June 18, 2025 • 52 mins
Season 1, Episode 17: Ty Tannatt of the Disc Golf Pro Tour and the City of Indianola’s Chief of Culture and Recreation, Doug Bylund, join Indy Unplugged to explore the evolution of the Pickard Park Disc Golf Course into one of the premier disc golf destinations in the world. The pair also preview this year’s Discmania Challenge, presented by Trubank, which is slated for June 27-29. Grab a disc, step up to the tee and listen!
Fast-forward to a specific topic covered:
- 00:00: Intro
- 00:42: Welcome
- 01:50: On Early Disc Golf Beginnings
- 10:52: On Volunteer Impact
- 13:58: On Evolution of Pickard Park & Disc Golf Course
- 20:53: On Connection of Event to Community Draw & Collaboration
- 26:28: On Previewing 2025 Discmania Challenge
- 35:40: On This Year’s Competitors
- 38:36: On Ultimate Goals for Discmania Challenge & Pickard Park Course
- 43:20: On How to Get Involved
- 49:05: On How to Stay Connected
- 50:01: Final Thoughts & Closing
To learn more about the Discmania Challenge, please visit: https://www.dgpt.com/event/2025-discmania-challenge/
To learn more about the Pickard Park Disc Golf Course, please visit: https://www.indianolaiowa.gov/facilities/facility/details/Disc-Golf-28
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
[Music]
(00:11):
Welcome to Indy Unplugged,
the podcast that’syour front-row seat
to the real talkof Indianola.
I’m Aaron Young,your friendly neighborhood host,
and we’re diving deepinto unfiltered stories,
candid chats and the nitty grittyof our vibrant city.
Think of this as a crash coursein all things Indianola.
No fancy jargon,just real conversations.
(00:32):
So, get comfy,hit that play button
and let's explore the heart and soul of our community
on Indy Unplugged.
Welcome back to another episode of Indy Unplugged, a City of Indianola podcast.
And we've got two great guestsjoining us on today's episode.
If you've been staying tunedin your community news and upcoming
(00:54):
events, you know for surethat here, from June 27th to the 29th,
it's the Discmania Challengeover at Pickard Park Disc Golf Course.
And joining me today is Ty Tannattwith the Disc Golf Pro Tour,
as well as Doug Bylund, our very ownchief of Culture and Recreation time.
Ty and Doug,how are you guys both doing today?
(01:16):
Doing great.I didn't know that was your title.
Doug, that's.
You got quite the title there, I love it.
He. Yeah, he's he's gone throughjust different variations of his title
from Parks and Rec directorto interim city manager to now
being back to just solely chiefof culture and recreation.
Oh. That's awesome.
Yeah, just call me the Parks and Rec. I.
(01:36):
Yeah, I know it makes sense.
I, I think it fits well for you.
Well, Ty,just to kind of get things rolling,
why don't you just introduce yourselfto our listeners and what your role is
over there with the Disc golf Pro tourand the disc mania
Yeah, I am the tournamentdirector for the event.
I, I think of it more of, like,the event director.
(01:57):
I basically help,on behalf of the Des Moines Metro Disc
Golf Club, runand organize the disc challenge,
which is presented by tree Bank this year,which is, it's actually an event
that spans two weekends.
So we just had the amateurs
and professional mastersplay this past weekend, and then the,
men's and women's professionalfields will play June 20th 7 to 29.
(02:19):
I think you said I figured park and,yeah, basically
we just try to create an event,that features this golf, foremost.
But then there's also, a community eventwhere, you know, anybody can come out
and enjoy some, of the landscapeof Pickard Park, enjoy the outdoors,
see some frisbees, fly and,hang out with the friends and family.
(02:41):
So that's kind of my role,with everything for the man.
That's awesome.
We'll dig furtherinto the story of the partnership
and the disc media challenge itselfhere in a little bit on this episode.
But between both you, Ty and Doug,how did this connection,
this collaboration in our community,first Yeah.
So it's actually kind of a funny story,when
(03:04):
so I, I've been playing this rolefor a long time, and, just was kind of in
and out of the sport,and I really started, playing a lot more,
just due to some mental health issuesthat I was going through and just being
outdoors and, and, doing some exerciseand hanging out with friends,
has always really helped me throughthose times of anxiety and depression.
(03:26):
So, at that time,I was really looking to get
a little bit more involved in the sport.
So, I,
I was interested in the disc golfPro tour,
and I thought that the Des Moines areacould be a good fit.
For the tour, I we have a very good, verystrong this community, a strong history.
We hosted 2004 worlds,which is the biggest event in disc golf.
(03:50):
And I actually found out yesterdaythat that spanned over 11
courses over nine days,which is crazy to think about.
But,
at the time, it was also, during 2020,
when Covid had, hit and
everything was basically shut down.
What what had happened for us to meet is
(04:13):
I started talking with thethe Montmartre Disc Golf Club.
I started thinking
that particular park would be a good hostfor one of these strong disc golf events.
And what we did is we organizedkind of a temporary tournament
where we, switched a couple of things out.
And we changed a couple of thingsto try to get a feel for it.
(04:34):
And actually, the only reason that,
what led to that was that during Covid, I put on a little impromptu
tournament, viewing park in Des Moinesand Pickard Park.
And what, we did for that iswe put out some advertising signs on
hold to record and, I guess probably thethat was probably on like a Wednesday
(04:56):
or Thursday, and it only featuredfour players and it was mainly
for post-production, like we filmed itand we posted on YouTube after the fact.
But, what happens was
I got a, a strongly worded email.
I'm just taking that back.
It wasn't there, and it was just,it was an email from Doug,
(05:16):
you know, saying, hey, we saw that you hadsome advertising out up on the course.
And, you know, we're just wonderingwhat's going on there.
And if you want, you know, advertising,of course, is, you know, please kindly
ask the Parks Department and, you know,I think I replied back to that, so.
Yeah, no problem. Sorry about that.
And that we were just trying to, you know,do something quick and easy there.
(05:37):
And I didn'teven think about that, honestly.
But what that gave me was like,give me Doug's contact information.
All right.
So we took that piece, and we applied itto this, this temporary tournament
that I started, and then that just kind ofstarted the conversation, you know.
Hey, Doug, you know,we think we can do this out here.
(05:59):
This is this is our pitch.
You know, we put together a pitch.
We talked to Doug, a couple times, and,
you know, I'msure Doug can share his side of the story,
but obviously, when you,you know, pitch something to somebody
and they're not super familiar with it,I'm sure Doug was probably like, you know,
a little hesitant of, what it was thatwe were saying, but, it was really cool.
(06:19):
Doug'sbeen a very easy person to work with.
In, in
being a straight shooter,which I like, like,
and, yeah, I mean, that's basicallyjust kind of how it started and,
you know, it just continued to blossomfrom there on out.
But I'll let Doug chime in because, I don't know if you've ever
talked about, like, your side of the storywhen you saw signs up there.
(06:42):
No. Yeah,I think that's pretty much accurate.
I was, I remember seeing the sign going,oh, no, we're having this tournament
or what if we have a softball tournament
on the same day and, oh, my gosh,we're not gonna have enough parking,
because that was really kindof how it went.
And like,okay, who's the who's this organization?
Just call him hey, it's okay.
You reserve the course,just let us know so we can plan
so we don't have 2 or 3 big eventsat the same time.
(07:04):
And not necessarilyjust golf related, but softball with the
with the park being the way it is
or cross country meets or other thingsthat we have throughout the fall too. So.
So we obviously worked together.
We got I mean,
come to
me and say, hey, wewant to have an event at one of our parks
and we're like, yes, sign usup, we'll do whatever we can and we can.
(07:24):
Fast forward to probably Aprilthe next year.
And I remember getting a call, I'meating lunch at home and he goes, Doug,
we were going to do the silver thing,but now the Norway meals
or tournaments been canceled.
So they want to do this, EliteSeries event and pick it in July, right?
Was it August or July?
It was. It was July.
We had two months to get this thinggoing to go from.
(07:48):
Yeah, it's going to be a serious,big professional disc golf tournament,
but now it's going to be likereally serious.
Yeah,it's up at the top of the tournament.
So yeah.
So yeah, they providea little more context there too.
So after doing the temporary tournamentand talking with Doug and giving them
this idea, we had to plan our datesfor the next year.
So this would be 2021.
(08:08):
And we have to do thatin December of the year before.
So, we looked at the datethat the disc golf Pro tour
was supposed to be in Norway,and I'm like, that's our date, because
there's no way Europe is going to allow,you know, mass gatherings.
With Covid still going on in July. Yeah.
And so we,you know, we requested that date.
(08:29):
We got that date.
I here's another backstory.
It's funny is like, I was constantly notconstantly I, I a few times
I was emailing the disc golfpro tour like, hey,
we got this course, we got this, you know,city, it's got all these amenities.
Because what a lot of peopledon't think about.
But these big events are allthe additional amenities they need,
you know, bathrooms, power parking,
(08:51):
just flow of the courseand openness of the course
so that people can come out hereand watch.
And I just feel likePicard is a really good example
of what a public parkcan be for a professional disc golf event.
And so I tried to explain that to the guysand the Disc Golf Pro Tour,
and they just kind of laughed me off.
They're like, yeah, whatever.
(09:11):
Like I remember my now my,my current boss, Sean, he,
I emailed him and he said, well,you need to start as a C tier
and then work your way up to a tierin a couple of years.
And, and maybe in 5 or 7 yearsyou can become an A tier.
And I was like,
no, no, no, I need to do this next yearlike I need to do next year.
And so we started talking
(09:33):
with Sean and Seth Fennellyand a couple other guys, and we
I just kept, you know, texting themevery other week or so, like, hey,
you know, I see, you know, COVID's still,you know, making its rounds in Europe.
Like what do you guys thinkwe're here as a back up.
And that call that Doug is referringto, it's it's really funny.
(09:53):
I got, I got obviously got a call
from this corporate tour from Seth family,and yeah, he was I was like, oh, cool.
Yeah. We're going to do a silver event.
Which silver event at the time is man,it wasn't quite as prestigious.
It didn't have quite all the,all the big players that were going
to come out.
But still a really a big eventand a big undertaking.
And, Saturday's been like, no,we're going to do the Foley series event.
(10:17):
And, yeah, it was like the weekafter 4th of July, too.
I think it was on July 9th.
And, yeah, we just,
we we got an incredible amount of effortfrom the community,
both locally in Indianola and,Des Moines.
I mean, obviously the buy in from dogin the Parks department, to help us out
(10:38):
and to figure out,you know, what it is we could do
and it's just grown,like, immensely ever since.
And it's just it'sjust really been, very fruitful.
And it's it's just a lot of fun,honestly, to be a part of.
And I think that's what's a really coolpart of this story
is that community spiritor that volunteers.
And that's come in locally and then fromDes Moines and other areas across
(11:00):
central Iowa, the region,the world, as Doug shared earlier.
I mean, that's kind of reallyI feel, a missing ingredient into,
this entire,
piece of the pie that you too have helpedbuild.
So, like, for Doug, for you from hearingfrom Ty and from others about,
(11:21):
you know, just how remarkable Pickard Parkthe disc golf course
was even back then, 4 or 5 years ago,to what it is today.
When you think about that evolution,the journey that you two
and everyone of have gone through,what does that mean to you?
Just on a deeper level,being a Parks and Rec guy? Yes.
But also just, understandingand realizing
the impact that this event,this experience,
(11:43):
this sport has on bothfrom an event standpoint, but also just an
overall daily life and the quality of lifeinitiatives that we have as a city.
