The course has some major elevation, but you are not just throwing up and down a hill, but rather onto other "hills within hills," where a hump in the fairway may slope in a different direction than the fairway itself. For most putts you will be putting on a slope, creating the kind of risk/reward decisions from 30 feet out that make courses interesting. Each hole has at least four basket positions, so I doubt you could get too tired of the course. The signs, some of the best I've seen, graphically depict the locations of the various positions. There are no real filler holes here, and many holes make you consider the trees you are throwing under, in addition to the elevation. Your second shot will be key here. If you can land your disc flat within 20 feet of the basket, you're fine. Otherwise, watch your disc burn rubber downhill!

On a couple holes the basket was not visible from the tee, and the signs were not helpful in figuring out where the basket was. Course flow here is okay, but you'll probably need a map your first time. Several times I couldn't figure out where I was supposed to go next, and that fact that two temporary baskets are in use didn't help. One of those temporary tees has you throwing a blind shot right over a park road, and you can't see if traffic is coming up the other side of the hill. Only one hole here was kind of boring (maybe #14? It was just a straight shot to a basket in the middle of the fairway with no trees or elevation factoring in).

Otherwise, there aren't many cons, just slight things that would make it a 5-star course. I don't believe there were alternate tees, so I'm not sure how challenging this course is for a very good player. There are no technical wooded holes or water holes (which obviously might not be possible here), so while each hole is fun, they're all of the general type "semi-open and hilly." I'm stretching to come up with things that could make this course better, but really, it's that good.

I can't imagine this piece of land being used for anything else. You couldn't really play baseball here, it wouldn't be ideal for a picnic, and a game of horseshoes would be comical on these hills. It was a park made for disc golf. This is a model for course creation in parks, and if you're in the Midwest, you owe it to yourself to play here. I will happily make the drive from Omaha again.

Great use of fariways, trees, obstacles, and elevation on most holes. Really makes you appreciate the good shots and kick yourself about the bad ones. Good workout.

Sometimes the elevation is too much if you do not have a backsaver strap for the bag. Just when you think there couldn't be another hill, theres an even bigger one.

only one flat hole. Threw a putter which i normally only throw under 125 on a 250 foot hole and almost aced it it was so far downhill. Another hole location is down that hill and up 150 feet the other side. Crazy varyation. Holes 2 and 3 are blocked off for the summer. Take the orange cones after hole 12 on the hill peninsula shot and re-tee on hole 8 after the short tee for the long one (down that hill and up the next, you'll see it).

Great course, excellent use of elevation. Great placements, and beautiul lines. Alot of birdies out there and easy to navigate. Great risk reward shots and beautiful land. I can easily see why this course is rated so high and also why alot of folks consider the best in KC. The league was a bunch of awesome guys and the night I went 1 awesome woman. The winning round was -10 and that is a great score at anywyhere and very hard to hold on to at this course.

Getting "water worked" legendarily vicious tournament rolls. Didn't happen to me but I saw a few really nasty ones (90t+) in the few rounds I played there.

This is my second favorited course in KC so far, with WYCO, Cliff drive, Blue Valley and swope under my belt this time around (and subsequently nearly no family visited
A must play in the KC area.
The course in currently under construction and there are two permanent placements that are gone but are replaced two challenging temp holes.

This is one of the best courses I have played. This place has tunnel shots, risk/ reward, elevation, wide-open, moderate woods, OB, great pin placements, and beautiful scenery. Actually this place has just about everything except water. It is called Water Works, because of the water treatment plant just down the slope from the park. The view of the city from this park is very nice. The old trees immediately give you the feel that you are playing some place special. The big rolling hills are a real elevation enjoyment.

