Felt

 

Felt.

By some time in the 1930s, all the minigolf courses that weren’t part of the Tom Thumb franchise, or the Bob-O-Link franchise were in search of a putting surface.  That’s because those two franchises were the only ones that could afford to use the patented cottonseed-hull surface developed in the late 1920s.  (The royalties were steep.)

People tried all kinds of crazy things, including compressed feathers, ground sponge mixed with cement, and oiled sawdust.  Carpet would’ve worked, but it was way too expensive, and hard to maintain.

In the end, goat-hair felt was the surface that won.  It’s the surface that I putted on for most of my childhood.

Felt is arguably the oldest man-made fabric on this planet.  They’ve found felt remnants in the tombs of Siberian Tlai mountain horsemen dating back to 700 b.c.   Felt is easy to make:  just take fibers - any kind of fibers - get them wet and smoosh them together.

St. Clement, who became the 4th Bishop of Rome, is credited with inventing felt.  (So, he invented it for HIS part of the world, is what I’m thinking.  I mean, if they’ve found felt dating from 700 b.c. there’s no way St. Clement could’ve invented it, actually!!)

Anyway, St. Clement stuffed his shoes with flax fibers to make his shoes more comfortable, walked around with sweaty feet for a couple of weeks, and then realized he had a piece of finely crafted felt in his shoes which he could remove and use for something (if he could stand the smell - ew!!!)  After he became Bishop he set up a bunch of felting operations (hopefully no longer using the SHOE method for the moisture and compression).

It was his relationship with felt that made St. Clement the patron saint of hatmakers, who use felt extensively to this day. 


Mercury was used for awhile in the making of felt for hats.  But mercury poisoning causes tremors and hallucinations.  The term “mad hatter” really came from the debilitating effects the mercury had on the hatters until mercury was finally removed from the process late in the nineteenth century.

 
So, goat felt.

You know, there’s a restaurant in Door County, Wisconsin that has goats living on the roof.  Al Johnson’s in Sister Bay.  Here’s  a YouTube video of the goats on top of the restaurant: 

One summer while I was working in Door County, a bunch of tourists were having breakfast at Al Johnson’s when one of the goats (who was at the time tethered up on the roof) fell OFF the roof!!  The FURIOUS goat dangled right at the level of the restaurant windows, bouncing off one of the windows and freaking everyone out ‘til someone went out and hauled him back up to the top of the roof.  He was fine.  But he was really MAD!!!!

I think a goat on the roof is a really great, green idea!!!  Wonder if my condo association would go for it??

Anyway, back to the goat hair felt putting surfaces!!

Eventually outdoor carpets were invented and replaced goat-hair felt, and now it seems like all the courses with money are going to astro-turf.   I’m still hoping to find a real grass course someplace!!!

Coming next:  Congo River Adventure (FINALLY - back in Illinois!!)