No slowing down – Adventure Golf & Sport’s mini-golf solutions continue to grow in popularity
As seen in Interfun magazine Issue 1, 2024
Whether you call it miniature golf or crazy golf, besides it being a family-friendly game, a common date-night activity or a strategy to keep patrons at a retail site for longer periods of time, Scott Lundmark, president of Adventure Golf & Sports (AGS), says there are many new ways of providing mini-golf courses that are helping propel its popularity.
According to Lundmark, market feedback from FECs, amusement parks, hotels and resorts, shopping malls and others has driven AGS to create many new innovative design and build methods based on market demand.
“Although concrete construction has been the traditional way to install the game”, says Lundmark, “many venues are requesting alternatives to concrete courses for lower cost products, lighter weight, less maintenance and upkeep issues, along with avoiding concrete aging problems like poor drainage and freeze-to-thaw surface cracking. They want portability, versatility, eco-friendliness, ADA compliance and a design to be lightweight but durable enough to withstand hurricane force winds and weather on rooftops or cruise ship decks.”
“AGS was founded on designing and building concrete courses, but we find more venues want the versatility and flexibility of our modular, interlocking, patented panel system that is made from recycled materials, is 100 per cent permeable and much lighter in weight than concrete. It saves them time and money and is eco-friendly for environmentally sensitive communities and locations.
“Our predesigned modular courses are very popular”, says Lundmark. “Special event companies are among those purchasing our SplitShot or RollOut courses, for example, to set up for indoor or outdoor corporate meetings, food festivals and elsewhere.
“It’s the same with our MiniLinks, MiniLinks Jr and Little Duffer courses. They are all designed to be portable and easily moved and stored, and can be used indoors or outdoors. But what makes them special is the use of our permeable panels complimented with permeable turf. So, when used outdoors, water can drain through the turf and the panels onto the ground, creating a quick-dry, no mess, eco-friendly system minimizing water runoff.
“The Orlando World Center Marriott hotel purchased a MiniLinks course because they wanted something they could move in and out of their hotel at their convenience, based on their events calendar. It was much the same for the city of Delta in British Columbia, Canada, who annually sets-up pop-up parks for weeks at a time throughout their city for local entertainment.”
AGS also has several products that are even more portable. Its RollOut mini-golf features predesigned golf holes, each weighing under 50lb, which come rolled-up in a wheeled storage bag containing the turf, putters, golf balls, and a vertical hole cup – everything needed to ‘roll out’ a mini-golf hole wherever and whenever someone wants to play. According to AGS, the holes can be quickly set-up by one person and is popular for special events, pop-up stores and party rentals.
Its RailShot mini-golf product consists of 144 edge sections in four assorted sizes that can be pinned together in any sequence to create any golf hole shape or a maze. No turf is required. Optional faux wood obstacles in the shape of triangles, circles, bars and so forth are available from the company.
“Besides our many portable options”, says Lundmark, “We’re also known for our custom designed mini golf courses installed indoors, outdoors and on rooftops and ship decks.
“Recently we designed and installed a challenging links-style course with rolling terrain and faux sand bunkers on a parking deck rooftop at Caribe Resort in Orange Beach, Florida, US.
“The Caribe course needed to withstand hurricane force winds since they lost a previous concrete-built rooftop mini-golf course some years earlier to a devastating hurricane. They liked the fact that our custom modular system was lighter in weight and can withstand those winds and weather because we use a proprietary anchoring system, similar to what we use on cruise ship decks.”
AGS has also installed custom modular mini-golf courses underneath indoor ropes courses to maximize the guest entertainment experiences at many Great Wolf Lodge resorts in North America.
“While some mini-golf companies have gone the high-tech route by emulating electronic gaming to make it more competitive, we’ve seen robust growth employing traditional themes and more natural looking and natural playing mini-golf. It’s something that doesn’t go out of style or need to be replaced due to a new electronic gadget.
“Today, mini-golf can fit virtually any space, theme or budget”, says Lundmark. “With low maintenance and operating costs, combined with high-throughput of 90 to 100 people per hour, mini-golf continues to grow in popularity and that’s why AGS offers the widest line of miniature golf products in the world.”