There are no filler holes here; I enjoyed every hole. The multiple pin placements are great. I had a great local guide, Fred Smith, play with me and show me all the pin placements that we did not get to play. They were just as good as the ones we did play. I just want to mention a few of the highlights that stuck in my mind. Starting the course off with a long down hill shot is a great way to open the first hole. The risk/reward of having a disc go left on #4 and possible going off the edge down the slope to the Water Treatment Plant was a real thrill. It looked really steep and scary; I just loved it! The tunnel #6 was a great run to the basket with sloping danger on the right. The old tree woods feel of #7 was so cool. I actually took a little bit of time to really take in the many different routes that could be taken from there. OK, now that I started, this course obviously has a ton of great holes. I won't bore you with too much of a hole by hole reviews. I will say I also loved the little bit of everything that #18 had. I really hope they never remove the old fallen down tree that is near one of the pins here, because it really added to the hole.

This park looked well maintained and was in beautiful shape considering it has rained here the 2 days prior. The message board was great with maps and scorecards available. The tee signs were a real treat. They had everything you really needed on them. The cement tee pads were fantastic and that entire area had lots of attention paid to it on each hole. I found there to be adequate parking and good use of trashcans as the park was very clean.

There were no bathrooms. Umm, I'm done.

The Fun Factor was as good as it gets. As soon as we finished, all I wanted to do was to play it again. I wanted to throw multiple drives on every hole. The greens were fun to putt at considering the surroundings. I can honestly say, this is a must play course that you should find time to get to in your lifetime.

Great course! My wife and I played this yesterday and we loved every min. of it! Like previous reviews said it is hilly! We are from St. Louis and the course reminds me of Sioux Passage but with a few more trees. Everybody we ran into was very friendly and helpful.

The only con is that there are no bathrooms. We did not see any not even a Jonny on the Spot.

Bring plenty of water since you will get a great workout walking up and down all of the hills!

Great distance from tees to pin, good obstacles with trees and hills a course you will want to go back and play again. Parking right next to hole one, flags on pins so you don't have to search for them easy to navigate.

HILLS! A lot of walking up and down steep grades, other than that nothing bad about it.

If you have trouble walking not the course for you.

Water Works is absolutely awesome. If I could pick 1 course to play every day this is the one. This is a must play. This course gets a top score for fun factor.

There is plenty of parking near the tee to #1. There is a huge course map and score cards near the tee to #1. There is a practice basket as well.

This course has a wide variety of shot selection, distance, and terrain. Every hole has a minimum of 2 pin positions and many with 3 to 4. Elevation comes into play for the majority of holes. There are nice large trees with a few tighter wooded holes. They add challenge but you won't spend all day looking for discs.

The tee signs are great. There is a picture of the hole with distances for all the pin postions. The pin positions not in use have large PVC pipes so you can tell what position the basket is in.

The tee pads are nice and long. All have benches and nice landscaping around them. There is a bag holder at each tee. There were garbage cans all over and the course was very clean.

The course flow is superb. I did not get lost one time. There were no real long walks but the holes had plenty of room between them to avoid conflicts. Holes # 7, 8, 10, 11, & 12 give you an opportunity to stop by the parking lot.

This is not the most difficult course in the world but it is fun for all skill level players. The road comes into play on several holes adding a challenge of out of bounds.

There are several putting greens that are very challenging. If you run a putt and miss you have a chance at blowing by or rolling down a steep hill. This course will test your shot selection and nerves.

I have no cons for this course. It is a blast to play and I feel the designers utilized the land to it's fullest. Although this course lacks true par 4's the fun factor still warrants a 5 rating IMO.

Check out the links to the course walk through. The pictures on playdg.com are awesome.

Some video of parts of the course.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDLnlN26IzE

Hole #8 green.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTQEeCmMvOY

My Illinois Top 10.
http://discontinuum.org/index...1486.msg68704#msg68704

This is my favorite course in the Kansas City area!
*Layout variety- Multiple basket placements on every hole. 3 or 4 on every hole provide tremendous variety.
*Terrain- the rolling hills with scattered old growth trees are magnificent. The holes have a varying mixture of nice grass and scattered trees, but there's only one true woods holes. There are many side sloping shots with some toward OB and danger for added risk.
*Elevation variety- there are tons of up, down, cross valley, and side hill shots. Be prepared for some hiking.
*Beauty- some nice views of the Kansas City skyline in the background
*Hole 1 is a classic starting holes.

