Get a Hole-In-One at the Most Eye-Catching Mini-Golf Courses Across the Country

Fifty years ago, Amusement Business magazine called this mini-golf course in the suburbs of Chicago “Mini-Golf’s Taj Mahal,” saying it was the most elaborate and highest-grossing course in the country. Today, this multi-generational family-owned business is still thriving. 

The family refers to Par-King as the "World's Most Unusual Miniature Golf Course" due to its many elaborate obstacles, which include a scale model of Mount Rushmore, a hand-crafted carousel and a replica Statue of Liberty. In 1975, the owners added a miniature wooden golf coaster (like a roller coaster, but designed to carry a golf ball) and, in the early 2000s, a steel “Super Looper” coaster that carries the ball upside-down. They are the only two like them in the world. 

In 2014, the Walker Art Center of Minneapolis reached out to local artists to help them design and create a one-of-a-kind, fun family activity in their sculpture garden in downtown Minneapolis. The resulting course at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden turns every hole into a piece of art. 

Now in its second year, this 18-hole course offers unique and downright confusing challenges. One hole uses the “uncertainty principle” to make putters guess which of the eight holes is the right one, while others involve a cemetery, a billiards table and a musical Zen garden. Open until the end of September, this is a summer-only activity. (Representatives of the Walker Art Center told Smithsonian.com that the sculpture garden will be under construction in 2016, and they have not yet made a decision about bringing back the course.)

Disney's Fantasia Gardens at the Walt Disney World resort boasts two 18-hole courses, each eye-catching in a different way. One promises to delight children, while the other emphasizes skill.  

The more family-friendly course is themed around the 1940 Disney hit Fantasia. Pirouetting alligators, dancing water fountains and spinning mushrooms accompany players as they putt their way through 18 holes. Music from the movie is part of the experience, including surprising sound effects for hole-in-ones. 

The Fantasia Fairways course is built like a traditional golf course, miniaturized by about a third. It is one of the most difficult mini-golf courses in the country due to its varied water hazards, sand traps and hilly greens—just like on a PGA regulation course. Many of the holes also exceed over one hundred feet. 

When he was a young man during World War II, Harry Horn traveled across the country as a Navy electrician and pilot. After finally settling down in his hometown of Lake George, New York, Horn put his experiences and the souvenirs he brought back to good use. In 1963, he opened “Around the U.S. in 18 Holes,” a mini-golf course of his own design and construction. Today, popular holes on the course include an ax-wielding Paul Bunyan, a giant lobster and a miniature replica of a New York subway station. 

Several years after opening, Horn added a second course—“Around the World in 18 Holes,” in which one hole requires putters to hit the ball through the animated legs of Napoleon. Located on the shores of Lake George, both courses are still operating today and are owned by Harry’s son, Chris. 

Imagine, for a moment, lining up a putt at a mini-golf course several feet from the 18th hole. All of a sudden, a giant volcanic explosion rocks the green and everyone’s concentration. This may not seem like a welcome interruption at a golf course, but it is exactly what happens every 20 minutes at a course that's been featured in Golf magazine and the New York Times: Hawaiian Rumble in Myrtle Beach.

Situated in the "mini-golf capital of the world," this popular course is the annual home of the United States Pro Minigolf Association Masters and is regarded as one of the toughest in the world. Although finely manicured and decorated with with hibiscus and palm trees, the real star of the course is the 40-foot concrete volcano. Originally used as a prop for the Dennis Hopper-directed movie Chasers, the volcano now causes mini-golfers to regularly shank their putts.