Iowa Guide and Deals

Fox Run Golf Club prides itself as a course that challenges boundaries. From a design perspective, it represents the two different architectural models of golf courses, at points immersing golfers in a wooded, parkland setting and, elsewhere, challenging them to display deft control over an open, links-style layout. A semiprivate club, Fox Run also eliminates the barrier between public courses and members-only clubs, inviting daily fee players and members alike to enjoy manicured grounds worthy of an exclusive club or a course covered in Persian rugs. Measuring 6,200 yards from the back tees, the layout provides four tee options from which golfers can play. On the driving range, players can calibrate their swings while aiming at 11 targets equipped with Laser Link flagsticks, which ensure that distances are accurately measured and also to make sure pins don’t run away to pursue careers as javelins. Off the course, guests can relax in The Den at Fox Run, which serves up drinks and casual grill food.

Featuring professional staff members, an impeccably maintained course, and true-rolling greens arranged according to the position of 18 miniature meteor craters, The Ridge offers a golf experience for clubbers both skilled and woefully handicapped. A full round of evasive holes ($25 weekdays, $27 weekends) tantalizes cleek caressers and promises more excitement than a ruptured appendix. A golf-cart rental ($15) and a medium bag of range balls ($5) are included in the package, as well as a caged self-loathing that, according to The Ridge’s policies, can be unleashed upon any golfer who putts an eagle.

The stately trees and blue grass fairways that line Cedar Rapids Twin Pines Golf Course have been flourishing since 1962, when the first golfers walked the course’s emerald alleyways. Eighteen scenic holes invite greenhorns to green-jacket holders to dig up divots while aiming their dimpled orbs around a quartet of ponds. Hole five presents a sharp dogleg left with a water hazard nestled in the crook of its elbow, forcing golfers to either tee off with masterful precision or keep the fairways lush with a steady stream of tears. Before facing the course’s unforgiving, undulating fairways or the tree-framed putting green of hole eight, players can warm up at any of the driving range’s 20 hitting stations. After a successful round, golfers can drop into the clubhouse to cool off hot putting hands with a frosty beverage and tell old war stories of facing off against rifle-wielding regiments with only their 9-iron.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 72 course
• Length of 5,932 yards from the farthest set of tees
• Course rating of 67.8 from the farthest set of tees
• Slope rating of 107 from the farthest set of tees
• See the scorecard

The men’s league at Belle Plaine Country Club is no joke: its member roster boasts 112 players. As course manager Mike Coffman points out, “It’s an impressive number for a small town"—and a testament to the course’s charms. Its bluegrass fairways have become a lively gathering place for the community. The pines, elms, and oaks dotting the fairways have flourished for more than 80 years, during which time they've been nourished by a steady diet of misaimed balls and frustrated golfers’ tears. Two-time PGA champion Lonnie Nielsen, who grew up playing on the course, can still occasionally be seen teeing off here.

The course challenges players with tricky water hazards, and balls have to strap on their crampons and take out their rock picks to ascend the eighth hole’s elevated green. After a day spent on the fairways or at the driving range and practice putting green, players can unwind with a slice of pizza or a hamburger at the snack bar.

Course at a Glance:

• Nine-hole, par 36 course
• Length of 3,008 yards
• Course rating of 67.6
• Slope rating of 111

Since opening in 2002, the course at Legacy Golf Club has collected a litany of regional and national awards thanks to an ingenious layout envisioned by Jeffrey D. Brauer, who claims a ranking in Golf Inc.’s 2010 list of the world’s highest-value course architects. Each player that tees up on the first hole peers into the abyss of Mr. Brauer’s delicate design, relying on precise control to avoid the Kentucky bluegrass roughs and water hazards that come into play on 14 holes¬—including all 9 on the back side. Those who succeed enjoy luxuriant lies on the bentgrass fairways, and earn the best chance of shooting the par of 72, not counting the illegal practice of using the club as a baseball bat. En route, they must slay the par 4 2nd hole, a downhill screamer with a dramatic approach over a 5-acre lake, as well as the par 3 14th and 17th holes, where matters are complicated by swirling winds. Before hanging up their golf gloves for the day, players must clear a final high hurdle in the 611-yard par 5 18th hole, where a large amphitheater-style green funnels well-placed approaches and echoes shouts of “Fore!”

Class A PGA Professional Rob Randall heads up Legacy Golf Club’s golf school, having claimed much recognition for his instructional prowess. He brings expertise earned over more than 20 years and some 20,000 golf lessons to his lessons at the practice facility, where bentgrass tees, six target greens, and TaylorMade practice balls lend veracity to practicing swings and juggling-based intimidation tactics.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 72 course
• Total length of 7,199 yards from the back tees
• Course rating of 74.7 from the back tees
• Course slope of 137 from the back tees
• Four sets of tees per hole
• Scorecard

Countryside Golf Course's 18-hole layout takes golfers across 160 acres of bucolic, gently undulating Iowa countryside. The horticultural oasis challenges golfers from the moment they stake their tree slivers into the soil of the first tee box, which plays into a 574-yard par 5 featuring a subtle dogleg-right and a green guarded by sand and water on either side to form the course's hardest-rated hole. Water comes into play on seven holes—including six of the first nine holes—placing a high premium on precise approach shots and ties to Poseidon's family tree.

After traversing the Bent grass circuit astride a golf cart, which helps hunt down wayward drives while daydreaming about a dream job as a Mars rover, players can head toward the clubhouse for a post-round meal or drink. At the wooden u-shaped bar, guests can crack open a beer and refuel with hot dogs and sandwiches.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole course
• Bent grass fairways and greens
• Length of 6,366 yards from the farthest tees
• Three tee options
• Link to scorecard