Oh boy, that's a big, deep question.
You know, we're only 11 minutesinto the first thing that
that Ikeep thinking about is all the hard work
and all the commitmentthat so many people have gone through,
(12:06):
and I don't want to name every namebut Earl and Jamie and Chad.
And there's so many peoplethat are all out there, Ty
and you name it,I there's hundreds of them.
And this would not happen without them.
But then I get tomaybe it was the second event that we had,
and there was a little boythat came, and I was by the
(12:27):
the checking gate, and he was excited.
He's going to see Paige Pierceplay disc golf.
I'm guessing he's about nine.
He's jumping up and down. He'sjumping up and down.
I'm going to see Paige Pierce.
I'm like, well,she's teeing off in 15 minutes, right?
He did not know this.
And we had somehow it arrangeto get some extra VIP passes that day.
And dad's like yeah I'll dothat. Will get will do that.
(12:48):
So he got to go walk the coursewith Paige Pierce the entire day.
And then somehowand maybe 15 minutes later,
somebody said, oh,we got these VIP badge lanyards things.
And I'm like, oh, there's one left.
And I knew that little guywas coming around the corner.
And I went down there and he.
And I gave him that passand his eyes lit up.
So you don't know the impactthat we're having on every single person.
(13:10):
And this is like Tiger Woods.
This is like Mike trout.
These are the biggest names in thein the world of disc golf.
And you know, there'salmost maybe not a world
record, but, you know, one of the besttournaments again and had last weekend.
Right.
So these things are happeningand everybody knows a lot of these people.
There's a lot of people from Iowa
that are going to be playingand they're very good at it. So
(13:34):
I see the spectators,but I also see the impact that it has
on the volunteers and how proud they areof all the work that they're doing.
And the things that are happening.
And this is going to be a podcastaround the world for Thursday, Friday,
Saturday or, sorry, Friday,Saturday, Sunday.
And they have their press conferencesbefore.
And I mean, it's gone.
And this is a professionally doneorganization just like PGA tour.
(13:58):
Did you ever think that, you know, PickardPark here in Indianola, Iowa,
in multiple uses that it has betweensoftball and, you know, just even last
Friday we had, you know, a drive in moviethe evolution of the course.
In your wildest dreams,
did you ever imagine that you'd be hostingregularly a, nationally,
a globally renowned,tournament with the Disc Media Challenge?
(14:18):
I would never say never to anything.
I wouldn't, you know,I've seen people, teams from Canada,
from California, from all over NorthAmerica come play softball and baseball.
Why can't we do the same thingfor disc golf?
And this is world
so there literally will be 15or 18 countries represented next weekend.
(14:40):
I and I, you know, I
last year a little junior amateurand she's junior world champion
I think she was nine from New Zealandthat I met in the parking lot.
I was like, oh my gosh. Right.
So they're coming from everywhere.
I would never say never about anythinganybody has an idea about.
And as perfect example,he wasn't going to give up.
He knew the visionhe knew was going to happen there.
(15:02):
It's been one of the best courses.
The metro area is one of the best
areas for disc golf in the country.
And we could probably say world.
Obviously we don't have mountains
that are all those other things,but we have other things.
This is everything Iowa has.
It has rolling hills as long big shots.
It has really tight shots with timberlittle creek that runs through it.
(15:22):
You might see to see a fish swimmingby as you're picking up your disc.
Right. This is what I was all about.
And I think people 25 years agowhen they built this course,
they probably would have lovedknowing that this is happening.
And Juliana, like we've talked about itearlier and the people that design it,
this is why you do what you doand you don't know
why would you limit yourselfon what it becomes?
(15:44):
And it's been fun for me.
And I encourage others,listeners of this podcast
to make sure you go and followthis media challenge on Facebook.
And I believe you're also on Instagram.
So, follow them on those socialsbecause that's how, at least
I've been able to followalong on the journey,
especially as of latefrom those volunteers and,
clearing up the,you know, the wooded areas for,
I don't know, I don't know the courseall that well as to both of you, but,
(16:07):
you know,there's a lot of work and, yard work.
We'll put it in layman's terms for waybigger than yard work.
Yeah. This is like logging, right?
So this is a big deal.
This is easily thousandsand thousands of hours every year.
Yeah. And it's been since 2000.
So we're going six years now.
Yeah. And it's all volunteer driven.
I mean, being able to where I'm going atis be able to see those photos
(16:29):
and the evolution of these volunteersand tie yourself being able to,
you know, dedicate yourselves to the sportand to the spectacle of this event.
Just kind of time for you take listenersthrough all the work that
you and the group have done as of late,to prepare for this year's tournament.
Yeah, I just thank you for everythingyou said that was that was great.
(16:53):
But yeah, every year,you know, we come out here
after every event, we're like,we know what we need to change.
What do we need to workon, what can we shore up?
And, you know, every year, basicallyfrom March until June and July or August,
whenever the event ends up being,you know, we're out here every weekend.
Those other guys, Earl, Chad, Jamie,the locals specifically at Indianola
(17:14):
are out here pretty much every day,if not every other day.
Helping do stuff on the course.
And then it gets the berries. Right.
There's a lot of upkeep outhere, like weed whacking.
And just like, overall beautificationand, of course, maintenance.
But then we also try to implementchanges every year.
So every single year we've donethis, we've put in new tee
(17:35):
pads,or we, we've replaced old tree pads.
We've built bridges pretty muchevery year.
We have or we widen them.
And we've just tried to make itoverall easier,
for both the players and the spectators.
But then also the community,like, might know that girl's name,
but there's a cow that walks up and downhole 11, like, every day.
(17:57):
And she has her own little trail.
And I can't think of what her name is,but it's Lisa, it's Lisa.
If you go on GIS, you will see her trail.
Yeah, yeah.
And she made it herself over the yearsand years and years
of walking through the park. That's funny.
So, yeah, there's always an impact
every day, 365 days a year out there.
(18:19):
Yeah.
And, you know, it's just great to see,like I said, the movies in the park.
And then obviously we have the balloonswe're really trying to work with,
National Balloon Classic this yearand offer a tethered hot air balloon ride.
During one of the eveningsfor people to go up and spectating.
So, yeah, I mean, overall,everything we do out here,
it's just it's very rewardingand fulfilling, obviously, for the
(18:43):
that weekor those 3 to 5 days of the event.
Just thinking back to that first yearwhen we did this,
just like as soon as that,the last part, dropped this,
looking at some of those
people that spent hundredsand hundreds of hours and,
like I said, thousands of hours out herejust giving them a hug and like,
(19:06):
having such a joy, for what we did wasit was incredible.
And, you know, just being ableto think back to that every year and like,
think back to that feeling
and to get to that feeling every yearbecause, you know, at the end of the day,
we're doing this for everybody elsebecause I love disc golf.
And the reason that, you know,I specifically wanted to run our own
(19:27):
event hereis because my one of my favorite things
in life is just enjoying sharedexperiences with like minded people.
So whether you like sporting eventsand like I'm an Iowa Hawkeye fan,
when I go to Kinnick Stadium,
around 70,000 peoplewho like the same thing that I do.
And that's really fun.
When I go to a concert,I'm around a couple thousand people
that are enjoying the same thingI am, and I want to bring that
(19:50):
to the sport of disc golf,and I want to share that with more people.
You know, you can come out here,you can watch a little disc golf,
you can have some food and drinksfrom Hy-Vee and Big Grove Brewery,
and you can meander through the woodsand enjoy the beauty out here.
I think, Doug, this time I see some fish.
I think last year we saw we had a raccoon,we had snakes, we had cows.
(20:12):
We had, obviously squirrels,
blue jays, tons of beautiful wildlife out here.
I figured park and, Yeah,
I think it's just really, our total goalis to get the local Indianola community
with their, familiesto come out and experience it.
And, you know, at the end of the day,
(20:34):
it's not about them, like wantingto pick up this golfer enjoying this golf.
It's just having them come out
and share an experiencewith a lot of people and have a good time
if they end up picking up a disc or,you know, playing Pickard Park later,
that's that's obviously great,
but I just want them to come out and enjoya nice summer day, in a beautiful park.
And I love the fact, too, about,
you know, teaming upwith other community partners.
(20:56):
I know I believe so I serve on,our Indianola main Street board,
and I've heard our executive director, Erica Roberts,
I believe you guys have been in contact toto figure out, hey, when the tournaments
not going on and you addressed earlier,the community has other amenities
outside of Pickard Park, so, of course,get them down to our downtown square to,
you know, get a bite to eat or go shop
(21:17):
and all these other thingsthat are going on the community.
I think it's really cool that, you know,while people are here for the moment
for that tournament, they can stillexperience Indianola and what, the
Yeah, yeah.
And someone growing a lot, you know,we've been thankful enough to to work with
drew being just another funny storyabout how this has come about is
(21:38):
that first event,we had the, a congressman
come out, a local congressmancome out, and he was blown away
by what was happening.
And, I think either Tuesday or Wednesday
of the following week after the event,I was in Keith Welling's office at Truman,
and we were talking about a double digitsponsorship for next year's event,
(22:00):
which at the time in this golfwas pretty much unheard of,
especially from a non endemicand non disc golf related brand.
And so you know Truman has beena huge, huge partner for us there.
They're huge part.
And obviously
for the entire community of any and all ofthey go above and beyond at all times.
And you know, just trying to continueto work with them, continue to,
(22:23):
that trickle down into other businessesand locales.
And I mean, yeah,
I think the day that's what we want,right, is we want people to come out here
to experience this course, this park,
and then everything else, the city of Indianola has to offer.
So, yeah, it's kindof like a little give and take, right?
Like, hey, you guys promote us.
We'll promote you.
And all that,and hopefully we can all just, like,
(22:45):
showcasewhat Indianola has or even what Iowa has.
Was itthat was it the second year we had August.
That right?
Yeah, yeah.
And, we had players from Europethat went to the Iowa State Fair, right?
Yep. Just because they came hereto play disc golf.
So they would have never,ever would have seen that without being
(23:06):
without playing disc golf here.
Yeah. Yeah.
That's and that's, that's the otherkind of trickle down effect that,
you know, I think, like destinationmarketing or organization
like catch Des Moines understandsand like the Chamber of Commerce here
understands is that this event will bringobviously is going to bring people in
(23:28):
during the weekend of the actual event,but it trickles down throughout the year.
People are going to come in
from all over the country
because they're goingto want to play this course, but
this tournament is going to grow to it.
And I Chad has hundreds of stories.
John Henry loves to chat upanybody that comes on the course.
So he's always asking, you know,where are you from?
You know, and I think just like last,the last Tuesday or something, he
(23:52):
he talked to I think four differentgroups, all from different states.
And I've in my opinion that is a direct
that's that's directly coming from ushaving this event here.
And not only the people come out hereto Pickard Park, they also trickle down
to Ewing Park, Walnut Ridge, Southwood,you know, courses.
And John's in Des Moines, West Des Moines.
(24:14):
So what, like what Doug said earlier,you know, Des Moines is kind of a disc
golf destination. That's definitely true.
And that's why the Metro Disc Golf Club,like, put so much effort into this event.
You know, that we take joy in that, right?
We take joy in peoplefrom outside of Iowa, people from outside
the United States, you know, holdingtheir eyeballs on what we have to offer.
(24:37):
And, you know, we've done such a good jobbecause we have such a good team
and we have such a good parksdirector and his team that will support us
with, like, basically anything we ask himin, except
I think next year we're going to have
to have Doug skydive, try to land
like, on T1 and, I don't know,I haven't asked him on that, but,
(25:01):
so the workers comp workerskind of figure figuring out how we can.
