Momentum Building For Disc Golf Course At Glenwood Lake Park

A memorial fund for former Glenwood Mayor Ron Kohn, who passed away on Dec. 30, has been established to help raise money for construction of a disc golf course at Glenwood Lake Park.

The disc golf course idea being pursued by the Glenwood Park Board would have an 18-hole course be built partially along an existing trail system in the hilly area of Glenwood Lake Park, behind the Mills County Historial Museum buildings and the Davies Amphitheater.

Glenwood Park Board member Vanessa Covington and board chair Randy Romens discussed the proposed course at a Glenwood  City Council meeting last August. Kohn took part in the discussion and also attended park board meetings. The memorial fund was established by the Kohn family.

“He (Kohn) would be part of the meetings and he was always very interested in seeing this happening,” Romens said. “He could see this being a boon for the community, because it will bring people in. He saw it as a tourism thing.”
Romens said the memorial donations will be a major boost to the project.

“Before this, we were thinking we’d be starting in the next two years or so, it’s going to take awhile, but now, this is kind of jumpstarting it,” he said. “We’re still in the early stages of it. We’ve already put money in the budget for planning and development of it.”

Donations to the Ron Kohn Memorial can be made at Glenwood State Bank. The park board has also set up a “Glenwood-Discgolf” donation account on Venmo.

Romens noted that a Glenwood Area Disc Golf club is being formed and a meeting of the organization will take place Monday night, Jan. 15, beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Keg Creek Brewing Co. The meeting is open to anyone interested in the project or joining the club.

The disc golf club is just getting off the ground, just like the course itself.

“Long-term, we’d love to get an 18-hole course, but right off the bat, we’ve went after a  nine-hole course,” Romens said. “If that’s what it’s going to take, let’s get nine holes in and then we can make room for expansion.”

A preliminary course design, created by Erik Tribelhorn, owner of Colorado-based Zenith Disc Golf, was presented to the city council in August. The design shows the course starting near the “horseshoe pit” area on the north side of the park and crossing the Fallon’s Creek Bridge into the “rugged hills” on the east side of the property. The first six holes would be on the extreme east side of the park. The rest of the course would weave its way along the cross country trails and grassy area behind the amphitheater and museum buildings.

Romens said the disc golf course will have minimal impact on the cross country course, used for high school and middle school competition.

“We’re not going to do anything to change the course,” Romens said. “We’re going to work around it. It’s not a big deal.”

Disc golf course construction is expected to carry a price tag of $1,500-$1,700 per hole.

Romens said park board members are aware of the disc-golf course baskets on the campus of the Glenwood Resource Center. Nine baskets are in place near the soccer field area in the middle of the campus and it’s possible nine additional baskets were purchased and sitting in storage somewhere on the GRC campus.

“We’re aware of those baskets, which is pretty cool that it’s up there,” Romens said. “But we’ve also heard that 18 baskets had been purchased. Nine have been installed, so we’re hoping they can find the nine that have not been  installed. Those would be the ones that we’d very interested in purchasing,  or if they would want to donate to the cause. That would help just a little bit in the cost.”
When addressing the city council last summer, Covington said her son is among a growing number of disc golf players. She noted that it’s a sport that’s affordable and enjoyed by all ages.

“I like to hike the trails at the park and it all kind of came together one night. I thought we should have a disc golf course here in Glenwood. We have some great potential,” she said. “We feel like it would be a great asset to our community. It would bring people in. Disc golfers love traveling to courses.  It’s a very popular sport. It’s been around for a long time. It just keeps growing – it’s something that anyone can do. It’s just fun.”