pins were in the long position on my first round, making it a long one.

There are some very steep drop offs near a couple of the fairways, that can send a bad throw or a bounce off of a tree a long way down into thick rough. It was heavy in February, it must be a jungle in July. I was lucky to avoid it on two occasions, at hole 2 and hole 12. I didn't lose any plastic, but didn't save par, either.

The back 9 is more open, and traverses grass covered hills, with some very long holes when the baskets are in the long pins. A bit more potential to go OB also, as the road and the empty, fenced off reservoir are very nearby some parts.

The lack of tee signs and very little directional help is frustrating. There is a map by the practice basket, and hole 8 did have a sign at the box. Other than that, you get nothing.

The litter is disgusting. You could fill up 50 large trash bags and still have some work to do, in my estimation. Warden, bring out the chain gang, or offenders that were sentenced to community service. Maybe a Cub Scout troop could earn some badges. It is a mess. Not likely to stay clean even if it was picked up, which is a bummer.

There was a woman parked on hole 12, right under a No Parking sign, in a spot the put her car at high risk of being hit by a disc. In an effort to avoid that, I nearly went rolling off of trash mountain. Also a funky smell wafted across that side of the park, not totally foul, but there are other scents I would have preferred.

A high quality course that could be even better. Worth a visit to say the least. I am new to the area, and still have plenty of new courses to play here, but I will be back for sure.

The signs probably were ruined by some of the same vandals and vagrants who carelessly tossed the trash that was strewn everywhere. Would like to see some improvements in these areas, but I won't hold my breath. All the same, I did enjoy the round. Glad I snapped a photo of the map before setting out, it is not hard to get lost without one.

The first round here I scored no birdies, finishing with a 68. It could have been worse, but I liked the tough wooded holes on the front 9, and consistent ups and downs. The hills will give you a workout, and may be a bit much for anyone who has poor knees or hips, or just bad balance. My old dog managed to do it without too much trouble, but I would not want to try it after the rain.

Great use of elevation changes, wooded and open holes. Several holes made you really think about the shot, angle, speed etc of your drive selection.

When it rains - as it did in the 2009 World's - some pathways can become treacherous. Some ropes could have been useful to avoid steep, slick treks.

Played here in the 2009 World's. Kansas City probably has the best collection of DG courses in the world and this is one of the reasons why.

Has a great variety of technical and long open holes. The front 9 is where the technical shots are and these are mainly in the woods. The back 9 is where the nice long open holes are. Holes have nice long Tee boxes. Not busy at all. Only seen 1 other person playing when I've been there.

Noticed a lot of trash laying around but not in your way. There isn't much when it comes to parking though. People park on the side of the road since there is only really one spot to park and its not very big. Make sure to use the bathroom beforehand since there is no bathrooms.

Neighborhoods not as bad as it looks. It's worth playing if your in the area.

Great signage. The KC disc golf signs here and at Water Works are fantastic. Great tee boxes, stamped concrete, plenty of size. I love the fact that it's like two courses on one, Tight (not too tight) and technical, with advanced player length, and then open and bomber holes on the back 8. I hadn't seen the type of painted pipes in place of alternate tee positions before, and I love it!!! This set up is common in Kansas City, and I plan on mentioning it to a few designers in the MPLS area.

Some holes have two baskets set up, and for new to the course players, we ended up playing to a short basket when we could have played to longer ones, but since we didn't know for sure, we kept with our original shots. Garbage. WTH KC? It looked like a less desirable area, but we weren't too worried about playing there.

We loved our trip to KC to play the area courses. I told my wife if she wanted to move, KC would be acceptable for us. I plan on bringing the multiple pin position set up to the attention of MN course designers. It was easy (for the most part) to determine what hole and in what position the pin was in. I was shocked at the amount of litter in KC, here, at Water Works, and up top and down under in Roseville. I talked to a Missourian later in the week, and as it seems to be common in Missouri courses, I'd love to come back next summer and see that a local group had adopted a park to keep it clean(er).

First half of course works its way along a line of steep drop offs and trees. With skill, both can be avoided.
The second half of the course is a nice change of pace with longer open holes.
After one round, it makes since how to get around the course, even though not marked.

Definitely not in the best part of town.
No signs at the tee pad to tell you distance or where the basket is.
A few too many long open holes.

This is a very pleasing park to the eye and has a good combination of technical and long bomb holes. If you are willing to take Prospect until it ends, and then more, to play a very good disc golf course, you should make your way out to Kessler Park.

What a great course.

The first half of the course is moderately to heavily wooded, and uses the natural changes of elevation to create a technical front 9 that is, to date, the most challenging I have played.

The back 9 of this course is wide open and long. There are a few very old, and large trees on a few of the holes, and alot of the fairways run along the OB roads.

Overall, a great, great course.

This course is very steep, and rocky in some places, footing can be very tricky, and one slip while searching for an errant disc could send you tumbling down a steep, rocky dropoff.

It also sits just on the outskirts of what isn't the best part of KC. Probably not a place you want to play by yourself at dusk.

There are no restrooms anywhere on the course, and not really any trashcans to speak of. Broken bottles, and other trash are pretty abundant in some areas.

There are no sign markers to point the way to the next tee box, or distance from tee to pin. On a few holes, backtracking is neccesary to find your way to the next tee.

My only "complaint" about this course is that it is clearly 2 halves, the first half being wooded and techincal, the second half is wide open and long. I would have loved for these holes to have been mixed together.

*Tight wooded Holes on most of Front 9
*Great teepads
*Nice Tee Signs
*Huge Cliffs that can hurt you in many ways.
*Open up on Back 9 so very good mix of diff shot types.

*trash and couple homeless camp sites.
*Not the best neighborhood
*More open shots on the back 9 and all front 9 are most heavily wooded.
*Not easy to find the parking lot.

Good tuff course. Would love to try it again.

Very well thoughtout course.

Playing right next to a huge old water resevor for the city.

We

Very challenging. Has an excellent wooded/open balance to it, and flows very logically, with some of the best technical holes in KC. Brand new teepads which were poured for 2009 Worlds have made navigation issues, particularly in the wooded section much easier. Good new signage too, although I don't know how long its going to last. Players rave mostly about the wooded section, but even the open section has some clever challenges, particuarly when the wind is blowing fiercely as Cliff Drive's open holes are at one of the highest points in the city. You're often challenged to park your disc between OB trouble on both sides. The old city "reservoir" (a long abandoned pill shaped structure with no actual water in it atop the hill) can be a formiddable obstacle on a couple of holes for some. I've never found this course to be terribly crowded.

The park is in a sketchy neighboorhood (one of the tee sign/bag hangers was destroyed and another teepad was graffiti ridden). Parking is not abundant, and knowing where to park your car if you're not familiar with the course can be a dilemnia, as you want to be near Tee 1, but not in the line of fire. Depending on when you get here, it may not be mowed very well (just my luck two holes into playing the Parks Dept. shows up with the mowers). Climbing up and down the wooded sections may not be very suitable for folks with bad knees on them. Rec players may find it a bit overwhelming as there are plently of places to lose a disc. Trash abound in the deeper sections of the woods, (hint: try not to get your disc in there, as I did twice), as well as the reservoir.

Water Works has been my longtime KC favorite, and I think with more play at CD (for some reason, I'm always in a hurry to get somewhere afterwards any time I get to play here) this could possibly top that. A few more trees in the open section to tighten things up, and some better parking, would make this magnificient. Want the cool wooded holes last? Park in the same area for hole 1, but climb the hill up towards the reservoir to Hole 11s tee and start there.