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Goofy's Sports Deck

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This open-air activity center features a miniature golf course, virtual sports simulators and a basketball court.

Virtual sports simulators.

CRUISE SHIPS & RIVERBOATS

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Miniature Golf & More for Cruise Ships, Riverboats and Expedition Ships

Many amenities on cruise ships and riverboats are aimed at specific age groups, like splash pads for young children and hot stone massages for adults. But miniature golf courses are becoming increasingly popular because they’re fun for virtually all ages and abilities.

At Adventure Golf & Sports, our modular mini golf and game court products are the perfect solution for passenger recreation and activities on cruise ships and riverboats. The patented interlocking panels are durable, lightweight, and offer excellent drainage. They’re secured by our proprietary anchoring system, ensuring product safety on your deck while also allowing accessibility for deck inspections and service.

We can build almost any mini golf course you can imagine to perfectly fit your space and budget. We also provide golf hitting bays and game court systems for cruise ships and riverboats. And we’re proud to have been selected by Bergo Flooring to install their high performance marine flooring on ships.

Upcoming Tradeshows

Seatrade cruise global | booth 4804.

April 8, 2024 – April 11, 2024

More Information

Cruise Ship Interiors Design Expo Americas | BOOTH 1033

June 6, 2024 – June 7, 2024

IAAPA EXPO | BOOTH 4867

November 19, 2024 – November 22, 2024

Orlando, FL

Cruise Ship Interiors Design Expo Europe | BOOTH 220

December 4, 2024 – December 5, 2024

London, England

MINIATURE GOLF DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

Our courses designed in CAD are not cookie cutter. To us, course design is:

• A collaborative process to create a look/feel/theme to fit your deck space and budget.
• Choice, Chance and Challenge.
• ADA/Wheelchair accessible.
• Provide separate anchor and lighting plan along with weight and dimensions.

For themed courses, whether it is creating more interactive golf holes, a special effect or coming up with a unique way to have a ball do something unexpected, we have the ideas and experience to make it happen.

LEARN MORE >

CHOICE Providing several alternative routes to a golf hole. Over and under, around or through, in the water or down a fairway.

CHANCE The chance of obtaining a hole-in-one on any golf hole and the chance that something unusual might happen to direct the ball to a hazard or area where the player can use another putt.

CHALLENGE The concept that the challenge must be enjoyable for adults and children. If there is too much challenge, the course will fail.

FABRICATION

• Proprietary lightweight panel & anchoring system.
• Weather resistant
• Provides a quick-dry, no mess surface
• Contour/undulations created with special EPS (expanded polystyrene) between deck and panels.
• Enhanced contours created with layered shaped rubber pads between panels.
• Accessibility for deck inspections or service.
• Multiple turf styles; many colors available
• Colored faux wood
• Colored molded rubber
• Theme elements & obstacles

INSTALLATION

• Allows client visits for inspection before shipping/installation.
• Panels containerized and shipped anywhere in the world.
• AGS crew unloads & installs.
• Anchor system is mounted over panels securing entire product safely to deck.
• Able to dismantle course for deck resurfacing, then re-install.

We’re the Cruise Line Experts

Adventure Golf & Sports has been the leading international supplier of miniature golf and other sport and entertainment products for cruise ships for more than 15 years.

Our client portfolio includes cruise line and riverboat customers throughout the world, including Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Norwegian Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Oceania Cruises, and American Cruise Lines, among others.

We understand the nuances of ship renovations and new builds, all of which require detailed project management, communication, logistical control, and timeline adherence during installation. We design in accordance with the certified or maritime specifications (or cruise line company specifications) to withstand hurricane force winds. We’re happy to install in a shipyard, at a dock, or en route, whether the project is a new build, renovation, or revitalization.

Bring more fun to your decks! Contact us today!

