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Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is a resort town and the crown
jewel of the Grand Strand, a 60-mile stretch of beach in the Palmetto State.
Much of the small city’s tourism economy is based on a bevy of miniature golf
courses, and it is for this reason that I select it as a destination during my
two-month long cross-country trip in the fall of 2017.
Mini-golf dates back to the 19th century. In
Scotland the Ladies’ Putting Club of St. Andrews had a miniature course based
on the conventions of the time that it was improper for a lady to “take the
club back past their shoulder.”
Garnet Carter is generally considered the forefather of
mini-golf as we know it; his course in Tennessee featured hollowed-out tree
trunks, rock tunnels, and gnomes to accompany the themes conjured up by his
Fairyland Inn. Carter patented and franchised this model, named “Tom Thumb
Golf,” and soon courses were sprouting up around the nation.
The recreation activity took hold in the lean years of the
Great Depression. Scrap material – tires, pipes, and the like – made courses
cheaper to produce, a savings passed down to cash-strapped customers ever in
need of leisure activities.
The market for miniature golf has ebbed and flowed ever
since. But one location it is has synonymous with is Myrtle Beach. There are
more mini-golf courses per square mile than in any other city in the United
States, and host to the US ProMiniGolf Association’s annual “Master’s”
Tournament. The courses are virtually all located on Highway 17, which borders
the Grand Strand.
The groundwork for making Myrtle Beach a mini-golf haven
started long ago. At the turn of the 20th century, the development
company Burroughs and Collins hoped to turn Myrtle Beach into the next Coney
Island or Atlantic City, building a railroad in part to achieve that end. In
1926, mogul John T. Woodside provided the funds to pave Highway 17, and built
the city’s first golf course.
The Tom Thumb models seized the attentions of the
area’s real estate developers. They were, after all, cheaper to build and
maintain than a traditional course, and there was no shortage of available
labor. And with a longer vacation season than most East Coast cities, the stars
aligned for the mini-golf boon in little Myrtle Beach. In 1935 a tourism
magazine hyped the town as a destination, including the mini-golf courses, and
it grew from there.
Nina Garinkel and Maria Reidelbach, in the book Miniature Golf, remark on the “Myrtle
Beach Style” of mini-golf courses that came to be by the 1970s. It is
“characterized by large central rockeries made of sprayed synthetic rock over
which water, dyed blue or gold, cascades dramatically…Invariably a jungle
atmosphere is invoked, replete with palm trees, thatched huts, and fiberglass
‘wild animals.’”
According to Bob Detwiler, president of the US ProMiniGolf
Association and the man behind several courses in Myrtle Beach including
Hawaiian Rumble, estimates that mini-golf brings $25 million a year to the
city. While there are other attractions along the Grand Strand and within city
limits, it is the string of golf courses – with mountains, jungles, and exotic
lands begging to be conquered with a small colored ball and a putter – that
calls visitors traveling along Highway 17. With about 50 courses in place and a
healthy competition among them, mini-golf figures to remain an important part
of the city’s tourism economy.
I arrive in Myrtle Beach on a Sunday night and sail in to
Captain Hook’s Adventure Golf. As a fan of Peter
Pan, I’m happy to be immediately whisked away to a mini-golf version of
Never Never Land. Passages from J. M. Barre’s beloved novel are printed on
wooden signs so that as you progress through the course, you re-live the tale.
You enter a cavern and see “Hook’s Jailhouse,” eye silhouettes in the window of
a tavern, board a pirate ship, find Tinkerbell locked away, and encounter
treasure, among the many delights.
I play alongside a family of four from Tennessee – a husband and wife, and their two teenage children. We chat about my trip, Tennessee, California…the young lady asks me, ‘My friend says all the hills in California are brown – is that true?” I respond that for the most part, yes, they are green for only a few months every year.
I play alongside a family of four from Tennessee – a husband and wife, and their two teenage children. We chat about my trip, Tennessee, California…the young lady asks me, ‘My friend says all the hills in California are brown – is that true?” I respond that for the most part, yes, they are green for only a few months every year.
I don’t want the night to end, really. But I am tired and
hungry and seek to amend both. My lodging for the night is the Vancouver Motel.
I get a great deal on this seaside, white-and-blue, clean and friendly place.
I’d never find a deal like this in the ocean towns of my home state.
There are seafood restaurants abound, but I have to consider
my loyalty to Yelp! Ratings and they don’t score particularly well. I’m not in
the mood for seafood anyway, and discover, in another part of town, a little
pizza place called Gino’s. It’s New York style delicious-ness, and I devour a
small cheese pizza that fills the spirit as much as it fills the stomach.
The next morning, the rain comes. It arrives as I just
reaching the Atlantic Ocean. A feeling of immense gratitude and bliss overwhelms
me as I touch the water. I have done it. I have driven completely across the
country, from Pacific to Atlantic, literally sea to sea had I just driven 30
miles west and then doubled back on the first day of this journey five weeks
prior.
I want to linger on the beach, but the rain is strong. I
grab a couple of shells as souvenirs and scramble back to the motel parking
lot.
Rain is bad for mini-golf. Not surprisingly, I am the only customer at Jungle Lagoon. The
fiberglass giraffe, rhino, tiger, gorilla, and other creatures are my sole
companions. I have to look for shelter now and then but the rain is not steady
which affords me the ability to play the entire course. The progression has you
ascending to a “Scenic Overlook” where you get a spectacular overlook of the
city.
The Cancun Lagoon is different. It features half-inside,
half-outside courses in addition to an all-outside course. I welcome the
respite from the rain. Featuring a Mayan theme, the courses include cave
paintings, waterfalls, potted plants, and several multi-level holes. It is less
fanciful than Captain Hook, less endearing as Jungle Cancun, but just as appealing
in its own way.
Of the three courses, there’s no doubt about my favorite:
Captain Hook. And there are more to try – additional ancient civilizations,
jungle wonderlands, and exotic islands. There’s also other tourist activities
begging for attention, such as an aquarium and a Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!
Museum. However, the need for food, the presence of the rain, and most of all
the constant conundrum of this trip – the push to keep going and see as many
different things as possible – have me leaving town.
I make an unplanned stop on the Grand Strand, to the
Nostalgia City & Museum. This store/museum is filled with Americana –
signage, famous life-size figures, vehicles large and small, license plates,
tacky and charming souvenirs (a stuffed mermaid with an “I (Heart) Myrtle
Beach” t-shirt combines both), and various treats and knick-knacks.
Then it’s another visit to Gino’s. This time I have it with
ham and mushroom and admittedly the plain cheese was much better. But also,
like the mini-golf, it’s a different version of the same thing the very next
day…which only reinforces my overall approach to the cross-country adventure:
see it, soak it up, enjoy it, and move on to the next cool thing.
Many thanks to Julie
Ellis, Public Relations & Communications Manager, who took the time to
respond to my queries in the midst of recovery from Hurricane Florence, and to
all the businesses in Myrtle Beach that I patronized during my visit.
Additional sources:
Ali Slagle, “Why Myrtle Beach Takes Mini-Golf So Seriously,”
Atlas Obscura, https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-so-many-mini-golf-places-myrtle-beach
Ransom Riggs, “The Zany History of Mini Golf,” Mental Floss,
http://mentalfloss.com/article/19567/zany-history-mini-golf