You can have a backyard whose surface area can be measured in acres but if it’s not used the right way, then you might as well not own it at all. The value of any space is measured by how you use it and when it comes to the backyard, the possibilities are endless. You can turn it into a place for relaxing or into a mini sports area, or into both, if you can find a relaxing enough sport. One such pastime is golf, which is ideal for the backyard. Mini golf courses can easily be built and they will guarantee a lot of fun hours in the fresh air, enjoying with your friends and family. If you like this idea but aren’t sure how to turn it into reality, here are a few tips on how to easily and cost-efficiently convert your backyard into a miniature golf course.
Planning and design
Before you even enter the backyard, you need to know exactly what you are doing. This means making a plan and more importantly, creating the design of your golf course. Firstly, you need to decide whether to use green felt, also used for pocket tables, or real grass. If your yard is sandy, then felt would fit nicely but if you already have a nice patch of self-grow green grass why spoil it; just build the course on it. Parts of the backyard that are rocky or unfit for the course in some other way could be sealed off by plywood. In order to save money, you can use PVC pipes as fitting for the holes.
Outlining the course
Once the planning phase is over, you can start from the edges by creating a parameter. Presuming you have a tall enough fence, just patching up holes and openings in it will be enough to start with. If the course is not going to take up the entire yard, then separate it in some way from the rest of the backyard, at least with a single wooden balustrade. This will ensure that you stay inbounds while putting not only physically but mentally as well.
Creating the holes
No golf course would be complete without its trademark holes. The number of holes on your miniature golf course is not going to the same as in real golf but they can nevertheless be scenic. You can place some next to trees, others across small ponds (puddles rather), and around some, grass can be intentionally left high. There could be wooden ramps with inclines and you can construct loop-de-loops from ready-made plastic toy slides found at any DIY store. Try to gain a bird’s-eye view of your garden and design the features as if you were designing a pinball machine’s layout.
Gearing up
There is no reason to spend hundreds of dollars on professional clubs when you are creating a golf course for recreational purposes, not PGA tournaments. A simple set of children’s clubs made from plastic will do, as precision is more important than strength on a mini-golf course. The balls can also be purchased from a toy store and why not, they can be multicolored. If you are a complete novice to golf or if you are inexperienced, then you could get a putting trainer, like the one Swing Eagle makes. It will help you improve your putting technique and perfect your aim without having to pay for expensive classes.
Are there negative sides to a miniature golf course?
Most people who are against building a golf course in the backyard argue that all the features and border will render the backyard unusable for most of the time. This is not true, as almost all features should be made mobile so they can be cleared in a matter of minutes if a heavy shower begins. There is also the concern that small children can get injured playing on the course or even swallow some parts. Although they are not fixed, all the parts are too big to be consumed by anyone, even toddlers, and they are small in size so it would be hard to fall off them.
A backyard that has a mini-golf course built inside it can only gain on aesthetical and real estate value. A golf course adds a sense of luxury to the entire house, so you might end up selling it for a few hundred dollars more when the time comes.