Tragedy in Newton, IA

[wproct]

I started playing the game of disc golf about 6 years ago. There is a beautiful city park about 10 minutes from my home, Maytag Park. It contains a very nice 18 basket disc golf course. Tee pad to basket distances from 250 to around 750 feet. It is an old park with lots of very old oak trees, lots of shade, and just a beautiful park to play in. My regular disc golf buddy and I played a leisurely round this Monday morning and commented several times about what a great and pretty course that it was. We got done playing around 10:30 in the morning and I headed home. Shortly before noon a terrible storm hit the central part of Iowa. Straight line sustained winds of 90-110 mph, worst storm I have ever witnessed in my 75 years on this earth. Damage to the city was massive, trees down on homes and power lines every where, roofs blown off of homes and stores. Personally I was very lucky, live in the country and damage to my home and property was minimal. The next day I had to drive in town and went by Maytag Park. Park entrances were closed, but you could see dozens of 80 plus year old trees were broken or ripped from the ground. It looks like nearly every fairway is impacted. Just made me sick to witness the carnage. It is just amazing how such a beautiful park can be literally destroyed in just 30 minutes time.

 

[scooby snack]

Those storms impacted a large part of the midwest.

Sorry to hear the park was damaged, Maytag was on my wishlist of courses to play once I hit the lottery. Glad to hear you and your friend are safe.

 

[ru4por]

Nature can be mean. Maytag was in a beautiful park and a very nice course.

 

[JedV]

Sorry to hear that news. It's a reminder that nothing in this world is permanent, and that we shouldn't take gems like that for granted.

 

[puttlikeablowfly]

Ugh. I played that course on my way back from Des Moines one time. It was a beautiful park and a fun course. Hopefully the repairman bench and those cool old structures weren't damaged.

 

[BuiltTooLong]

Unfortunately Maytag is just one of several courses in Iowa that was ravaged. Big Creek, Walnut Ridge, Shaver Park, to name a few, all were ravaged SEVERELY. The A tier the Titan Open in Cedar Rapids has been cancelled, as all the area courses were impacted. The derecho storm has been very devastating, people will be without power for several more days still.

That being said, it's been extremely pleasant to see the different disc golf communities of Iowa come together to get the parks cleaned up and in safe playable condition again.

 

[wproct]

Yes, I was back past the Maytag Park today and the crews were working in full force already trying to get the damage repaired, it's just going to take some time. As BuiltTooLong stated, this storm covered many counties in Iowa and I knew that there had to be similar damage to other courses as well. I just had to share the news about Maytag Park because this course is so important to me. I am retired and I try to play at Maytag every day of the year that weather will allow. It truly is my home away from home. It's just another example of how we can take things for granted until it is either taken from us or severely changed. There is no doubt in my mind but what Maytag Park will be restored to be a beautiful park once again. It's just that I will always miss those huge old trees that I used to swear at in the past when one of my bad drives would smack one of them dead center.

 

[kevdiv48]

I had to check my Courses Played list but I did in fact play there during my time as a student at Iowa State, likely played as a pit stop off I-80 during a trip back to campus. One of many good midwestern courses carved out of established parks with mature trees and rolling hills. I'm sorry to hear of the damage but encouraged to hear of the prompt response to it.

 

[air show]

My heart goes out to you wproct. Maytag is one of my favorite courses in Iowa. Of all the city parks I have seen Maytag is the greatest example of what a city park should be. The whole park... the Municipal pool, band shell, shelters and the DG course are all first rate. Those beautiful trees.