Atlantic, IA

Sunnyside DGC

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3.985(based on 23 reviews)
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4 0
bobmcnelly
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 12.9 years 324 played 189 reviews
4.50 star(s)

2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 22, 2020 Played the course:once

Pros:

- good quality baskets
- great tee signs with the info you could need
- good quality concrete tee pads with a set of rec tee pads as qell
- great variety of distances ranging from 150' to 600'
- great variety of shots types to hit all the lines on the course
- considerable elevation change
- for the most part navigation is quite easy
- good basket placements that require decision making to attack the basket
- the park is very well maintained

Cons:

- navigation could be improved slightly but for the most part not an issue
- some long walks between holes

Other Thoughts:

This course is an absolute gem. In my opinion,this is what disc golf should look like. Fair fairways with big rolling hills.
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9 0
knobby325
Gold level trusted reviewer
Premium Member
Experience: 8.7 years 323 played 248 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Disc Golf Done Right 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 1, 2020 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

-Concrete Tee Pads
-Baskets are decent
-Excellent Signage
-Multiple tees for most holes
-Decent Layout in Large Park
-Good Mix of open/wooded, long/short
-Park Upkeep is good
-Benches at almost every tee box

Cons:

-A little much on elevation, especially for the novice
-Can take you near other park activities at times
-Can get busy at times
-Getting around the trees can get old after a while.

Other Thoughts:

Sunnyside DGC is located in Sunnyside Park on the west side of Altantic, IA. A long course in a large park, the course makes use of most of the park. The front 9 is mostly through an intermittent amount of large older trees with #6 and #7 more fully wooded. #7 throws across a stream for a nice shot. The back 9 has some longer holes around more of the park amenities including nearing the pool and the campground areas. Most shots, while straightforward, make you choose lines to miss the many old growth trees. Elevation plays quite a bit, but there are plenty of benches to catch your breath. Most holes have a "rec tee" box that is just as nice as the "pro" box with a tee sign on a short post to keep out of shots from the "pro" box. Signage is excellent at all holes. #1 and #9 do play near a playground, an errant shot on #16 could get you near the campground. There are a few too many shots of playing "plinko" around the trees that keep the rating down just a bit for me. A beautiful course, I have enjoyed my rounds here and will play again.
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2 9
fsaddle
Experience: 1 played 1 reviews
5.00 star(s)

top notch 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jan 12, 2020 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Everything you could want in a disc golf course. Empty your bag shots. Challenging. Fun. Well laid out. Each hole has at least two pin positions, some have three. Benches everywhere. Garbage cans on the course.

Cons:

Just play and comment.

Other Thoughts:

Cart friendly.
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3 22
LittleBigPutt
Experience: 2 played 2 reviews
1.00 star(s)

Overrated 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 20, 2018 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

It has a parking lot.
It has concrete tee pads.
It has tee signs.

Cons:

Lot's of extremely muddy areas made getting around really difficult.

No directional signs, hard to find the next hole most of the time.

Creepy old man in park was following us around.

Lots of debris throughout the park.

Other Thoughts:

Heard this park was a must play. Well I did - not worth going out of the way for.
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6 0
aphilso1
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 6.5 years 52 played 49 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Solid course off the beaten path 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Oct 6, 2018 Played the course:once

Pros:

Very nice mix of holes. Has a couple of easily reachable ace runs, a "top of the world" bomber shot, and a bunch of moderate distances in between. Very few holes punish you for being forehand or backhand dependent, but it definitely benefits you if you are comfortable throwing with both techniques. Mostly park style golf, but there are a few wooded holes thrown in that add nice variety and a creek that comes into play on a couple other holes. The park itself is in fantastic shape; lush manicured grass is abundant, the teepads are concrete and in perfect shape, and there was no trash to be found anywhere.

Cons:

A few of the shorter holes start to feel redundant -- simple putter or mid hyzer line thrown RHBH. One of the wooded holes is poorly designed (#6, I believe) from the pro pads; it's a double dogleg which seems like a nice idea, but the first angle is too severe to do anything other than layup to the corner.