Basics-
*Tee signs are amazing with photo maps and hole layouts marked.
*Tees- very good, long and concrete

Amenities abound-
*There's a large course map at the course, a map online, score cards online, a warm up basket, a message board, as well as tons of benches and trash cans.
* Extra touches include:
-Large numbered flags on top of every basket for extra visibility
-Bag holders at every tee
-PVC pipes in the unused basket placements to make it easier to tell which layout you're playing to

-With so many basket placements it would really help to have a system on each hole to designate which layout is being used. You can tell by the tee sign, but it can take some work.
-It's hard to be really sure of the hole lengths for each basket position. Since they just had the '09 Worlds there I used the tee signs, but online sources had other information that didn't match this.
-Navigation- tee 17 could be hard find and it's a bit of a walk. Tee 18 is also a little hard to spot.
-The DGA baskets are getting a little old and worn.

Course Level = Blue (most suited for Advanced players rated 925-975)

*I may be in a minority, but I'd like to see the course occasionally set up with all the baskets in the same color layout, like all Orange or all Blue. I would enjoy the purity of playing all the same layout. It seems that the baskets are always mixed between the various layouts.
*This was one of the courses used for the 2009 PDGA Pro/Am Worlds.

Water Works is widely regarded as the crown jewel of the excellent KC disc golf scene, and that reputation is well deserved. This course is a classic that sets a standard to measure other courses by. A ton of work has been done here, and it has all of the amenities plus some special touches. Water Works is one of my Top 10 Favorites (currently #7) and a "must play" course!

NOTE: Look in the "Links/Files" section for my files with Hole-by-hole evaluations, and a more detailed Overall review. You can also read more of my reviews and rating notes at the Yahoo Group, DG Course Reviews

Rolling hills, challenging, very good use of space, fun to play, lots of different shot choices.

You should be in pretty good shape to play it, lots of up and down.

Course is so much fun to play. Well worth the 6 hour drive down to play.

Amazing course, Lots, lots of terrain change, Beautiful course with great view. Every hole has great signs and tee pads. Also bag holders and benchs at every hole.

This course makes you play with level changes and throw diff shots. Fun course and not so hard to discourage beginner but hard enough to make you have many bogey and sometime double.

No water,
No actual long par 4 or 5 holes.
Other than that great park

On the side of cliff at the old water works department for KC.

Parking is great lots of parking
One of the best courses in United States must play along with a few other courses if you stop in KC.

This course is truly special. I am a big fan of park-like setting courses and this is by far the nicest of that style of course I have played. The course was full of some of the most beautiful and mature trees I have seen on a course. There are tremendous elevation changes that make each hole unique. I didn't feel like there was a single hole on the course that was redundant. The views were spectacular in multiple places....none better than on #1---which is the most amazing starter hole I have ever played and maybe one of my favorite holes period. The signage was phenomenal. There were two signs on each hole (one with a map and one with an actual picture standing from the tee, looking straight ahead showing you the actual basket loactions). The course flowed extremely well...it took no time to find the next tee. There are wonderful, large concrete tee pads and bag hangers.

The only thing that kept this from being a 5 was the fact that to be a 5 for me (perfect) I would have liked to have seen a couple of holes with either deeper woods or some water danger. It was just lacking diversity from that standpoint.

This is a MUST-PLAY for anyone. Period.

This course has it all. Excellent changes in elevation, a mix of wide open fairways that beg you to rip a huge drive, balanced by some nicely canopied fairways that run right next to some severe drop offs, that may cause you to second guess how you play the hole. A very challenging, but not overly-frustrating course. Nicely maintained.

This course is usually a top choice of disc golfers from all over the area, so chances are you will find yourself waiting to tee off on a few holes. Also, this is not the course for you if you're easily winded, or struggling with a bad knee or ankle. There are some severe uphill, and downhill climbs that will take their toll.