Yeah, maybe I'll zipline or somethinginstead.
Yeah.
But like, like Doug said,he Doug has said no to very few things.
And you know, the things he said no to,he should have said no to.
And he's, he's been very graciouswith allowing us to, to,
(25:23):
you know, come through and deliverwhat we say we want to do.
There's a lot of peoplein a lot of organizations that will
tell you one thing, and then they won'tthey won't put in the work.
And, you know, we're lucky enough to havea community that will come out here
and use their resourcesand give back for the greater good.
And for the people that wantto come out here and play this golf.
(25:44):
So I'm just very appreciative of thosepeople and, very appreciative of Doug.
Amanda Berry, who is the clubpresident of the D1 Metro Disc Golf Club.
She puts in,
30 or 40 hours outside of this event,
just for the sport of disc golfin our area.
And, you know, without,you know, someone like her,
(26:06):
and not just the club like that, but
not just the board members of the club,but the, the club members themselves,
like the people that sign upand play league and play the events.
Like, without those people, you know,we would just be we wouldn't be anything.
We'd be lucky to have the courseswe give courses that we have.
So, I just hopepeople can understand that.
(26:28):
So leading to this year's tournament,which again, this media challenge,
folks, is, June 27th to the 29thhere at the Pickard Park Disc Golf Course.
What can spectators expect?
Yeah.
So I am super excited.
We talked about the course a little bit.
There's only a couple of changesto the course this year, so we're
feeling really goodabout how the courses looking and playing.
(26:50):
But so we took kind of our time that washad been spent on doing a lot of those
changes and put it more into, you know,what can we give back to the spectators?
What can we do to make this eventstand out?
So I'll try to say itas quickly as possible.
But, I just posted our schedule to the,our Facebook and Instagram page,
but basically Tuesday throughSunday of event week, we have things.
(27:13):
So Tuesday we have the gentlemen'spractice round that starts at 9 a.m..
I don't feature again in Berlin.
Gavin Babcock, two local islands.
Wednesday we have our Gold Pass Pro-Am,which is really fun.
If you bought a gold pass,you get, you get paired up
with a bunch of other gold top membersand play with some of the top pros,
including the women Gavinand Anthony Barela, Madeline, Greg Barnes
(27:36):
and some others.
And then Thursday,we have the Creators Challenge, which is
probably the most unique thing thatwe've done, but we're bringing in eight.
It's golf, YouTube and social mediacontent creators from around the country,
and we're pairing them up with the proand we're doing an alternate shot.
Doubles, out here on Thursdaynight at 6 p.m.
(27:58):
and those tickets are only $10 apiece,so that should be an absolute blast.
And then Friday through Sunday,we obviously have the regular event,
which is going to be awesome,but we're spectators.
We're adding a nine holespectator course around the like,
north side of the ball field over there.
And we're also going to be offeringtethered hot air balloon rides
(28:21):
as long as the wind is down.
That is scheduled for Saturday evening,from 5 to 7 at this point.
But if it's too windy,we'll move it to Sunday.
We also have,
very unique thing that no other eventhas really ever attempted,
but it's kind of a mixture of, an eventcalled a Ring of Fire and disc golf,
(28:43):
which is basicallywhere a bunch of people, putt at a basket
at the same time, and then whoever ends upbeing the last one to make it win.
And we're
combining that with Chucka puck from the sport of hockey.
If you've ever been to like, an IowaWild game, they sell rubber
pucks that you get to chuck on the ice,during one of the intermissions.
(29:03):
And if you land in a target,you win a prize.
So what we're going to be doingis we're going to be offering this,
to all of the spectators on Saturday,
and we've built a floating dock,and we're going to put a basket on.
We're going to put it in the pondout here at Pickard Park.
And after the men's lead cardgets done with all five,
(29:23):
we're going to dowhat I'm calling the people shot,
and we are going to let everybody,up to 150 people throw a disc
and try to make it in that basketwith a cash prize, as part of that day.
So I think there's lots of unique funthat we'll have out here.
We also, just had a magician sign up,so we're going to have a magician
(29:44):
come out and do card tricks.
And then we have all of our normalgoodies, like,
we're going to have a really nicevending area.
We're going to have Hy-Veeout here outside scoop.
We have a bunch of shaded areas.
We have shaded tents on five this year,which is new and 17.
And then the last thing I'll say isMidwest
(30:05):
mattress is bringing out two adjustableking size,
mattresses that, if you've never been
to, like, an Iowa Wild game or Iowa Wolvesgame, you know, they upgrade you
to seating where you get to sit onlike a nice recliner or a nice couch.
Yeah, we're basically taking thatand we're putting it
under whole seventeens tent,
and we're going to have these awesome bedsthat have, you know, massage your
(30:27):
and you can, you can go up and down with, and maybe this mattress
will be out there providing beveragesto fans that want to hang out.
And, we're calling it, but tempurpedic.
So I can't remember the exact word,
but the temporary timeoutis what we're calling it.
Because they would be two temperedPD, mattresses.
So we're trying to bring, like,
(30:47):
some of the funfrom all of the other sports
and incorporated into our event out herefor spectators.
Have a good time.
And you didn't mention about, kickball yet, though. Ty.
Oh, yeah. We.
And then we have Doug.
I forgot two things.
So Friday nightwe also do a we call the throw for dough.
So we let anybody spectators, players,
(31:09):
volunteers, staff, media, throw.
This from hole five at hole five basket.
And we're also going to let them
throw out the floating dockat that time for another cash prize.
And we're going to have Redbull out there.
DJ and music.
So that's roughly 630 to 8:00.
And then Saturday eveningwe have our accretion kickball event
(31:33):
and a benefit, another nonprofit called Educational Disc
Golf, which is also an Iowa basednonprofit organization.
And, funny story,I guess the, the kickball event came
about during a lightning delaywe had a couple years ago.
Some players,
just one of them had a ball in their vanand they started playing kickball.
And, everybody sat around and watched
(31:55):
and so now we play kickballover at the event, and we have Harvey
come over and have Red bull
come over and have some music,and we just have a nice summer night
and have some fun, pretendinglike we're 12 year old playing kickball.
You get something for everything.
If you had to pick just one,
whether it be kind of
a longstanding tradition that you've hadfor the offerings for, you know, the
(32:15):
the full course of the event, or if it'sone new one that's just implemented,
which one, if you had to pick, is onethat you're most proud of and just excited
to see what the experience will be likefor those who get to enjoy it.
Yeah, I,
I do think the people shotwill be extremely unique.
I'm, I'm interestedto see how it plays out.
(32:38):
I think it'll be a lot of fun and,hopefully something
that can go a little bit viraland we can really see how it grows.
You know, I said 150 peopleget at a time to this year.
I don't think that should be a problemto get that many people to do it.
But you know what?
If this becomes 300 people, 500 people,
700 people, you know, I, I kind of
(33:00):
look at it too, as like a tradition,you know, like the Iowa wave.
I, I was lucky enough to go to the firstever game when they did the Iowa wave.
And, you know, now looking back, I'mnot only watching that every time.
Like, you know,you want to be a part of that.
It's something special.
And, I hope that this canthis can grow into a tradition
that we do every year and people enjoy.
(33:22):
What about you, Doug?
Besides kickball?
Because that was right on your mind.
Oh, man.
I, you know, I help out with parking.
I think it's really fun to see everybodycoming in and welcoming them.
Last year I took in the beehive stuff,and you'll see me with my bee
antlersand my bee glasses that I done this week
(33:43):
at Mayor's Youth Council Bike Fest,but which Doug creamed all of us.
I don't know if he sharedthat story with you, Ty, but we did.
A celebrity community giant trike
race over at Bike Fest, which is organizedby our Indianola mayor's Youth Council.
And Doug was actually he'sburying the lead.
He was the, number
one in donations for community donationsthat were, directed toward his name.
(34:04):
I was number two.
So I'm not salty at all. I'm not salty.
But Doug did cream all of usby getting first place, and, well,
I it was a close chief share.
Our chief says it was time,but I'm going to give the edge to Doug.
But I did have I wasI was representing the beehive for that.
The hive is is really fun.
(34:24):
The fifth hole.
Hence the hive. Right.
Hive has been a big sponsor there.
It works perfectly.
It's just a big, fun place.
It's the first placeyou come in as a spectator.
You get to come see that.
And people and the players, it's they're
maybe not the best chance for an ace,but it's definitely arrived.
You can see it's right over water.
You'll know right away.
(34:45):
You know, we've probably had3 or 4 aces there in the past five years.
And, and there's food and there, drinksand everything right there.
The Thais even brought in the cameraor television.
So it's showing the broadcast liveso everybody can watch
what's going around the whole courseall at the same time.
And it's just fun and games.
And even volunteer comes up with hisbeehive hat and he's got the smoker.
(35:07):
He's got everything out there.
I mean, he's he's living it upand getting everybody all fired up.
And the playerseven come up and talk to the fans,
right away as they'regetting ready to go off and they're like,
thank you guys for coming outhere is so awesome and so much fun.
They're interacting all at the same time.
And and they don't normallywant to do that
in the middle of aroundI mean this is their job, right?
This is their profession.
(35:28):
But they absolutely love itand they live it up.
And so many of them are engagingwith the fans right there.
So, it's not quite like Waste Managementopen, but someday it might be that big.
That's very cool, Ty.
Just from your perspective as well.
I mean, that's something
we haven't touched on really too muchis the the competition side.
Who are the competitorsthat stand out in this year's field
(35:50):
and kind of what do they have to sayabout every time they come out to,
the pick apart discgolf course and, disc mania challenge?
Yeah.
Good question.
Well, you know, this course over the pastfive years, like we talked about
has gone through a lot of changes.
And, you know, gaining birth has beeninstrumental in a lot of those changes.
You know, we asked him and Gavinfor a lot of feedback.
(36:12):
So gaining is obviously goingto be one of the favorites,
out here in a couple weeks.
He's the number one player in the world.
He did just send the all time, highest event rating.
He won by 11 strokes on the GolfPro Tour, which is never happened before.
And, I think, you know, I are.
All eyeballs will be on him all week.
(36:33):
Not only is he from Urbandale, but,he's number one in the world.
And this mania is his manufacturingsponsors.
So, he's going to have a lotof obligations, though that week, and,
you know, he's gonna be back home.
All of his familyand friends are going to be out here.
So there's going to be a lot of pressureon him. But,
you know, the kid excels under pressure,as as well as anybody I've seen.
(36:54):
And then you got toyou got to talk about Anthony Barela.
The the kid from Arizonathat won last year.
He's been playing extremely well.
I know he's getting suited well out hereso we could see a little barella,
showdown like we sawa couple weeks ago in Portland.
And then we got, you know,some of the all time greats.
We got, Paul McBeth and RickySaki will be able to be out here.
(37:18):
And. And Paul won,
out herethe first time we had the event 2021.
But he really hasn't come too closeto winning since then.
And, I know he has some familyhere in the Des Moines area
as well,so, could be a good week for him.
On the women's side,we have some strong competitors.
(37:38):
Harlan Hanley, Macy Gannon, Ella Hanson.
But I also think, another young upand comer, Cadence of Bird.
She's also sponsored by this mania.
They do really well out hereon this course.
She's 18 years old.
She just got third place this past weekendin Minnesota at the preserve.
So there's going to be,hopefully lots of excitement.
(38:00):
That's what this course is built for.
