By the Pink Putter

If you’re a mini golf fan, you’ve probably heard of the book obviously titled, Miniature Golf, written by Maria Reidelbach and Nina Garfinkel with photos by John Margolies. In addition to telling the history of the game and showcasing its humble beginnings through a variety of memorabilia, this book is full of amazing photo documentation of courses from around the country through the 70’s and 80’s. The visuals can all be accredited to John Margolies, whom I can only begin to describe as a huge inspiration and a kindred creative spirit. He was the forefather of mini golf documentation (in addition to general roadside Americana) and really paved the way for mini golf blogs and review sites like ours.

Here’s a short bio from Wikipedia: John Margolies was an architectural critic, photographer, and author who was noted for celebrating vernacular and novelty architecture in the United States, particularly those designed as roadside attractions. Starting from the mid-1970s, he began to photograph sites during long road trips, since he was concerned these sites would be displaced by the growing modernist trend. He was credited with shaping postmodern architecture and recognizing buildings that would be added to the National Register of Historic Places through his documentary work. Starting in 2007, the Library of Congress began to acquire his photographs, and created the public domain John Margolies Roadside America Photograph Archive in 2016.

Now in addition to my love for miniature golf, I also have a keen interest in the general history and commercialization of leisure culture. This, in addition to my own cultural ties to being an American Jew, has led me to do extensive research on the heyday of summer vacations in the Catskill Mountains. Sure enough, after spending hours looking through thousands of Margolies’ photos in the Library of Congress archives, I was able to find some real gems that documented a handful of mini golf courses found at Catskills resorts. It truly is the best of both worlds. Of course, he took hundreds of photos of vintage mini golf courses, many of which can be found online. Maybe I’ll do another post or series of posts down the road highlighting more of John Margolies’ work.

But for now, please enjoy these classic summer shots where Borscht Belt family vacations meet mini golf.