Matt Nemmers

Pros: - Awesome equipment! Boasting concrete pads and state-of-the-art Mach X baskets, Becky Z offers what could arguably be called the most advanced disc golf course in the state, certainly the most advanced in Des Moines. (With respect to equipment, that is.) Another plus is the fact that many holes have long and short tees as well as alternate pin locations (some as many as three) that can make it feel like an entirely different course. - Well rounded! Winding its way up and down the ...
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Pros:
- Awesome equipment! Boasting concrete pads and state-of-the-art Mach X baskets, Becky Z offers what could arguably be called the most advanced disc golf course in the state, certainly the most advanced in Des Moines. (With respect to equipment, that is.) Another plus is the fact that many holes have long and short tees as well as alternate pin locations (some as many as three) that can make it feel like an entirely different course.

- Well rounded! Winding its way up and down the hills and through the woods set along the Des Moines River, this course is technical to the extreme. It gives you opportunities to air it out on several holes with both drivers and mids, but a big arm will NOT get you birdies on most holes. Hitting your lines as you carve your way through the very tight fairways is an absolute must if you want to shoot par or below here. If you fail to hit your line, trees and their subsequent kicks could have you rolling like a phat blunt all the way down one of the many steep hills or worse, OB into the creek or the river, leaving you wetter than your girl's Levi's when I light up my Sketchers. However, she gives you opportunities to redeem yourself in the form of a few short ace runs and ridiculously fun downhill shots. In short, Becky Z has a little something for everyone.

- Technical! I know I said it before, but it bears repeating: Becky Z is FULL of technicalities. (Not sure I'm using that word right, but you get my drift.) Between the tight woodlands (which are straight-up North Carolina, by the way), numerous water hazards, blind uphill shots, steep drop offs behind the baskets, and deceiving fairways that end abruptly which you can't see from the tee, you must put an absolute premium on accuracy here. If you want to know if your game is ready for Steady Edd, Jim Warner, and W. R. Jackson at the IDGC down in Appling, Georgia, Becky Z would be an excellent way to put your skills to the test here in good ol' Iowa.

- Close to amenities! If you want a snack or a frosty adult libation during your round you don't have to travel far. The course is set between Hickman Road and MLK Boulevard (both major 515 thoroughfares) and it won't take much out of your tank to go scoop up some refreshments.

- Beautiful! Play this course in the fall and guaranteed you fall in love.


Cons:
- Sketchy locale. The city wanted the Des Moines Disc Golf Club to build a course here because of the illegal activity and somewhat unsavory characters that have called Prospect Park home for a while now in the hopes that more traffic will drive out the shenanigans. While it's getting better every day it's still a pretty risky place to play by yourself or, God forbid, glow. As of this writing I wouldn't play there without a squad or packing unless you got something on Deebo's 40, homie.

- Navigation. They made the best possible use of the land when designing this course, but the layout - specifically the march between holes - can be a little ambiguous. The walk from 4 to 5 is a little wonky and from 15 to 16 is a bit of a hike across the road. Not terrible, but if you're playing this course for the first time by yourself (which I wouldn't recommend anyway!) you may find yourself a little frustrated if you don't have a map handy.

- No topless Hooters girls frolicking along the #8 fairway.


