* Challenging but not too bad
* Tees are all concrete or mats
* Good, new Innova baskets
* Great scenery
* Great shade

* Geese crap everywhere
* Some holes have needless water (peninsula hole)
* Map hasn't been updated as of 9/1/17 since they redid the course spring '17
* Can be confusing where you're going
* Pedestrians come into play if you're not super great

I loved playing this course, and just skipped the water holes. The PDGA released a map for the '17 Masters, but it's not entirely accurate for the standard player (they moved some tee spots, etc.). Wish there wasn't so much geese crap.

Tee Pads
Near downtown
Layout

Flooded fairways and baskets (early-mid season)
Goose droppings
Can be crowded/lots of pedestrian traffic

I live very close to this course and play here frequently, especially when the water levels come down.

nice large concrete tee pads. course has a lot of long and short holes. easy to navigate course. challenging holes when water is in play.

goose crap on holes is really bad. some signs missing but tee pads do face the hole. prone to flooding from heavy rain or spring snow melt.

Overall i really like this course have played it many times over the years. Its a nice long walk as you walk around the course. plus with the first tee on the other side of the ball field it gives you a chance to warm up and throw some warm up drives as you head to the first tee. a chance to work on some long drives as well as some control shots when you get near the water.

Nice layout, fun course to play. I would defiantly play it again when it's not so wet. Even though both days we played it rained. But it was still fun.

Lot of water hazards. WET WET WET. It is right next to the river and when it rains its stay wet for awhile. Lots of goose crap. In fact they had flyer about e coli and the goose crap.

i liked the layout of the course, minus the geese crap and on a dry day this course would be pretty great.

-This is a beautiful very well manicured park,
-great mix of shots, long and short, left and right fade.Good differing range of holes.
-mostly wide open fairways with minimal trees in your way.
-great DGC for all skill levels
-if you like going in the water for discs you'll have fun here, ive pulled about 100 out of the water here over the years. i found 13 in an hour last year.
-cement tee pads
-nice tee signs throughout the park
-Innova baskets
-a nice pole course is next to the regular basket course

-No elevation changes
-Can get very busy and crowded in the summer
-sometimes picnicers lacking all common sence lounge right around the basket ( ive seen this happen so much over the years).
-this is a policed, non-alchohol park.
-lots of people lose discs here to the water, but its easy to play it safe if you like to.
-several of the later holes 12-18 are prone to massive goose crap piles everywhere
-the park does flood a couple times a year, not that often

This is the best park in grandrapids, my personal favorite in GR. This was one of the first parks i ever played and it has remained challenging and fun over the years.

Great Park! All the tee's are cement now! The first few holes are nice and open and is perfect for long drives!

A few holes are water holes, which i am not a fan of. Skip holes 13,14,15,16 on windy days to save urself some money Some non-disc golfers that you need to watch out for somtimes, but its not a big deal really.

Play this park 4-5 times a week, and love it! Also an old pole course there, some of the poles and tee sighns are missing but, overall its fun to play with some friends!

Logically flowing course around the whole park.

Open, yet a bit more than a mere pitch and putt.

Generally not too crowded.

A great place to bring beginners, especially on the front nine. Experienced players can score well below the course par.

Water hazards require risk-reward assessment and good throw selection.

Holes are fun and satisfying.

Open front nine (I'm thinking 3-5 especially.) are a good place to try out new throws and discs.

Water hazards. Unless you're very conservative with your throws, you're likely to lose a disc at some point.

Goose poop on 12-16. Bring a towel.

If it has rained in the past few days (and in GR it most likely has), some holes will be downright unplayable, especially 15, 16.

My go-to course in GR. Always worth playing. Have always found a friendly crowd while playing there. Don't bother to play in the spring unless it has been uncommonly dry or you don't mind skipping holes in the back nine.

Nice long course, easily navigable. Course encircles the park, and a group can spend a whole day playing this course twice.

Flooded for most of the year. Beginners often throw in the water, require a "brave soul" to retrieve. WAY too much goose crap on hole 15.

Not too many people besides golfers occupy the course. Sometimes people fish near the basket or picnic near holes 13 and 14.

- Port-a-potty in parking lot, drinking fountain on the back nine.
- Lots of risk/reward water holes on the back nine that offer a challenge not found on most other GR courses.
- Goose poop point (hole #15) is a rewarding hole that will test your mettle.
- Just a pretty course and a great location in general.