AGS Products and Services for Cruise Ships, Riverboats and Expedition Ships

• Design , build , and renovate miniature golf courses
• Custom Modular System – a miniature golf system using permeable, patented interlocking panels with excellent drainage for quick-dry / no mess performance along with a proprietary anchoring system that is safe, secure and seaworthy!
• Bunkers & Bumps ™, a customizable Fairways-and-Greens putting course using enhanced AGS Modular Advantage ® topography with rolling terrain, “bumps,” faux sand bunkers and more to create a natural-looking golf putting experience
• Portable modular miniature golf courses that you can easily assemble, move, and store
• GamePark Promenade ™ transforms basketball court-size open spaces into relaxing entertainment options for the whole family. Featuring a landscaped park-like setting, it has pathways to access lawn games, putting greens, benches and more!
• SplashGolf ® , miniature golf played on a special interactive splash pad
• Rollout™ Mini Golf , a set of portable mini golf holes – each weighing less than 50 pounds – that one person can quickly roll out whenever and wherever you wish.
• TheGolfCourt ® Hitting Bay that allows guests to practice their golf driving and putting
• Putting greens that allow guests to practice their putting
• Game Court Systems , including shuffleboard courts, croquet, bocce ball, lawn bowling, pickle ball, ring toss, bean bag toss, paddle tennis, and The LawnCourt(R), which combines four classic lawn games in one easy to assemble system
• AGS Soft Putters ™, an innovative putter designed to reduce damage on mini golf courses
• Mini golf course props and obstacles , both standard and custom designs
• Bergo marine flooring that’s specifically designed to cope with extreme weather conditions involving heat, cold, wind, sun, water, and salt – commonly found on expedition ships
• Equipment Storage/Benches , including bins specifically for cruise ships.

GAME COURT SYSTEMS

Your guests will love our Game Court Systems, which are individual games/courts that include Shuffleboard, Croquet and more. LEARN MORE >

A first-of-its-kind interactive wet mini golf that is played on a splash pad. This concept takes the game itself and the players into an interactive water environment. LEARN MORE >

GOLF HITTING BAYS

Your guests can practice their golf swing and putting in one facility, indoors or outdoors, on concrete or on the ground. LEARN MORE >

TESTIMONIALS

“I hear that the putting green looks good. I am glad that installation went smoothly. I am looking forward to hearing about how passengers receive it.”

“I am delighted that the first contact will now bear fruit for us both. I really like your system and think it will be much better for our vessels – much easier to maintain in the long run. Good luck on this project. I think that may be the ship that puts us so far ahead of the competition . . . . I am looking forward to it.”

“You did great work and I enjoyed working with you. Thanks again for your hard work just getting down here. Many would not have gone to the extremes you did and I really appreciate it! Thanks too for the maintenance manual!!”

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AVAILABLE ON

• Carnival Breeze Current Element Number 1 of 22
• Carnival Conquest Current Element Number 2 of 22
• Carnival Dream Current Element Number 3 of 22
• Carnival Elation Current Element Number 4 of 22
• Carnival Freedom Current Element Number 5 of 22
• Carnival Glory Current Element Number 6 of 22
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• Carnival Spirit Current Element Number 16 of 22
• Carnival Splendor Current Element Number 17 of 22
• Carnival Sunrise Current Element Number 18 of 22
• Carnival Sunshine Current Element Number 19 of 22
• Carnival Valor Current Element Number 20 of 22
• Carnival Vista Current Element Number 21 of 22
• Mardi Gras Current Element Number 22 of 22

COMING SOON TO

• Carnival Firenze Current Element Number 1 of 2
• Carnival Venezia Current Element Number 2 of 2

* Coming Soon

Ah, imagine a perfect day out on the links, the golfer's zen of the ball, the hole and nothing in between but a well-manicured fairway... plus one cactus, a treasure chest... and wait, is that a windmill in the way? Just who designed this course anyway? Whoever it was, they had one thing in mind — maximum fun for mini-golfers, big and small! That's precisely why you'll find a course on every Carnival ship, where you can hit the holes and take in everything you’d expect, like the sights and the sounds... plus the seagulls.

The Details

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Did You Know Two Disney Ships Have Mini Golf On Board?

by Kelly Coffey-Behrens | Oct 30, 2023 | Disney Cruise Line , Disney Dream , Disney Fantasy , Disney Magic , Disney Wish , Disney Wonder

Did you know you can play mini golf on select Disney Cruises? We’re sharing your guide to the mini golf options for Disney Cruise Line ships.

