As you may or may not know, we’ve been working on creating a new ceremony site at the golf course. It all started last year, when the drought caused our ponds to go dry. With an empty pond, we decided to take advantage of it and build a peninsula that would double as a ceremony […]
Sir Toad is in the HOUSE!
I think it is safe to say that we are probably the only golf course in possibly the world to have the name Toad Valley. It isn’t exactly what you envision when you think about a golf course. Most have a serene name that brings a mental picture of gently rolling hills and flowing creeks […]
Another Episode in the Saga of the Ceremony Site
In the next chapter of Days of our Ceremony Site Building Lives, we bring you another episode of Doug and his sidekick, Jordan. After digging the trenches to put in irrigation, the next step was to fill the trenches with electricity and speaker wire. You can read about the irrigation installation here. In order to […]
Going for the Green. No. Not THAT Green.
Today’s post is brought to you by my mom, Fred. She’s in charge of all our Food and Beverage at Toad Valley. Author: Fred Brady (Kitchen Guru) For years now, I have ordered my food online from Sysco. I also make a weekly jaunt out to Sams on 8th Street in Clive. (I usually call […]
You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby.
My blogging efforts have been a little weak this week. See what I did there? Weak and week. Clever. I love the English language, don’t you? I’m sure you’re all waiting with bated breath wondering what could have possibly happened to Allison to prevent her from her daily blogging efforts. It turns out that she […]
999 Chairs on the Ground, Take One Down, Set it Up, 998 Chairs on the Ground…
We are fortunate enough to be the site to about 40 wedding ceremonies a year. Since they currently get married near number nine green, we have to take down and set up the chairs for every. single. ceremony. It’s tedious. Just for fun, I like to keep track of how many chairs we set up […]
New Tools Make Work Fun?
In 2011, we had a major overhaul to number two green. It was in some serious need of drainage. The east side of the green had all but died because of all the heavy rain we had in 2010 and the first part of 2011. We basically dug up the east side of the green […]
A Place to Rest
Our miniature golf course opened on June 30, 2004. I wasn’t there. Yep, that’s right. I missed opening day. I had a good reason, though. I was in the hospital having just given birth to my daughter the night before. I often wonder how I managed to find the time to have my daughter in […]
Polar Bear Open
Six years ago, I had a group of men approach me and ask if they could have a Polar Bear Open at our golf course. They had never planned a golf outing before, but as graduates from North High School in Des Moines, they had a strong desire to raise money for Dollars for Scholars […]
American Persimmon
Tom’s back with another Non-Native Tree found on the golf course. To find out about other trees, click here or here. Author: Tom Brady Persimmon Diospyros virginiana Persimmon is a deciduous tree with distinctive dark thick bark typically broken into small squarish blocks. When young, the bark is lighter brown with pale fissures. The […]