Although I am relatively new to disc golf, and I've only played this course once, I can't wait to go back. Of all the courses I've played in Kansas City, this one is by far my favorite. If you have the chance to play it, do so. You will definately find it challenging, and fun.

This is a very nice course with lots of elevation changes that will challenge your game.
Variety of holes will call for a variety of shots
You have to think smart when playing this course and know when to go for it and when to hang back

Bathroom at the beginnning
practice basket
Cement pads with nice baskets
Very nice teesigns with actual pictures
Baskets moved a good amount

the only "con" about this course is how busy it is. But if you come during the right time you should be ok.
Also I don't like how my wife lost one of my wraiths..
That having been said, The REAL cons are;
only one bathroom, a good amount of trash debris while i was there.

Oh oh, I have also never been here and not seen someone "roll" down one of the hills on almost every other hole.

There are a few holes on this course that are pretty much Par at best..depending on pin placement.

Big risk and big reward on a few shots. You could be parked, or parked off of a tree to the right.
Take your time and you will do great here.

The land here is awesome. Some really rolling terrain that yields awesome elevation changes. You can really air it out on some holes and watch the discs fly with relative ease. It's fun and I love the risk associated with the 'waterworks roll' - that is, most greens are risky as they are on a slope, thus if you miss a putt and your disc stands up, the roll away may result in more than one putt back. I love this type of risky challenge. You definitely get a workout playing up and down the hills. The multiple tees and multiple pin placements keep things interesting and allows you to play at various skill levels.

Lack of complete balance. Despite some holes being in the woods, most are out in the open among the huge city park trees. There are no real holes that play underneath a forested canpoy of leaves, requiring accuracy with a tunnel shot. No water hazards. Shady park area (i mean the people hanging out in the parking lot), and suffers from being right in the city, thus city noise and traffic, and the inability to truly lose yourself.

All in all, waterworks is a great course. My personal preference is for remotely located, quiet, and peaceful rounds of disc golf. I also prefer much more wooded holes, and severely tight holes that require extreme accuracy. Waterworks lacks these types of holes. Another nice feature that would bring more variety and balance would be a good water feature like a pond that truly comes into play. If you love playing on sharp elevations and like the risk of rollaways, waterworks is for you. It is worth it to play a round if you're travelling to KC. My preference in course settings and design with absolute variety keeps me from rating this higher than a 4. I think it actually lacks variety and could only be considered a rolling course (lacks flat ripper holes for the most part too), and could have rated lower due to that. But it was very fun to play and I enjoyed the challenge.

Challenging course with mostly par 3 golf. A favorite among the elite Pros on the PDGA tour. This course winds up and down steep hills which forces every player to focus on the angle their disc lands. Alot of demanding shots that are fun to throw over and over again. Some tight deuce holes with alot of trouble and some bigger holes up and down hills. Every hole makes you think. A very nice city park and a great course to play casually and competitively.

Front 9 there are 4 or 5 holes that are pretty tight and heavily wooded. All fairways here are fair though. Holes 5 and 6 are perhaps the most challenging with steep dropoffs to one side of the fairway and some heavy trees off the fairway. Hole 1 is the most aesthetically pleasing with the city in the background as you bomb down a steep hill toward a bucket 400'+. I find Hole 14 to be my favorite to throw. Its well over 400', but you'll be surprised how quickly your disc gets down there. The fairway steadily slopes downward the entire way towards the road which curves around the 'green'. Very easy to end up OB here, but hard to let up on your drive.

Again, an extremely fun course with more elevation change than you'll find just about anywhere.

I can't think of anything negative to say about this course. It didn't get the full 5 star rating for me because its just not quite as pleasing as a Ewing Park in Des Moines, but believe me this course is right there with any course you can think of. Top notch.

Who doesn't love to rip drives up and down hills?

Amazing variation of scenery, level of difficulty, and interesting terrain. There are port-a-pottys now, and two signs at every tee. One photograph sign displaying basket location, and one arial view of the hole displaying distances. Benches and bag hangers at every tee. Water fountains and a nice staging area by tee #1. The course has trails that easily lead you from basket to tee pad. Also, there are 2 separated baskets for putt practice and several out-of-the-way open flats to practice drives. Simply the best KC has to offer.

