Sometimes, it is hard to see the potential value in something. Every year, thousands of entrepreneurs pitch their idea and hope that curious investors see the potential value in their business idea. To the entrepreneurs, they are trying to show that the core of their idea and business is valuable, even if the details aren’t sorted out and the edges are a little rugged. Likewise for me, I try to see the potential value in every golf course that I get the opportunity to play. Sometimes I play courses where the value is abundant and evident such as The Links at Lawsonia (See the previous blog post for more information on Lawsonia) and sometimes I play courses where I need to rack my brain continually to see what potential value that course possesses. This past week while I was on the road, I had the privilege to play a round at Waveland Golf Course with an old college friend. With Waveland, the actual value of this piece of property immediately presents itself as soon as you pull into the parking lot. From there, you see a giant valley that is the fairway on hole number 9 and south of that, through the assortment of trees, you can see the rolling landscape that characterizes the rest of the property. Now before we go any further, you may recognize Waveland from the series premiere of the hit YouTube show, Strapped, produced by No Laying Up. This is not meant to over shadow that video, rather I want to focus less on Icarito missing his flight and more on this beautiful piece of property and teach you something about golf in my stereotypical concise format.
Waveland Golf Course is the oldest municipal golf course in Iowa opening in 1901. Located less than 4 miles from downtown Des Moines, this property features giant rolling hills that double as sledding hills for the locals in the winter. These immense hills make for exciting blind shots and for all around fun grounds for playing golf. Coupled with the rolling hills, Waveland can also be categorized by outstanding greens that roll so fast, that I was honestly caught off guard for the first 4 or 5 holes. Just like the blind shots and hills these greens were insanely fun to play on. In addition to being a fun course, Waveland is widely affordable to the public, I played during the weekend where it was only $26 to walk. Generally when courses are under $30, it means the course is an executive course or on a boring piece of land, Waveland Golf Course is neither of these things. Being from St. Paul Minnesota, there are not a lot of courses in my immediate area that advertise this low of a price. The crappiest “regulation” municipal golf course that I can think of is still in the neighborhood of $35 on a weekend for walking. This all but props up the unique and special bargain that Waveland is to the general public.
When talking about the course itself, hole number 3 often gets a lot of attention due to the extremely tight tee shot and the quirkiness of the hole. I think there are better holes out there. There are the cool elevation changes on hole 9, the scenic holes that circle the Drake University Observatory (located directly in the middle of the property) and my favorite hole, hole 12. On the surface, hole 12 is not a fascinating hole, tipping out at 565 yards the hole is a double dog leg hole. First your tee shot should favor the left side to avoid the trees on the right. Then you should lay up your second shot as distant and as right as possible to avoid denying yourself an angle to the green with the trees on the left. Finally, you have a wedge shot down a giant slope into a small green. However there is an alternate way to play this hole, you go for the green with your second shot. At first glance, the second shot on 12 seems daunting because of a cluster of trees on the left. As I mentioned earlier, you want to favor the right side of the fairway because a shot in or near the cluster of trees on the left denies you an opportunity to put your next shot on the green.
One alternate route is to aim to the left and hit it as far as you can in hopes of catching this steep slope that funnels towards the green. This is a cool feature that I have never seen on a course before, a slope that runs perpendicular to the line of play making it possible to chase a well struck fairway wood up onto the green. When I played it, I inadvertently deployed this strategy. I tugged a 3 wood slightly left of my intended target line but when I approached the landing zone, I saw my ball directly next to the green. While this was accidental on my end, I think that this strategy offers a fun risk reward challenge that I love in a good golf hole. Take on the left side as much as you want to try and make an easy birdie but be weary, if you are too far left or too short, you will have a tough time making par with the trees hindering your advancement. It is strategic holes like this, coupled with the rolling hills that makes Waveland a unique and awesome golfing experience.
Now that we have talked about the value that Waveland possesses, I want to touch on some of the blemishes. Waveland on the whole has a lot of potential value and unfortunately, just because something has potential value, doesn’t immediately mean that it does have that value. Instead it means the pieces are in place for that potential value to be obtained. While the property has beautiful natural rolling topography that presents immediate value, the most evident restraints on Waveland as a course are the maintenance and the overgrown status of a majority of the trees.
