Restoring Oakwood Park

Since it’s establishment in 1998, Oakwood Park has been recognized and appreciated for its unique variety of hole layouts, thanks to the thoughtful design by Chuck Kennedy, hosting a combination of open fields and sprawling woods on a 26 acre plot.  In the last 20+ years, this course has seen many new and returning players, events, and tournaments make their rounds through the course, and with that there has been a growing need to give Oakwood Park some much needed TLC; noting erosion control issues, bent and weathered baskets, and safety issues for the public due to broken glass. As the years continued, it became apparent to me that the city of Cottage Grove, MN needed to rediscover this diamond in the rough they have historically not given much attention.

Oakwood Park is where I began playing disc golf in 2003 and will always have a special place in my heart for its lessons in humility as a new player and the development of my technique later in life. Returning home after 15 years away in Northern Minnesota and Western Montana, I found my way back to my familiar stomping grounds. I soon found myself connecting, and eventually leading, a local doubles league, Friday Night Flights, hosted primarily at Oakwood Park beginning in 2020. As the seasons came and went, chatter among the local players continued to highlight the potential the course held, as well as the sad state in which it was being maintained.

As the 2021 season came to an end, Brandy and I, alongside a small group of local players, found ourselves toying with the idea to restore the course the following season. In April of 2022, Brandy Baumrucker, Arron Hallberg , and myself met with the city for the first time to present our plan for the restoration of Oakwood Park. The following months saw many meetings with the Parks Director, Superintendent, and Park Rangers walking the course and discussing the vision, as well as the limitations of the project, leading to the finalization of the plans for Phase 1 (‘22) and Phase 2 (‘23); receiving the Green-Light to begin work in July of 2022.

Phase 1 (‘22): Raise Funds, sell old baskets, purchase new baskets, design new Pro layout, establish new walking paths, landscaping for new basket positions, redesign hole 1 as an island hole, measurements and organization for new signage, and distribute 220 yards of mulch.  Shout-Out to Tony Ruhnau for facilitating and opperating the heavy equipment. 

Acting as the Project Lead and Brandy as the Project coordinator, we established a plan and raised $19,000 in 30 days, coordinating with the Twin Cities disc golf community and local businesses to raise the funds for the project. Sponsorships were organized into (3) Levels: Ace ($1,000), Eagle ($500), and Birdie ($250). Sponsors were given the option to contribute money or services (light and heavy equipment, landscaping materials, and professional services) for the sponsorship amount; with others making donations to the fund.

The existing 18 Mach III baskets (17 Mach-III and 1 Mach-IV, but who’s counting?) were replaced with 27 course branded Veteran baskets for what would become the establishment of the new Rec and Pro layouts, as well as the 2 baskets set aside for a practice area. No great story is without a hero or two, one of the heroes that needs to be honored with this project is Jason Wilder with Dynamic Discs / Zuca, personally facilitating the purchase and personally driving the baskets up from Kansas, allowing our crew of dedicated local players and volunteers to get all 27 baskets installed just in time for the coordinated 2022 Grand Reopening of Oakwood Park (new: pavilion, parking lot, playground, grilling areas, and walkways) to host the 2022 Minnesota State Championship.

As Phase 2 began in the summer of 2023, more meetings with the city’s Parks Department took place establishing the final locations for the new teepads, as well as with Richard Rasch with Custom Course Maps to finalize the new course and hole signs for the course. As a note, if you have not seen Richard’s work,  do yourself the favor and explore how he approaches course signage. In my humble opinion, his signs are the gold standard, and should be the trend that all other sign companies follow.

The final screw on the final signs was set on October of 2023 signaling the successful completion of this two-year restoration project. This project is the culmination of hard work by a handful of dedicated volunteers, highlighting the Power of Community!  That being said, I want to highlight several Phase 2 heroes: David Herme, Dylan Herme, Thong Vu, and Troy Cusey that played an integral part in everything coming together in the fall of 2023.

Phase 2 (‘23): Pour 4 new teepads, re-position hole 16’s tee pad (if you know – you know), print and install new course and hole signs, set mandos and drop zones, and coordinate the donation of another 300 yards of mulch for future years. 

As of January 2024 the Twin Cities metro will host the 2025 PDGA Masters World Championships, with Oakwood Park being selected as one of the proposed courses that will be played during the event; thanks again to Jason Wilder for making the bid on behalf of the Minnesota Disc Golf Community.

To anyone reading this, my message is simple… “the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”  The disc golf community has everything needed to accomplish great things, we must simply have the courage to start! Connect with your local players, reach out to others in the sport, and most of all… Keep Smiling! After all, that’s what disc golf is all about!

To see all of the photos & videos documenting the full project, visit the Oakwood Park group on CODGC.