It's built, and this is funny, too.
Like Doug and I talked about this.
We've been talking about thisfor 3 or 4 years, but, like,
we want this to be a feeder,a stadium, you know, for excitement.
You know, both for the playersand for the for the fans.
And that's what Doug'stalking about on hole five over there.
You know, hopefully some day we can get,you know, PGA style
(38:21):
grandstands over there and really create
a feeder, for disc golf.
That's the goal.
And, yeah, we just want to get some more people
to come out and experienceit and be part of the hive
so that, like you said,that's that's the goal.
Is thatlike when you think about the future
for the Disc media challengeand the Pickard part disc golf course,
(38:42):
is that kind of what the the,the end all goal
the horizon is for this,for your efforts, the volunteers efforts
to continue to make that impact of,shared experiences,
not just in this community,but across the state and across the world.
Yeah.
So our goal,
is to hopefully host, you know,the World Championships out here,
(39:04):
which is like the equivalentof the masters of the US open in golf.
It's the biggest, third tournament'smost important tournament.
It's, you know,usually a field of over 300 players.
You need two coursesto, manage and operate worlds currently,
and we're in talkswith, you know, potentially another site.
(39:27):
But it wouldn't be in Indianola,but it would be close enough.
But, you know, utilizing Pickard Parkand its other property
to host the World championships,I mean, ideally, that would be the goal.
Ideally, we'd fill up the balloon fieldwith all the cars, and,
you know, we would truly throw,you know, an exciting party out here.
(39:48):
I think we averagedroughly a thousand people to,
like, 1500 people a day out here.
As far as spectators go for this event,you know,
when you talk worlds,you think in 70, 500 to 10,000 people.
Well,that's the goal, especially in the time
frame we're looking at,which would be about five years from now.
So, I mean, yeah, I think,
(40:10):
you know, when I told it, when again,when I, Doug and I talked,
I had, you know,I have big dreams of big aspirations.
But I'm also I also understandthat you have to be really patient.
And although I wasn't patientin wanting to get the event,
I understand, like, the true build upand sustainability of what
we're trying to create here, you know,have to be patient and work towards it.
(40:33):
And, you know, we're going to doeverything we can to do that.
We we would love to see,
you know, again, just more supportfrom the Indianola community,
from the neighboring communities,from Des Moines.
Like, we want to get more people.
We want to get as many people out hereas possible,
because we definitely do think,like once people come out
and then experience it,like they're going to come back,
and they're going to tell their friendsand family it's a lot of word of mouth,
(40:55):
with, with, with the event that we'rerunning and organizing here. But
yeah, those are
the those are the bigger aspirationsat the end of the day, host world.
And, you know, that that I will truly put,
you know, Des Moinesdisc golf on the map for sure.
That's awesome. What about you, Doug?
What would your goal be?
(41:17):
Mine's definitely twofold.
Again,thanks to everybody that work out there.
Our course is available
365 days a year for anybodythat wants to use it.
And thanks to Di and all the volunteers
and all their work we've had,some of that equipment has been donated.
(41:37):
So we're able to keep the gold course open
most of the days of the year when there'snot a tournament or something else there.
But thinking of the factthat you have Augusta
or you have Pebble Beachor you have Saint Andrews,
like in our back yard,when you're talking about disc golf,
and people can play thatanytime they want
(41:58):
when except for maybe three days a yearwhen they a tournament like this. So
it's it's
something that connects generationsto generation to generation.
As you were talking about Gannon,and I know there's a video of Gannon
playinglike nine new baseball on field five
or field six at Pickardbefore he was a professional golfer.
(42:20):
So, I mean, these arethe things that we have that happen.
And so anything we can do again,I am making connections to people,
grandmas and grandsons and peoplewalk their dogs all at the same time.
And that's exactly what we wantwhen we're talking about a park in
general, is just to provide opportunitiesfor people
(42:42):
to forget about stress of life. Right?
For a little bit of time at least.
So, and if if we can figure outhow to get 150,000 people
throwing beer bottles at somebodyjust rose an ace,
just like the 16th hole or 17th holeat Waste Management Open in Phoenix.
That thatwould be absolutely unbelievable, right?
You know that.
(43:03):
And there's no reason to saywe couldn't get something like that.
Well, I don't know.
We only have about 200ftto work with. Right.
So I guess maybe 300ft.
So maybe we'll have to buildit really, really tall.
But, no, I think you know that piein the sky stuff.
But why would we? You know, we never know.
You know, anything's possible.
So then, Ty,
how can someone new get involved,either as a player, volunteer or a fan?
(43:26):
As we lead into the tournamentand all the events for this year?
Yeah, that's a good question.
I think if you knew this,the best way to like,
learn aboutit would be to come to the event.
You know, you can come out.
We also have, you know, everybody, not everybody,
but the majority of the peoplethat are there love disc golf.
And they love to talk about disc golf.
(43:47):
I think that's one thing Dougand I can probably talk about, but,
you know, if you're new to the sport,anybody that's playing that they want to
they want to share what disc golf is tonow what it means to them.
And, so I think coming out to the event,you know, you'll be able to see the pros,
you'll be able to play the spectatorcourse.
There's going to be endless amountsof this for sale,
(44:09):
and the vendor area,and you're going to get a meet and you.
The best part
about coming out to the eventas a fan, in my opinion,
because you literally get to meetall of the players, they all stick, stick
behind, sign autographs, take pictures,you know, shake hands, hang out,
and they're here to enjoy the experienceas well.
You know, Doug mentioned Tiger Woods.
Like, you know,
(44:31):
Tiger Woods
and stop to sign kids autographswhen before or after his round.
Right. He's, you know, on a mission.
You know, this discgolf is still so niche and so small
that that's trulythe experience that you get.
You get to really get to connectwith these people
and become fans of them and, you know,support them throughout their adventures.
If you if you choose to do so.
(44:51):
So, we,we sell tickets, you know, on our website
this mania challenge.com, there's a link,you can also get them through Eventbrite.
Just search this mania challengeand you'll find them.
But then, yeah,
I mean, I just think that's the besthonest experience of getting into this.
I'll come out here and meet those people.
And if you're not, I mean,hopefully they're we're starting to build
(45:14):
a foundation.
It's slowly but surelywith within our school districts,
to introduce the sport of disc golf and,you know,
get it at the, the lower levels of,you know, youth sports.
I do have two young kids now.
You know, we'll have to seewhere the next 5 or 10 years go, but I can
(45:35):
certainly see myself, like, wanting to,you know, support the youth initiatives
as much as possible to get discgolf more into the school systems.
That's awesome.
I might add to this is not officiallywe don't have the date yet, but
and I'm not I'm not tieI'm not necessarily an Iowa State fan,
but Iowa State disc golf, Iowa StateUniversity, their club is going to host
(45:57):
an NCAA tournamentor NCAA event it bigger this fall.
So now we're addinganother feather to the cap.
We had two worlds.
We've had the GTI,we have all the other and A's and B's.
And so he's like talked to I talked aboutnow we're gonna have an NCAA event too.
So it's it's good to know.
And again, that goes backto all these hundreds of people
that have put in the timeto have an event or place where
(46:21):
the club in Ames
wants to come up down hereto be able to have their event.
Yeah.
I mean,
it really just started as a kind of a
pipe dream, if you will, four years agoduring the brink of Covid,
where you wanted to bring peopleto this course because it had its benefits
and now it's continued to evolveand evolve and evolve into something
bigger and better and still stickingtrue to that promise, that commitment
(46:43):
of those shared experiences,whether you're a senior citizen or you're,
a youth just getting involvedand learning the ropes of,
you know, disc golf,but you're also interacting
with those professionalswho were once in your shoes.
And, you're able to have those real worldconversations where, you know,
you're able to get, you know, dug
using your words, getting away from the,the stressors of life.
(47:04):
That's remarkable. That's really cool.
Yeah, I I'll just add to, like, we,
you know,Gannon brewery has been a massive,
influence, you know, I mean,I met him when he was 11 years old.
And just seeing how, like,how much, how much passion he had
for the sport of disc golfand how knowledgeable he was.
(47:27):
And I hope we, as a disc golfcommunity, can continue
to work with Gannonto grow the sport in the state of Iowa.
You know, she's he's 20 years old.He's already been the best.
He's been the best player in the worldfor over a year now.
And he just turned 20.
And may we have the next 15 years
of sayingthe best player in the world is from Iowa.
(47:50):
Like, there's so much potentialthat we can do with, and,
I know Gannon and his mom and his familyare really into giving back,
you know, to Des Moines and what,des Moines, it's all been done because
he worked his way up from every,every division he worked his way up from,
the youth ranks, which are just called MJ.
(48:11):
Like he played MJ ten and he played recintermediate, advanced professional.
And he wonall of those events here in Iowa.
And then he decided to go on tourand give it a shot.
And he decides a relentless,desire to be the best.
And I think that's what, you know, myself
and what I, what I wantmy team, to feel as well.
(48:34):
Like I want us to feel that reliance,desire to be the best event.
And that doesn't mean the hardest courseor the best looking course.
It just means that we want to, like,create the best atmosphere
and the best experience for everybodythe players, the spectators, our staff,
the volunteers, media,all of our partners and sponsors.
(48:57):
We just want to create that funand engagement and excitement for them.
That'stransformational right there, brother.
You know,
we'll go ahead and just plug in those, socials and the website URL for spectators
and those to learn more information,get tickets, be part of the Disc
Mania challenge and all the festivitiesas we get closer to,
(49:18):
everything that's in store for next week.
Yeah.
So on Instagram and just,this mania underscore challenge
and on Facebook, it's, the key
to this mania challenge presented by trueBank.
And, yeah, you can check us out.
We have this mini challenge.com,but also I would use the Disc
(49:39):
Golf Pro Tours resource.
So, if you type in the Jeep
Disc Mania challenge,one of the first hits should be, the,
event website on the Disc GolfPro Tours, home page.
And it's got tons of information,from all of the spectator stuff
we talked about.
So the caddy book, two tickets and more.
(50:00):
Awesome.
Well, lastly is going to open up the floorfor both of you to maybe share any final
closing thoughts,just as we get one day closer
each day to, to the event,
I could start,if anybody has connections on
making it not ring,we would really appreciate that.
I think we had 12in of rain last week,last year, the week of the tournament.
(50:25):
And but actually somehowwas the first one that ever
got all three days in right tie.
So yeah, without any delays.
So we really, really, really, really,really want like 78 and sunny every day.
You gotta do the rain turtle.
So being a baseball guy myself, you gottayou gotta do the rain turtle.
Turtle in the, in the dirt.
It's spit on its shell in the rain.
Gods. Well, hopefully.
(50:46):
Let's try it.
Yeah, try it out. Nice.
I got some. Yeah.
I mean, this last, I mean just yeah,it's like, thank you to everybody
that's been a part of thisI mean, I it wouldn't
be worth itwithout the connections that I've made
to all these people, Doug, including,
you know, we've built a lot of friendships together
(51:07):
and separately, you know, outside of mewith I mean, other people like this,
this event also.
It's just a way to connect with peopleand, you know, create friendships.
And it's just been super fulfilling.
And, you know, this is our fifth yearon the Disc Golf Pro Tour.
We want to make it the best yet.
And you know,I don't look for us stopping anytime soon.
(51:28):
As I'll say, we want to make this biggerand better every year.
That's amazing. Awesome stuff, you guys.
I appreciate both of your time todayto join us on this episode of Indy
Unplugged listeners, we're going to plugin all those links that Ty
and Doug had mentioned on this episode.