The most minor restraint of Waveland is the maintenance. As was mentioned earlier the greens on this course were honestly some of the best public greens that I have played all year. They rolled fairly fast and were true to the read. If there was anything I would want playable on a golf course it is definitely the greens so Waveland is definitely focusing it’s attention to the right things. That said, there were numerous portions of the property that just seemed abused. There were tee boxes so hard you were unable to tee it up, areas that lacked any vegetation (grass or weeds) which resulted in lies on mud, and areas where hazards have seemed to run rampant. These are items that with just a little more money, would pump Waveland up a level in my book.
However, the more expensive and more necessary improvement in my book is a potential tree removal project. I know that there are courses that are so short that their only defense is tight fairways and restricted landing zones and while Waveland is a short course, I do not think that they need the trees to defend it. To me the greens and elevation alone can defend this course as well if not better than thickets of trees that line a majority of the fairways. From my research, It appears that a lot of the oak trees and other vegetation are native to the land so this would not be a restoration project, rather it would be a project to polish up the course and remove trees that restrict holes differently than than they once did. I have reviewed a lot of trees that I would like to remove or alter but to me, I believe those trees are there for safety precautions so I will not be mentioning any of those trees when talking about adding value to Waveland Golf Course.
The first tree is a tree that guards the front left portion of the 10th green. This tree is parked right in front of the left half of the green. I am not opposed to centerline trees or trees by the greens (I love Keller Golf Course in Minnesota) but without the trees, this hole is tough enough as it is. The 10th hole at Waveland tips out at 243 yards with a tiny green that is perched up on a hill that rejects poor shots on all but one side of the green. To me, removing this tree (and maybe one more on the left portion of the green) doesn’t make the hole much easier and allows for a more playable and enjoyable golfing experience.
Keeping in the same vein with making the course more playable, I want to look at hole 16. Hole 16 is a long (460 yards) dog leg Par 4 along the interstate and in my opinion, one of the hardest holes on the course. Like most good dogleg holes, there is strategy to your tee shot. The closer you get to the corner of the dogleg, the more risk you take on but leave yourself a shorter second shot. The further you are from the corner of the dogleg, the safer your tee shot is but you will have a more difficult second shot. On hole 16 at Waveland, there is a tree that clearly defends the corner but in addition to that tree, there are a ton of trees that litter the same area only shorter. Removing some of those short trees would not change the difficulty of the hole at all and make finding your ball easier as well as make the course more playable. Without those trees, the tree at the corner still blocks your second shot and the strategy of the hole is not altered at all.
All of these complaints may seem finicky but I bring these up as someone who played Waveland and was astonished at the potential the course had to be extremely great. Without the trees and better conditions to rival other local courses, Waveland in my mind climbs into a new stratosphere of courses that is challenging and fun with the fluctuating elevations and open angles for playability. I truly believe this course could be a Top 10 Course in the State of Iowa given the improvements I listed previously! It was the first time that I walked off a golf course and got excited at how much better it could be with a few changes. That said, if Waveland remained unchanged, it still remains a pinnacle of what city golf should be, fun, cheap and accessible. Waveland as it is today is in the Top 3 municipal golf courses that I have had the privilege to play and if you are from the Des Moines area, you know how special this under the radar course can be. Play Waveland Golf Course!
Thanks for taking the time to read this blog post. Unlike some of the newest blogs (which have featured some writing that I am proud of) this blog in my mind reads differently and at times flows rather oddly. I personally had a really tough time explaining and creating the dichotomy of “this course is really good and I enjoyed the hell out of it” versus “man this course could be really special (Like Top 10 in Iowa) with a few changes”. I hope that this contradiction in ideas was clear and easy to follow. If you liked what you read, I appreciate any feedback (grammatical, factual, disagreeance, agreeance, etc.) at aspoiledwalk@gmail.com. You can also find me on social media (Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok) @aspoiledwalk. If you like what you read, please consider sharing with a friend or on social media, it helps me out greatly. Thanks again for reading and supporting A Spoiled Walk.
A Good Walk Spoiled 