About Mini Golf
Mini Golf is a six-hole putting course seen from above. You aim each shot by pulling back like a slingshot, bank the ball off walls and obstacles, and try to finish the round in as few strokes as possible.
How to play
- The course has 6 holes with pars of 2, 3, 3, 4, 3 and 4, for a total par of 19.
- Every shot counts as one stroke. There is no stroke limit on a hole; you keep putting until the ball drops.
- The ball bounces off the outer edges and the brown walls, losing some speed on each bounce. It can never go out of bounds.
- The ball slows down steadily as it rolls and must come to rest before you can take the next shot.
- The ball only drops into the cup if it is moving slowly enough. A fast ball rolls straight over the hole.
- After the sixth hole, your total strokes are shown against the par of 19, with a breakdown per hole.
Controls
- Mouse: press anywhere on the course, drag away from the direction you want to hit, and release. The dashed line shows the direction and strength of the putt.
- Touch: the same slingshot motion with your finger.
- Pulling further gives a harder putt, up to a maximum. A very small drag is cancelled and does not count as a stroke.
Tips and strategy
- You do not need to start the drag on the ball. Press anywhere; only the direction and length of your pull matter.
- Use less power than you think. A ball that reaches the cup too fast will skip over it, while a slower one drops in.
- On holes with walls across the course, look for a bank shot off the outer edge. The bounces are predictable: the ball leaves a wall at roughly the mirror of the angle it arrived at, a little slower each time.
- On par-4 holes with several walls, it is often better to play two safe shots to a good position than one risky shot that ends up behind a wall.
- If the cup is near a wall, approach it along the wall so a slightly long putt bounces back towards the hole rather than away.
Background
Miniature golf has a history going back to the 19th century: the Ladies' Putting Club at St Andrews in Scotland was founded in 1867 to give women a short putting course. The novelty course with obstacles took off in the United States in the 1920s, when Garnet Carter's Tom Thumb Golf at Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, helped start a nationwide craze. Today crazy golf courses are found at seaside resorts, parks and entertainment centres around the world.
Questions
- What is par for the course?
- 19 strokes in total: 2, 3, 3, 4, 3 and 4 for the six holes.
- What is saved as my best score?
- A points score based on your round: 50 points for finishing on par, plus 3 for every stroke under par and minus 3 for every stroke over, with a minimum of 1. Higher is better, and it is stored in your browser's local storage.
- Why did my ball roll over the hole?
- It was moving too fast. The ball only drops if it is travelling slowly enough when it reaches the cup.