So just go to that podcast descriptionof this episode.
You'll find those links to the website, tothe socials, you name it, we'll have it.
(51:50):
And make sure you leave us a review.Leave us a comment.
For Indy Unplugged,this helps us make sure
that we're hitting the markon every single episode that we push out.
We're getting closeto the end of season one.
We've only got a couple more episodes
before we wrap things up for seasonone and launch season two.
At the start of next year in 2026.
So, we got some exciting things plannedup for the future of Indy Unplugged.
(52:13):
So again,make sure you leave those comments.
Leave those reviews,
and who knows, maybe next time you'll bea future guest of Indy Unplugged.
[Music]
(00:11):
Welcome to Indy Unplugged,
the podcast that’syour front-row seat
to the real talkof Indianola.
I’m Aaron Young,your friendly neighborhood host,
and we’re diving deepinto unfiltered stories,
candid chats and the nitty grittyof our vibrant city.
Think of this as a crash coursein all things Indianola.
No fancy jargon,just real conversations.
(00:32):
So, get comfy,hit that play button
and let's explore the heart and soul of our community
on Indy Unplugged.
Welcome back to another episode of Indy Unplugged, a City of Indianola podcast.
And we've got two great guestsjoining us on today's episode.
If you've been staying tunedin your community news and upcoming
(00:54):
events, you know for surethat here, from June 27th to the 29th,
it's the Discmania Challengeover at Pickard Park Disc Golf Course.
And joining me today is Ty Tannattwith the Disc Golf Pro Tour,
as well as Doug Bylund, our very ownchief of Culture and Recreation time.
Ty and Doug,how are you guys both doing today?
(01:16):
Doing great.I didn't know that was your title.
Doug, that's.
You got quite the title there, I love it.
He. Yeah, he's he's gone throughjust different variations of his title
from Parks and Rec directorto interim city manager to now
being back to just solely chiefof culture and recreation.
Oh. That's awesome.
Yeah, just call me the Parks and Rec. I.
(01:36):
Yeah, I know it makes sense.
I, I think it fits well for you.
Well, Ty,just to kind of get things rolling,
why don't you just introduce yourselfto our listeners and what your role is
over there with the Disc golf Pro tourand the disc mania
Yeah, I am the tournamentdirector for the event.
I, I think of it more of, like,the event director.
(01:57):
I basically help,on behalf of the Des Moines Metro Disc
Golf Club, runand organize the disc challenge,
which is presented by tree Bank this year,which is, it's actually an event
that spans two weekends.
So we just had the amateurs
and professional mastersplay this past weekend, and then the,
men's and women's professionalfields will play June 20th 7 to 29.
(02:19):
I think you said I figured park and,yeah, basically
we just try to create an event,that features this golf, foremost.
But then there's also, a community eventwhere, you know, anybody can come out
and enjoy some, of the landscapeof Pickard Park, enjoy the outdoors,
see some frisbees, fly and,hang out with the friends and family.
(02:41):
So that's kind of my role,with everything for the man.
That's awesome.
We'll dig furtherinto the story of the partnership
and the disc media challenge itselfhere in a little bit on this episode.
But between both you, Ty and Doug,how did this connection,
this collaboration in our community,first Yeah.
So it's actually kind of a funny story,when
(03:04):
so I, I've been playing this rolefor a long time, and, just was kind of in
and out of the sport,and I really started, playing a lot more,
just due to some mental health issuesthat I was going through and just being
outdoors and, and, doing some exerciseand hanging out with friends,
has always really helped me throughthose times of anxiety and depression.
(03:26):
So, at that time,I was really looking to get
a little bit more involved in the sport.
So, I,
I was interested in the disc golfPro tour,
and I thought that the Des Moines areacould be a good fit.
For the tour, I we have a very good, verystrong this community, a strong history.
We hosted 2004 worlds,which is the biggest event in disc golf.
(03:50):
And I actually found out yesterdaythat that spanned over 11
courses over nine days,which is crazy to think about.
But,
at the time, it was also, during 2020,
when Covid had, hit and
everything was basically shut down.
What what had happened for us to meet is
(04:13):
I started talking with thethe Montmartre Disc Golf Club.
I started thinking
that particular park would be a good hostfor one of these strong disc golf events.
And what we did is we organizedkind of a temporary tournament
where we, switched a couple of things out.
And we changed a couple of thingsto try to get a feel for it.
(04:34):
And actually, the only reason that,
what led to that was that during Covid, I put on a little impromptu
tournament, viewing park in Des Moinesand Pickard Park.
And what, we did for that iswe put out some advertising signs on
hold to record and, I guess probably thethat was probably on like a Wednesday
(04:56):
or Thursday, and it only featuredfour players and it was mainly
for post-production, like we filmed itand we posted on YouTube after the fact.
But, what happens was
I got a, a strongly worded email.
I'm just taking that back.
It wasn't there, and it was just,it was an email from Doug,
(05:16):
you know, saying, hey, we saw that you hadsome advertising out up on the course.
And, you know, we're just wonderingwhat's going on there.
And if you want, you know, advertising,of course, is, you know, please kindly
ask the Parks Department and, you know,I think I replied back to that, so.
Yeah, no problem. Sorry about that.
And that we were just trying to, you know,do something quick and easy there.
(05:37):
And I didn'teven think about that, honestly.
But what that gave me was like,give me Doug's contact information.
All right.
So we took that piece, and we applied itto this, this temporary tournament
that I started, and then that just kind ofstarted the conversation, you know.
Hey, Doug, you know,we think we can do this out here.
(05:59):
This is this is our pitch.
You know, we put together a pitch.
We talked to Doug, a couple times, and,
you know, I'msure Doug can share his side of the story,
but obviously, when you,you know, pitch something to somebody
and they're not super familiar with it,I'm sure Doug was probably like, you know,
a little hesitant of, what it was thatwe were saying, but, it was really cool.
(06:19):
Doug'sbeen a very easy person to work with.
In, in
being a straight shooter,which I like, like,
and, yeah, I mean, that's basicallyjust kind of how it started and,
you know, it just continued to blossomfrom there on out.
But I'll let Doug chime in because, I don't know if you've ever
talked about, like, your side of the storywhen you saw signs up there.
(06:42):
No. Yeah,I think that's pretty much accurate.
I was, I remember seeing the sign going,oh, no, we're having this tournament
or what if we have a softball tournament
on the same day and, oh, my gosh,we're not gonna have enough parking,
because that was really kindof how it went.
And like,okay, who's the who's this organization?
Just call him hey, it's okay.
You reserve the course,just let us know so we can plan
so we don't have 2 or 3 big eventsat the same time.
(07:04):
And not necessarilyjust golf related, but softball with the
with the park being the way it is
or cross country meets or other thingsthat we have throughout the fall too. So.
So we obviously worked together.
We got I mean,
come to
me and say, hey, wewant to have an event at one of our parks
and we're like, yes, sign usup, we'll do whatever we can and we can.
(07:24):
Fast forward to probably Aprilthe next year.
And I remember getting a call, I'meating lunch at home and he goes, Doug,
we were going to do the silver thing,but now the Norway meals
or tournaments been canceled.
So they want to do this, EliteSeries event and pick it in July, right?
Was it August or July?
It was. It was July.
We had two months to get this thinggoing to go from.
(07:48):
Yeah, it's going to be a serious,big professional disc golf tournament,
but now it's going to be likereally serious.
Yeah,it's up at the top of the tournament.
So yeah.
So yeah, they providea little more context there too.
So after doing the temporary tournamentand talking with Doug and giving them
this idea, we had to plan our datesfor the next year.
So this would be 2021.
(08:08):
And we have to do thatin December of the year before.
So, we looked at the datethat the disc golf Pro tour
was supposed to be in Norway,and I'm like, that's our date, because
there's no way Europe is going to allow,you know, mass gatherings.
With Covid still going on in July. Yeah.
And so we,you know, we requested that date.
(08:29):
We got that date.
I here's another backstory.
It's funny is like, I was constantly notconstantly I, I a few times
I was emailing the disc golfpro tour like, hey,
we got this course, we got this, you know,city, it's got all these amenities.
Because what a lot of peopledon't think about.
But these big events are allthe additional amenities they need,
you know, bathrooms, power parking,
(08:51):
just flow of the courseand openness of the course
so that people can come out hereand watch.
And I just feel likePicard is a really good example
of what a public parkcan be for a professional disc golf event.
And so I tried to explain that to the guysand the Disc Golf Pro Tour,
and they just kind of laughed me off.
They're like, yeah, whatever.
(09:11):
Like I remember my now my,my current boss, Sean, he,
I emailed him and he said, well,you need to start as a C tier
and then work your way up to a tierin a couple of years.
And, and maybe in 5 or 7 yearsyou can become an A tier.
And I was like,
no, no, no, I need to do this next yearlike I need to do next year.
And so we started talking
(09:33):
with Sean and Seth Fennellyand a couple other guys, and we
I just kept, you know, texting themevery other week or so, like, hey,
you know, I see, you know, COVID's still,you know, making its rounds in Europe.
Like what do you guys thinkwe're here as a back up.
And that call that Doug is referringto, it's it's really funny.
(09:53):
I got, I got obviously got a call
from this corporate tour from Seth family,and yeah, he was I was like, oh, cool.
Yeah. We're going to do a silver event.
Which silver event at the time is man,it wasn't quite as prestigious.
It didn't have quite all the,all the big players that were going
to come out.
But still a really a big eventand a big undertaking.
And, Saturday's been like, no,we're going to do the Foley series event.
(10:17):
And, yeah, it was like the weekafter 4th of July, too.
I think it was on July 9th.
And, yeah, we just,
we we got an incredible amount of effortfrom the community,
both locally in Indianola and,Des Moines.
I mean, obviously the buy in from dogin the Parks department, to help us out
(10:38):
and to figure out,you know, what it is we could do
and it's just grown,like, immensely ever since.
And it's just it'sjust really been, very fruitful.
And it's it's just a lot of fun,honestly, to be a part of.
And I think that's what's a really coolpart of this story
is that community spiritor that volunteers.
And that's come in locally and then fromDes Moines and other areas across
(11:00):
central Iowa, the region,the world, as Doug shared earlier.
I mean, that's kind of reallyI feel, a missing ingredient into,
this entire,
piece of the pie that you too have helpedbuild.
So, like, for Doug, for you from hearingfrom Ty and from others about,
(11:21):
you know, just how remarkable Pickard Parkthe disc golf course
was even back then, 4 or 5 years ago,to what it is today.
When you think about that evolution,the journey that you two
and everyone of have gone through,what does that mean to you?
Just on a deeper level,being a Parks and Rec guy? Yes.
But also just, understandingand realizing
the impact that this event,this experience,
(11:43):
this sport has on bothfrom an event standpoint, but also just an
overall daily life and the quality of lifeinitiatives that we have as a city.
Oh boy, that's a big, deep question.
You know, we're only 11 minutesinto the first thing that
that Ikeep thinking about is all the hard work
and all the commitmentthat so many people have gone through,
(12:06):
and I don't want to name every namebut Earl and Jamie and Chad.
And there's so many peoplethat are all out there, Ty
and you name it,I there's hundreds of them.
And this would not happen without them.
But then I get tomaybe it was the second event that we had,
and there was a little boythat came, and I was by the
(12:27):
the checking gate, and he was excited.
He's going to see Paige Pierceplay disc golf.
I'm guessing he's about nine.
He's jumping up and down. He'sjumping up and down.
