Discovered this course in the summer of "2021" Went back to play in a tournament here a few days ago. Love this course!! Many long technical shots through flat nicely forested area. Fairways were clean and fair. Get greedy on your drive and you're likely tossing back into the fairway and taking a bogey. Hit your line and enjoy the ride! Just when you think you really need an easy hole, you don't get one!!

Yes, the rough is tough but if one person in your group gets off their butts and throws and goes and spots you will spend a lot less time looking and more time playing on a few of the heavy holes. The course is freaking awesome!!

Makes my top 5 courses in Iowa list!!

Big Woods has a fantastic mix of holes that will challenge any player and require you to utilize every shot and disc you bring with you. This course has become my "home course away from home" and I greatly enjoy my time there.

Every hole is very fair, even the more difficult holes. Most have various ways to play up to the pin, though a few require one specific shot. Hole 3 is the first example of this, best played with a low-speed turnover (RHBH) that fades slowly towards the basket.

The layout is very intuitive, with the only exception being that 2-3 can be a little tricky to find your first playthrough, though the tee signs all have arrows directing you to the next tee.

I'm general, while this isn't a "destination" course, if your are in the Cedar Valley looking to play a round, this course is definitely one you should not miss!

P.S. There is a practice basket by hole 1

The rough is absolutely brutal. Most holes have a very definite border between fairway and dense woods filled with underbrush, young growth, poison ivy, and burrs.


A few holes play through the park, particularly 18 plays towards a pavilion, so watch out for unaware park goers. There are no other amenities though, so mostly safe.

I am suspicious of many of the distances on the tee signs.

I'll admit I am spoiled by my "home" course, Stable Run in Ames, Iowa, but I would love to see each hole eventually with two trees and two baskets year round.

Plenty of parking, BTW.

On-site toilets, though they are primitive.

There were 18 tee pads and signs with distance labeled (most had an A and B basket layout).

Shots lengths varied a ton throughout the coures.

Flow of the course was pretty good, not too hard to figure out where to go from one hole to the next.

So many skinny throwing paths with some thick woods to search in if you went off path (a pro or a con depending on the person)

I wish I knew when I was teeing off if the basket was currently at location A or B on the map (many baskets in the woods aren't visible without walking the hole before throwing.

Whether you are a beginner or an advanced player, be prepared to dig through some woods and weeds to find a disc with these narrow, long fairways... I had to pick a lot of weeds and sticky crap off of me after each disc search.

So many skinny throwing paths with some thick woods to search in if you went off path (a pro or a con depending on the person)

I had a beginner playing with me (an advanced player) and they didn't have a great time with the long distances.

I also didn't throw a driver I loved a few times in case I couldnt find it after my drive.

Not a beginner course!

-Concrete Tees
-Good Signage
-Decent Baskets
-Lots of benches/Trash cans
-9 Hole Loops
-Good mixture of Open/Tunnel and Left/Right/Around
-Mostly in its own part of the park (See cons)
-Good flow (only exception Basket #2 to Tee #3 need a map first time)
-Good Parking

-Very Flat (May be a Pro for some)
-Holes #1,#2, #9, #10 and #18 play in a multi-use part of the park, can come into play
-Par seems a little low on a couple of holes (only 2 Par 4s)

Big Woods DGC located a little north of downtown Cedar Falls, IA is one of the area's best courses. The course gives a good mixture of open/tunnel, right/left/around, long/short play. The only downside for more seasoned players would be the lack of elevation or water holes. Benches/trash cans can be found on most holes and the course is kept up well. There is a shelter near the #1 tee pad and behind the #18 basket. There is also a walking path through #2 and #9. A sight tweak in pars and less happenings on #1, 2, 9, 10 and 18 would up the score on this one. I have enjoyed several rounds at this course. I make it a point to play when I'm in the area.

- Challenging course with a diversity of shots
- Different environment between front and back 9
- Some holes are extremely technical, others allow for you
to choose line
- Challenges your accuracy at high distances, unforgiving if
your line is missed at times
- Concrete tee pads on all holes, along with lots of benches and trash cans
- Course flows fairly well except for hole 3
- Multiple pin locations on most holes
- Well kept and mowed
- Generally pretty quiet
- Very secluded as well, not a lot of traffic or roads interrupting play

- Tee signage is not yet finished, not sure if it will be anytime soon
- May not be as fun for beginners, certain rough areas are very unforgiving if you miss the fairway
- During the summer the rough can be extremely thick and tough to find discs (Specifically on front 9), also can be buggy
- No true par 4's in my opinion, Holes 4, 7 and 17 are tough for an amateur player, but not sure they
are legitimate par 4s.
- No elevation change throughout the course, but it still is strong despite that

Course that I play most often and love coming back to when I have the chance. Feel as though this is the only course in the area that truly makes you hit your line at a high distance and punishes you if you miss. Most definitely has room for improvement on tee signage, but easily my favorite and the most challenging course in the Cedar Valley.

