Miniature Golf with a Renaissance Flair

The dates for the 2010 Iowa Renaissance Festival have been announced. They will be held on May 29th, 30th, and 31st (Memorial Day weekend) at Middle Amana Park (Medici Grove) - Amana Colonies, IA. See link to the Festival in the links section.

This is especially exciting for us because we will be joining the Festival as a vendor for the first time. Our hand crafted wooden miniature golf course will be making its debut there as Mulligan's Wee Bit O' Golf. As fans of Renaissance Festivals for the past 30 years, we are thrilled to be able to take part. We are also hoping to join the Des Moines Renaissance Festival in September, but we are still in negotiations. I'll keep you updated on this.

In the meantime, come out and join the fun at the Iowa Renaissance Festival and try your hand at a round of miniature golf. We have tried to stay as authentic as possible. However, since there is no evidence that miniature golf existed during the time period that covers the Renaissance Festival, we have obviously had to take some creative license. However, we will be using wooden golf balls and wooden golf clubs so in that sense we will be keeping with the period technology. We could have used stone golf balls, as history indicates these were also commons during the Renaissance time period, but we felt that wooden balls would be a safer option considering the number of children that attend the festival. Huzzah!!

Around the World in 80 Putts

Check out our latest link. It will take you to the children's book that I wrote a few years back. My oldest son, Adam, is the illustrator. It had always been a dream of mine to write a children's book, so it was exciting to see this happen. I'm also currently working on a miniature golf themed card game.

History of Miniature Golf - Part 2

There was a gradual transition from the basic putting courses into what we commonally think of as a traditional style miniature golf course (windmills, loop the loops, castles, etc). The Tom Thumb courses were started in the 1927 by Garnet Carter. They used landscaping and artificial greens composed of cotton seed hulls, sand, oil and dye invented by Thomas McCulloch Fairbairn in the early 1920's.

Then in the post depression era of the late 1930's Joseph and Robert Taylor came out with miniature golf courses that had not just banks and curves and landscaping, but the obstacles that many of us associate with miniature golf. They had windmills, castles, wishing wells, loop the loops, etc. They evenutally went into business manufacturing courses and obstacles, and by the mid 1950's many miniature golf courses had obstacles that had been ordered from the Taylor Brothers catalog.

Families Helping Families Christmas Event

Had a great opportunity to participate (in a small way) in the Families to Families Christmas event. We donated two holes to the event and they were a big success! It was exciting to see the kids and adults experiencing the joy of miniature golf.

History of Miniature Golf - Part 1

Like many sports around the world, there are numerous opinions on when and where miniature golf (as well as golf) first started (and who actually invented the game). There are paintings of the Chinese Emperor Xuande playing a game that looks very similar to miniature golf in the mid-15th century.

There is also evidence of a "golf like" game played in the Netherlands in the 13th century.

And of course, many have placed the origins of golf on the links at St Andrews in Scotland during the 16th or 17th centuries.

However, it is commonly agreed that the establishment of the Ladies Putting Course at St Andrews in 1867 (so named because women at the time were considered to gentile to play "real" golf), was the first to connect the idea of miniaturizing the game of golf. While it may be just a putting green, the 'Himalayas' putting green - so called because of its hummocky nature laid out as it is on ancient sand dunes.

For more on the evolution of the classical Miniature Golf course (windmills, clowns, etc) stay tuned for The History of Miniature Golf - Part 2

Welcome to my Miniature Golf Blog

Welcome to my miniature golf blog. I own and operate my own miniature golf course rental business (Miniature Golf To Go), but I also have a life-long love for miniature golf. I still remember the first miniature golf course that I ever played - The Silver Boot in Clear Lake, IA. It was an traditional-style mini golf course of the 50's and 60's. It had all kinds of mechanical obstacles; the barn with doors that opened and closed, the castles with the draw bridge that went up and down, and of course the clown with the mouth that opened and closed. None of the obstacles were fancy, in fact a couple of them had to be moved by hand. But it still remains one of my all-time favorite courses. Unfortunately it closed down years ago.

Since then I have played many courses all over the country. In fact, whenever my family and I go on vacation, one of the first things we do when we get to our destination, is to look for a miniature golf course.

So I decided, why not start a blog about miniature golf. So here it is. I plan to post reviews of miniature golf courses I have played (and or will play in the future). I also want to add links to other miniature golf sites (as well as my own, of course). And I would love to hear from all of you miniature golf enthusiasts as well. Tell me about your favorite miniature golf course, or your funny (or interesting) stories about miniature golf.

Michael Young - Miniature Golf To Go