Mini-Golf

I love mini-golf.  I love the colorful balls, the smell of fake turf and the feel of the tiny pencil in your pocket stabbing you every time you bend over to pick up your ball.  I consider every course a work of art.  A masterpiece created by some aspiring architect or a janitor who wanted overtime. 

There are definite classes of courses.  There are the ones built on a fake hill with a water feature running throughout the entire course.  This type of course usually means two things; you will lose your ball in the water at least once and you will pay way too much to play mini-golf.  Then there are the courses built next to a driving range or real golf course.  These courses are usually built to appease the children of the adult golfers and lure the parents into the pro shop.  They are usually in some level of disrepair.  The windmill doesn't turn, the bowling ball pins don't pivot, They forget to put an actual hole in one of the holes.

But a new type of course has sprung up in malls across America.  Glow in the dark mini-golf.  This is a brilliant idea!  The only thing better than having a bunch obstacles in the way of seeing the hole, is not actually being able to "see" the hole!  Glow in the dark courses usually include wooden cutouts of trolls and mushrooms painted in neon glowing colors.  It's as if a troll on mushrooms painted the course.  These courses are usually in the worst shape since, well, they are in the dark.  The employees can't fix anything because they can't see anything and also, it's dark, none of the customers can see anything either, so who cares!

So what do I really love about mini-golf.  It is 30 to 45 minutes of uninterrupted connection and fun.  I usually play mini-golf with my family.  We know each other well and can just have fun.  Oh, it hasn't always been fun.  When my sons were young we would get to hole 8 and there will have been at least one melt down, two trips back through the entire course to go to the bathroom and the threat of using the putter as a deadly weapon.  And that was just me!  But now we are all adults, sort of, and there is no competition or fighting, sort of. 

The best news is that there is a class two course close to us that is part of a driving range and pro shop.  It is cheap, run down and best of all, they serve beer which you are allowed to take on the course with you.  The only thing better than mini-golf on a hot sticky summer evening, is mini-golf and a beer.  I love mini-golf!