The subject line pretty much sums up my question, but here’s the background:
I played miniature golf with some friends this weekend. I mentioned this to a co-worker yesterday, and they said something like, “Oh, you played putt-putt golf.”
Are putt-putt golf and miniature golf the same thing? Are they regional language variants? (I grew up in Wisconsin, but live in Seattle.) Is one a subset of the other?
Thanks for any light you can shed.
As far as I know, it is the same thing, with a regional/age difference, but I personally use mini-golf to describe the little putting greens with different holes, weird angles, blocks, tunnels, etc. Nothing fancy, just a place to drive yourself crazy practicing your putting. Putt-Putt though, is a cool cheesy/tacky place where you blindly hit the ball into windmills, dinosaurs, little boats, water jets, stuff like that and hope you get lucky.
Putt-Putt Golf is actually a registered trade-name (2 par on each hole, and the hole-in-one colored lights!). This is played on a green with no windmills, dinosaurs, castles, or other obstacles, except maybe some bumper boards, IIRC.
I believe the trade-marked name has probably been conscripted into the American mainstream (just as Kleenex for facial tissues and Formica for countertop linoleum have), much to the chagrin of the company and the happiness of the copyright lawyers.
I have heard the two terms used interchangeably. Rather disappointing when you hear “Let’s go play Miniature Golf!”, arrive, and there is nothing but green.
Side note - I have also heard miniature golf referred to as “Goony Golf”, “Adventure Golf”, “Pirate Golf”, and “Safari Golf”, but except for the first, they are likely the names of the business, used as the local moniker for minaiture golf.
ESPN has actually televised the National Putt-Putt Golf championship. It was sponsored by Putt-Putt Golf and they made a point of always saying “Putt-Putt” and never miniature.
I played a miniature golf course in Luxembourg and some of the people on the course were taking it quite seriously. They brought their own putter and ball as the course didn’t swallow the ball at hole #18 as many miniature courses do.
It was a few francs (or whatever Luxembourg uses, my apology). There was also a rate for “voyeurs”, so if you just walked around with someone, but didn’t play, you had to pay.
screech-owl is quite right, I believe.
The corporate site of Putt-Putt Golf & Games gives some more info. They are quite widespread in Texas, but there seems to be only one in all of California (in Modesto, of all places).
The company was founded in 1954 in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Quoting from their corporate history page:
Putt-Putt golf courses, in my experience, differ somewhat from most other mini-golf courses. As screech-owl mentioned, par is two on every hole, and all holes can be aced by someone with reasonable skill. No weird multi-tiered holes, no windmills, few bells and whistles. There are water hazards on a few holes, along with the expected array of hills, bumps, and blocks getting in the way. They’re not nearly as luck-dependent, though, as mini-golf courses tend to be (IME).
I get the impression that there are relatively few Putt-Putt places that are just golf anymore. Many (most?) have video arcades, go-cart tracks, and other stuff attached.
Thanks for the info! I’ve had it backwards all this time! lol.
Thanks for this info. That means we definitely went mini-golfing – several holes were the kind where you have to slam your ball up a steep ramp into a building and hope the ball comes out the pipe closest to the hole.
I suspect that people are using the two terms interchangeably, though, with putt-putt becoming a generic synonym for miniature golf.