Growing up in Jacksonville, Florida back in the early sixties, I used to walk a couple miles down Beach Boulevard to play Putt-Putt golf almost every day when school was out.
It was an inexpensive way for teens to spend their summertime, along with drive-in movies in the Florida heat.
I was there so often, they asked me if I wanted to play for free in return for squeeging the frequent rainstorms off the courses.
Later I was hired to run the golf shack, but my parents did not like me to work that late at night.
My friends used to get dropped off by their parents and we would play all day. Often on the weekends
there would be several birthday parties held there.
The courses were designed for a par 2 on every hole and I learned that each hole had a certain way to play it, which gave you a 70% chance of making a hole in one.
Back then, the bumper boards were made of 2 by 4’s, and frequent players used to carve a notch with a knife to spot where you might ace the hole.
Playing there so often, I bought my own golf putter, winning several local tournaments and scored a round of 22 one day. When I played at other competitions on other courses, I didn’t score so well.
In 1954 an insurance salesman by the name of Don Clayton was frustrated with the many obstacles on a miniature golf course and wanted to create a game that required some skill, so he founded Putt-Putt Fun Center in Fayetteville, North Carolina and started advertising Putt-Putt as a serious sport with tournament players around the world.
At one point some of these tournaments were televised on local television and eventually ABC Wide World of Sports and had prizes up to $8 million.
Putt-Putt became a popular franchise in the 70s, 80s and 90s and expanded into 400 locations at it’s peak.
Today Putt-Putt is a brand name that became a popular generic term for miniature golf.
Putt-Putt Golf is a trademark for miniature golf courses that were optimized for a more serious style by omitting such obstacles as the windmill, the maze of pipes, the waterfalls and the clown’s mouth.
The nickname is derived from the sound and action of repeatedly putting the ball.
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