First off the course stays out of the way of pretty much everything else going on in the park. It's a very serene and quiet course, but no less tough.

Comparing the open holes against the wooded ones, the woods are definitely better, but the others still have plenty of beauty and some treelines/OB to make them tougher. Long, sweeping par 4s on 7, 13, and 16 are really nice additions to the wooded masterpiece. The mix of wooded/open and left/right turners is darn near perfect.

To get a good score you'll need to be good at multiple shots. 2 is a forehand hyzer, 11 and 14 need a good backhand, and 9 and 15 require a laser-straight shot.

The big takeaway for me was placement. To challenge for birdies on the par 4s your drives needed to be in a specific zone. 10 needs to be to the right of the trees in the fairway, 12 has to be almost all the way to the left side of the fairway off of your drive, 16 can't be stuck behind the trees on the left, and 17 needs to be at the mouth of the tunnel or your birdie is gone.

Several holes play on bluffs, so going off the fairway or coming into the green too hot will be punished pretty badly by skipping down a long hill or into a deep ravine. The fairway danger is present on 10, 11, and 15, and you'll find fast greens on 5, 10, 11, 14, and 16.

Tunnels on 4, 9 and 15 make for a bad time if you get off the fairway, but if you stick to the middle each is a good birdie chance.

1, 2, and 3 are kind of beginner holes, but I'm not against having easier holes at the beginning of a round.

Hole 8 is a simple anhyzer or flick, and 18 is just a sad, short way to end an otherwise excellent course.

The tee signs aren't much help. They're more of a playground doodle with distance markings than an actual map.

The walks from 8 to 9, 12 to 13, and 15 to 16 are longer than normal. But they aren't "long" as much as they are annoying. And you have to double back on 8 to get to 9.

Hole 9 is on the very easy side of a par 5. If you don't go in the rough it's an easy 4, but it is a very thin fairway... so I see why they did it but I would still call it a 4.

There is so much good about this course that you'll forget the negatives very quickly. The quality and difficulty are excellent, the upkeep is superb (the mowers were there cutting grass which was already pretty short), and the setting is fantastic. I would go so far as to call this a destination course. If you're ever in or passing through Des Moines, make the stop, you won't regret it.

Walnut Ridge is a great course, that features a number of tough holes and a lot of versatility. There are long and short tees on almost every hole, as well as multiple pin positions on most holes. The tees are concrete and there are tee signs on most holes. The baskets are in fine shape.

The park is grassy and has a lot of trees. Event the holes that are mostly open will have thick rough if you stray too far from the fairway. A few holes have mild elevation change.

There are open holes with good distance, and wooded holes that have many trunks and branches dictating a very well defined line. Either way, the drives are going to be demanding if you want to set yourself up for looks at birdies or at least be set up for pars.

I liked hole 4, which is protected by the canopy of trees. It isn't a low ceiling, but you do have to shape the shot and maintain some accuracy to stay out of the rough fringes and get near the pin. Hole 7 is a long one, and offers a long downhill run. A lot of open air, but if you miss to the right you may have to search through tall grass and brush to find your disc. 10, 11 and 12 are all in the woods and have more of a tunnel feel to them. Varied distance and directional throws that have narrow gaps and tough outs if you leave the fairway. 13 is also a long one that has plenty of open air, but still enough trees so you need to place your shots strategically to get par. 14 and 15 get back to the alley through the trees, with 15 being a long hole that offers a narrow passage from point A to B. I liked the 90 degree dogleg right on hole 17. I threw blind and overshot the turn by a long way, landing a pace away from the road. A nice sidearm flick gave me a perfect skip that snuck in the back door and gave me a putt for 3, but I missed it. 18 gives one last good opportunity for a birdie to finish the round. Reachable and straight forward, all it takes it a good line that is straight and low enough to avoid all the trees.

The grass was plush and green, but had quite a few spots that were still marshy and holding water from the heavy rains in the prior weeks. Not only was the mud thick, it smelled pretty bad.

There are one or two tee signs that were gone. The layout is pretty funky, with a few long walks between holes. Definitely grab a screen shot of the map or print one out.

i would say this is a top notch course. It makes great use of the land, and presents a fantastic challenge. If you are more of a novice the short tees will make things a little more friendly.

I shot a 67, which is about 3 over par I think. I would like to have a few more rounds here and see what I could do with more familiarity.

