Much of the prep work to add a nine-hole disc golf course at Iola’s Meadowbrook Park is in place, with construction expected to begin in the spring.
Members of the Iola Disc Golf League worked with the city and Iola’s Community Involvement Task Force/PRIDE Committee through the year, first on designs, and then on securing enough donations to turn the course into reality.
A pair of recent fundraisers in the form of a couples tournament Nov. 11, and then a “Space Race” glow disc tournament a week later put the group over the top in terms of funding needed to move forward.
“We’re really excited about it,” said John Higginbotham, a disc golf league member and one of the tournament organizers. “We’ve gotten a lot of good support from the community.”
The course will be tailored for youth or beginners, with shorter, easier holes than Iola’s Elm Creek Disc Golf Course.
City crews will handle the installation.
The original layout at Meadowbrook allowed for six holes, noted Chelsea Beasley, a CITF/PRIDE member, but as organizers reconsidered the design, they realized it was spacious enough for nine.
That’s vital, because most tournaments are 18 holes.
“We really want to be able to host sanctioned events,” Higginbotham said. “If we can grow the sport here, we can really get Iola’s name out there.”
As an aside, the Elm Creek course has 13 holes.
“We’d love to get it to 18 but we’re pretty much landlocked,” Higginbotham said of the Elm Creek course.
While the city has other parcels nearby, they are not contiguous.
One of the disc golf league members farms property adjoining the Elm Creek Course, and allows temporary use to expand the course to 18 holes for certain events, but only if there are no crops in the ground, Higginbotham said.
HIGGINBOTHAM envisions youth clinics as a centerpiece for the new golf course, and is eager to work with the city to get other activities on the schedule.
While a traditional disc golf course features hole lengths of 300 feet or longer, the Meadowbrook Course will feature holes about half, or even a third, that distance apart.
