Photo Credit: © Can Stock Photo / JamieWilson
The story of mini-golf started—as many good golf stories do—in Scotland, back in the middle-1800s, when it wasn’t considered proper for a lady to swing a club back past her shoulder. This compressed swing, and thus shorter drives, necessitated shorter courses.
So miniature-golf courses were designed—much like their regulation predecessors—with hills, sand traps, ponds, and trees. The courses didn’t include windmills, pirate ships, exotic animal statues, and castles like today’s courses; well, maybe castles—it was, after all, Scotland. However, the diminutive links had plenty of naturally occurring features to make the game more interesting for the ladies. This concept eventually led to the mini-golf game we know today.
Once For The Elite
Modern mini-golf—aka putt-putt—began in 1916 when James Barber, owner of Barber Steamship Lines, built an 18-hole “Lilliputian” golf course at his home in Pinehurst, N.C. Reportedly, when he saw the course, he said, “This’ll do,” and the name “Thistle Dhu” stuck. The venerable putting course still exists at the renowned Pinehurst Resort and Country Club.