Other Thoughts:
Becky Z at Prospect is a brand-spankin'-new course in Des Moines dedicated to a local legend (Becky Zallek #9388) who passed away too early from cancer. It was conceived, designed, and put together with the tenacity and love of many, many local Des Moines players who take a lot of pride in their community, both city and disc golf. As any new course does, it has some rough edges to smooth out - I was going to call not having benches or trash cans a con, but dang...it's not even done yet! - but in a year or two this course will either meet or exceed the standards that have made Des Moines one of the true Meccas of disc golf in the Midwest, if not the country. But even so, if you find yourself passing through Iowa's capital anytime soon, do yourself a favor and check out Becky Z...I guarantee it will not disappoint. I'm giving it a tentative B- now, but that's damn good considering how new it is. I'm betting this will be a A- to A very soon and it's only going to get better as the years go by. Becky Z is gonna be a true gem in the Des Moines disc golf scene...just like her namesake.
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This is the first course I've rated A+ and if you haven't played the IDGC, you need this in your life. Not because *I* say so, but because fundamentally it's a phenomenal course. It has everything you could ever want in a disc golf course, to say nothing of the profound justice it does to the legacy of "Steady" Ed Headrick and his impact on the game. Any hard-core disc golfer with the means and motivation owes it to him or herself to make the trek to Wildwood Park to take on these three outstand ...
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This is the first course I've rated A+ and if you haven't played the IDGC, you need this in your life. Not because *I* say so, but because fundamentally it's a phenomenal course. It has everything you could ever want in a disc golf course, to say nothing of the profound justice it does to the legacy of "Steady" Ed Headrick and his impact on the game. Any hard-core disc golfer with the means and motivation owes it to him or herself to make the trek to Wildwood Park to take on these three outstanding courses. They are SO worth it. Add to that the fact that the campground is within walking distance to the IDGC and the courses (though I wouldn't recommend it), offers a great atmosphere on the lake, and is pretty darn nice in its own right makes the trip a no-brainer.

Of the three courses, Steady Ed DGC is the most forgiving and, in my opinion, the most fun - with Jim Warner DGC a close second on the fun scale. (W. R. Jackson, for all its perks and challenges, is the course that made me realize just how bad my game is and how awesome the pros who shoot under par on this course really are.) Steady Ed was far and away my favorite of the three and definitely pays great homage to the eponymous founder's "Most fun wins!" adage by offering just that.

I can't say it strongly enough: If you have the opportunity to make the trip to Appling, do yourself a favor and visit Wildwood Park. And if (God forbid) you only have time to play one course at the IDGC, it should be Steady Ed. You won't regret it.
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Pros: - Decent course in a nice area of Greenville. - Plenty of parking even if you play Sunday morning during services. - Most holes are easy to navigate and next tees are usually indicated on the previous holes tee box. - Some really interesting, challenging lines and creative, themed baskets. #8 pops into mind right off the bat as a prime example: Shoot from the tee across the road, over a ditch/creek, up to an elevated basket on a pedestal. Interesting par 3. - Provides a nice ...
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Pros:
- Decent course in a nice area of Greenville.

- Plenty of parking even if you play Sunday morning during services.

- Most holes are easy to navigate and next tees are usually indicated on the previous holes tee box.

- Some really interesting, challenging lines and creative, themed baskets. #8 pops into mind right off the bat as a prime example: Shoot from the tee across the road, over a ditch/creek, up to an elevated basket on a pedestal. Interesting par 3.

- Provides a nice variety of open shots to showcase your power as well as tight, wooded lines to practice your accuracy. It also strikes a nice balance of pin placements, giving you an opportunity to choose between several different types of throws, e.g. L to R, R to L, hyzer, anhyzer, thumbers, rollers, the whole shebang.

- Is challenging enough to keep advanced players engaged, but easy enough that beginners aren't overwhelmed.

- Some of the holes -- especially in the wooded back 9 -- are very pretty.

- Clean. Provides a respectable amount of trash cans too.
Cons:
- No bathrooms available. Not that big a deal when you consider it's a church project, but hey...

- Was a little overgrown when I played it at the beginning of November. For example, on #7 (a wide-open shot across an empty field) I spent a couple minutes looking for my disc in the long grass. Carl Spackler would lose his mind.

- Signage could use some improvement as you have to throw blind from a few tees and it can be a bit deceiving.

- Pathways through the course could be improved. Had to bushwhack our way through #5 after the tee shot because there wasn't any real obvious direction we needed to traverse.

- Played on a Sunday morning and there were some kids playing in the woods on #2 that got kind of annoying, but you can circumvent that whole issue by playing during the week.

- It can get really windy out there (especially in the open holes) and if people are driving to/from the church the road presents a significant hazard to the vehicles. Got to watch out for them since a few holes like #1, #7 & #8 all play along a main thoroughfare.

