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Issue Date: May 19, 2002
Annual Travel Issue
A mini-golf champ shares his favorite courses
By Bobby Ward
Believe it or not, some people actually make money playing mini-golf. As many as 800 players come out for a big tournament, some from as far away as Europe. When you're a pro mini-golfer, the stakes are high. I've won a combined $20,000 doing two nationally televised tournaments. That's good money for a sport like mine; I usually make only about $12,500 a year. I'll go to a course a week in advance to prepare. Pro mini-golfers all have outside, full-time jobs, so we use up our vacation time and try to make a week-long family trip of it.
The courses I list here are the very best in the country; they're tops when it comes to being creative and challenging. And they happen to be in some of my favorite places to visit. If you're planning a trip to any of these areas with the family, you simply must include a round as part of the itinerary.
Blue Fox Walk, Simsbury, Conn. (860-658-4479; bluefoxent.com)
Just outside of Hartford, Simsbury is a lovely small town. You feel as if you've escaped into an old-fashioned movie when you come here. It's been home to many famous figure skaters, including Olympic gold medalist Oksana Baiul. The course keeps it low-key and small-town quaint, too, with elegant landscaping but not a lot of flashy obstacles. Instead, it presents a good, honest golfing challenge. The holes actually have a "rough" area, where the surface texture can send your ball toward an unfortunate slice or slow it down. And, as on a real golf course, the path to the hole on the green often is angled and sloped, so you have to size up a putt carefully.
Camelot Golfland, Anaheim, Calif. (714-630-3340; golfland-sunsplash.com)
This is just a few minutes from Disneyland, and it's just as much fun but not nearly as expensive. There are no fewer than five miniature golf courses here, not to mention laser tag, an arcade with more than 200 video games, and a water park with four twisting tube slides. Given its name, Camelot's theme is the olden days of King Arthur, and players begin the fun by entering through a huge castle. Once inside, there's no limit to the fun families have here. There are knights and dragons all around the course, with lots of water and an old fortress with a cannon. (Don't worry: The cannon doesn't shoot.)
Putt-Putt Golf and Games Martinez, Ga., (706-868-0083; augustaputtputt.com)
This one is close to my home in Aiken, S.C., and just a stone's throw from the great Augusta National Golf Club. Not many people get to play a round at Augusta, but anybody can play at this great course. Jungle is the theme here, with lots of mountains, lakes and tunnels. Rhinos and giraffes poke out at you as you size up your putts. There are three mountain cave holes that are a lot of fun. You might even have fans watching you from the water; a bumper boat attraction is surrounded by nine holes. And it's a deceptively challenging course: There are a lot of holes that you either ace with a hole-in-one -- or end up dropping the ball back down a hill and sacrificing two or three shots to get back up.
Dolphin Mini Golf, Boothbay, Maine (207-633-4828)
Talk about sinking a putt: There's water everywhere here, with lakes and streams stocked with live fish. There are also replicas of dolphins and whales on the course. Look out for the lighthouse, too! The course is so well-kept, you won't find a piece of trash. The benches are shaded by large oaks, and you can hear the hummingbirds gathering in the many flower gardens. On the course, moving obstacles include a ship's wheel and a bobbing buoy. Another hole is a New England-style covered bridge.
Hawaiian Rumble/Hawaiian Caverns, Myrtle Beach, S.C. (843-458-2585; hawaiianrumble.com)
When it comes to mini-golf, these jewels are our Daytona International Speedway, Fenway Park and Lambeau Field all rolled into one, where we play our Masters (at the Rumble) and U.S. Open (at the Caverns). Both feature their own flopping, 25-foot-long whale that splashes its tail and squirts water out of its blowhole. At the Rumble, the center of attention is the giant, active volcano that gives the course its name; flames shoot out from the top about every 20 minutes. Every hole is positioned around its lava rock. Hawaiian Caverns is set on the edge of a man-made mountain and lake, and there are grass huts throughout the course so players can get some shade. I enjoy sizing up a hole with Don Ho and Beach Boys music in the background.
Bobby Ward has won 57 tournaments (including 11 majors) since going pro in 1982. He has won one Masters and two U.S. Opens. Ward heads to tournaments any time he can get a break from his day job as a machine operator for a printing company.
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