Miniature golf, also known as mini-golf, crazy golf, or Putt-Putt, is a game modelled after the sport of golf. As in golf, courses are commonly nine or eighteen holes long and the object is to hit the golf ball into the appropriate hole in the fewest number of strokes; however, in the miniature game, the holes are significantly shorter and consist of only a putting surface. The game is made challenging by an arrangement of obstacles, ramps and bunkers. It is a popular pastime in many areas of the world, especially among families.

Mini-golf rose to popularity in the late 1910s and early 1920s as a way for early golf fanatics to replicate major golf courses on a small scale. The game was commonly called "Garden Golf" and was played with a putter on grass. Thomas McCulloch Fairbairn , a golf fanatic, revolutionized the game in 1922 with his formulation of a suitable artificial green—a mixture of cottonseed hulls, sand, oil and dye. With this discovery, miniature golf became accessible everywhere, and by the late 1920s there were over 150 rooftop courses in New York City alone.

There are a variety of courses, five of which are officially recognised: the most common of these are beton and eternit.

In 1955, Lomma Enterprises , Inc., founded by Al Lomma and his brother Ralph Lomma, led the revival of wacky, animated, trick hazards intended to be more challenging than straight putting. These hazards required both accurately aimed shots and split-second timing to avoid spinning windmill blades, revolving statuary and other careening obstacles.

The book Tilting At Windmills (How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Sport) by Andy Miller tells the story of the formerly sports-hating author attempting to change by competing in miniature golf, including events in Denmark and Latvia.

External links

• "Lilli-putt-ian Landmarks" by Susan R. Chandler (PDF file)
• History of miniature golf
• Miniaturegolfer.com
• Minigolfsport.com
• Lomma Enterprises, Inc.