The Disney Cruise Line ships – the Dream , the Magic , the Fantasy , the Wonder , and the Wish – all have a wide variety of entertainment offerings and activities for families of all ages. From trivia to art classes to cooking seminars, the Disney Cruise Line ships have it all. In fact – two Disney ships even have an entire mini golf course on board!

Step Inside Disney Cruise Line’s Mini Golf Course

Just when you thought Disney couldn’t get any better, they proved us wrong! Not one, but TWO Disney Cruise Line ships have a 9-hole mini golf course on board. The Disney Dream and the Disney Fantasy are home to Goofy’s Sports Deck , which includes nine holes of miniature golf, virtual sports simulators, and a basketball court!

Are you looking to shoot some hoops during your cruise, or looking for a fun pick-up game? Disney’s Dream and Fantasy offer a basketball court! Are you looking to stay actve while at sea? These two Disney ships offer a sports simulator! But one of the best aspects of the Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy is the miniature golf course located up on Deck 13.

Miniature Golf Highlights On Board Disney Cruise Line

If you love playing miniature golf, grab your friends and family members and head up to Deck 13. This entire Disney-themed mini golf course stars Goofy, and his son, Max, as each hole is interactive, allowing Guests to play mini golf like never before. Some of the course highlights include the “Handling a Dog Leg” hole, where cruisers must try to avoid the fire hydrant and, instead, use Pluto’s dog bone to guide them to the hole.

Photo by Stephanie Shuster

Don’t get “Stuck in the Rough” on this hole – follow Goofy’s lead! Goofy will show golfers how to avoid the tall turf and how to sleer clear of a lawn mower to guarantee a hole-in-one! If there is one thing Disney loves – it’s a play on words, and that shows at the “Reading the Green” hole. Guests will find stacks of books as well as a large magnifying glass, which are placed in this course as obstacles.

For those pirate lovers in your party, they will have a swashbuckling time at the “Attacking the Green” hole. Here, golfers will take a pirate’s approach as they attempt to sink their putt in for a hole-in-one, all while avoiding the pirate-like obstacles scattered throughout.

Mini Golf Fun For Adults and Children Alike!

One of the most unique aspects of Disney Cruise Line’s mini golf course compared to other miniature golf courses, is that Disney offers an “adult” and “children” golf tutorial at each hole. Using Goofy (for adults) and Max (for kids), Disney maps out where the tee should be at each hole!

Photo by Danny Shuster

Take a Tour of Disney Cruise’s Mini Gold

For a full walkthrough of the mini golf course on the Disney Fantasy and the Disney Dream, check out our video below.

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Mini Golf on Cruise Ships

One of the favorite activities during the cruises are the Mini Golf in which to spend a good morning or afternoon while the ship sails on the high seas, being included in the price and without additional cost to play in most shipping companies. The golf balls and clubs are provided for the whole tour and it is always advisable to play at times when the ship's passengers are on an excursion to a port.

Cruises with Mini Golf

MSC World Europa

MSC Seashore

MSC Seascape

Norwegian Epic

Wonder of the Seas

Odyssey of the Seas

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Sports Activities and SportSquare

The sky’s the limit when it comes to outdoor fun. Carnival ships are packed with fun and games to keep that competitive spirit charged up all cruise long. 

