Jester Park Golf Course, Granger IA

If I could give them zero stars I would.

According to their stated hours, they open at sunrise. I arrived at 7: 30AM this morning to golf the Par 3 course [which doesn’t require or accept tee times] to find a locked and dark clubhouse. No problem, I figured someone must be running late to work and that I would go play my nine holes and pay once done when the clubhouse was staffed.

So I walked over to the first hole and teed off. As I put my club back in my bag to start walking down to the green, the course loudspeaker turns on to announce that the Par 3 course is currently closed. At this point I’m a little irritated, but it is what it is I guess.

So I walk out to retrieve my ball to leave and as I’m picking it up the loudspeaker turns back on. This time, to inform me again that the Par 3 course is closed and that I should have checked into the clubhouse [which is empty and dark? ].

Overall very disappointing experience. Possibly for the best though, as I had to walk through a poorly maintained soupy marsh to get to the first green to retrieve my tee shot.

Nice course in great shape, They do their best to get everyone out on the course including singles, Very reasonably priced.

I understand needing to get to the course early, but we got here 5 minutes before our tee time and the first words we got told when walking into clubhouse was “You’re late, you’re supposed to be on first tee. ” This was the first of 5 mentions of us being late. Then when we got to the tee box he says over the intercom “let’s get going first tee box, ” when it was 2: 15 (our tee time) Overall not a good experience and will not be back.

Fun course. Great value. Very well manicured. Felt bad getting in a sand trap because they're all so picturesque and perfect

1st Time here.
Coarse was in fantastic shape!
The back 9 was more difficult (after a few visits by the AMAZING beer cart girl)
But.the back 9 is also much more challenging with layout and elevation changes.
Im looking forward to my next 18!

Very good course management, and good golfing. The food was good, and the service was good too. Thanks for the good time golfing! Incredible course management, and open time slots.

Great shape! Greens a little Sandy, so slower than I expected. Geese we're alarmingly vicious fighting over a mate? Alarming to watch and listen to. Other than that. A great day!

Called Saturday evening to verify the par 3 was still walk in only. They confirmed. Asked about best times to show up to play the next day with my son. They were nice over the phone and talked about good times that should work.

Showed up next day only to be told they have an event. Would have been nice to know that they do take reservations, just not ours, and that they had an event on the books to save the trip.

Figured I would look at their ad board that we purchased ad space on before we left since I couldn't golf. It was off. Great to know that was a waste of ad money for my business as well. Not impressed

The condition of the course is great but If you plan on playing, make sure you clear your day. The average round of 9 holes is about 3 hours. Everytime I have played this course, I was lucky to get out within 6 hours if I played 18 holes. The average hole has about 3 groups on it at any given time. Great course, but they always over book and pack the place.

Great set up at driving range. Area to practice side hill lies, sand shots, putting, chipping, pitching with greens to target. Only suggestion is to use fairway grass on tee boxes or mow shorter. It's like hitting out of first cut. TY

Best public owned and run course in the metro. Everyone there knows me by name and are super friendly. Plus there kitchen food is pretty good too!

Played today and this will likely be my last for a while. Jester Park is a public golf course trying to be a country club. The staff is nice enough but a smile speaks volumes and can go a long way. The other customers are my biggest issue. They are the reason most of the general public doesn't play golf. They're mostly rude and are not willing to play nice with others. I know the other Des Moines public courses don't present the same experience so I'll likely frequent those. I'm also aware that JP won't miss my money but I will for sure steer others away when asked.

The course was in good shape with the exception of a number of greens. Lots of old divot marks that would give you a bouncing roll. But overall still very playable.

Was a great course. Conditions were amazing, and will definitely be playing here again. Only reason for 4 stars is that we scheduled as a group of three and we were paired with a fourth. I know that happens, and we don't mind, but there were two groups of 2 behind us. It would have made more sense to pair this solo with one of those groups. We had an enjoyable time with our single, but just looked like bad course management to me.