The three types of golf. (City of Grimes photo)
A first-in-the-nation style of golf course is being planned for central Iowa. The Des Moines suburb of Grimes is announcing it will build what’s being called a MultiGolf Park.
City marketing director Whitney Tucker says the park won’t be for the traditional type of golf, but rather three other golf variants, two of which may be completely foreign to most Iowans. “There’s foot golf where you use a soccer ball to kick the ball into the hole,” Tucker says. “Park golf is similar to golf. It’s a wiffle ball and a regular golf club that you can hit into the hole, and then traditional disc golf that many people are familiar with.”
Each green on the 14-acre course will feature the traditional chain basket for disc golf, but it will be in the center of a plastic-lined hole large enough to sink a soccer ball. The only other MultiGolf Park in America opened in Texas earlier this year and it’s a nine-holer, so Grimes leaders are hoping the new facility will quickly become a destination.
“This will be the first 18-hole course in the United States and it’s also the first MultiGolf park in the Des Moines metro,” Tucker says. “There are a lot of people that aren’t familiar with this yet and we’re excited to put more information out on our website. We also plan on creating some videos showing people how these different sports can be played.”
The idea for a MultiGolf Park started in Europe with courses in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany, but Tucker predicts Iowans will quickly learn and embrace the new golf options.
“We have a very active community, a lot of young families with kids that are involved in sports,” Tucker says. “We could see this really bringing in people from the Des Moines metro and maybe farther out as well, since it’s such a unique feature.”
It’s late in the construction season now, so the majority of the work will be done next spring, with the course scheduled to open in next summer.