• Carnival Breeze, Carnival Celebration, Carnival Firenze, Carnival Horizon, Carnival Jubilee, Carnival Magic, Carnival Panorama, Carnival Radiance, Carnival Sunrise, Carnival Sunshine, Carnival Venezia, Carnival Vista and Mardi Gras.
• Fun for golfers big and small. Challenge a fellow cruiser to a round at our mini-golf course. All courses feature 9-holes (18-holes on the Carnival Dream).
• The Carnival Luminosa does not have a miniature golf course but has a putting green. 
• Guest must be healthy and in good physical condition. This activity is not recommended for anyone with heart problems, back or joint injuries, those who have had recent surgery or women who are pregnant.
• Guests who would like to experience the course must be able to understand and demonstrate knowledge of all safety rules to go without an adult supervisor.
• Only one participant on an activity at a time unless a child is being assisted by a responsible adult.
• Guest must be at least 48 inches tall to participate in this activity.
• Guest weight limit is 300 pounds (275 pounds on the Carnival Vista)
• Guest must safely fit in the harness
• Guest must wear shirts and shorts to participate and need to be 100% dry.
• Guest must wear closed-toed shoes; no open or backless shoes such as flip-flops and sandals. Tennis shoes are always the best option.
• For a run in the sun and fresh sea air, our ship-top jogging track features some of the best views
• Padded jogging track length is between 1/7 mile and 1/10 mile on most ships 
• Guest must wear shirts and shorts or workout pants and closed-toed shoes to participate; no open or backless shoes such as flip-flops and sandals. Tennis shoes are always the best option.
• Guests must be 18 years of age or older to play PIckleballl and Volleyball. 
• Ships with a Full Court: Carnival Breeze, Carnival Celebration, Carnival Dream, Carnival Firenze, Carnival Horizon, Carnival Jubilee, Carnival Legend, Carnival Magic, Carnival Miracle, Carnival Panorama, Carnival Pride, Carnival Spirit, Carnival Splendor, Carnival Venezia, Carnival Vista and Mardi Gras.
• Ships with a Half Court: Carnival Conquest, Carnival Freedom, Carnival Glory, Carnival Liberty, Carnival Luminosa, Carnival Radiance, Carnival Sunrise, Carnival Sunshine and Carnival Valor.
• Featured on the following ships: Carnival Breeze, Carnival Celebration, Carnival Conquest * , Carnival Dream, Carnival Firenze, Carnival Freedom * , Carnival Glory * , Carnival Horizon, Carnival Jubilee, Carnival Legend, Carnival Magic, Carnival Miracle, Carnival Panorama, Carnival Pride, Carnival Spirit, Carnival Splendor, Carnival Venezia, Carnival Vista and Mardi Gras.
• Featured on the following ships: Carnival Breeze, Carnival Celebration, Carnival Dream, Carnival Horizon, Carnival Jubilee, Carnival Liberty, Carnival Magic, Carnival Panorama, Carnival Venezia, Carnival Vista and Mardi Gras.
• Games vary by ship and may include : Billiards, Ping Pong, Poly Pong, Foosball, Twister, Shuffleboard, Bean Bag Toss, Pool Soccer, Bocce Ball.  
• The Carnival Horizon, Carnival Panorama and Carnival Vista also have 'The Clubhouse' for more indoor fun.
• Featured on almost all ships (but excluding Mardi Gras)
• Recumbent 2-lane, 800 foot long bicycle course that extends the whole aft section of the deck
• 4 single rider bicycles with pedal functionality that allows riders to control speed and bike swivels when turning corners
• The bicycle is approximately 150 feet above the water line
• Weight limit: 250 pounds / Height minimum: 54 inches tall
• Guest must wear shirts and shorts or workout pants in order to particpate and need to be 100% dry.

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Lace up your sneakers and take your game to new heights at our multi-level, action-packed Sports Complex. Get into a friendly game of basketball. Kiss the sky on our bungee trampoline. Climb a huge rock wall in the middle of the ocean. Or zip across one of our Breakaway and Breakaway Plus Class ships for an experience like no other. Ready. Set. Game on*.

*Onboard activities vary by ship. Please see individual ship pages for more information.

• Zip line on Breakaway and Breakaway Plus Class ships
• Plenty of places to play for the entire family
• The Plank on Breakaway and Breakaway Plus Class ships
• Basketball / Sport Court on every ship
• Ropes course on Breakaway and Breakaway Plus Class ships
• Mini golf on select Breakaway and Breakaway Plus Class ships
• Mini golf & Ropes course on select Breakaway and Breakaway Plus Class ships
• Rock Wall on Norwegian Pearl
• Bowling in O'Sheehan Bar & Grill on Norwegian Epic

SPORTS DECK

Basketball. Volleyball. Dodgeball. Soccer. Bowling. Whatever game you're into, bring your "A" game to our multi-use sports deck, where you can breathe in the fresh ocean air and polish your three-pointers.

