Most People Didn't Know That Mini Golf Was Invented Right Here In Tennessee
By Chris Dodge|Published May 22, 2024
×
Chris Dodge
Author
My name is Chris Dodge and I live right here in the great state of Tennessee. My family and I are full adventurers filled with passion to see the amazing things our state has to offer. We are avid hikers and have explored many different places in Tennessee and beyond but we are always thankful to be living in such a glorious state.
Stepping up to the bright, cheery green of the artificial turf, my hands were sweaty and my heart was racing. I knew every single stroke was adding to my score and I desperately needed to defeat my father for ultimate bragging rights as family putt-putt champion. Some people view it as a game, but the competition is intense nonetheless. I calculated the course and saw every corner and embankment like a complicated physics problem. When I gently tapped my red golf ball I watched as it soared and satisfyingly landed in the hole, solidifying my great victory. These moments of mini golf fun were forever sealed in my memory and for those experiences, I have a man to thank in Tennessee for inviting the game of modern miniature golf. So who invented mini golf? Allow me to tell you the birth of the putt-putt we all know and love.
It all started with the parent game of mini-golf which was very well established. Golf courses were beautifully manicured and available since the 1700s but an intense part of the game is the final putt on the green to finish out and finalize your score.
This craft isn’t as easy as the pros make it look, so people needed a place to practice this art form. In North Carolina, there was an 18-hole golf course called Thistle Dhu Putting Course which only consisted of putting greens. This was an early adaption of mini golf it still wasn’t the game we are used to playing today.
Two men contributed to what we would consider to be modern miniature golf: John Garnet Carter and Thomas McCullouch Fairbairn. Fairbairn invented artificial turf and was an avid golf fan.
Carter, meanwhile, was the first to patent the mass production of mini golf courses called Tom Thumb Golf Courses. The first Tom Thumb Golf Course was made on Lookout Mountain.
Carter was a Tennessee native but built his course on the Georgia side of the mountain where he had his hotel. He went on to sell the patent rights and build the popular attraction we still have to this very day, Rock City.
However, once the Great Depression hit, most of the courses fell on hard times and eventually shut down. We have very few examples of what early mini golf was like still open to this day, but one of the best examples can be found all the way up in New York. Parkside Whispering Pines is the oldest operational mini golf course in America and a good look into the history of this wonderful pastime.
As most things do they evolve and change over the years and we have since improved on the original designs that wowed our 1900s ancestors.
Places like Pigeon Forge have some of the most audacious and wild mini-golf courses around and we love them! Places like Toy Box Mini Golf have massive larger-than-life classic toys, while in Sevierville, Ripley's Old MacDonald's Farm Mini Golf makes use of animatronics to enhance the game. Still yet we have black light mini golf, and even 3D black light mini golf! This game just keeps getting better and better but it all harks back to a Tennessee native who wanted to condense the most intense part of golf and make it fun.
So now we know who invented mini golf. Once again, someone from Tennessee changed the world and we are so thankful for that! When you want to challenge a family member or friend for a round, I would recommend you check out Crave Golf Club and have a blast while doing it.