Other Thoughts:

Part of the appeal of this course is that it's tucked away in a small rural town. It's quaint and peaceful, and one of those places that you don't have to worry about dealing with big crowds. Will absolutely play again. Well worth the 70 minute drive from Omaha.
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5 0
hammerhead300
Experience: 12 played 7 reviews
4.00 star(s)

City Park Disc Golf Done Right 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 9, 2017 Played the course:once

Pros:

Multiple tee pads/basket locations for most holes, so there's a ton of replay value.

The signage is excellent. The basket locations and distances are shown, as well as the general direction of the next hole. Most of the holes with 2 tee pads have a sign for both tee pads.

Plenty of variety. There are a lot of open fairways, but several holes that require accuracy and make you think about line choice. It's not treacherous enough that a bad shot could easily cost you a disc, but there are a few places on the course where you can get in trouble if you miss the fairway.

Good amount of elevation change. Holes 10 and 12 provide some really nice downhill shots.

Beautiful park that usually isn't too crowded if there isn't a tournament going on.

Cons:

As some others have pointed out, the signs don't tell you which basket placement is being used. This isn't an issue on most holes, but there are a few that you'll need to scout out beforehand.

Other Thoughts:

I played this course the weekend after the Coca-Cola Classic on a Saturday, and it wasn't crowded at all. There were only a couple other small groups on the course at the same time as us. The course is over an hour away from both Des Moines and Omaha, so while the course gets a lot of players from both cities during tournaments, I think it's far enough out of the way that it doesn't have a lot of people from those areas who play it on a regular basis.
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1 0
dickwolf
Experience: 27.8 years 50 played 21 reviews
4.50 star(s)

marked as favorite 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 4, 2017 Played the course:once

Pros:

-nice use of elevation
-fun, pretty
-nice, mature trees
-healthy, lush grass
-nice use of water features
-there is not one bad hole on this course.
this is my favorite course based on my abilities. i am not a 350+ thrower, but can get up to that. this course sits right at the edge distance wise to never punish me, but challenge me.
the course caretakers/designers have set up some obstacles on the "too easy" holes which i found to be a good idea.
course is very, very well maintained and i cannot think of a single found piece of trash in this nice park setting.
tee pads are great, baskets are fine, 99% of anything that can punish a shot is visible from each tee, so you shouldnt be surprised.
good blend of open and wooded holes, but no real "bombs" required.
fantastic property for a course and great design.
multiple tees and basket placements.

Cons:

for what i want in a disc golf course, no cons other than the uncontrollable fact that it is nowhere near anything, with no good courses anywhere near it either.

Other Thoughts:

check before you go to this awesome course for potential tournaments here. it is out of the way, so dont just show up. dont miss out on this course!!!
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2 4
kbeetdigger
Experience: 16.6 years 56 played 2 reviews
5.00 star(s)

One of the best park courses 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 15, 2017 Played the course:once

Pros:

This is a fantastic course. It has a little bit of everything. The course is a park course with cement tee pads in a well maintained, hilly park. Fairways are lined with large trees making for great lines you have to hit to score well. Multiple tees and pins. Elevation is used well. There are a few holes in the forest where lines are extremely tight. We were able to navigate it fine as first time players. This course is truly one of the best of the best, and well worth a detour off of I-80 if you are traveling across Iowa.

Cons:

The course isn't in Colorado so I can play it more often.

Other Thoughts:

We met the designer and some other locals out doing maintenance when we were playing. Truly gracious people putting together a great disc golf course.
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1 0
HabitualOffender
Experience: 9 played 8 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Great Course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 13, 2017 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

- Bathrooms open during summer
- Palatable water from fountains
- Great Hole layout
- Multiple hole locations
- Pro and Rec Tees
- Concrete Tee boxes
- Some Benches
- Great location in town
- Frequently not busy

Cons:

- Could be more trash bins (on weekends if you having a few beers you end up holding on to cans for multiple holes before you come to a bin)
- This course is a long one some holes have a good walk to the next tee
- Timber on the front nine can be punishing if you have a bad drive.
- Around hole 13 and 14 are usually city operated equipment that doesn't get moved frequently

Other Thoughts:

