I for sure have a love/hate relationship with waveland
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Waveland is one I want to play again this year. I’ve only played it once and it was at a time that I wasn’t appreciating golf properly. It’s on my list to play soon and take a different approach.
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DM me once you are in the area, will gladly meet up with you. Lots of blind shots out there that take a number of rounds to get familiar with.
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Cedar Rapids here, mostly play the city courses.
Amana is hard but I don’t enjoy it that much. Riverside is challenging and I love it (or maybe it’s that I can play craps after).
For my money the best public course in the area is Finkbine.
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Gonna play somewhere between Grinnell and Le Claire tomorrow (Monday 4/22) afternoon if work works out as expected. Any suggestions on courses in good shape early in the season? Also if anyone wants to join, I’m game!
Wish I could join. I’ve heard great things about Finkbine in Iowa City, but that is just from friends so no guarantees on condition. It’s the course at University of Iowa.
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I live a few blocks from Waveland and love the course, but it’s harder than hell. An absolute blast to play as long as you don’t make the mistake of walking it (which I have done).
I’ve been meaning to play Honey Creek. Veenker (sp?) was a lot of fun with my brother last year. Played Coldwater in Ames not too long ago and that was fun too. Although that might have been because it was easy to find errant tee shots without all the prairie grass
If you are willing, Prairie View in Byron, IL is a great public track for the money. Pretty wide open, but they do a fantastic job keeping everything maintained.
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Honey Creek is one of my favorite courses in Iowa, but after playing Blue Top Ridge this weekend, that may be at the top of the list. Veenker is great, I have only played it once but loved it, need to get back there this summer. I actually might be playing Coldwater this coming weekend, havent played it in a few years buts its a fun course.
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So I was only able to play 9, but decided to play Cedars Edge in West Branch. A pretty funky 9-hole that I hadn’t played before so it had to be done. Small greens that were surprising hard today that burnt me more than once and uphill shots that had me guessing and trying to do math. Definitely got to play again, but really enjoyed the walk and just a nice quiet set of holes. Won’t forget this one as I continue to enjoy this glorious game more each day.
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Twin Cities resident here wondering what/if courses are open down south? I know there’s some golf being had over in Wisconsin, but I’m hoping there’s something just a few hours south on 35 available. Getting the itch real bad!
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I’m not sure about Northern Iowa, but I can speak for the Des Moines area. Jester Park, a muni located in Grimes, IA is usually open as long as it’s above 40°. I have a tee time tomorrow around noon. Pretty excited to get a round in on New Years Day.
The course itself is nothing special. A couple of pretty fun holes. They renovated a few holes early this year which I think really improved it. One of them deserved a spot in the “worst golf holes” thread but thankfully that hole got a major upgrade.
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I live in Clear Lake, about two hours south of the cities. We still have some snow on the ground here unfortunately.
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I played Jester Park a few years ago when my high school golf team decided to go down and play while the snow was still melting up in MN. Is it hole 11 (I think) that you’re talking about for the worst golf holes thread? Par 5 with a massive lake in the middle?
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Yep #11. It’s much better now. You used to have to hit a cut and carry it about 250 or lay up off the tee to about 130 if you couldn’t carry it.
No longer have to carry any water. But the landing area has water both left and right. I found both ponds yesterday.
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Ah ok, I remember hitting 7 iron off that tee in like 8th grade and still putting it close to the water. That’s probably why I remember it so well, it was so dumb. I think one of the times I played it I just said screw it and hit driver and tried to have it bounce off the cartpath between the water a bunch of times. Good to hear they changed it.
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Central Iowa here. SE of DSM by about 30 minutes. Played to a 7 when I stopped playing frequently ~3 years ago. Play a handful of times a summer for work but getting back in fully this year. Being mid 50’s I swapped the AP2’s and went back to Ping late fall. Looking forward to 2020.
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Southeast Iowa here. Mostly play Spirit Hollow in Burlington and the local muni, Flint Hills. Have a tee time at sweetens cove March 28th!
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Welcome! I’m located near Dubuque. Make a few trips down to Spirit Hollow each year. Fantastic course