ROPES COURSE

Conquer over 40 elements as you masterfully manoeuvre the largest multi-level ropes course at sea. Exclusively on our Breakaway and Breakaway Plus Class ships.

Head up. Arms out. Exhale. And smile. You're way above the water and 8 feet over the side of our Breakaway and Breakaway Plus Class ships. Experience the thrill of a lifetime.

VOTED BEST ONBOARD THRILL - Editor-in-Chief Awards, Porthole Magazine

Whether you're young or young at heart, play a round of nine holes on select Breakaway and Breakaway Plus Class ships. With obstacles for all skill levels, everyone can perfect their putt.

ROCK-CLIMBING WALL

Test your skill as you climb and repel from more than 20 feet above deck. Catch this rare birds-eye view on Norwegian Epic, Pearl and Gem.

Mini golf courses in Michigan: 5 unique places to putt-putt

M ichigan is known for beautiful golf courses such as Arcadia Bluffs and Bay Harbor Golf Club, but you can also find unique courses around the state on a smaller level. 

Michigan has many miniature golf courses with cool designs and spectacular views. From meticulous and quirky designs to views of the Straits of Mackinac, these courses are worth a visit.

Here's a look at five of the state's standout miniature golf courses.

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Miners Falls Mini Golf

A rock cave, unique obstructions and plenty of water features can be found at Miners Fall Mini Golf in Munising. 

There's great attention to detail at the 18-hole course. The course has nine water obstacles, rivers, a pond, fountain and waterfall, according to its Facebook page .

The course also has ice cream flights to sweeten your visit.

Miners Falls Mini Golf opened Friday and typically closes Sept. 30, according to owner Josh Cole. Hours are 4-9 p.m. Thursday, 12-9 p.m. Saturday and 12-8 p.m. Sunday.

Where: 28 M-28, Munising

More: These 8 quintessential Michigan festivals are well worth the trip

More: Oakland Hills Country Club will host US Open in 2034 and 2051

Into the Woods Mini Golf and Gardens

TripAdvisor calls Into the Woods Mini Golf and Gardens in Copper Harbor quirky. That's accurate.

Outhouses and toilets are part of the decor here. There are also miniature buildings, lighthouses and a freighter at the 18-hole course.

You may even be joined for a hole or two by ducks that live on the property.

The course received accolades this year when it was named as the best mini-golf in Michigan by Golf magazine .

You can celebrate the course with adult beverages after 3 p.m. — but you'll have to bring them yourself, and IDs are checked.

The cost to golf is $5 per person. Kids under 5 are free. 

The course is open 12-7 p.m. every day of the season.

Where: 1028 Gratiot, Copper Harbor

The Greens of Mackinac

The Greens of Mackinac on Mackinac Island doesn't have any of the typical miniature golf course decorations. There are no obstacles to work around except for the slopes of the natural bent grass course. 

You don't need the decorations, however, because you'll be too distracted by the beautiful view of the Straits of Mackinac.

The 18-hole putting course is located at Mission Point Resort .

After dusk, the course becomes Glow Golf with glow-in-the-dark golf balls, golf flag poles and neon glow sticks. 

The course is open mid-May through September.

For Mission Point Resort guests, the cost to play is $13 for adults and $8 for children. For non-guests, it's $15 for adults and $10 for children. Glow Golf is the same price for guests and non-guests: $17 for adults and $12 for children. 

The course is open daily, but weather dependent. Hours vary throughout the season.

Where:  6633 Main St., Mackinac Island

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Willow Springs

Surrounded by lush greenery, you'll feel like you're in the middle of the forest while miniature golfing at Willow Springs in Lake Orion. Golfers can choose between two 18-hole courses — either woods or sport themed. The sports course features a waterfall and the woods course is where you'll get the forest feel.

The cost per person for 18 holes is $10 for ages 10 and older or $5 for children under 10.

Visitors can also play both courses. The cost is $15 per person for ages 10 and older or $10 for children under 10.