-Brand new baskets with a deep well.
-High degree of challenge with this course. A mix of shots is required due to the course layout. Heavily wooded so make sure to remove your tree magnets.
-New concrete tee pads
-Excellent flow from hole to hole
-Located next to Big Woods Lake. Pretty scenery on some holes.
-Excellent parking
-Not very crowded
-Alternate basket placements
-Benches on every hole
-Well maintained
-Back nine provides a completely different biome than the front nine.
-Trash cans on quite a few holes

-Signage poles have now been installed on every hole but not the signs themselves. I assume the actual signs will be installed spring of 2018. The flow of the course is pretty natural although a new player may have some difficulty finding the hole #3 tee pad.
-If brush is not removed it contributes to a large tick population.
-Lack of elevation change

An excellent addition to the library of courses in the Cedar Valley. It has been set up to be a very challenging course which I think is just what was needed.

First Impressions: I couldn't believe this course was rated below 3.00 since this is a great course. The course is located in a beautiful part of the USA - next to Big Woods Lake and the Cedar River. It's a good disc golfing destination with the Big Woods campground and other recreational options nearby.

Course design/difficulty/obstacles/out-of-bounds: An absolutely great design with plenty of challenging dogleg holes - lots of trees to navigate around - testing every kind of shot you could imagine.

Course condition: Good. The water had receded from the recent Sep/16 flood. Very few mosquitoes when I played.

Navigability/signage/maps: Good enough. The tee-signs had a simple reflector metal stick sign with a number on it. The course layout was easy enough to follow based on some basic tracking skills and common sense.

It's susceptible to flooding. I can imagine the bugs being bad and the course muddy after heavy rain

I highly recommend this course. A wonderful challenging course.

Remember the Disc Golfer's Code:

1) Play Smart - Never throw into a blind area or when players, spectators, pedestrians, or other facility users are within range. Use a spotter.

2) Respect the Course - Observe all posted rules. No littering, graffiti, or abuse of equipment or flora.

3) Represent the Sport - Be positive and responsible. Teach others.

-Nice piece of land, designers put the land to good use
-Can use all of your discs here
-Some really fun shots on this course
-Some interesting technical shots here as well as some open bombers
-A few holes here are some of the most fun I have ever played before
-Nice baskets
-Course flow is mostly solid

-Very rough course at the moment, still too many trees that have yet to be cut and small tree stumps scattered on the ground on the back nine
-No tee pads, though I heard that they are to be installed soon
-Tee signs would help with the course flow
-The design of some of the holes just baffle me. A few that are just frustrating and not fun to play in my opinion. Hole 3 comes to mind immediately
-Not the fault of the designers, but just no elevation change here
-The amount of trees and brush here are certain to eat up some discs, especially during the summer and fall

I really feel that this course has a lot of potential and it could be a destination type of course within a few years. However, this is a very new course and it is extremely rough around the edges at the moment. There are still some trees that need to be removed, and a bit more general maintenance of the course would be helpful. With that said, there are some extremely fun shots here that make me want to come back for more. A lot of potential here, but it may take a bit more time to realize it.

Beautiful property and what will be a great addition to Iowa disc golf. Good mix of shots you will find out here. Hole 1 is a great starting hole at around 300 ft pretty much wide open but a good hole to warm up. You get to open up your arm here and done really well imo. I wasn't just grabbing my favorite destroyer on the long holes and ripping it flat and hard. This course makes you have to shape some different long distance lines which I personally like. As well as long shots there was some great technical shots out here with some tight lanes to hit but very fair.

Rough! This course is BRAND SPANKING NEW so this will be taken care of with more work and just getting more traffic. I would advise playing with another person cause the chance of losing a frisbee in the rough is possible. The prairie holes out here are done very well with what they had to use but probably 3 holes instead of throwing the intended tight route I was able to just throw up and over to avoid danger and card my birdie. Lastly there is 0 elevation changes out here.

Good course, great addition to the area. When this course is completely finished it will certainly get a 3 1/2 rating from me but I don't see it getting much higher rating then that. Not a must play but not a course to pass by either.

I don't do reviews to often and pretty much only do them so I can give a course a rating. This one is certainly deserving of 3 stars and will most likely go up.