Sunday, July 22, 2001
Honey, I’ve When you think miniature golf, do you think windmills, giant plastic elves and clown faces? Or do you think of a more serious affair -- of a tiny, yet realistic course featuring fast greens, undulating contours, moguls and water traps?
shrunk the course
Many island residents and
visitors enjoy playing miniature golf
at Bay View Mini Putt in KaneoheBy C.R. Dudley
cdudley@starbulletin.comWhat may surprise you is that the Bay View Golf Park Mini Putt in Kaneohe, with its lack of elves and windmills, actually harkens to the earliest days of miniature golf, both in the quality of the course and the ability of the public to afford to play.
"People are finding out how fun it is to play," Mini Putt manager Ethel Lundberg said. "We have whole families come over from Aiea, Pearl City, all over. The children will come with a school group and then go home and tell mom and dad how fun it was. Then we get the whole family out here."
Two courses of 18 holes each comprise the Bay View Mini Putt. The Pali course features the signature holes 4 and 5 which run through a realistic looking lava tube. Inside the tube openings in the wall, you get a behind-the-waterfall view of water pouring over the top. It's a nice spot for pictures and putting.
Each hole features different obstacles, but also three cups to shoot for.
"That way you have your choice of shots," Lundberg said.
Having three different cups per hole makes for many choices over the two courses, 46,656 different possible variations of playing the 36 holes, to be exact.As sports go, miniature golf is one of the most accessible. Little or no physical conditioning is required and new players might find that their ability to putt is not dependent on the number of hands they are holding the club with. But more serious players will find that much the same frustrations of regular golf also infect miniature golf.
Reading the green, actually Astroturf, for hidden breaks, staying away from water traps and playing with a feel for the game are all part of the mini-golf experience.
But they are not required. The children can hack away without getting lost in the bushes looking for balls.
"I loved putting through the waterfall," Mahealani Isbell, a massage therapist from the Big Island, said. "It reminds me of the Hilton Waikoloa."
Isbell putted around the 36 holes with her son Kai Dechape, 15.
"I like the night golf," Dechape said.
In its heyday, miniature golf was such a powerful draw that lighting was introduced to allow play to continue late into the evenings, making it one of the earliest lighted sports, along with football and baseball.
Towns throughout the country began adopting ordinances that forced businesses and parks to shut their lights off after specified times largely because of the popularity of late-night miniature golf and the stresses that lights in the night caused the community.
At the start of the 20th century, miniature golf started as the short game to regulation golf. It was called Garden Golf. The game was played on real grass with real putters. Leagues sprung up and a national tournament was born.
But the courses were largely the playgrounds of those who could afford country club memberships. With the great depression came innovation in the mini-golf world. Suddenly courses were being laid out on all sorts of material, from crushed corn and tar to hay. Any manner of obstacles were put down to make the courses interesting. This is how the game came to be known as you might think of it. Quirky obstacles and trick shots.
The BayView course is the more traditional style course, without the Disney characters and windmills. At Bay View, putters are provided. They have a rubber sheathing that protects the turf.
You can only have five people at a time on each hole. The facility does host business meetings and birthday parties.
"It's a good stress-reliever. A company can have their meeting at our restaurant and then the employees can come over for a round of golf before the next meeting," Lundberg said.
But mini-golf is also taking to its more regal roots in pricing itself out of the pocketbooks of struggling families. A family of four will have to shell out $32 for a round of 18 holes, and that's before drinks and chips.
What: Miniature golf Getting started
Where: Bay View Golf Park Mini Putt, 45-285 Kaneohe Bay Drive
When: 9 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. during the summer
Cost: Adults, $8 for 18 holes, $12 for 36 holes. Children under-6, $4 for 18 holes and $5 for 36 holes
Information: 247-0451.
Also: Jungle River Mini Golf, 98-1101 Moanalua Rd., $6.50 for 18 holes