Waveland Municipal Golf Course

Waveland Golf Course is billed as the oldest municipal golf course west of the Mississippi. Built in 1901 near the heart of Des Moines, that just might be true.

Waveland sits in a hilly piece of land just to the Northeast of downtown Des Moines. I was actually surprised how hilly the layout is. With so many hills, a first time player will face numerous blind shots. The on-cart GPS is a big help with figuring out how to play each hole.

The entire property is filled with old growth trees. While this makes for narrower driving corridors, the areas around the trees are well maintained, making it easy to find balls that get offline.

The greens are older style, meaning mostly sloping from back to front. They had recently aerated when I played, so I can't comment on condition. However, given some of the slopes, I believe these greens would be very difficult if they were rolling fast.

The overall condition was typical for a municipally owned golf course. The fairways weren't lush, but were in good shape. The rough is mowed and fairly playable. I was really surprised with the condition of the bunkers. They were well maintained with lighter, fluffy sand.

I think Waveland is a must play in the Des Moines area. It's a fun golf course, with an interesting layout at a bargain value. Our group paid $42 for 18 holes with a cart on a Friday morning.

My favorite hole is the short par 4 13th. It's a narrow driving hole, back into the prevailing south wind. A good drive leaves you a wedge approach to a perched, sloping green.

I last played this course 25 years ago and considered it a challenge then. The layout seems different now.. With old growth trees and many blind shots, this course is still the toughest public course in Des Moines.

The course was in decent shape and was fun to play. As a first time player it can be a little more difficult figuring out what you should do each hole. The group I was with had a hard time keeping the ball in the fairway and searching for balls, even though they were only 10 yards from the fairway, really slowed us down. There was nobody in front of us but I can see how the pace would be pretty slow on busy days.

I wouldn't want to play the course a lot but fun to do once or twice a year.

I caught up with a single on the course and he told me "Tuesday is the worse day to come here because they have an All Day League." unfortunately I was there on a Tuesday and the Place was packed.

I paid for 18 but left after 9. The course had groups of 5 all over the place. Wish the guy who took my money would of said it will be slow out there.

It is a very hilly and wooded over 100 year course which is just what I like. The course itself looked great played fine and was enjoyable. The carts have a great GPS system.

Just had a horrible experience. Wish I had not gone.

Firm, stable, consistent greens....bunkers well maintained.....great staff!

We played this course after the 4th of July and it wasn't as busy as I thought it would be. Course was in really good condition. Course has several mature trees and a good mix of doglegs. Course also has a good mix of holes that you can attack to go with a few holes that you have to try for par and be happy. Hole 3 is a bear cat but it is fair. Putting your drive in play is important on this course but you can score well if you aren't spraying the ball. My group keeps this course in our yearly rotation and we try to play it twice a year if we can. The GPS on carts was a nice addition as well.