Playing the World's Hardest Mini-Golf Course

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.
Aug. 5, 2010 — -- Don't expect to just walk up to this mini-golf course and get a hole-in-one. It can take weeks, if not months to master putting these greens.

And John Anderson Taylor -- "everybody calls me Bo" -- wouldn't have it any other way.

Every few months, just when he thinks people are starting to master the greens at Hawaiian Rumble mini-golf, Taylor goes out and alters the course ever so slightly. Maybe it's a bump here or a divot there.

"I pressure wash the carpet backwards, which makes it stand up and slows the ball down," Anderson said. "Anything I can do to change it up, where they can't get a hole-in-one, that is my job."

Golf is taken seriously here. Very seriously.

Each October, Hawaiian Rumble hosts the Master's of Mini-Golf. Augusta might have the green jacket. But here in North Myrtle Beach they have the green windbreaker.

Taylor is the tournament master, overseeing the 12 rounds of mini-golf played over three days. More than $8,000 in prizes are awarded, including $4,000 for first place. But, Anderson said, the golfers aren't there for the money. They want their photo on the wall of champions and the honor of winning.

"It's that green windbreaker they are after and the prestige of saying that they beat everybody else," he said.

The "sport" is taken here. When asked how long he'd been playing golf, Taylor tersely replied: "I don't play golf. I putt."

If world leaders were ever to create a capital of mini-golf, it probably would be the Myrtle Beach area. Scattered along a four-lane highway filled with pancake houses, discount swimsuit stores and all-you-can-eat seafood buffets are roughly 50 mini-golf courses. Apparently the first dozen or so courses weren't enough.

There are pirate-themed courses, and jungle safari ones. Every few miles, another dinosaur can be seen poking its head out of the palm trees.

Myrtle Beach, Mini-Golf Destination

Hawaiian Rumble takes a different approach. You won't find any windmills, loops, castles or other obstacles here.

The course is designed to mimic the greens of golf courses. There are little hills and traps, and mastering the course is all about reading the terrain and finding the right speed.

Don't worry, there is still plenty of kitsch here. Players all get a lei before hitting the links and a volcano that erupts every 20 minutes.

Players from around the world flock to the championship here. And if 12 rounds of mini-golf weren't enough, most players come days early to hone their skills and master the course.

Olivia Prokopova, a 14-year-old mini-golf phenom from the Czech Republic, flies to Myrtle Beach each year just for this competition and even brings along a putting coach.

"She here at least three weeks before the tournament, playing every day," Taylor said.

That's a lot of mini-golf.

But since Taylor frequently changes the course, golfers need that time to learn the new ins and outs.

"I'm the evil one. I'm the one that makes the guys mad," he said. "There've been times when I thought me and Bin Laden were going to be executed at the same time."

Family Golf Vacations in Myrtle Beach

Not everybody is so serious. Patrick Sharkey, Jr. and his family from the Philadelphia suburbs were recently vacationing in nearby North Carolina. They made the 30-minute drive to Myrtle Beach solely for the mini-golf.

"We heard Myrtle Beach was known for these exotic mini-golf courses. This certainly did not disappoint," he said. "The holes are challenging and the effects are great."

So does Taylor finding it challenging?

"There are a couple of holes that I can't quite master," he said after saying that his best round was a 24. That's still a lot of holes-in-one.

Taylor said the beauty of mini-golf is that almost anybody can play it.

"I tell people it doesn't matter how old you are. I mean, I'm 52 and I've had five heart attacks in 17 months and I'm out here competing with these 18, 19-year-old kids and I'm still beating them," he said. "I don't need to be in perfect shape to play a round of golf."

His secret to low-par games? Well, it might be speculation but Taylor never has to bend down to pick up his ball thanks to a suction cup on the back of his putter.