Great course. Not a quick one but is really worth a play though if you are in the area. Lots of mature trees on the course as it is in an older park.
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10 0
lazrman778
Gold level trusted reviewer
Experience: 13.1 years 264 played 100 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Sunnyside DGC 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Dec 23, 2016 Played the course:once

Pros:

Has concrete tee pads for all tees

Has nice tee signs with locations of the various basket placements

Has many benches throughout course

Has multiple basket placements for all holes

Has next tee signs posted throughout - easy to navigate

More open than wooded fairways with most holes having changes in elevations - which will be fun to the casual player

Water comes into play on some of the holes but they aren't really a factor in losing a disc

Has two loops of the front and back nines

Well-maintained

Free parking

Restrooms

Cons:

Safety issues - course has a few holes that play near the road and playground

Course design and flow could use improvement as there are some moderately long walks between some holes

Course can get crowded at times as it's popular with parkgoers and players

Other Thoughts:

This a nice, challenging multi-use 18 hole city course in Atlantic that I enjoyed playing on a rainy Friday afternoon. I probably would have had more fun if it wasn't raining on the day I played. First thing that surprised me was that the course had varying elevations. The elevations and the mature trees scattered throughout the course reminded me to keep my drives in control from the concrete tee pads. There is nice artwork on the tee signs but it would probably be better if there was some kind of basket placement indicator on them. There are three par 4s but I felt that hole #4 was the only legit one while the other two fell into the easy par 4/hard par 3 category. This is a well-maintained course and I can see how this course can get crowded with other players and parkgoers. Some of the holes play fairly close to the park's amenities and roads so that potentially can cause some concern in safety and delays depending on how busy the park is. Some holes had some moderately long walks in between but they weren't that bad. Other than that, it's an excellent course to play. If you're in this area, I highly recommend playing this course as it's a fun one to play.
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2 24
corngolfer
Experience: 4 played 4 reviews
0.50 star(s)

2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 8, 2016 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Well taken care of, good course for locals I suppose. Cement tee pads.

Cons:

Crowded, other people in the park made it difficult to play. Basket locations always seem to be the same. Other people using the park. Rude

Other Thoughts:

Too many park users in the course flow.
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3 10
Npieken
Experience: 8.6 years 6 played 3 reviews
4.50 star(s)

My favorite place to play around 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 14, 2015 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

challenging pin placement - they have a basket on top of a stump. might be hard to get your disc out if you are short
they move baskets often
well maintained
fun course to play
well layed out

Cons:

nothing i can think of
Once in a while there are people in the way in parts of the park
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2 8
bogeys suck
Experience: 12 years 2 played 2 reviews
3.00 star(s)

Home of the Coca Cola Classic! 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jul 6, 2016 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

Multiple tee pads, multiple pin settings which are moved often. Water and restrooms in multiple areas.
A mature city park with mature trees. Two holes (6&7) are in full timber with lots of punishment for errant shots.
Two holes (14&15) have water hazards (a small creek)
Long bomber shots will be found on a few holes. 4 & 12 come to mind first. Along with hole 10 and its OB road
The course is well designed, with a lot of thought and continued hard work put into it, to make it one of the best courses in Iowa!

Cons:

It's a popular public park and a lot of events are held there.

Other Thoughts:

Some folks have complained about a need for more trash cans There are trashcans on holes 1, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16. You may have to keep an eye out for them but they're there.
Atlantic Disc Golf League holds organized league rounds. Look them up on Facebook
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13 0
markmcc
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 11.9 years 278 played 254 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Outstanding Course 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Apr 13, 2015 Played the course:once

Pros:

This is one of the prettiest park courses that I've played. It is built on and around a large hillside that is covered with huge mature trees. There are a couple of small creeks along the base of the hill that come into play on several holes.

Quite a variety of hole lengths from 186' to 550' (from the blue tees) gives you everything from short "touch" shots out to full power drives. While all of the holes have trees to navigate, only a couple are what I would describe as tightly wooded. Much of the interest on these holes come from the uphill, downhill, and sidehill orientations of the fairways.

Hole 6 is the one of the tight wooded holes. From the blue tee is is about 100' straight ahead to a hard right turn into a narrow fairway. From there more tight woods to the pin on the left. Very tricky hole. And Hole 7 is a nice tight tunnel drive over a creek to the pin on the opposite side.

