Who wouldn’t want to go out and celebrate National Mini Golf Day! Miniature golf is a fun, goofy deviation from the much stiffer, serious sport of golf. The oldest miniature golf course dates back to the 1800s when the Ladies’ Putting Club of St. Andrews was formed in Scotland. The club formed in response to the fact that it was deemed improper for ladies to swing the club past their shoulder. Later on in America, during the Great Depression when fancier courses were closing down and dinkier ones were sprouting up, people even started using found items like tires, pipes, and barrels as obstacles for their courses. The outlandish obstacles became so popular they’ve stuck around ever since!

Mini golf is a wonderful past time and activity for families and is extremely kid-friendly. The clubs tend to be shorter, since it is a game geared towards children, and some locations also have different lengths to accommodate different heights. Let’s not forget, even getting to pick out your own colorful ball is a cool, quirky highlight of the game.

Long Island miniature golf courses are also very diverse. There are indoor and outdoor courses, glow in the dark courses and tricky courses that move. Some courses have themes and others are more traditional. In response to evolving technologies, many courses have even incorporated animatronics and interactive challenges to lure players to their course.

Bayville Adventure & Scream Park
8 Bayville Avenue, Bayville, NY 11709
516-624-7433

Tiki Action Park
1878 Middle Country Road, Centereach, NY 11720
631-471-1267

Jones Beach State Park Golf Course
1 Ocean Parkway, Wantagh, NY 11793
516-785-1600

Out East Family Fun
1716 County Road 58, Riverhead, NY 11901
631-208-9397

Boomers!
655 Medford Avenue, Medford, NY 11763
631-475-1771

Whale’s Tale
3 Ram Island Road, Shelter Island, NY 11964
631-749-1839

Skydrive Golf Center
1024 Broad Hollow Road, Farmingdale, NY 11735
631-694-4666

Five Towns Mini Golf
570 Rockaway Turnpike, Lawrence, NY 11559
516-239-1743

Sayville Falls
30 Hanson Place, Sayville, NY 11782
631-218-6952

Harbor Links Miniature Golf
1 Fairway Drive, Port Washington, NY 11050
516-767-4816

Cantiague Park
490 W. John Street, Hicksville, NY 11801
516-571-7061

Eisenhower Park
Merrick & Stewart Avenues, East Meadow, NY 11554

[Source: Travel & Leisure]

Photo by Josh Klute via Free Images