Where: 3120 S. Lapeer Road, Lake Orion

Cranbrook on the Green

Cranbrook on the Green opened in 2022 at the Cranbook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills.

It's a nine-hole miniature golf course with a bonus 10th hole.

All the artist-designed holes are inspired by a different element of Cranbook's campus and history.

The course's 2024 season runs May 4 through Sept. 22.

The hours of operation vary throughout the season:

• May 4-26: Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• May 29-Sept. 1: Wednesday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday to Sunday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Sept. 7-22: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The cost: $15 for adults, $10 for ArtMembers and Detroit residents, and $8 for children under 12. For 5 p.m. closures, the last tickets are sold at 4:15 p.m. For 7:30 p.m. closures, the last tickets are sold at 7:15 p.m.

Visitors are highly encouraged to purchase tickets online in advance via the museum's website . Each ticket also includes free admission to the museum's galleries. Check-in for the course is located at Knoll Walkway immediately adjacent to Triton Pool. Follow signs to the Art Museum parking lot.

Where: 39221 Woodward Ave., Bloomfield Hills

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Mini golf courses in Michigan: 5 unique places to putt-putt

• HISTORY & CULTURE

The surprisingly subversive history of mini golf

No sport is quite as whimsical as mini golf. But it came about as a way to make golfing accessible to everyone—regardless of your sex, race, or class.

Have you ever putted into an oversized shoe or lost your golf ball in an artificially colored stream? If so, you’ve likely played one of the most popular sports of its day, miniature golf or mini golf—an amusement whose origins are as contentious as whether you got that hole in one.

One thing that isn’t contested is miniature golf’s surprisingly subversive history. Blocked from golf courses by their sex, race, or class, people at the sport’s margins actually helped push golf to the masses—and gave it its spirited sense of fun. Here’s more about how the sport became so inclusive.

Women and the origins of miniature golf  

The origin story of mini golf is up for debate. Some track the idea to the private homes of elites in both Europe and the United States, while others credit the game’s development to its commercial birth during the 1920s. But one group has always been integral to the sport: women.

Women’s participation in golf is as old as golf itself, which emerged in Scotland during the Middle Ages and was formalized in the 18th century. Women were interested in the sport, but they were largely blocked from participating due to the strictures of their times, which condemned active women as “unladylike” and incompetent. As historian Jane George writes , women’s presence on golf courses “was regarded as a distraction for the serious male golfer.” Though prestigious golf clubs did allow women, they were relegated to fundraising, social events, and supporting the play of their male family members.

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This sex–based segregation frustrated women—and helped spark one of the precursors to miniature golf. At the legendary St. Andrews golf course in Scotland, women banned from the links began playing on the course designated for caddies. Their husbands, however, objected to their wives interacting with caddies, whom they considered as social inferiors, so they designated a separate, more “suitable” course for women: a small course so bumpy, it was known as the Himalayas. And so, in 1867, about a hundred women joined together to create the St. Andrews Ladies’ Golf Club.

The putting green , designed by Scottish golf legend Old Tom Morris, had nine holes and obstacles like a stream and bridge. Well-heeled women putted there during monthly, lavishly catered competitions, vying for prizes like opera glasses and rings . Still open today, the Himalayas’ small size presaged the putting craze to come—and the role marginalized people would play in the sport’s development.

Mini golf for the masses

As golf spread from the United Kingdom to the United States, its first players were elite men, mostly members of exclusive Gilded-Age gentlemen’s clubs. They established sports clubs—the forerunners of country clubs—both in their cities of residence and in their summer retreats such as Newport and Saratoga Springs.

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Even as the social elite hurried to wall off their favorite sport from the masses, golf was filtering into the mainstream, attracting people of all classes, races, and genders. Cities began building municipal golf courses, starting with New York’s Van Cortlandt Park in 1895. As sports historian George B. Kirsch notes , the sport got an even bigger boost after World War I , when a combination of increased leisure time, suburbanization, consumerism, and prosperity “generated new waves of enthusiasm” for golf. By the 1920s, golf had become a national craze.