Outstanding concrete tee pads are large and level, with good texture. Many are boxed in on two or three sides because of the sloping ground, and look just about erosion-proof. Benches on many of the pads as well. Really nice job by whoever put these in. For all but a couple of holes there are two pads, labels "Rec" and "Pro".

Generally two or three basket positions for each hole, with some good variety. For the creek holes one position is on the near side of the creek, with a second on the far side, presenting very different looks.

Excellent tee signs at each pad location. Good visual diagram of the hole along with the usual hole number, par, and distances to each pin. No tagging or vandalism of the signs which speaks well of the local teens.

Paved parking lot with restrooms and a large pavilion near Hole 1. Course is set up a two, 9-hole loops so you return to the parking area mid-round.

Cons:

This is an outstanding course and it is hard to come up with cons.

The only thing that detracts from it for me are that many of the holes are clear enough that even an early tree hit doesn't necessarily mean a bogie. A deflected drive will generally land in an area that gives you a reasonable approach to the basket. So you would expect advanced players to birdie many of these holes regularly.

Other Thoughts:

For a small town in Western Iowa, it is amazing that they've got this course. After your round check out the "Pizza Ranch" in town. Really good food.
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0 4
ZMesenbrink
Experience: 22.9 years 13 played 9 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Worth the drive 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 10, 2014 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

Well maintained, some woods and some long down hill throws. Just a great course. The only reason it's not a 5 for me is only because it's an hour drive from Omaha. The course is put together well and there is a lot of pride the locals take in making it great. Very clean, you can drink in the park so there's no worry of police ticketing you. A great place to camp as well for some night golf!

Cons:

It's a long drive from Omaha and that's it!

Other Thoughts:

Just don't leave your disc in the basket up a hill.
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5 2
Nathan Stahl
Experience: 11.6 years 18 played 12 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Loved It! 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Aug 22, 2013 Played the course:once

Pros:

If you read mashnut's review entitled "fun elevation", he hit the nail on the head. If you live with in 100 miles of this course get in your car and go play it. I played it during the week and we had the course to ourselves.

Near the first tee and practice basket is a golf course sign that was stocked with score cards and course maps to help with locating basket placement.

Hole 12 was a great hole to play with a huge drop off across a large open field. Having to contend with the winds at altitude and getting the disk in the right direction across the open field was fun.

Cons:

I have to really dig to find fault with this course. It would be nice to see some sort of marking on the tee box signs telling me what the current placement of the basket is. A few tees had me going out to scout out basket placement.

The majority of the course does not have under brush. If more under brush was present to make you pay more for wild throws then this course would be perfect. If you have a bad release you can normally find your way around and not loose par.

Other Thoughts:

The multiple tee boxes and basket locations make this course great. The park offers many other things to do besides disk golf, bring the family. Even if this park is a long drive have your tent there are camp sights beside the park for use. You must go out of the way and play this course. I will be back many times in the coming years.
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0 5
T-Manz420
Experience: 11.6 years 7 played 4 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Noobs' Eye View. 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Apr 27, 2013 Played the course:once

Pros:

Course is Technical,But not too tech.Great use of elevation. Multiple options on nearly every Basket. Great set-up to spend a day. Very nice Picnic sites to take breaks or lunch, Multiple Flush toilets. What more do you want?

Cons:

On a Busy park day, it could get crowded. Could use 2 more trashcan. No Real Complaints.

Other Thoughts:

Would recomend to any level player.
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14 0
mashnut
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 22.1 years 831 played 767 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Fun elevation 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 16, 2012 Played the course:once

Pros:

The course plays through a beautifully kept park with grassy fairways and mature trees. Most of the holes have enough trees to keep things interesting, but enough space to offer some different routes. You might have to get creative if you miss your lines, but there are chances to recover with little underbrush on the majority of the course. A couple holes play a little tighter with more rough, offering some chances to get into trouble with an errant shot.

Elevation comes into play on nearly every hole. Many have moderate hills that add some challenge and variety, you have to know how your discs will fly with elevation changes to be successful here. There are a couple big downhill bombs where you'll want to empty your bag, it's always fun to watch discs fly off elevated tee pads.