I'm going to see Paige Pierce.
I'm like, well,she's teeing off in 15 minutes, right?
He did not know this.
And we had somehow it arrangeto get some extra VIP passes that day.
And dad's like yeah I'll dothat. Will get will do that.
(12:48):
So he got to go walk the coursewith Paige Pierce the entire day.
And then somehowand maybe 15 minutes later,
somebody said, oh,we got these VIP badge lanyards things.
And I'm like, oh, there's one left.
And I knew that little guywas coming around the corner.
And I went down there and he.
And I gave him that passand his eyes lit up.
So you don't know the impactthat we're having on every single person.
(13:10):
And this is like Tiger Woods.
This is like Mike trout.
These are the biggest names in thein the world of disc golf.
And you know, there'salmost maybe not a world
record, but, you know, one of the besttournaments again and had last weekend.
Right.
So these things are happeningand everybody knows a lot of these people.
There's a lot of people from Iowa
that are going to be playingand they're very good at it. So
(13:34):
I see the spectators,but I also see the impact that it has
on the volunteers and how proud they areof all the work that they're doing.
And the things that are happening.
And this is going to be a podcastaround the world for Thursday, Friday,
Saturday or, sorry, Friday,Saturday, Sunday.
And they have their press conferencesbefore.
And I mean, it's gone.
And this is a professionally doneorganization just like PGA tour.
(13:58):
Did you ever think that, you know, PickardPark here in Indianola, Iowa,
in multiple uses that it has betweensoftball and, you know, just even last
Friday we had, you know, a drive in moviethe evolution of the course.
In your wildest dreams,
did you ever imagine that you'd be hostingregularly a, nationally,
a globally renowned,tournament with the Disc Media Challenge?
(14:18):
I would never say never to anything.
I wouldn't, you know,I've seen people, teams from Canada,
from California, from all over NorthAmerica come play softball and baseball.
Why can't we do the same thingfor disc golf?
And this is world
so there literally will be 15or 18 countries represented next weekend.
(14:40):
I and I, you know, I
last year a little junior amateurand she's junior world champion
I think she was nine from New Zealandthat I met in the parking lot.
I was like, oh my gosh. Right.
So they're coming from everywhere.
I would never say never about anythinganybody has an idea about.
And as perfect example,he wasn't going to give up.
He knew the visionhe knew was going to happen there.
(15:02):
It's been one of the best courses.
The metro area is one of the best
areas for disc golf in the country.
And we could probably say world.
Obviously we don't have mountains
that are all those other things,but we have other things.
This is everything Iowa has.
It has rolling hills as long big shots.
It has really tight shots with timberlittle creek that runs through it.
(15:22):
You might see to see a fish swimmingby as you're picking up your disc.
Right. This is what I was all about.
And I think people 25 years agowhen they built this course,
they probably would have lovedknowing that this is happening.
And Juliana, like we've talked about itearlier and the people that design it,
this is why you do what you doand you don't know
why would you limit yourselfon what it becomes?
(15:44):
And it's been fun for me.
And I encourage others,listeners of this podcast
to make sure you go and followthis media challenge on Facebook.
And I believe you're also on Instagram.
So, follow them on those socialsbecause that's how, at least
I've been able to followalong on the journey,
especially as of latefrom those volunteers and,
clearing up the,you know, the wooded areas for,
I don't know, I don't know the courseall that well as to both of you, but,
(16:07):
you know,there's a lot of work and, yard work.
We'll put it in layman's terms for waybigger than yard work.
Yeah. This is like logging, right?
So this is a big deal.
This is easily thousandsand thousands of hours every year.
Yeah. And it's been since 2000.
So we're going six years now.
Yeah. And it's all volunteer driven.
I mean, being able to where I'm going atis be able to see those photos
(16:29):
and the evolution of these volunteersand tie yourself being able to,
you know, dedicate yourselves to the sportand to the spectacle of this event.
Just kind of time for you take listenersthrough all the work that
you and the group have done as of late,to prepare for this year's tournament.
Yeah, I just thank you for everythingyou said that was that was great.
(16:53):
But yeah, every year,you know, we come out here
after every event, we're like,we know what we need to change.
What do we need to workon, what can we shore up?
And, you know, every year, basicallyfrom March until June and July or August,
whenever the event ends up being,you know, we're out here every weekend.
Those other guys, Earl, Chad, Jamie,the locals specifically at Indianola
(17:14):
are out here pretty much every day,if not every other day.
Helping do stuff on the course.
And then it gets the berries. Right.
There's a lot of upkeep outhere, like weed whacking.
And just like, overall beautificationand, of course, maintenance.
But then we also try to implementchanges every year.
So every single year we've donethis, we've put in new tee
(17:35):
pads,or we, we've replaced old tree pads.
We've built bridges pretty muchevery year.
We have or we widen them.
And we've just tried to make itoverall easier,
for both the players and the spectators.
But then also the community,like, might know that girl's name,
but there's a cow that walks up and downhole 11, like, every day.
(17:57):
And she has her own little trail.
And I can't think of what her name is,but it's Lisa, it's Lisa.
If you go on GIS, you will see her trail.
Yeah, yeah.
And she made it herself over the yearsand years and years
of walking through the park. That's funny.
So, yeah, there's always an impact
every day, 365 days a year out there.
(18:19):
Yeah.
And, you know, it's just great to see,like I said, the movies in the park.
And then obviously we have the balloonswe're really trying to work with,
National Balloon Classic this yearand offer a tethered hot air balloon ride.
During one of the eveningsfor people to go up and spectating.
So, yeah, I mean, overall,everything we do out here,
it's just it's very rewardingand fulfilling, obviously, for the
(18:43):
that weekor those 3 to 5 days of the event.
Just thinking back to that first yearwhen we did this,
just like as soon as that,the last part, dropped this,
looking at some of those
people that spent hundredsand hundreds of hours and,
like I said, thousands of hours out herejust giving them a hug and like,
(19:06):
having such a joy, for what we did wasit was incredible.
And, you know, just being ableto think back to that every year and like,
think back to that feeling
and to get to that feeling every yearbecause, you know, at the end of the day,
we're doing this for everybody elsebecause I love disc golf.
And the reason that, you know,I specifically wanted to run our own
(19:27):
event hereis because my one of my favorite things
in life is just enjoying sharedexperiences with like minded people.
So whether you like sporting eventsand like I'm an Iowa Hawkeye fan,
when I go to Kinnick Stadium,
around 70,000 peoplewho like the same thing that I do.
And that's really fun.
When I go to a concert,I'm around a couple thousand people
that are enjoying the same thingI am, and I want to bring that
(19:50):
to the sport of disc golf,and I want to share that with more people.
You know, you can come out here,you can watch a little disc golf,
you can have some food and drinksfrom Hy-Vee and Big Grove Brewery,
and you can meander through the woodsand enjoy the beauty out here.
I think, Doug, this time I see some fish.
I think last year we saw we had a raccoon,we had snakes, we had cows.
(20:12):
We had, obviously squirrels,
blue jays, tons of beautiful wildlife out here.
I figured park and, Yeah,
I think it's just really, our total goalis to get the local Indianola community
with their, familiesto come out and experience it.
And, you know, at the end of the day,
(20:34):
it's not about them, like wantingto pick up this golfer enjoying this golf.
It's just having them come out
and share an experiencewith a lot of people and have a good time
if they end up picking up a disc or,you know, playing Pickard Park later,
that's that's obviously great,
but I just want them to come out and enjoya nice summer day, in a beautiful park.
And I love the fact, too, about,
you know, teaming upwith other community partners.
(20:56):
I know I believe so I serve on,our Indianola main Street board,
and I've heard our executive director, Erica Roberts,
I believe you guys have been in contact toto figure out, hey, when the tournaments
not going on and you addressed earlier,the community has other amenities
outside of Pickard Park, so, of course,get them down to our downtown square to,
you know, get a bite to eat or go shop
(21:17):
and all these other thingsthat are going on the community.
I think it's really cool that, you know,while people are here for the moment
for that tournament, they can stillexperience Indianola and what, the
Yeah, yeah.
And someone growing a lot, you know,we've been thankful enough to to work with
drew being just another funny storyabout how this has come about is
(21:38):
that first event,we had the, a congressman
come out, a local congressmancome out, and he was blown away
by what was happening.
And, I think either Tuesday or Wednesday
of the following week after the event,I was in Keith Welling's office at Truman,
and we were talking about a double digitsponsorship for next year's event,
(22:00):
which at the time in this golfwas pretty much unheard of,
especially from a non endemicand non disc golf related brand.
And so you know Truman has beena huge, huge partner for us there.
They're huge part.
And obviously
for the entire community of any and all ofthey go above and beyond at all times.
And you know, just trying to continueto work with them, continue to,
(22:23):
that trickle down into other businessesand locales.
And I mean, yeah,
I think the day that's what we want,right, is we want people to come out here
to experience this course, this park,
and then everything else, the city of Indianola has to offer.
So, yeah, it's kindof like a little give and take, right?
Like, hey, you guys promote us.
We'll promote you.
And all that,and hopefully we can all just, like,
(22:45):
showcasewhat Indianola has or even what Iowa has.
Was itthat was it the second year we had August.
That right?
Yeah, yeah.
And, we had players from Europethat went to the Iowa State Fair, right?
Yep. Just because they came hereto play disc golf.
So they would have never,ever would have seen that without being
(23:06):
without playing disc golf here.
Yeah. Yeah.
That's and that's, that's the otherkind of trickle down effect that,
you know, I think, like destinationmarketing or organization
like catch Des Moines understandsand like the Chamber of Commerce here
understands is that this event will bringobviously is going to bring people in
(23:28):
during the weekend of the actual event,but it trickles down throughout the year.
People are going to come in
from all over the country
because they're goingto want to play this course, but
this tournament is going to grow to it.
And I Chad has hundreds of stories.
John Henry loves to chat upanybody that comes on the course.
So he's always asking, you know,where are you from?
You know, and I think just like last,the last Tuesday or something, he
(23:52):
he talked to I think four differentgroups, all from different states.
And I've in my opinion that is a direct
that's that's directly coming from ushaving this event here.
And not only the people come out hereto Pickard Park, they also trickle down
to Ewing Park, Walnut Ridge, Southwood,you know, courses.
And John's in Des Moines, West Des Moines.
(24:14):
So what, like what Doug said earlier,you know, Des Moines is kind of a disc
golf destination. That's definitely true.
And that's why the Metro Disc Golf Club,like, put so much effort into this event.
You know, that we take joy in that, right?
We take joy in peoplefrom outside of Iowa, people from outside
the United States, you know, holdingtheir eyeballs on what we have to offer.
(24:37):
And, you know, we've done such a good jobbecause we have such a good team
and we have such a good parksdirector and his team that will support us
with, like, basically anything we ask himin, except
I think next year we're going to have
to have Doug skydive, try to land
like, on T1 and, I don't know,I haven't asked him on that, but,
(25:01):
so the workers comp workerskind of figure figuring out how we can.
Yeah, maybe I'll zipline or somethinginstead.
Yeah.
But like, like Doug said,he Doug has said no to very few things.
And you know, the things he said no to,he should have said no to.
And he's, he's been very graciouswith allowing us to, to,
(25:23):
you know, come through and deliverwhat we say we want to do.
There's a lot of peoplein a lot of organizations that will
tell you one thing, and then they won'tthey won't put in the work.
And, you know, we're lucky enough to havea community that will come out here
and use their resourcesand give back for the greater good.
