The Ponds and Wall Lake – Tonn’s Travels
Today I batted 2-for-4 in my course collecting efforts, dodging flood waters and road closings/detours my entire trip from Springfield, Minnesota to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It was great, sneaking in two more courses played before some family events! But I am also bummed at the fact that I drove (many) miles in effort to try and get two new courses played in Iowa, only to have flooding prevent that from happening.
My first stop on the day was at The Ponds DGC in Marshall, Minnesota. This one has been on my To Play List since the day I heard it existed…since I had been talking with members of that community since a few years before I moved to Oregon. Saying how this park would be a prime location for a “destination” disc golf course in southwestern Minnesota. Someone actually designed and built a course here, and it’s pretty good! It needs better tees, tee signage, and a few other tweaks here and there. But I think this can/will be one of the better courses in the region when they finish.
I actually played very, very well at The Ponds (scorecard above), shooting an estimated round rating of 965 in sloppy conditions. Footing on the course wasn’t good, and the course is yet to have tee pads installed. so to shoot a sub-50 round was pretty good in my book!
After playing at The Ponds, my luck dodging flooding ran out in Alvord, Iowa. I had tried to sneak down to check out a newer nine-hole course at Alvord City Park, but as you can see from the above photo? That course was going to be underwater for at LEAST the next several days.
I decided to try my luck a little further South, visiting Rock Valley Rotary Park in Rock Valley, Iowa. Hole 1 was actually playable! But Holes 2 through 9, as you can see above? Not so much. I did stubbornly play Holes 1 and 2 in Rock Valley! But I could not in good conscious count it as a course played. So my quick trip into Iowa ended up being a complete waste of time, apart from enjoying a nice picnic lunch in the part of the park that wasn’t underwater.
Still stinging from striking out in Iowa, I decided to try and sneak in one more course in South Dakota before throwing in the towel: Wall Lake DGC. This was another course where I had designed the tee signs for them via DGA, so I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to see them “in the wild” while I was in the neighborhood! And when we arrived at the park, there wasn’t a single flooded river in sight! Whew.
The signs at the course look great! But the signs are installed on nearby trees…which can be 20-30+ feet from the tee areas themselves. Kind of peculiar, and hard to photograph when looking from the tee areas to the baskets! But I had a good, fun round…managing a -5 (23) and an estimated round rating of 1004.
That might be it for my course collecting on this trip! But getting another seven new courses played, not knowing if I would manage any in the midst of family obligations, rain, mud and flooding is okay.
Magic Number = -50 (2,050 Courses Played)
ABOUT DEREK
Derek Tonn is a member of the DGA’s Ambassador Team. His company, Mapformation, LLC, has been DGA’s partner in the development of disc golf tee signage since 2012. The longer our two companies have worked together, and the more Derek has gotten to know all the great folks at DGA, the more he has wanted to formally sing the company’s praises. The more he has realized that “Steady” Ed’s (the father of disc golf and the modern-day Frisbee) vision for the sport and his company perfectly describes his own interests and priorities related to disc golf, and the more Derek has recently been encouraged to share his story.