But there was an issue with golf’s popularity: space. The traditional golf course spreads across up to 200 acres—land that many cities, and even wealthy private estates, simply lacked. And that dilemma is what many say led to the real origins of miniature golf—a sport more whimsical, and more accessible, than upper-class golfers could have foreseen.

British shipping magnate James Wells Barber, inadvertently helped usher a smaller version of the sport by building “Thistle Dhu” (This’ll Do), a tiny 18-hole course in Pinehurst, North Carolina, on his estate in 1917. The mini course had natural and artificial obstacles and architectural and landscape flourishes that would influence later miniature golf courses.

Meanwhile, Garnet Carter, a hotel owner from Georgia, was testing out his own miniature form of golf. Carter’s mini golf course designs, which he created in the mid-1920s with his wife , Frieda, took the idea of “miniature” to an extreme, featuring diminutive fairy-tale themed architectural elements and lots of garish statuary, neon lights, and fanciful hazards like hollowed-out logs and bridges watched over by gnome-like figures. The concept—complete with an artificial green made of cottonseed hulls—was so popular that Carter patented it, and the “Tom Thumb” golf course was born.

Tom Thumb courses were different from the greens frequented by well-heeled golfers: The patented miniature courses needed just 2,100 square feet and could be installed indoors or outdoors. “Here indeed is the putting game that will whet the appetite of the most seasoned golfer and thrill to the finger tips the millions of Tom Thumb fans,” blared a 1930 advertisement seeking investment in the indoor version of the game.

It was a hit: People began building their own, ever more lavish, mini golf courses nationwide. Soon, you could find miniature golf on rooftops and in public parks, and by the end of the 1930s, there were as many as 50,000 miniature attractions—often billed as “midget golf”—across the nation.

Even as the U.S. slumped into the Great Depression, the fad persisted. As pop culture historian Nancy Hendricks explains , the inexpensive game was seen as a way to “cure Depression blues,” mimic the wealthy, and even make money for those who turned their own small plots of land into increasingly outlandish courses.

Civil rights on the mini course

Mini golf was now a legitimate national obsession. It didn’t just attract white Americans: The diminutive game also intrigued Black golfers, who had long been involved in the sport in the U.S., first as enslaved caddies, then at segregated country clubs and some municipal courses. Historian Lane Demas notes that many of the 150 mini golf courses in New York City in 1930 were located in Harlem, many affiliated with legendary venues like the Apollo Theater and the Savoy. “Nearly every black enclave in the North experienced the miniature golf fad,” Demas writes .

Mini golf also took off throughout the Jim Crow South . Locked out of white-owned country clubs, many serious Black golfers could only practice at mini golf facilities—just not those that were owned by white people. In response, Black community organizations built mini golf courses of their own.

( Public swimming pools are still haunted by segregation's legacy .)

Golf even played a landmark role in the desegregation of public recreation areas in the nation’s capital—and a mini course was among the first to be desegregated. By 1941, Black golfers had already pushed for, and received, their own municipal golf courses in the District of Columbia, but the grounds were neglected and inferior to the courses for their white counterparts. That summer, a group of Black men attempted to play the segregated East Potomac Park municipal golf course in protest, only to be shouted down by white golfers.

In response to the incident, Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes desegregated the park—including its miniature golf course—a first during the Jim Crow era. Icke also declared all of the District’s federally funded golf courses integrated. Though it would take more than a decade for D.C. to integrate all of its public recreational facilities, the protest was a historic first for Black golfers.  

Other miniature golf courses played a role in the history of the civil rights struggle as well; for example, a municipal mini golf course in St. Augustine, Florida, became the city’s first public place open to Black people in 1964.

Since then, the sport has had its ups and downs. The car-crazy 1950s ushered in another golden era for the fanciful sport, but it faced a long decline as the 20th century waned.

Nevertheless, miniature golf—and its subversive spirit—continues to entertain both amateur and professional golfers alike. And it continues to provide an outlet to a wide swath of people: the National Golf Foundation estimates that 18 million people played mini golf in 2022 alone—45 percent of them female and 24 percent non-white.

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