This course will not be easy on that bum leg or knee that you may have. Almost every hole has large hills to accend/decend. Most of the trails are dirt, so after a rain, it will be sloppy, but not too bad even after huge rains.

Don't throw your green or camo discs at this park. The never-ending forests will claim them.

Quite possibly the best mixture of scenery, challenge, and variation out there. Varied pin positions make the course a fun experience that might be different from the last time you played it.

Water Works is my favorite course in the entire world. It seems like you're in a forest, while in the middle of the city. There are numerous birdie opportunities, yet numerous opportunities for disaster. Shooting for birdie here can end in a parked putt, or your disc rolling down a hill into another fairway, through it, and into the abyss.

This is the course that taught me elevation disc golf and the need to start throwing a forearm shot. A trip to KC is simply not complete without a trip to Water Works. Yes, its that addicting. For a big city course, I've never seen it overly crowded here.

Kansas City's Parks and Rec have been having budgetary problems and the park is not always maintained at the level it should. Depending on when you play here, you may end up playing a scruffy course and end up looking for your disc awhile in plain ol' grass. Parking is a bit less to be desired. No bathrooms. Not for people with weak knees or who get short of breath easily.

Installed more than ten years ago, Water Works has kept up with the time, and is still one of the most revered courses in the Kansas City family despite the fact that its been surpassed in length by the newer Wyco and Blue Valley courses. Despite its shorter length, even advanced/pro level players enjoy challenging the hills here as less arm and more finesse is what will get you to score well. Less experienced players will find a sense of challenge without it being overwhelming.

This course is absolutely stunning. You can tell when you pull into the park going straight up a huge winding hill you are in for a treat. Hole 1 starts the course off with a spectacular view and serious downhill.

The course layout if varied nicely with no 2 holes the same. Some wide open shots on serious uphill/downhill elevations, some nice doglegs, big mature trees couldn't have been planted in better spots to make for varied obstacles, several challenging corridor shots. The layout is very well done, with a clear path from each disc-catcher to the next tee pad. This course is very easy to navigate.

The park is very well maintained with nice benches, trash recepticles, disc bag holders, and multiple signs at each tee box. The landscaping is superb, with nice use of bushes, flower beds, and well-groomed grass. The sound of trains and planes make for an interesting industrial sounding environment out in a pristine forest. It's really something just to take in.

If you don't like hills you're going to have a rough time on this course. It can also be pretty unforgiving to beginners (though not terrible as the "roughs" really aren't rough enough to lose discs easily).

Of all the courses I've played so far, this one is by far the best. If you find yourself within 100 miles of KC , do yourself a favor and visit Water Works park.

Beautiful Park
Easy to navigate...very intuitive
Multiple basket placements
Incredible use of elevation
Great signage
Good cement tee pads
Great variety of holes....open big arm holes, tight technical holes, huge elevation changes, extreme risk/reward shots, strategic use of out of bounds shots
Never crowded on week days
Forces you to use a variety of shots
Benches and bag holders at tees
Very well maintained and clean

No real cons
Can be very windy in the afternoon...playing early is best
If you are a beginner or really out of shape, this course can be very unforgiving...be prepared for a good hike

I play this course every single time I go to KC
It is one of the best all around courses I've played (279 to date) and is worth the road trip to play--plus there are a number of other awesome courses in the area, so KC can be that special DG road trip you have been looking for

Water Works has been a good litmus test for me to see how much my game has progressed over the years...when I first played this course it was brutal...I got my butt kick so bad but the course is so epic I kept going back...now, even though I don't "own the course", I no longer am afraid of certain holes and par ones that were guaranteed double bogeys

Great mixuture of open and wooded holes. Excellent scenery. Nice tee pads. One of my favorite courses!

Difficult course for novice players.

I have lived in KC and have played this course many times. Absolutely love the course and is my favorite in the area.