- No topless Hooters girls frolicking along the #8 fairway. (But it's a church so I'll give it a pass.)
Other Thoughts: All in all, Covenant DGC is a decent course that has tremendous potential with just a little TLC. I give it a 2.5 as is since it's not terrible, but with a bit of maintenance this course could be a real gem. Despite the below-3 rating it's definitely worth checking out if you're in and around Greenville.
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Pros: - Beautiful course which you can tell is well cared for. The pics of the course on this page are extremely outdated. The grass is impeccably manicured; on most holes it seemed like we were playing on a ball golf course fairway -- if not the green! Played in November when the leaves were falling and with the cotton fields next to the course in full-bloom, this course is something right out of a Norman Rockwell painting. It really is that nice. Extremely clean, too. - Great layout that ...
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Pros:
- Beautiful course which you can tell is well cared for. The pics of the course on this page are extremely outdated. The grass is impeccably manicured; on most holes it seemed like we were playing on a ball golf course fairway -- if not the green! Played in November when the leaves were falling and with the cotton fields next to the course in full-bloom, this course is something right out of a Norman Rockwell painting. It really is that nice. Extremely clean, too.

- Great layout that is easy to navigate. Once you see the pin, the next hole is relatively obvious. The designers even made good use of the drainage ditches by enlisting them to make "water holes" on the back 9, but they're more just obstacles to work around or fly over vice an actual threat. The course also offers a nice variety of hole types: L to R, R to L, wooded, open, tight, long, short....it's got something to appeal to everyone wanting to practice all types of shots.

- New baskets & new, concrete tee boxes. No chance of slippage there and the baskets are very forgiving. Signs on the tees are very helpful as some of the baskets can't be easily seen from the tee. Tee signs also direct you to the next hole, which is nice if you're new to the course.

- For a par 3 course (the only exception is 18 which is labeled a par 4), this course will definitely test your mettle. There are easily 7 holes that could legitimately marked as par 4s, and would be if they were placed on other courses. It's challenging.

- Parking was plentiful when we first got there, but filled up pretty quickly while we played due to some function at ECU. There was still plenty of room left though so you shouldn't have a problem finding a spot.

- NO TRAFFIC. I don't know if disc golf hasn't taken off at ECU yet, but we literally saw only two other groups on the course the whole time we were out there, and we played it twice.
Cons:
- Wind. With it being so wide open the gales that blow through there can wreak havoc on your shots. Wasn't too awful bad when we played, but I can see it getting fairly ridiculous.

- Finding #1 can be a bit of a hassle for those new to the course. For one, UDisc doesn't have a clue where the coordinates to the course are. Second, when you get to the rec complex there's a couple signs, but nothing to tell you where to begin. Had to spot a basket, park, figure out which pin it was, then work backwards. Didn't take long since the pin we saw was #17 and used a little deductive reasoning to figure it out. After we got to #1 tee it seemed obvious though. And there was a map of the entire course there we snapped a picture of to keep our bearings during our first round.

- Short tees. They're concrete and solid, but they're really short and tapered, which I thought was a little strange. Not much of a run-up is available for those who need/want one.

- No restrooms on the course. None that I remember seeing, anyway. Kinda sucks for the ladies, but I have no compunction about watering the trees. However, if you're on the #12 tee and your IBS goes to DEFCON 2, you'd better start making your way to the nearest tree post-haste and pray for big leaves because there's no WAY you're making it to the bathroom before your b-hole starts it's best impression of the Bellagio.

- No alcohol OR smoking is allowed on the course. Not too big a deal, but worth mentioning. Didn't stop somebody though because we found a few Miller Lite cans around the course. Not many, but you can tell that somebody was giving the finger to The Man during an earlier session.

- No elevation changes to speak of with the exception of #4 basket, but it's eastern North Carolina....whaddaya want?

- No topless Hooters girls frolicking along the #8 fairway.

Other Thoughts: I really can't decide if this course is a 4.5 or just a 4. I'm giving it a 4.5 though, just because of how in awe the first time I played it. It is TRULY a gem of a course in Greenville. If you're planning on making a trip through there, you owe it to yourself to check out this course. It's definitely worth your time. Verily I say unto you: PLAY THIS COURSE! You won't regret it.
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