Pros:
- epic elevation change incorporated throughout entire park
- nice tee signs with full color maps
- benches on most holes
- garbage cans by parking lot
- challenging high risk shots on edge of water treatment plant on
holes 3-5
- flags with hole numbers on baskets help with clarity
- multiple pin positions per hole (only one populated at a time)
- some good technical challenge with lightly wooded fairways
- good mix of hole lengths in this old school design
- built in stairs where needed in some places
- well draining park with no obvious mud issues
- practice baskets
- concrete tees
- Mach X baskets in good shape
- well maintained park
- forces skill at shot shaping; need to be able to fade both ways to
avoid rolling downhill
Cons:
- significant safety hazards with other parkgoers and roads
- some fairways play really close together when park is crowded
- navigation is abysmal and unintuitive in places, especially early on
- would benefit from next tee signs
- somewhat on the short side by today's standards (con for some)
- no water hazards
Other Thoughts:
Water Works park is a very good to excellent course overlooking Kansas City's water treatment plant with cool views of the KC skyline. Based on the rating, this was meant to be one of the highlights of my trip to KC. In hindsight, while this was a fun course and is well worth playing, it is certainly more highly rated than it should be right now. I personally enjoyed Rosedale Park - Down Under over on the Kansas side much more, although this may objectively be just as good or slightly better as courses go.
The name of the game here is terrain management and roller avoidance. This course is a hike and will wear you out, but the elevation change is masterfully incorporated. My main cons here were navigation, which does some backtracking early and was quite unclear, as well as safety hazards and as a more minor con, lack of water hazards. This course doesn't have the full spectrum of elements that warrant the 4.5-5 scores it is getting. Really, I think it is somewhere between a 3.5 and a 4. Don't get me wrong, it is a very fun course and if you have time, well worth the play. It is a cool course for being smack in the middle of the KC metro like it is.
You can tell this course is older. While the design is excellent with the land available, there is only one tee pad per hole. However, there are multiple pin positions, perhaps added over time, to add some variation. The course overall is a bit shorter, but it doesn't necessarily feel that way due to all of the elevation change. I found this course to be technically challenging but not punishing, though wind did come into play and was a real challenge to contend with. I found the ability to throw in wind and throw both forehands and backhands (or at least an anhyzer) essential to scoring well here.
I think some next tee signs would make a big difference here, particularly on the first 7 or so holes. Holes 3-5 overlook a steep dropoff to the left down to the water treatment plant; if you let your disc drift left here you may be saying goodbye. Otherwise, there are any number of areas to lose your score due to rollers but not too many where you couldn't find your disc later. Rough is virtually unheard of here for the most part and this is a very urban-feeling course. While this may not be my favorite type of course, it is a cool feeling for the most part and very accessible for people. The one downside to this is the multi-use park which seems quite popular and introduces more safety hazards.
The park is well maintained and there is a decent variety of hole lengths. As another perk, the Dynamic Discs store (which sells all brands) on the Missouri side is right down the road. The owners were incredibly nice and welcoming and I recommend a stop there. Overall, KC has a ton of good courses and this one is worth a stop, but I think there are a few that are better. Play this one if you have the time, but I wouldn't base a roadtrip around it or anything. Either way, it's a ton of fun particularly if you like elevation change, and if this one isn't challenging enough for you, head north to Hummel Park in Omaha to experience the definition of elevation and punishment.