The amenities here are very nice. Most holes have two tees, all are large concrete pads with good texture. Many have retaining walls to prevent erosion and direct water away from the tees. There are good signs at both sets of tees with distances and hole layouts along with directions to the next tee. There are 2-3 pin placements on each hole, changing things up and adding some extra variety.

Cons:

The multiple placements are nice, and are designed well to provide different challenges. That said, I find it a little frustrating when current pin placements aren't noted on the tee signs or course kiosk, it adds extra scouting to figure out how long the hole is and where to throw and means the nice signs are less useful.

There isn't a whole lot of punishment here for bad shots, you can almost always recover for par if you throw an errant drive. There are a few holes that feel like fillers, short and not very interesting. Several holes have potential conflicts with other park uses and the park road, on a nice day there could definitely be some safety issues.

Other Thoughts:

Beginners will find this course fairly approachable, especially from the short tees. It's not too long, and definitely isn't so punishing that it would frustrate less accurate throwers. More experienced players will find some fun shots and some great elevation, but not quite enough punishment to make it a top level challenge.
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9 0
mndiscg
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 15.8 years 480 played 478 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Best Course in Iowa? 2+ years

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 7, 2012 Played the course:once

Pros:

-Dual tees on most holes. There is a significant difference between the two sets of tees and many holes feel like a whole different hole.
-Big trees fill out the park area of the course and they are at a good density and placement. There are a few holes that have more trees like 5-7. 6 is the only true wooded hole.
-Elevation is the key to this course. Almost every hole is altered somewhat by this course. That became evident early on in this round when hole 3 was short but steep uphill. I also liked the view of the basket between the V even though it is nearly impossible to get to the basket through there. The next hole is around 600 feet but you can reach the basket with a good toss because it is the perfect amount of downhill for monster throws.
-Multiple pin locations for most of the holes
-Great risk/reward shots from the tees and the greens. The elevation helps with this.
-A map and scorecards at the beginning help out navigation as does the amazing signage on every hole. Each sign tells you the direction to walk to find the next tee and it is easy for most of them.
-A few places to buy discs in Atlantic. Walmart usually has Pro and Dx while the other place has more premium plastic.
-Have a tournament at least once a year here.
-The tees are giant and trapezoid shaped and are great.
-While the trees weren't thick enough to make you pick a certain line, they were thick enough to punish you if you messed up on the line you did choose.

Cons:

-You may have to watch out for other park users. This park is probably one of the few public parks in Atlantic. I could see it becoming busy.
-You could lose a disc in the woods on a few holes. The elevation makes it tricky to judge some shots and the underbrush is thick if you throw it in there.
-Bugs can be bad on the few wooded holes but are otherwise not bad.

Other Thoughts:

I knew this course had a high rating but I wasn't sure what to expect. I also knew this course was a city park which usually limits how great a course can be. This course took down those limits. I had a great time and a great challenge playing here. I would highly recommend this course and while I haven't played all the top courses in this state, this is my favorite so far.
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3 0
strain
Bronze level trusted reviewer
Experience: 15.8 years 42 played 39 reviews
4.50 star(s)

Top Notch In Course In Western Iowa 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:May 28, 2011 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

This is a beautiful piece of work here. This course has everything you would want in a disc golf course. This course has dramatic elevation changes with some beautiful uphill and downhill shots with a good variety of left and right shots and some short and long shots. There is plenty of birdie opertunities on this course and a really nice cliff shot on hole #12 that is really fun to play. Trees are a big factor when playing this course adding shade and great challenge on most holes. The baskets are well placed very well, adding great challenge to most holes. This course has multiple concrete tee pads and pin positions for a beginner or more advanced player. The signs are really nice and provide you with all hole information and also direct you to the next tee. The park is very clean and well maintained with restrooms on sight. The course does not seem to get real crowded, so you will most likely have the whole course to yourself.

Cons:

The park could get crowded with other park users and there might be an event going on under the covered structure. I didn't see any trashcans on the course so a few would be nice to help keep the course clean.

Other Thoughts:

This is a must play course if you are in the area. This course will leave you wanting more after you play a round here.
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