I like to judge a course on signature holes. The ones you remember after you haven't played there and stay fresh in your mind. Every single hole was a great hole and I would say it would be hard to pick some out to be signature holes because all of them are great. The worst hole on the course would be a better hole than some entire courses I have played. Holes 7,9,10,15, and 17 stood out the most to me. There is multiple tee pads for every hole except 5 I didn't see but 1 pad. From looking at the signs it appeared that each hole at multiple placements. It's a course that rewards smart play. You get an advantage if you can throw far but I felt like that balances out because you don't want to land oiutside the fairway. The fairways were fair, I didn't see any "plinko" where you have to throw and pray to get tree love. I thought the holes were very balanced to left hand/right hand backhand/forehand.

A few tee pads were missing signs. I didn't see a course map at the entrance. I got turned around trying to find holes 4, 9, and 16. Some next tee pad signs would be very helpful but I still figured it out.

I would give this course a perfect score if it had slightly better signage. I loved this course. I would not skip this course if you are in the area. It is also good enough that I would go out of my way to make a stop here to play again.

-Located in a beautiful park alongside Sailvorville Lake.
-Ample parking
-Water fountain on site
-Multiple pads and baskets
-Tons of long holes (a plus in my opinion)
-Fair variety of shots (tunnel, dogleg, downhill etc)

-No access in the winter
-Park closes at dark (no glow rounds)
-Bugs can be bad at times due to the course being along a body of water

A must play in central Iowa. Advanced players are going to love this course. Not all that beginner friendly. Rounds here are going to be 1.5 hours alone and 2+ hours in a group so you better be ready for a big afternoon!

Challenging shots.
Very well kept and groomed.
Wooded and non-wooded holes.
Offers 18 holes.
Easy to navigate and find the next hole.

Mosquitoes can be bad on the more wooded holes.
Easy to lose discs on some holes.

I've played this course 3 times now and every time, I have greatly enjoyed my time. The mix of challenges and obstacles on this course make it very fun to play again and again. I will continue to play here many more times.

AWESOME! This course had it huge park lots of space. Holes for everything. At 500ft hole in the woods with a 50ft fairway dead straight. Teepads great, signs great, you new where to go except for 3-4 but i figured it out. Amazing course design.

The walk from 3-4. Sometimes park was closed but your a disc golfer so figure it out.

I played course with the con in action and i was by myself huge park, i fell in love with disc golf all over again. This course is great!

Has a nice out in the country feel to it, while still having the manicured aspect of a city course. Dual tees on most of the holes which can give lesser skilled players some relief of an otherwise long layout. I like how the flow transitions from open to wooden, back to open and then wooded again. Lots of parking available and actual restrooms at the first tee. Advanced/Pro level players will really enjoy the challenge from the nearly 8000' course from long tees.

Can be frustrating trying to find your way around if you're not familiar with the layout. At my last visit there was no map at the kiosk by hole #1. Some spots where the walk between holes is ridiculously long and you can get steered off course easily. Closed for part of the year. Undergrowth in the woods can be thick if you end up in there (hint: try not to end up in there). Woods can be dangerous, particularly if you get deep into them, as there are some steep drop offs. Poison ivy too. Couldn't get to Hole 9's long tee due to flooding. (The short tee is challenging enough though).

Quite possibly my favorite Des Moines area course, if not Iowa course. A trip to DSM simply isn't complete without a trip to "the Nut". Some locals might put Ewing Park above WR as their favorite, but I've found the placid nature of this very challenging course to be much more addicting, as I enjoy trying to keep my disc out of the various trouble spots. The wooded holes on the back nine can be esspecially brutal and punishing on you if you're not precise. I almost call the wooded areas here 'roach motels' for discs, as you can get into them very easily, but it may be hell getting them out. For all its challenge, there's very little elevation here and no water hazards. You can see the reservoir off to the right of Hole 3, but if you can put one in the drink, you're playing the wrong game.

This isn't a course you go to on your lunch break (although you could play around the first 3 holes if you wanted). Bring yourself some water or Gatorade and some snacks for this one as its going to take awhile, and unless you have someone spotting, expect some time looking for errant throws into the woods or tall grass. If its humid or there's been recent rain, bring the bug spray and long pants. Not far off of I-80/35 if you're passing through during the open months (May through September) and definitely worth the stop.

This course has it all.
- Cement tee pads
- Multiple tee pads
- Long holes
- Short holes
- Par 3's, 4's & 5's
- Open holes
- Wooded holes
- Water does kind of come into play on one hole.
- Restrooms
- Vending Machines
- Practice Basket
- Plenty of parking

Close for 3-4 months of the year. You can walk into this course if you want while it is closed. Signage could be a little bit better.

Walnut and Pickard are the two best courses in the Des Moines Metro area.

Challenging, Lots a different shots required, Woods and more open holes, Decently taken care of.

Can be confusing at first. Closed for a good chunk of the year. A couple of blind pins and missing tee signs make for a lot of guessing.

The tunnel shot is one of the best holes in all of disc golf.