Big Woods DGC

Big Woods is an 18-hole course at the Big Woods Lake Recreation Area on the north side of Cedar Falls. At roughly 6,500 feet, it’s one of the longer and more challenging courses in the immediate Cedar Valley, combining wooded technical golf with several more open holes where players can actually stretch out a drive. Despite the name, the entire course isn’t buried in dense woods. The layout mixes tight tunnels, guarded fairways, and longer open or semi-open shots, with holes ranging from just over 200 feet to more than 600. Accuracy matters just as much as distance, especially on the wooded holes where getting off the fairway can quickly turn a good drive into a scramble. The terrain is mostly flat, so the difficulty comes from length, trees, and shot shaping rather than elevation. Concrete tees, permanent Mach III baskets, and generally good course flow make Big Woods easy to navigate, though having Radius available is still useful on a first visit. Big Woods is considerably more demanding than the shorter park courses around Cedar Falls and Waterloo. It rewards controlled power and the ability to throw multiple lines, and even experienced players can find themselves scrambling after an aggressive drive misses its gap. The biggest seasonal drawback is the rough and mosquitoes, both of which are frequently mentioned by local players during the summer. Overall, Big Woods is one of the better full-length courses in the Cedar Falls area: long, technical, varied, and challenging enough to feel like a destination rather than just a quick neighborhood round.

Each line is a hole, tee to basket. Tap a hole on the map or the table below to highlight it.

Scores & records

Courses near Cedar Falls

Island Park DGC

Cedar Falls, IA

9 holes · Par 27 · 0.8 mi

Tourist Park

Cedar Falls, IA

18 holes · Par 54 · 0.9 mi

Riverview DGC

Cedar Falls, IA

9 holes · Par 27 · 1.3 mi