And for the people that wantto come out here and play this golf.
(25:44):
So I'm just very appreciative of thosepeople and, very appreciative of Doug.
Amanda Berry, who is the clubpresident of the D1 Metro Disc Golf Club.
She puts in,
30 or 40 hours outside of this event,
just for the sport of disc golfin our area.
And, you know, without,you know, someone like her,
(26:06):
and not just the club like that, but
not just the board members of the club,but the, the club members themselves,
like the people that sign upand play league and play the events.
Like, without those people, you know,we would just be we wouldn't be anything.
We'd be lucky to have the courseswe give courses that we have.
So, I just hopepeople can understand that.
(26:28):
So leading to this year's tournament,which again, this media challenge,
folks, is, June 27th to the 29thhere at the Pickard Park Disc Golf Course.
What can spectators expect?
Yeah.
So I am super excited.
We talked about the course a little bit.
There's only a couple of changesto the course this year, so we're
feeling really goodabout how the courses looking and playing.
(26:50):
But so we took kind of our time that washad been spent on doing a lot of those
changes and put it more into, you know,what can we give back to the spectators?
What can we do to make this eventstand out?
So I'll try to say itas quickly as possible.
But, I just posted our schedule to the,our Facebook and Instagram page,
but basically Tuesday throughSunday of event week, we have things.
(27:13):
So Tuesday we have the gentlemen'spractice round that starts at 9 a.m..
I don't feature again in Berlin.
Gavin Babcock, two local islands.
Wednesday we have our Gold Pass Pro-Am,which is really fun.
If you bought a gold pass,you get, you get paired up
with a bunch of other gold top membersand play with some of the top pros,
including the women Gavinand Anthony Barela, Madeline, Greg Barnes
(27:36):
and some others.
And then Thursday,we have the Creators Challenge, which is
probably the most unique thing thatwe've done, but we're bringing in eight.
It's golf, YouTube and social mediacontent creators from around the country,
and we're pairing them up with the proand we're doing an alternate shot.
Doubles, out here on Thursdaynight at 6 p.m.
(27:58):
and those tickets are only $10 apiece,so that should be an absolute blast.
And then Friday through Sunday,we obviously have the regular event,
which is going to be awesome,but we're spectators.
We're adding a nine holespectator course around the like,
north side of the ball field over there.
And we're also going to be offeringtethered hot air balloon rides
(28:21):
as long as the wind is down.
That is scheduled for Saturday evening,from 5 to 7 at this point.
But if it's too windy,we'll move it to Sunday.
We also have,
very unique thing that no other eventhas really ever attempted,
but it's kind of a mixture of, an eventcalled a Ring of Fire and disc golf,
(28:43):
which is basicallywhere a bunch of people, putt at a basket
at the same time, and then whoever ends upbeing the last one to make it win.
And we're
combining that with Chucka puck from the sport of hockey.
If you've ever been to like, an IowaWild game, they sell rubber
pucks that you get to chuck on the ice,during one of the intermissions.
(29:03):
And if you land in a target,you win a prize.
So what we're going to be doingis we're going to be offering this,
to all of the spectators on Saturday,
and we've built a floating dock,and we're going to put a basket on.
We're going to put it in the pondout here at Pickard Park.
And after the men's lead cardgets done with all five,
(29:23):
we're going to dowhat I'm calling the people shot,
and we are going to let everybody,up to 150 people throw a disc
and try to make it in that basketwith a cash prize, as part of that day.
So I think there's lots of unique funthat we'll have out here.
We also, just had a magician sign up,so we're going to have a magician
(29:44):
come out and do card tricks.
And then we have all of our normalgoodies, like,
we're going to have a really nicevending area.
We're going to have Hy-Veeout here outside scoop.
We have a bunch of shaded areas.
We have shaded tents on five this year,which is new and 17.
And then the last thing I'll say isMidwest
(30:05):
mattress is bringing out two adjustableking size,
mattresses that, if you've never been
to, like, an Iowa Wild game or Iowa Wolvesgame, you know, they upgrade you
to seating where you get to sit onlike a nice recliner or a nice couch.
Yeah, we're basically taking thatand we're putting it
under whole seventeens tent,
and we're going to have these awesome bedsthat have, you know, massage your
(30:27):
and you can, you can go up and down with, and maybe this mattress
will be out there providing beveragesto fans that want to hang out.
And, we're calling it, but tempurpedic.
So I can't remember the exact word,
but the temporary timeoutis what we're calling it.
Because they would be two temperedPD, mattresses.
So we're trying to bring, like,
(30:47):
some of the funfrom all of the other sports
and incorporated into our event out herefor spectators.
Have a good time.
And you didn't mention about, kickball yet, though. Ty.
Oh, yeah. We.
And then we have Doug.
I forgot two things.
So Friday nightwe also do a we call the throw for dough.
So we let anybody spectators, players,
(31:09):
volunteers, staff, media, throw.
This from hole five at hole five basket.
And we're also going to let them
throw out the floating dockat that time for another cash prize.
And we're going to have Redbull out there.
DJ and music.
So that's roughly 630 to 8:00.
And then Saturday eveningwe have our accretion kickball event
(31:33):
and a benefit, another nonprofit called Educational Disc
Golf, which is also an Iowa basednonprofit organization.
And, funny story,I guess the, the kickball event came
about during a lightning delaywe had a couple years ago.
Some players,
just one of them had a ball in their vanand they started playing kickball.
And, everybody sat around and watched
(31:55):
and so now we play kickballover at the event, and we have Harvey
come over and have Red bull
come over and have some music,and we just have a nice summer night
and have some fun, pretendinglike we're 12 year old playing kickball.
You get something for everything.
If you had to pick just one,
whether it be kind of
a longstanding tradition that you've hadfor the offerings for, you know, the
(32:15):
the full course of the event, or if it'sone new one that's just implemented,
which one, if you had to pick, is onethat you're most proud of and just excited
to see what the experience will be likefor those who get to enjoy it.
Yeah, I,
I do think the people shotwill be extremely unique.
I'm, I'm interestedto see how it plays out.
(32:38):
I think it'll be a lot of fun and,hopefully something
that can go a little bit viraland we can really see how it grows.
You know, I said 150 peopleget at a time to this year.
I don't think that should be a problemto get that many people to do it.
But you know what?
If this becomes 300 people, 500 people,
700 people, you know, I, I kind of
(33:00):
look at it too, as like a tradition,you know, like the Iowa wave.
I, I was lucky enough to go to the firstever game when they did the Iowa wave.
And, you know, now looking back, I'mnot only watching that every time.
Like, you know,you want to be a part of that.
It's something special.
And, I hope that this canthis can grow into a tradition
that we do every year and people enjoy.
(33:22):
What about you, Doug?
Besides kickball?
Because that was right on your mind.
Oh, man.
I, you know, I help out with parking.
I think it's really fun to see everybodycoming in and welcoming them.
Last year I took in the beehive stuff,and you'll see me with my bee
antlersand my bee glasses that I done this week
(33:43):
at Mayor's Youth Council Bike Fest,but which Doug creamed all of us.
I don't know if he sharedthat story with you, Ty, but we did.
A celebrity community giant trike
race over at Bike Fest, which is organizedby our Indianola mayor's Youth Council.
And Doug was actually he'sburying the lead.
He was the, number
one in donations for community donationsthat were, directed toward his name.
(34:04):
I was number two.
So I'm not salty at all. I'm not salty.
But Doug did cream all of usby getting first place, and, well,
I it was a close chief share.
Our chief says it was time,but I'm going to give the edge to Doug.
But I did have I wasI was representing the beehive for that.
The hive is is really fun.
(34:24):
The fifth hole.
Hence the hive. Right.
Hive has been a big sponsor there.
It works perfectly.
It's just a big, fun place.
It's the first placeyou come in as a spectator.
You get to come see that.
And people and the players, it's they're
maybe not the best chance for an ace,but it's definitely arrived.
You can see it's right over water.
You'll know right away.
(34:45):
You know, we've probably had3 or 4 aces there in the past five years.
And, and there's food and there, drinksand everything right there.
The Thais even brought in the cameraor television.
So it's showing the broadcast liveso everybody can watch
what's going around the whole courseall at the same time.
And it's just fun and games.
And even volunteer comes up with hisbeehive hat and he's got the smoker.
(35:07):
He's got everything out there.
I mean, he's he's living it upand getting everybody all fired up.
And the playerseven come up and talk to the fans,
right away as they'regetting ready to go off and they're like,
thank you guys for coming outhere is so awesome and so much fun.
They're interacting all at the same time.
And and they don't normallywant to do that
in the middle of aroundI mean this is their job, right?
This is their profession.
(35:28):
But they absolutely love itand they live it up.
And so many of them are engagingwith the fans right there.
So, it's not quite like Waste Managementopen, but someday it might be that big.
That's very cool, Ty.
Just from your perspective as well.
I mean, that's something
we haven't touched on really too muchis the the competition side.
Who are the competitorsthat stand out in this year's field
(35:50):
and kind of what do they have to sayabout every time they come out to,
the pick apart discgolf course and, disc mania challenge?
Yeah.
Good question.
Well, you know, this course over the pastfive years, like we talked about
has gone through a lot of changes.
And, you know, gaining birth has beeninstrumental in a lot of those changes.
You know, we asked him and Gavinfor a lot of feedback.
(36:12):
So gaining is obviously goingto be one of the favorites,
out here in a couple weeks.
He's the number one player in the world.
He did just send the all time, highest event rating.
He won by 11 strokes on the GolfPro Tour, which is never happened before.
And, I think, you know, I are.
All eyeballs will be on him all week.
(36:33):
Not only is he from Urbandale, but,he's number one in the world.
And this mania is his manufacturingsponsors.
So, he's going to have a lotof obligations, though that week, and,
you know, he's gonna be back home.
All of his familyand friends are going to be out here.
So there's going to be a lot of pressureon him. But,
you know, the kid excels under pressure,as as well as anybody I've seen.
(36:54):
And then you got toyou got to talk about Anthony Barela.
The the kid from Arizonathat won last year.
He's been playing extremely well.
I know he's getting suited well out hereso we could see a little barella,
showdown like we sawa couple weeks ago in Portland.
And then we got, you know,some of the all time greats.
We got, Paul McBeth and RickySaki will be able to be out here.
(37:18):
And. And Paul won,
out herethe first time we had the event 2021.
But he really hasn't come too closeto winning since then.
And, I know he has some familyhere in the Des Moines area
as well,so, could be a good week for him.
On the women's side,we have some strong competitors.
(37:38):
Harlan Hanley, Macy Gannon, Ella Hanson.
But I also think, another young upand comer, Cadence of Bird.
She's also sponsored by this mania.
They do really well out hereon this course.
She's 18 years old.
She just got third place this past weekendin Minnesota at the preserve.
So there's going to be,hopefully lots of excitement.
(38:00):
That's what this course is built for.
It's built, and this is funny, too.
Like Doug and I talked about this.
We've been talking about thisfor 3 or 4 years, but, like,
we want this to be a feeder,a stadium, you know, for excitement.
You know, both for the playersand for the for the fans.
And that's what Doug'stalking about on hole five over there.
You know, hopefully some day we can get,you know, PGA style
(38:21):
grandstands over there and really create
a feeder, for disc golf.
That's the goal.
And, yeah, we just want to get some more people
to come out and experienceit and be part of the hive
so that, like you said,that's that's the goal.
