LYNNVILLE, Iowa — Lynnville, Iowa has a population of 383. It checks nearly all of the boxes of a small Iowa town; one bank, one gas station, two churches, one baseball field and of course, one golf course.
The golf course in question came from a cow pasture in 1998, but it's more challenging than the average nine hole course.
"It's not your standard small-town golf course that's just fairways back and forth right adjacent to one another and you can pretty much play from wherever," said Diamond Trail Golf Club Pro Shawn Heyser. "This course is set up a lot more difficult than what you're used to seeing."
The Diamond Trail Golf Club course is set up with a creek, pond, windmill, hills and large greens that all make for a good visual and golfing experience.
A part of the golfing experience is the quality of the course, which is handled by two fulltime grounds keepers, Dawnette Baker and Alan Gregory, and a whole community of volunteers.
"From the beginning, it was that way, when we were started moving dirt out here, we had people come in with their scrapers and their tractors," said Bob Van Soelen, one of the course's "founding fathers". "From day one, it's been volunteer help."
The volunteers willingly step up when the board asks for a project to be done. That helps Baker and Gregory keep the course in top shape.
"They love the course as much as we do," said board member Brad Zegers. "They certainly could go in a bigger town and make a lot more money. But I think they they have as much pride in this place as we do."
At the end of the day, the communities of Lynnville and Sully are proud of their course.
"If you get brought here and you play this course you're like, 'wow, this is impressive,'" Heyser said. "You wouldn't realize that you're in small town Lynnville, Iowa."