On May 11, 2019 to help celebrate National Miniature Golf Day, the Florida Department of State announced the launch of the Florida Historic Mini Golf Trail. This collection of six courses are recognized for their historic value to the great game of miniature golf as being the oldest in Florida. Each of these mini-golf courses is at least 50 years old, and they’re all full of classic old Florida charm. Concrete animals! Dinosaurs! Wacky Art Installations! These places have it all. So let’s hop in the time machine, and putt our way across Florida’s oldest miniature golf courses!
Putt-Putt of Amelia Island – Fernandina Beach, FL
So what exactly is the difference between “Putt-Putt” and miniature golf anyway? The terms get used interchangeably a lot, but there really is a difference. Miniature golf is just what the name implies. It’s golf, but shrunk down to mini size, with fun obstacles and unique themes. Putt-Putt courses, however, are a little more straightforward. They usually don’t have the “wacky” obstacles or themes, and each hole has a par of just two. Putt, Putt. Get it? Putt-Putt is also a name brand of a chain of franchised courses, and this one just happens to be the oldest one in America. These two 18 hole courses opened in 1959 and were host to the 2015 National Putt-Putt Championship. This course is right up on the beach too, making for a classic Florida backdrop to your game.
18 holes here costs $7 for adults, or $9 if you want to go around for the full 36 holes. Kids aged 6 to 12 are $5, and kids under 5 are free if playing with a paying adult.
Putt-Putt Fun Center
6 North Fletcher Ave.
Fernandina Beach, FL 32034
Goofy Golf – Fort Walton Beach, FL
Miniature golf used to be a relatively serious game that centered on putting your way around a miniaturized version of a golf course. Sure, there were a few obstacles thrown onto some of the holes, but the fun stuff like castles and windmills weren’t really a thing yet. Then in 1958, a guy by name of Lee Koplin gave the world Goofy Golf. His mini-empire of Florida Gulf Coast courses were some of the first in the world to add a lot of whimsy and fun to the course. All of those pirate-themed courses, windmills, castles, and other stereotypical mini-golf stuff can trace their roots right back here.
The first of the Florida Goofy Golf courses opened in Fort Walton Beach in 1958 with a silly atmosphere and a 23 foot tall green T-Rex named “Hammy”. This dinosaurt has become something of a local landmark over the years. At just $3 a game (cash only), this place offers some really cheap retro entertainment.
Goofy Golf Fort Walton Beach
401 Eglin Pkwy NE
Fort Walton Beach, FL 32547
Goofy Golf – Pensacola, FL
In 1958, Lee Koplin also opened up a Goofy Golf location in Pensacola that was full of even more eye-popping weirdness than the one in Fort Walton Beach. This one added a menagerie of concrete animals like kangaroos, dinosaurs, and dragons to help spice up his creation. The Pensacola course is a definite step up in theming from the first one, but just a hint of what was still to come from him the following year.
Today the course is owned and operated by First Tee of Northwest Florida, a non-profit youth sports program that teaches kids how to play and enjoy golf. A game here is just $3 for kids, and $5 for adults.
Goofy Golf Pensacola
3924 W Navy Blvd
Pensacola, FL 32507
https://www.thefirstteenwflorida.org/minigolf
Goofy Golf – Panama City Beach, FL
The third installment of the Goofy Golf Trilogy takes us to Panama City Beach. The pièce de résistance of the Goofy Golf empire! The Panama City Beach location takes what the first two did, and then just cranks the chaos up to eleven. This place opened up a year later, in 1959 as this strange, wonderful combination of mini-golf course and wacky art exhibit. Looking at some of the stuff here, you could almost draw a straight line from Goofy Golf to some of the more bizarre art installations you’d see at Burning Man.
Goofy Golf at Panama City Beach is like a mini-golf theme park and a trip back in time to some great old Florida kitschiness. At $10 a game, a round of mini-golf here will cost you a bit more than at the Fort Walton Beach location, but this place is pretty famous in the mini-golf scene, so there’s that.
Goofy Golf Panama City Beach
12206 Front Beach Road
Panama City, FL
http://goofygolfpc.com
Polynesian Putter – St. Pete Beach, FL
This old-school retro Florida attraction opened in 1966 on Gulf Boulevard in St. Pete Beach making it the southernmost golf course on the Florida historic mini-golf trail. It’s just across the street from the Gulf of Mexico in an area that’s full of waterfront hotels and beach bars. It’s a great little stop during your day at the beach. This course with a South Pacific theme is full of jungle obstacles, one giant green snake, and is known locally for it’s huge Easter Island style moai figure that can be seen from the street. One round of golf here will set you back $6 bucks.
Polynesian Putter
4999 Gulf Blvd.
St. Pete Beach, FL
Ripley’s Bayfront Mini Golf – St. Augustine, FL
Finally, we made it over to St. Augustine, the oldest city in Florida which is fittingly also the home of Florida’s oldest miniature golf course. Ripley’s Bayfront Mini Golf opened up here way back in in 1949! This course has a beautiful location right next to the Bridge of Lions on Matanzas Bay. This course might be over 70 years old, but it’s been meticulously kept up over all those decades and still looks as good as did when it first opened. You can easily get here by hopping off one of the tram tours that circle their way around town, and it’s short walk from famous St. Augustine historic district. Prices are $7 for adults, and $5 for kids aged 4 to 11.
Ripley’s Bayfront Mini Golf
111 Avenida Menendez
St. Augustine, FL, 32084
Today the Florida Historic Mini Golf Trail is only six courses long, but this is a state with a LOT of mini golf courses scattered among it’s many beach towns and tourist attractions. It will fun to see more courses get added to this list down the road since American’s decades long appetite for mini golf doesn’t seem to be ending any time soon!