Grass Is Greener on This Miniature Golf Course

VALENCIA — My, how miniature golf has grown.

Behold The Greens, a $3.5-million, 27-hole course spread over 2.2 acres just a lob wedge from Valencia Country Club.

This course features no wagon wheels or windmills, no fantasy-land overtones and no florescent-colored artificial putting surfaces framed by concrete curbs.

It does include sand traps, water hazards, out-of-bounds markers and--get this--real grass, carefully manicured Crenshaw bent grass, the same surface used for upscale putting greens.

But then, that's exactly what these are--more or less.

The Greens is among a growing number of so-called "putting courses" popping up across the nation, little links bearing a strong resemblance to full-size courses while maintaining the charm of the game in miniature.

Holes about 100 yards long with names like "Downfall," "Jigsaw" and "Cascades" meander through hilly terrain laced with waterfalls and lush landscape. Golfers are challenged to negotiate drastic breaks while attempting sometimes unrealistically long and winding putts. One hole features a 10-foot cliff leading from "fairway" to flagstick.

Other holes are more traditional, requiring a proper read and long, skillful lag.

"We're not here to replace golf," co-founder and president Jack C. Hopkins said. "We're another aspect. We look at it as entertainment."

Hopkins launched Putting Courses of America, Inc. with an 18-hole facility in Irvine in 1995. The company opened its Valencia course in March 1999 and is considering building another, perhaps in Ventura County, within a few years.

Both courses were designed by noted golf-course architect Ted Robinson.

About 30 putting courses have opened in the United States since the first debuted in 1982 at Desert Highlands Country Club in Arizona. The first putting course is believed to have opened in Scotland in 1867.

The Kapalua Resort on the Hawaiian island of Maui has an 18-hole putting course designed by Hale Irwin, the three-time U.S. Open champion who represents the resort on the Senior PGA Tour.

"I've been golfing for 37 years," Hopkins said. "Half of what I've always enjoyed is the social element of it. We're trying to make this fun."

Aficionados of the game have long considered miniature golf something for kids. Or simply kicks. It's hard to take competition seriously when balls travel through tunnels or into a clown's mouth en route to the hole.