Lack of adequate time to prep was part of the reason for opting out of playing in the Masters this year. Ultimately, I knew that even with a modest amount of practice, my first foray into the 12 round tournament would land me in the bottom 10 of competitors. This doesn’t mean I would be satisfied to remain a spectator. I plotted to take in as much as I could of the mini golf mecca of Myrtle Beach while observing some of the best putters in the world.
The cast of characters I joined up with for Masters extracurricular play included The O Street Mini Golf crew (Rudy Reel, Aaron Kaminski, Evan Rundgren), the duo from The Putting Penguin (Pat Sheridan, Mandy Ranslow), Randy Rice, Mike Kelly, and Highlighter (aka Mark Novicki). In the end, I joined these fellow miniature golf fanatics for 17 rounds of 18 holes across 11 large putting complexes over the span of 4 days. Stay tuned to O Street’s YouTube channel as they documented quite a bit of our rounds in addition to other courses in Myrtle Beach. I’ll be reviewing all of the individual courses soon but wanted to reflect back on the fun I shared with all of these lovely people during this 2019 Thanksgiving weekend. I’m grateful for the opportunity to share the game I love with others who live and breathe mini golf.
Pat of the Putting Penguin and Highlighter took myself and Mandy of The Putting Penguin on a tour of Hawaiian Rumble to kick off playingAaron & Rudy from O Street plus Mike joined the four of us at Professor Hacker’s Lost Treasure. We took the train to the top of the course to take on the diamond course!Rudy, Highlighter, Aaron and I took on the Gold course after the rest of the crew called it a day.Following a late dinner, Day 1 wrapped up with another round of practice at Hawaiian Rumble with Highlighter and AaronWhile Round 10 was finishing up outdoors at Aloha Mini Golf, Rudy and I faced off on a new indoor course that utilized obstacles from a defunct eternit tournament style course.Joined by Aarron, Rudy, and Highlighter for 18 holes at Jurassic GolfThe four of us popped by the currently defunct Cap’n Cain Mini GolfAll smiles after seeing this classic Myrtle Beach courseNo video evidence exists but Rudy, Aaron and Highlighter can attest to my ridiculous round of 7 hole-in-ones at Captain Hook’s Peter Pan themed mini golf.Randy & Mandy joined me, Rudy & Highlighter at Molten MountainOur crew made it through the indoor course at Molten Mountain just before closing to wrap up Day 2.While the top 30 were starting the final round, Rudy and I opted to sneak in a round at Professor Hacker’s Dinosaur Adventure with recently arrived Evan Rundgren.Rudy sizing up the course. He set the course record for the day.After catching the final holes of the Masters final, all of us wanted to play some epic mini golf. Aaron, Randy, Highlighter, Evan, Rudy and I went to the legendary Mt. Atlanticus.I wasn’t kidding. This course is massive!Bird’s eye view of Hole 18 of our 2nd round before rushing back for Masters closing dinnerWhat a treat to finish off Day 3 with fellow Holey Moley competitors and friends, Pat & Randy, at Aloha Mini Golf.With everyone leaving town early, Day 4 was just myself and Randy taking on the rest of Masters courses by starting at Hawaiian Village’s Pinneaple course.Many courses we played had trophies for first and last. Randy was kind enough to let me take up the rear in all our rounds.We wrapped up with one more round at Hawaiian Rumble.And Randy picked up the winner’s trophy by besting me. Hole 17 is no joke.So a serious amount of mini golf was played…And while I didn’t win many of the rounds, I had a ton of fun with new friends!
