subject: Serious Mini Golf In South Carolina [print this page] The first public documentation of a putting game with obstacles occurred in the Illustrated London News in 1912. It was appropriately named and patented as "Gofstacle", enjoying instant popularity. By 1916 the miniature golf craze had crossed the Atlantic Ocean and taken a firm hold of North Americans. The Gofstacle kits sold in pine boxes from inventor William Senhouse Clarke were brought overseas for private back-garden use, but in true American style a bigger version was soon in mass-production.
In 1916 the first standardized miniature golf courses began production in bulk, in the town of Pinehurst North Carolina. The whole eastern coast of the US became a hotbed of miniature golf activity, as tens of thousands of courses opened up. At one point, more than 150 rooftop mini golf courses were reported to be in business in New York City, by Popular Science magazine. The oldest stand-alone miniature golf course in the US and still in use is the Tall Maples Miniature Golf Course in Rochester New York. It has even earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places.
With such a long history of mini golf in the south-eastern region of the US, it is only natural mini golfers take their hobby very seriously. Sadly, the Great Depression caused the loss of thousands of courses, even though National competitions had taken place since 1930, and competitions were stopped for a time. Mini golf competitions began once more, once economic times improved. In Binghamton, New York a new kind of course was emerging. Actual obstacles, including castles and wishing wells, were added to designs of mini golf courses, (thanks to Joseph and Robert Taylor), once the brothers decided to have more than just standard banks and curves in their course.
The Taylor brothers were often commissioned to build their successful mini golf courses, even by the military. To keep morale among soldiers up, prefabricated courses have been shipped to American military bases in Korea and Vietnam. Taylor-made courses sprouted up everywhere, including South Carolina. Hawaiian Rumble in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is one of the most elaborate, popular, and difficult mini golf courses in the US.
Hawaiian Rumble has a fire and lava-spewing volcano that reaches 50 feet in the air. More serious mini-golfing obstacles were developed - from the low tech volcano, to more challenging tunnels with lavish waterfalls? The US ProMiniGolf Association, holds their annual world championship at Hawaiian Rumble each year, because the site's two courses are so complex. Hawaiian Rumble is used as a prime location for putting coaches from many nations, to train their students. Even the US mini golf champion, Olivia Prokopova of the Czech Republic perfects her skill on the holes of the Rumble.
