The Ponds Disc Golf Course opens after five-year community effort
After a five-year push that started with one resident’s idea in 2020, The Ponds turned Independence Park into an 18-hole disc golf stop that already sits among southwest Minnesota’s best.
The Ponds did not arrive in Marshall by accident. It took five years, a resident’s idea from 2020, and a steady string of local partnerships before the 18-hole course became an official part of Independence Park and the kind of place traveling disc golfers now circle on their own maps.
That matters because The Ponds looks less like a quick park add-on and more like a course built the right way. It wraps around the circumference of Independence Park in Marshall, Minnesota, and uses the land as it is, with trees, elevation, mandos, water carries and two holes played from atop a large hill. UDisc and the Professional Disc Golf Association both describe the layout as a perimeter course, which helps explain why it feels scenic without giving up shot variety.
The project’s roots trace back to local disc golf fans who saw the park as the right home for the course. Jordan Schroeder later designed a possible layout and presented the idea to the city, and the push from concept to finished course took the kind of patience that usually separates lasting amenities from good intentions. As Schroeder put it, “We were like, ‘This would be a fantastic course,'” a line that now reads less like a pitch and more like a forecast.
Marshall marked the opening with a ribbon-cutting on September 11, 2025, and the celebration included free disc golf lessons for attendees. That detail says a lot about what The Ponds is supposed to be in Marshall: not just another place to tee off, but an accessible entry point for beginners and a reliable local round for families, casual players and more experienced golfers who want quality without a long drive.
The city has since placed “The Ponds” Disc Golf Course on its Independence Park page and included a downloadable park map, cementing the layout as part of the park system rather than a side project. That official status fits the bigger story here. Marshall Independent described the course as the product of a few years of work and community partnerships, and that is exactly what shows up on the ground: a public-space upgrade built by people who stayed with it long enough to finish the job.
The result is a hidden gem with regional weight. Visit Marshall’s 2026 Southwest Smash promotion lists The Ponds alongside Garvin Park as one of southwest Minnesota’s iconic disc golf courses, which is the clearest sign yet that Marshall’s newest layout has already earned a spot on the area’s competitive map.
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