between the existing bushes, vines and plants
Dutch-style windmill made from an old ceiling
fan (which I had) laying on its side and
(bottom) my sketch of the 3-bladed "turbine"
design that I eventually built
While designing this course, I rejected some ideas, like the one where you would hit up a long ramp into one of our actual house gutters and have the ball roll down the downspout onto a green (many logistical issues). One that would have run under the vines along the fence just didn’t have a wide enough area to accommodate right and left-handed players. And I decided one that ran along the side of the pool would take up too of our deck.
Most of the final holes were simple enough that the designs were all in my head—possibly with some ad hoc tweaks added when they were assembled. Some of the more complicated ones (mainly the Mouse Trap and Skee Ball holes), however, required some actual planning. Below are a few early sketches from when I was planning out these holes.
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| Sketching out
locations in the mulched area in the backyard that potentially could
accommodate holes between the existing bushes, vines and plants |
(Top)
Walt's original sketch of a traditional Dutch-style windmill made from an old ceiling fan (which I had) laying on its side and (bottom) my sketch of the 3-bladed "turbine" design that I eventually built |
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| Sketches for the
design of #8 (Skee Ride) |
Sketches for the rickety stairs on #3 (Trapped) | Sketches for #3 (Trapped) |
While this course won’t likely ever have more than
nine
holes, I still have more ideas. I’ve
decided to try to use those ideas, from time-to-time, by creating
temporary,
“pop-up” holes. The first of these is
"Drift Away", also known as “The Raft” (which is not a song but,
rather,
a new-wave
club that my friends and I frequented back in the early 80s).
This hole is simply a foam rubber pool float that
I drilled
a hole in and then inserted one of the leftover plastic golf cups. The raft is somewhat anchored to the side of
the pool with a pool noodle. One of the
chipping mats from Chip Away laid over the side of the pool serves as
the tee
area. Surprisingly, the ball rolls
pretty smoothly on the raft, making a hole-in-one a good possibility,
however, a
stray shot will find the water.
Like any golf course, this one requires regular
maintenance. Every now and then,
something gets out of alignment and needs to be fixed and the rabbits
and frogs
lining the 9th fairway get knocked over, likely by random
animals
that cross through the yard. Also,
whenever I do my regular yard chores, I usually take my cheap Chinese
leaf
blower and clear debris that accumulates on the greens and in the
various
gutters on the course.
After the course was complete, I had the idea that
it needed
some kind of a “mascot.” One day on the
porch, I was looking at a couple art pieces we have that are made from
the big
ends of palm tree branches. I got to
thinking that I could make one of my own using a trimming from one of
our palms
and some leftover paint. I was going for
the quality of a third-grade art project and I think I nailed it—the
painting
took me about 15 minutes.
I decided to call my “masterpiece” Fred because,
when it was
done, it kind of reminded me of a lead guitar player by that name who
was in my
favorite local Boston band of the 80s, The Atlantics.
By the way, if I ever compete in an air
guitar contest, I’ll use Fred’s ripping guitar solo from The Atlantics’
biggest
hit, “Lonely Hearts.” But I
digress. So now, Fred, mascot of Pete’s
Micro Mini Golf course (not the guitar player), hangs proudly above the
first
green.
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| Fred, the course mascot | Fred, mounted above
the first green |
Original sketch of
Fred |
Here’s the scorecard from the first match played
on the
course—me against my brother Walt. Walt
wound up winning on the first hole of sudden death after we both shot
1-over-par 19s but, in my defense, I played left-handed and I gave Walt
a
practice shot every hole.
We had a couple golf-and-dinner parties with
friends in the
fall. For these, I continued the
precedent set with my brother of giving everyone (except me) two
chances to hit
a tee shot every hole while I played lefty.
After a pretty embarrassing last-place finish at the first
party, I
somewhat redeemed myself at the second one.
Occasionally, we get spectators on the course.
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