The Evolution of Miniature Golf

In 1938 Joseph and Robert Taylor introduced into minigolf a complex course with obstacles.  Their fantastical course included a castle, a wishing well, and a windmill.  (All the things that I’ve thought of as standards in minigolf!!)   It was so popular that the brothers began to export it, building replicas of their course in towns and cities across the US.  

During the Great Depression, miniature golf was considered "big business" and one of the few businesses that could be successful in that economic climate. Over 25,000 courses were built during this period. It became the most popular entertainment for people of all ages.

There were stories of 12-year-old boys, during the Great Depression, that for an initial investment of 90 cents would set up a miniature golf course in a vacant lot and turn a 1,000% profit over the weekend.  I can’t tell if these stories are true, but I do know that people were making courses out of junk and spare parts: tractor tires, old tin cans and rusted down-spouts were all re-purposed for Depression-era minigolf.   Some of these courses were built underneath billboards, so that the light that illuminated the billboards at night would light the minigolf course for free!!  People played at all hours of the day and night!!

Six thousand Tom Thumb courses were built during the depression. They were the first "brand" of miniature golf.  It was said a Tom Thumb course could be built and open to the public in six days.  (You’ll recall that the Tom Thumb courses were the ones patented by Garnet Carter.  If you don’t, you can go back and read our post from June 28th.)

But, the Taylor brothers were making the Tom Thumb courses a thing of the past.  By the early 1940s, Joe and Bob formed Taylor Brothers, and not only built courses all over the United States, but also supplied obstacles to others who were building courses independently.  During both the Korean and Vietnam Wars, many a G.I. played on a Taylor Brothers prefabricated course that the U.S. Military had contracted to be built and shipped overseas.  (That is just amazing to me!!  Those of us who came of age protesting the war in Vietnam just never dreamed that minigolf was in any way involved in that war.)

You know, I ordered a pizza on-line for the first time yesterday.  I hadn’t ordered ANY food delivery in a number of years, on account of I got out of the habit when I was living in my coach house.  I couldn’t even get mail back there, so how on earth could I have gotten something delivered??

Anyway, when my brother was visiting, he had said, why not order pizza?? Well, I finally got around to it yesterday.   There’s a Pizza Hut just a couple blocks from my house, so I went on-line to see their menu (and to get their phone number) and realized that I could just ORDER the pizza on-line!!  Who knew?!?!?!  It was for me AND my cousin (who eats sausage - ew) and he wanted me to get a half-veggie half-sausage pizza.  When I clicked that selection, I realized that they were ILLUSTRATING our order every step of the way!!  THAT was remarkable!!  Our pizza-picture suddenly was half nasty sausage!!  When we added Pepsi - a bottle of Pepsi appeared in the picture - everything we ordered was in the picture!!  It was amazing!!


Or, was it really sad??  Was it on account of a lot of people can’t read any more??  Which made me think of an article I read a couple of years ago about how the development of a written language fundamentally changed human society forever.  This article talked about how a written language, which was processed primarily in the left-brain, really stimulated left-brain activity in society as a whole.

Now that I’m talking about it, it seems as if this may have been really STRETCHING to reach its conclusions.  It went on to say that the demise of matriarchal societies had something to do with the rise of written language.  And further, that the computer mouse was the hope of the future, because using a mouse requires using both hemispheres of your brain - because you’re doing spatial tasks as well as written language tasks.

Well, even if it WAS a slightly exaggerated article, it’s interesting to think about right-left hemisphere issues.  And also, think about this:  the Tibetan written language was developed specifically in order to write down the teachings of the Buddha!!  Kinda makes you want to run out and learn Tibetan, doesn’t it???

But, back to the step forward in minigolf which brought us out of the literal miniature golf with decorations, and into the era of decorations as obstacles.  We’ve recently played a number of courses that were really throw-backs to the 1920s.  In fact, I’m beginning to wonder if the trend in newer minigolf courses isn’t to be more like those courses. 

I have to say, I am still a fan of the unique and the goofy.  Give me Darth Vader with Anime eyes and a bar-be-que skewer any day over a franchise with identical windmills!!

Coming soon:  more Dollywood Adventures!!!

All illustrations ©2010 Michael James.