Posted on May 10, 2014
Some mini-golf courses are offering specials and even freebies today – because National Miniature Golf Day is a great day to celebrate this game.It's all about putting (which is why one company is called Putt-Putt). There are no long drives or chip shots in mini-golf. So no golf bags and no caddies, no long hikes from shot to shot, no golf carts.
Miniature golf with artificial “grass” that was actually carpet first began in the early 1900s in England and the U.S. Soon companies were making standardized mini-golf courses. But it wasn't until Thomas Fairbairn invented a really good artificial putting green (using cottonseed hulls, sand, oil, and dye) that mini-golf really took off. Fairbairn invented the artificial green in 1922, and by the late 1920s there were over 150 rooftop mini-golf courses in New York City alone – and tens of thousands across the U.S. Soon courses sprung up in Canada, Germany, Sweden, and other nations as well.
 |
| Have you ever played black-light mini-golf? |
The next big innovation in mini-golf came in 1938, when Joseph and Robert Taylor began to build courses with large-scale obstacles, many of which required "trick shots." Instead of just having ramps and curves and banks, the Taylors included windmills, castles, and wishing wells on their courses. Nowadays, we wouldn't even recognize a mini-golf course if it didn't have a windmill or a castle, right?
Besides for playing miniature gold at a nearby course, how can we celebrate National Miniature Golf Day?
- Throw a party in honor of miniature golf! Here is another Pinterest board with some great ideas.
- Party City sells “finger mini golf games” for under two dollars. Now that's really miniature!
Also on this date:
Plan ahead:
Check out my Pinterest boards for:
And here are my Pinterest boards for: