Parkville Mini Golf – Parkville, MO

Played April 27, 2019

Reviewed by Mr. Tee

Our wildly busy spring 2019 included wrapping up our consulting work on the Nelson-Atkins Museum’s Art Course in Kansas City. After a full day of test playing and talking about the finishing touch on the fabrication of the new mini golf at A to Z Theatrical’s shop, we only had one thing in mind. Duh, miniature golf! In advance of our trip to town, we plotted out courses in the Kansas City area so we could take in what this midwestern hub city has to offer. The first stop was about 30 minutes northwest of downtown in cozy Parkville, Missouri.

Rating

Par – The experience of traversing up, around, and through a course can add to the adventure held within the best laid out courses. Nestled at the top of two flights of stairs, Parkville mini golf maintains a perched view over a quaint small town downtown day-trip destination replete with trains passing. The corny/fun handmade signage, tchotchkes and ice cream shop in the clubhouse tie a bow on what I have to imagine is a local hotspot. Once you start to play the course, it’s clear that the holes were laid out to match the terraced hill location. This gives way to creative and sometimes challenging hole placement. So why isn’t this course rated better than average? The heavily worn turf made game play unintentionally difficult, which added more frustration to the overall experience. Rewatching videos, I was reminded of the stymied experience that comes with thin carpet.