Is thatlike when you think about the future
for the Disc media challengeand the Pickard part disc golf course,
(38:42):
is that kind of what the the,the end all goal
the horizon is for this,for your efforts, the volunteers efforts
to continue to make that impact of,shared experiences,
not just in this community,but across the state and across the world.
Yeah.
So our goal,
is to hopefully host, you know,the World Championships out here,
(39:04):
which is like the equivalentof the masters of the US open in golf.
It's the biggest, third tournament'smost important tournament.
It's, you know,usually a field of over 300 players.
You need two coursesto, manage and operate worlds currently,
and we're in talkswith, you know, potentially another site.
(39:27):
But it wouldn't be in Indianola,but it would be close enough.
But, you know, utilizing Pickard Parkand its other property
to host the World championships,I mean, ideally, that would be the goal.
Ideally, we'd fill up the balloon fieldwith all the cars, and,
you know, we would truly throw,you know, an exciting party out here.
(39:48):
I think we averagedroughly a thousand people to,
like, 1500 people a day out here.
As far as spectators go for this event,you know,
when you talk worlds,you think in 70, 500 to 10,000 people.
Well,that's the goal, especially in the time
frame we're looking at,which would be about five years from now.
So, I mean, yeah, I think,
(40:10):
you know, when I told it, when again,when I, Doug and I talked,
I had, you know,I have big dreams of big aspirations.
But I'm also I also understandthat you have to be really patient.
And although I wasn't patientin wanting to get the event,
I understand, like, the true build upand sustainability of what
we're trying to create here, you know,have to be patient and work towards it.
(40:33):
And, you know, we're going to doeverything we can to do that.
We we would love to see,
you know, again, just more supportfrom the Indianola community,
from the neighboring communities,from Des Moines.
Like, we want to get more people.
We want to get as many people out hereas possible,
because we definitely do think,like once people come out
and then experience it,like they're going to come back,
and they're going to tell their friendsand family it's a lot of word of mouth,
(40:55):
with, with, with the event that we'rerunning and organizing here. But
yeah, those are
the those are the bigger aspirationsat the end of the day, host world.
And, you know, that that I will truly put,
you know, Des Moinesdisc golf on the map for sure.
That's awesome. What about you, Doug?
What would your goal be?
(41:17):
Mine's definitely twofold.
Again,thanks to everybody that work out there.
Our course is available
365 days a year for anybodythat wants to use it.
And thanks to Di and all the volunteers
and all their work we've had,some of that equipment has been donated.
(41:37):
So we're able to keep the gold course open
most of the days of the year when there'snot a tournament or something else there.
But thinking of the factthat you have Augusta
or you have Pebble Beachor you have Saint Andrews,
like in our back yard,when you're talking about disc golf,
and people can play thatanytime they want
(41:58):
when except for maybe three days a yearwhen they a tournament like this. So
it's it's
something that connects generationsto generation to generation.
As you were talking about Gannon,and I know there's a video of Gannon
playinglike nine new baseball on field five
or field six at Pickardbefore he was a professional golfer.
(42:20):
So, I mean, these arethe things that we have that happen.
And so anything we can do again,I am making connections to people,
grandmas and grandsons and peoplewalk their dogs all at the same time.
And that's exactly what we wantwhen we're talking about a park in
general, is just to provide opportunitiesfor people
(42:42):
to forget about stress of life. Right?
For a little bit of time at least.
So, and if if we can figure outhow to get 150,000 people
throwing beer bottles at somebodyjust rose an ace,
just like the 16th hole or 17th holeat Waste Management Open in Phoenix.
That thatwould be absolutely unbelievable, right?
You know that.
(43:03):
And there's no reason to saywe couldn't get something like that.
Well, I don't know.
We only have about 200ftto work with. Right.
So I guess maybe 300ft.
So maybe we'll have to buildit really, really tall.
But, no, I think you know that piein the sky stuff.
But why would we? You know, we never know.
You know, anything's possible.
So then, Ty,
how can someone new get involved,either as a player, volunteer or a fan?
(43:26):
As we lead into the tournamentand all the events for this year?
Yeah, that's a good question.
I think if you knew this,the best way to like,
learn aboutit would be to come to the event.
You know, you can come out.
We also have, you know, everybody, not everybody,
but the majority of the peoplethat are there love disc golf.
And they love to talk about disc golf.
(43:47):
I think that's one thing Dougand I can probably talk about, but,
you know, if you're new to the sport,anybody that's playing that they want to
they want to share what disc golf is tonow what it means to them.
And, so I think coming out to the event,you know, you'll be able to see the pros,
you'll be able to play the spectatorcourse.
There's going to be endless amountsof this for sale,
(44:09):
and the vendor area,and you're going to get a meet and you.
The best part
about coming out to the eventas a fan, in my opinion,
because you literally get to meetall of the players, they all stick, stick
behind, sign autographs, take pictures,you know, shake hands, hang out,
and they're here to enjoy the experienceas well.
You know, Doug mentioned Tiger Woods.
Like, you know,
(44:31):
Tiger Woods
and stop to sign kids autographswhen before or after his round.
Right. He's, you know, on a mission.
You know, this discgolf is still so niche and so small
that that's trulythe experience that you get.
You get to really get to connectwith these people
and become fans of them and, you know,support them throughout their adventures.
If you if you choose to do so.
(44:51):
So, we,we sell tickets, you know, on our website
this mania challenge.com, there's a link,you can also get them through Eventbrite.
Just search this mania challengeand you'll find them.
But then, yeah,
I mean, I just think that's the besthonest experience of getting into this.
I'll come out here and meet those people.
And if you're not, I mean,hopefully they're we're starting to build
(45:14):
a foundation.
It's slowly but surelywith within our school districts,
to introduce the sport of disc golf and,you know,
get it at the, the lower levels of,you know, youth sports.
I do have two young kids now.
You know, we'll have to seewhere the next 5 or 10 years go, but I can
(45:35):
certainly see myself, like, wanting to,you know, support the youth initiatives
as much as possible to get discgolf more into the school systems.
That's awesome.
I might add to this is not officiallywe don't have the date yet, but
and I'm not I'm not tieI'm not necessarily an Iowa State fan,
but Iowa State disc golf, Iowa StateUniversity, their club is going to host
(45:57):
an NCAA tournamentor NCAA event it bigger this fall.
So now we're addinganother feather to the cap.
We had two worlds.
We've had the GTI,we have all the other and A's and B's.
And so he's like talked to I talked aboutnow we're gonna have an NCAA event too.
So it's it's good to know.
And again, that goes backto all these hundreds of people
that have put in the timeto have an event or place where
(46:21):
the club in Ames
wants to come up down hereto be able to have their event.
Yeah.
I mean,
it really just started as a kind of a
pipe dream, if you will, four years agoduring the brink of Covid,
where you wanted to bring peopleto this course because it had its benefits
and now it's continued to evolveand evolve and evolve into something
bigger and better and still stickingtrue to that promise, that commitment
(46:43):
of those shared experiences,whether you're a senior citizen or you're,
a youth just getting involvedand learning the ropes of,
you know, disc golf,but you're also interacting
with those professionalswho were once in your shoes.
And, you're able to have those real worldconversations where, you know,
you're able to get, you know, dug
using your words, getting away from the,the stressors of life.
(47:04):
That's remarkable. That's really cool.
Yeah, I I'll just add to, like, we,
you know,Gannon brewery has been a massive,
influence, you know, I mean,I met him when he was 11 years old.
And just seeing how, like,how much, how much passion he had
for the sport of disc golfand how knowledgeable he was.
(47:27):
And I hope we, as a disc golfcommunity, can continue
to work with Gannonto grow the sport in the state of Iowa.
You know, she's he's 20 years old.He's already been the best.
He's been the best player in the worldfor over a year now.
And he just turned 20.
And may we have the next 15 years
of sayingthe best player in the world is from Iowa.
(47:50):
Like, there's so much potentialthat we can do with, and,
I know Gannon and his mom and his familyare really into giving back,
you know, to Des Moines and what,des Moines, it's all been done because
he worked his way up from every,every division he worked his way up from,
the youth ranks, which are just called MJ.
(48:11):
Like he played MJ ten and he played recintermediate, advanced professional.
And he wonall of those events here in Iowa.
And then he decided to go on tourand give it a shot.
And he decides a relentless,desire to be the best.
And I think that's what, you know, myself
and what I, what I wantmy team, to feel as well.
(48:34):
Like I want us to feel that reliance,desire to be the best event.
And that doesn't mean the hardest courseor the best looking course.
It just means that we want to, like,create the best atmosphere
and the best experience for everybodythe players, the spectators, our staff,
the volunteers, media,all of our partners and sponsors.
(48:57):
We just want to create that funand engagement and excitement for them.
That'stransformational right there, brother.
You know,
we'll go ahead and just plug in those, socials and the website URL for spectators
and those to learn more information,get tickets, be part of the Disc
Mania challenge and all the festivitiesas we get closer to,
(49:18):
everything that's in store for next week.
Yeah.
So on Instagram and just,this mania underscore challenge
and on Facebook, it's, the key
to this mania challenge presented by trueBank.
And, yeah, you can check us out.
We have this mini challenge.com,but also I would use the Disc
(49:39):
Golf Pro Tours resource.
So, if you type in the Jeep
Disc Mania challenge,one of the first hits should be, the,
event website on the Disc GolfPro Tours, home page.
And it's got tons of information,from all of the spectator stuff
we talked about.
So the caddy book, two tickets and more.
(50:00):
Awesome.
Well, lastly is going to open up the floorfor both of you to maybe share any final
closing thoughts,just as we get one day closer
each day to, to the event,
I could start,if anybody has connections on
making it not ring,we would really appreciate that.
I think we had 12in of rain last week,last year, the week of the tournament.
(50:25):
And but actually somehowwas the first one that ever
got all three days in right tie.
So yeah, without any delays.
So we really, really, really, really,really want like 78 and sunny every day.
You gotta do the rain turtle.
So being a baseball guy myself, you gottayou gotta do the rain turtle.
Turtle in the, in the dirt.
It's spit on its shell in the rain.
Gods. Well, hopefully.
(50:46):
Let's try it.
Yeah, try it out. Nice.
I got some. Yeah.
I mean, this last, I mean just yeah,it's like, thank you to everybody
that's been a part of thisI mean, I it wouldn't
be worth itwithout the connections that I've made
to all these people, Doug, including,
you know, we've built a lot of friendships together
(51:07):
and separately, you know, outside of mewith I mean, other people like this,
this event also.
It's just a way to connect with peopleand, you know, create friendships.
And it's just been super fulfilling.
And, you know, this is our fifth yearon the Disc Golf Pro Tour.
We want to make it the best yet.
And you know,I don't look for us stopping anytime soon.
(51:28):
As I'll say, we want to make this biggerand better every year.
That's amazing. Awesome stuff, you guys.
I appreciate both of your time todayto join us on this episode of Indy
Unplugged listeners, we're going to plugin all those links that Ty
and Doug had mentioned on this episode.
So just go to that podcast descriptionof this episode.
You'll find those links to the website, tothe socials, you name it, we'll have it.
(51:50):
And make sure you leave us a review.Leave us a comment.
For Indy Unplugged,this helps us make sure
that we're hitting the markon every single episode that we push out.
We're getting closeto the end of season one.
We've only got a couple more episodes
before we wrap things up for seasonone and launch season two.
At the start of next year in 2026.
So, we got some exciting things plannedup for the future of Indy Unplugged.
(52:13):
So again,make sure you leave those comments.
Leave those reviews,
and who knows, maybe next time you'll bea future guest of Indy Unplugged.
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