How to Build Your Own Miniature Golf Course Obstacles

Creating a home miniature golf course in your yard is a great way to create a fun place for kids and adults alike to knock the golf ball around. No mini golf course is complete without a good set of obstacles, be they natural or man-made. Properly choosing the right types of obstacles for your course assures it will be a fun play.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 2 by 4s
• Nails
• Hammer
• Saw
• Rocks
• Household items
• Gardening tools
• Plastic downspout extensions

1. Take inventory of what items you already have that could prove useful in making an improvised obstacle.

2. Set a budget for new purchases that you are willing to spend on your course and stick to it.

3. Plan out your entire course before getting to construction on any obstacles. Otherwise, you may find that you've placed an obstacle in one place when it would be better suited for another area.

4. Contour the ground beneath your course before laying your green to create natural hills and valleys. Some courses even rely entirely on ground shaping, with no "unnatural" obstacles. This makes the course play like a true miniaturized golf experience, with players looking for ideal places to putt to set themselves up later in the hole. Be sure the dirt is tightly packed if using natural ground to ensure the hole maintains its shape over time.

5. Wood is the easiest tool to use when constructing your obstacles, as well as the boundaries of a hole. Two-by-fours can be cut and covered to create ramps, angled walls to bounce off of and strategic narrowing of the course. A popular design involves impeding the fairway with a wooden structure with three sections. The center provides straight passage to the hole, whereas a misfire in either direction yields a 45-degree-angled board that fires the ball off to the side, perpendicular to the hole.

6. Plastic gutter downspout extensions, as well as PVC piping, make excellent tubing to transport your ball from one portion of a green to another beneath the ground or within a raised obstacle.

7. Natural impediments such as large rocks are an easy way to add an obstacle to a hole.

8. Be creative. Half the fun of miniature golf is running into something new you've never seen before. Anything you have lying around your house that isn't being used has the potential to be used in an obstacle with the right creative mind.

Tips & Warnings

• When creating with household items, try to select items that will stand up to the weather if your course will be outside, or that can easily be brought inside when not in use.

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