- Quite a few missing/vandalized/inaccurate signs.
- Front nine is mostly wide open. Drive, approach, and putt... if it isn't windy, there's simply not much challenge involved.
- No elevation changes at all.
- The normal drawbacks of playing at a popular all-purpose park.
- Flooding and overcrowding are a big problem.

Riverside Park, as the name implies, sits on the banks of the Grand River. It's a pretty park, but the river makes the course quite unpredictable. I'll break down the conditions into four categories:

1. Winter = Snow. And lots of it. This may or may not make the course unplayable, depending on how hardcore you are.

2. More than half of the holes are completely underwater about 25% of the time. Ice jams and frequent spring rain are to blame. The basket at hole #1 usually shows the high-water mark for the season.

3. Another 25% of the time the water level will have diminished enough to make only some combination of 13, 14, 15, and 16 unplayable. Hole 15 is usually the first hole to go underwater and the last to dry out. The pole course nearby (Riverside South) is often helpful in these cases since you can make up missed holes there.

4. 25% of the time, the weather will be perfect and the ground will be dry. Everyone knows when these times are, and this is when everybody is at Riverside Park. You'll have groups of 7 players, 4 disc throwing toddlers, and 3 dogs clogging up holes for hours at a time. Runners, joggers, walkers, and bikers create constant traffic on the path that winds through the course. High school cross country teams practice on the front nine. Medieval reenactors (both the geeky high school types and the 35 year old men whose costumes are waaay too elaborate) often conduct battles around hole 13 and 14. You'll frequently have people fishing in the fairways of holes 15 and 16. Concerts are held in the open area at the 17th and 18th holes. Are you starting to get the picture? This is by far the busiest park in the city when the weather is nice.

If you don't mind waiting and observing all the pedestrians doing pedestrian things, then you'll have a good Saturday afternoon here. Otherwise you're best off coming when the snow is on the ground or when a couple of the holes are underwater.

UPDATE 10/2009: The parking lot has been repaved and there are now teepads on all 18 holes. Teeing off on an even surface makes a big difference; I'm extremely happy that this situation was remedied. I've increased my rating from a 3.0 to a 3.5.

Great use of water holes. If you're afraid of loosing a disc in the water, then don't play. Very nice park and has a nice up keep. The front 9 are never crowded and there isn't much chance of hitting anybody. Don't have to worry about loosing your frisbee in deep rough or leaves.

People galore in the back 9. Sometimes have to skip hole 13,14,15 because, of playground and non discers. IT can be frustrating. Hole 15 is always covered in goose poop and therefore named "goose poop island". Can't play all 18 holes early in the season since baskets 1, 8,9,10,11,15 and 16 are underwater and, launch pad for hole 2 can be underwater. Not to mention in the heat of summer, that pond can stink something fierce.

IT's a fun course to play with some interesting shots and some questions you have to ask yourself. To throw or, not throw over the pond? A little bit long for beginners but, deffinately able to play without too much frustration. Not many people like it because, of the water holes but, I think that they give the park it's characteristic.

this course is great for the one just starting with the wide open holes.

half of the holes were underwater due to the river over flowing. The park is nice but there are some people that may come into play.

the majority of the holes are well kept and feature interesting obstacles and challenges that make for a challenge, but are not so challenging that a novice will be utterly overwhelmed.

There are several holes that become flooded with only a little water. the course also seems to retain water, remaining muddy for a fair amount of time after rain. There are several holes that are incredibly difficult, right next to water or een crossing water. It takes more than my two hands to count the times Ive been forced to go swimming in these ponds.

I like this course. If you do not feel like risking your discs, you can easily continue along the path, and go right ahead to the next hole.

Fun, Scenic, with nice variety of holes (short, long, obstacles, wind sometimes), mature trees, water comes into play on several holes (most pronounced on holes 13-16).

lost discs in the water is always a problem, floods in the spring to make some holes underwater, frequently crowded on sunny weekends both with golfers and pedestrians/picknickers, some signs in need of repair.

Concrete tees on 1-9, 12, 13, 18, rest are dirt. Another older, shorter 'pole course' is located on the south side of the park near the 17th tee (see other review)

UPDATE: July 7 2009: New concrete Tees were installed on all the holes that were previously missing them, which improves the back 9 by a considerable margin (if only the signs could now be replaced/fixed)