As mentioned in my look at five of the best mini-golf courses to play in PGA Tour 2K21, part of the basic appeal of mini golf is that you can get through a round relatively quickly compared to the more traditional style of the sport. So chances are, you may have already quickly played through all of the courses mentioned in that list and are perhaps now left wondering if there are any other mini-golf courses out there worth playing. Well, reader, you are in luck. The course design community for the game has been toiling away for quite some time since the game’s release and they’ve come up with a large number of wacky and wild mini-golf layouts to satisfy putting fanatics.
In fact, a popular PGA Tour 2K21 streamer and course designer named VictoryLnSports who regularly organizes course design contests recently held one specifically for mini-golf courses. The rules were fairly simple in that all courses needed to be 18 holes and every hole had to be completely playable with a putter unless the ball veered off-course. Predictably, the community came through with some innovative and incredibly fun entries that only serve to highlight what’s possible with the design resources in the game if you know how to use them. Let’s take a closer look at some of my favorites from the contest and, as with last time, I’ll detail the general aesthetic of the course, describe some of its distinguishing features throughout, and then finally choose my own personal favorite hole that stands out from the other 17.
Lost Empire Mini Golf
Overall Aesthetic: True to its name, this course appears to have been built upon the ruins of some sort of ancient civilization (which is typically just begging for a haunting), complete with standalone regal columns and crumbling structures strewn about the greens.
Distinguishing Features: There’s a playful sense of invention throughout the course that’s especially evident in how many of the holes require a lengthy and scenic journey to get to them from the tee. Whether the ball is sliding down a large hill, or down a set of stone stairs, or over a long bridge, this is an experience that embraces the wilder and more fantastical side of mini golf. For the most part, the holes are straightforward enough that it’s possible to get lucky with a hole in one, but there’s also some strategy and precision putting required on some holes.
This is particularly true on the ones where you need to navigate a set of hills in order to get to the pin location, which makes it easy to hit the ball either too softly or too hard. One thing that’s clear is that if this extravagant course were to be constructed in real life, it would cost a lot of money to both build and play.
Best Hole: The first hole starts off the course on a strong note by being located inside a waterfall with the tee having a nice view of a boat perched right on the edge of it. You’ll send your ball careening off the edge and watch it plummet down over a platform until it finally lands on a green surrounded by rocks to ensure that you won’t end up in the water and suffer any stroke penalties.
Billys Scrap N Putt
Overall Aesthetic: If you like your mini golf a little on the grittier side, look no further than this course that would appear to double as a scrap yard based on all of the vehicles scattered throughout the terrain. After coming to drop off your trash, stay for 18 holes of mini golf.
Distinguishing Features: It’s the small details that really help to sell the concept, starting with the tees that are two metal trash cans at the start of every hole. Then there are the black trash bags that have been randomly dropped around the course (think of the poor groundskeeper!) and the swarms of flies that are naturally accompanying all of that garbage. Even the obstacles have been appropriately chosen for the landscape, with everything from signs to golf carts to port-a-potties to abandoned parts of a plane forcing you to work around them in order to get to the pin.
It isn’t only the obstacles you have to worry about though because you’ll also need to contend with some extreme slopes that will likely cause even the finest of putters to struggle to read these challenging greens. The only things missing from this course to really complete the ambience were some rats and a putrid stench that would surely be a lingering part of every round.
Best Hole: The fifth hole is an undeniably fun ride. It has you sending your ball over a wooden bridge (be careful, the bridge has a hole in it though) before it snakes down towards the hole through hills that have cars piled up on both sides of them.
Heatstroke Mini Golf
Overall Aesthetic: Located in a burnt-out desert that’s covered in cacti and featuring some awe-inspiring mountain views to rival Death Valley, somehow this dry climate also allows for there to be water hazards dotting the course.
Distinguishing Features: Much like the suffocating temperatures that would surely be felt were this a real place, the course is unforgiving in how it can make you pay for miscalculating the ideal approach. Most holes will offer at least a couple of options in how to get to the pin and choosing the best way to either avoid an obstacle or ride the slopes in the way will often be the difference between success or failure.
As you’ll likely find out, failure on this course can be a disaster because there aren’t many of the kinds of safeguards in place that you find on other mini-golf courses to ensure your ball at least gets somewhere close to the hole. Instead, any shots that slide off the fairways or greens can often result in having them end up in the rough or, even worse, in some of that water surrounding most holes. Should either of those things happen, you’ll probably find yourself then using a club other than your putter, which might not be appreciated by some mini-golf traditionalists.
Best Hole: Hole 15 is somewhat emblematic of the entire course in how its simple design can test and ultimately punish you should you make even the slightest of mistakes. You’re faced with a choice of playing two very different kinds of slopes, and the consequence for playing either of them wrong will be your ball ending up in the surrounding drink and then having to pitch your way back near the hole.
TopStroke Mini Golf
Overall Aesthetic: Classy and understated, this course’s vibrant greens have been accentuated nicely by extravagant fountains, stately palm trees, and a wide array of flowers.
Distinguishing Features: A no-frills, back-to-basics approach to mini golf that make its greens accessible to nearly anyone, the design forgoes any wacky gimmicks entirely in favor of conjuring an image of what a fancy, upscale mini golf club might look like. The challenge in every hole lies in playing various slopes and inclines that almost seem to escalate in their difficulty throughout the course.
Don’t worry too much about the bunkers and water hazards that threaten to derail you on some holes because they’re fairly easy to avoid for the most part as long as you correctly read the bumps and hills. Because you’re constantly being forced to experiment with what strength and line you want to take into the different slants on the greens, there’s lots of replay value here when you see how many outcomes are possible depending on your input.
Best Hole: Hole 11 takes the course’s style to the extreme by forcing you to ascend a steep incline that can have you ending up in either the rough or the bunker should you take the wrong angle towards the pin.
Vertigolf
Overall Aesthetic: Situated within a sprawling urban jungle, the course has holes that are nestled next to large concrete buildings complete with plenty of galleries full of spectators taking in the action.
Distinguishing Features: Considering all of the concrete on display in this cityscape, it’s fitting that many of the holes require you to bounce your ball off that material in order to get to the hole. Taking an appropriate angle with your ball is an overriding theme because if you’re not trying to get your ball to ricochet off a surface at the proper angle, then you’ll be trying to use a slope to maneuver your ball around a divider or turn a corner.
Some holes though are content with simply tasking you to hit the ball straight, with the failure to do so potentially resulting in getting stuck behind some barrier that may then take a few putts to give yourself an unobstructed line to the pin. There are also some major hills that have to be faced on the course, culminating in an absolute nightmare on hole 14 where you’re forced to make your ball sit atop a narrow flat surface where the pin is located while steep cliffs intimidate on either side.
Best Hole: Hole 12 has a lot going on because you’re challenged with hitting your ball under a fence without hitting any of the concrete blocks lined up beneath it before attempting to use some other carefully arranged blocks to propel your ball down a hill towards the pin.
Published: Dec 13, 2021 06:32 pm