These Courses In The Twin Cities Feature Everything From Pink Kangaroos to Original Sculptures
Looking for something new to do this summer with your family? How about that age-old favorite, mini-golf? Here’s a list of courses in the Twin Cities that the whole family can enjoy. These courses have waterfalls, streams, windmills, castles, original sculptures and pink kangaroos. And that’s just for a start. See you on the courses this summer!
ADVENTURE FALLS MINI GOLF BIG BACK YARD
Address: 572 Bench St., Taylors Falls
Info: 651-465-7831, taylorsfalls.com
Admission: $6.50 adults, $5.50 ages 12 and younger
Hours: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Description: An 18-hole course with a pond, stream, waterfall and mill with a water wheel, plus a club house built with recycled barn wood. This retro rustic course is adjacent to the Drive In Restaurant, which has been serving hamburgers and root beer in frosted mugs along the St. Croix River since 1956.
BIG BACK YARD
Address: Science Museum of Minnesota, 120 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul
Info: 651-221-9444, smm.org
Admission: $5 plus museum admission of $13 adults, $10 ages 12 and younger
Hours: Reopens for season June 21; 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, through Labor Day
Description: EarthScapes Mini Golf offers a lesson in how rain, runoff and rivers change the landscape. Whack your golf balls through sewer pipes, across drainage basins or down a concrete slope molded to look like the eroded gullies of Badlands National Park. The nine-hole course is part of the Science Museum’s outdoor exhibit space, the Big Back Yard.
BIG STONE MINI GOLF
Address: 7110 County Road 110, Minnetrista
Info: 952-472-9292, bigstoneminigolf.com
Admission: $8 adults, $7 ages 8 and younger
Hours: 11 a.m. until sundown daily through September (weather permitting)
Description: Artist Bruce Stillman is still adding holes to the quirky course he opened in 2003 on a farm just west of Lake Minnetonka. He’s up to 14, each meticulously landscaped around his sculptures and the few odd elements, such as an upside-down 1950s Chris Craft boat. Putt across a field of plump stone pumpkins or through steel sunflowers. Then feed the goats and roast marshmallows by the Stonehenge fire pit.
CAPTAIN’S COURSE MINIATURE GOLF
Address: 1360 Civic Center Drive., Eagan
Info: 651-675-5577, cascadebay.com
Admission: $2 for nine holes, $4 for unlimited golf (with paid pool admission)
Hours: 11 a.m.-8:30 p.m. daily
Description: Splash around in Cascade Bay Water Park and then play nine rounds on Captain’s Course, a naturalistic course with brick-edged greens, a wood bridge and water.
CENTENNIAL LAKES PARK
Address: 7499 France Ave. S., Edina
Info: 952-833-9580, centenniallakespark.com
Admission: $5 for nine holes, $9 for 18 holes
Hours: 10 a.m. to sunset daily through Labor Day
Description: As one of the few courses played on real grass, Centennial Lakes Park may have it right when it rejects the mini golf label and calls itself “golf in miniature.” The 24-acre park features a putting course with sand traps, gardens and ponds. Recommended for ages 8 and older.
EAGLE LAKE YOUTH GOLF CENTER
Address: 11000 Bass Lake Road, Plymouth
Info: 763-694-7695, eaglelakegolf.com
Admission: $6 adults, $5 ages 8-17; $2 second round
Hours: 7 a.m.-10 p.m. through early snowfall. (Call for fall hours.)
Description: This traditional 18-hole miniature golf course is in Three Rivers Park District’s Eagle Lake Regional Park, next to the regulation-size courses where the park runs summer youth golf programs.
GOODRICH GOLF DOME MINI GOLF
Address: 1815 Van Dyke St., Maplewood
Info: 651-777-0500, goodrichgolfdome.net
Admission: $6 adults, $5 ages 15 and younger, $4.25 seniors
Hours: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and Sunday; 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday; closed Monday-Tuesday
Description: No frills, plenty of sunshine and a chance to get competitive on this 18-hole course, inside a chain-link fence next to Maplewood’s big driving range dome. There’s a small patio with picnic tables.
GOONY GOLF OF SPRING LAKE PARK
Address: 1066 County Highway 10 N.E., Spring Lake Park
Info: 763-786-4994, goonygolfmn.com
Admission: $8 for 18 holes; $4 for second round; $13 for three rounds
Hours: 9 a.m.-11 p.m. daily. (Call for spring and fall hours.)
Description: Goony Golf is as goofy as it sounds, with giant creatures looming over two 18-hole courses. Hit a ball up a ramp and into the pouch of a pink kangaroo or tee off under a green dinosaur. There’s also a third course for serious golfers, a video arcade and water wars.
LILLI PUTT
Address: 1349 Coon Rapids Blvd., Coon Rapids
Info: 763-755-1450, lilliputt.net
Admission: $8 adults, $5 kids shorter than 42 inches
Hours: 10 a.m.-10 p.m. daily through mid-September
Description: A fake rock castle is a highlight at Lilli Putt, which has been in business for more than 50 years. The 18-hole course includes a waterfall, a little stream and adjacent go-carts and bumper cars.
THE LINKS AT DRED SCOTT MINIATURE GOLF
Address: 10820 Bloomington Ferry Road, Bloomington
Info: 952-941-2444, linksminigolf.com
Admission: $7 adults, $6 ages 12 and younger and seniors (cash or checks only)
Hours: 3-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday June through Labor Day
Description: If a Japanese garden were turned into a golf course, it might look something like The Links, with its rock borders, pools, waterfalls and undulating Astroturf and grass. This course boasts a more-natural look and no kitsch.
MALT-TEES MINI GOLF & MALT SHOP
Address: 6335 Portland Ave., Richfield
Info: 612-861-0668, cityofrichfield.org/index.aspx?page=240
Admission: $7.75 adults, $6.25 ages 6-17 and seniors
Hours: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. daily through Labor Day, hours vary into October
Description: Eighteen holes and eight flavors of ice cream. What’s not to love? Putt your way through and then buy a malt to enjoy under a patio umbrella. There’s often live music in the band shell next door.
PUTT’ER THERE
Address: 1300 Midway Parkway, St. Paul
Info: 651-488-0277, putterthere.com
Admission: $2.50 for nine holes, $5 for 18 holes (cash or check only)
Hours: 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday through Labor Day
Description: Putt’er There has been in Como Park for more than 50 years. A vintage streetcar doubles as the clubhouse, and the course includes an old-fashioned windmill, fountains, water traps and a castle. Play the front nine holes or all 18.
WALKER ON THE GREEN: ARTIST-DESIGNED MINI GOLF
Address: Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis
Info: 612-375-7697, walkerart.org/calendar/2014/walker-green-artist-designed-mini-golf
Admission: For nine holes: $12 adults, $10 students, $9 ages 7-12; for 18 holes: $18 adults, $15 students, $13.50 ages 7-12 (free 6 and younger)
Hours: 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday-Wednesday, through Labor Day
Description: The Walker Art Center asked artists to design 18 holes next to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. There are garden-gnome obstacles affixed to twirling rods like an oversized foosball game and holes that look like a giant gumball machine, a ping pong table, a cemetery with gravestones and even a toilet. That last one is a nod to the infamous urinal that Dada artist Marcel DuChamp submitted to an early 20th-century art exhibit.
Source: Pioneer Press
