AUGUST MINI GOLF BAR CRAWL
Once again, bucket hats, this time accompanied by colorful beach wear, flooded the streets of the Rhino district! The 4th mini golf crawl, The ParHopper Open, was underway and the summer beach vibe was strong! The Local Drive, once again was homebase check-in and also housed 4 of the 9 holes(1, 5 & 9). Sign In commenced around 10am and soon after, everyone started checking out the drink specials and grabbing free Redbulls that were being handed out from our friends at Redbull. Mulligans were unlimited and available for purchase for $10 and came with a ParHopper Vice golf ball. Free event bucket hats rounded out your entry goodies and further complimented the beach-themed vibe.
HOLES 1-3
Hole 1 was an absolute masterpiece. Launch Pad Brewery was the sponsor, and came through with a banger of a hole, located inside the Local Drive. Drawing from their brewery decor, they built a hole design using a beer keg-space satellite combo as the main obstacle. A perfectly straight putt at just the right speed, up a ramp and through the keg almost assured you a hole in one. They further increased the difficulty by adding a slight incline leading up to the hole. This hole was out of this world!
Hole 2 found you in front of Bigsby’s Folly. They had a Barbie and Ken “beach” themed complete with dolls of each. The other decor included a couple of well-placed beach balls and the border around the hole was made of pool noodles. A couple of nice humps right in front of the tee area launched your ball towards Barbie and Ken. We witnessed a hole in one here and the play was to aim at the dolls and try to launch the ball right between them, putting the ball on a perfect line for the hole.
Branch and Barrel once again, hosted and built a fun hole at Zeppelin Station. Hole 3 was right out in front of the building. They had a nice inclined hole with someone sitting in a lawn chair as an obstacle. Simple, but effective, this hole added more than a few extra strokes throughout the day.
HOLES 4-7
Hole 4 was situated on top of the VIB building at McDevitts Taco bar. This hole is always a favorite with its incredible view! They hosted a nice straight-putt hole. The obstacles of tropical plants and tequila bottles were strategically placed to either side, allowing a small open lane right down the center. Sounds easy right? The catch was that you had to ring a copper mule cup for a hole! A slightly off-center putt would hit the rim and spin the cup/hole sideways. Strokes were gained and fun was had by all here!
Hole 5 was also inside the Local Drive and hosted by Locke and Co Distillery. This hole was very cool as well with an actual liquor still placed deadcenter. It sat slightly suspended with a small opening under it. You had to try and putt it straight down the middle once again, but speed was the most important factor here! The area around the hole was borderless and a hard or even slightly solid putt would roll off the end and out of bounds. This was a tricky one!
The Great Divide Barrel Bar was home to hole 6 and it was certainly one of our favorites. Their construction and decor was second to none. Complete with a life sized yeti center obstacle and yeti body parts littered around the hole, this hole was a crowd pleaser! A solid stroke sending your ball right through the yeti’s feet got you in a good position here. The difficulty was increased by a ramped hole. If you missed the hole, it would roll back to you for a third or fourth stroke. We believe!
Hole 7 found you at the Mockery Brewery. Sadly, this will be their last hole hosted at this location, as it was set to close the day following the mini golf crawl. They went out with a bang however and built a nice hole outside. You had to navigate your ball through a barrage of kegs and barrel staves to be successful here. Even then, you had to roll it perfectly and not bounce off the bottle-backboard to get close to the cup.This hole seemed just a bit longer than the rest and made for fun play and plenty of cursing!
HOLES 8 & 9
Hole 8 was at good ole Number 38. They opted for an outside hole this time and had a simple but effective design. The hole had a barricade of beer buckets, stacked and situated for maximum difficulty. The border was loose blocks of wood that would move instead of deflecting your shot. This made for a few moans and groans and lots of laughter!
Hole 9 was just outside in front of the Local Drive. The Family Jones distillery hosted this hole and was set up with a canopy for shade and free samples of whiskey! This hole had a hump off the tee that made it difficult to hit it straight. You needed a firm straight putt here to take you home! Anything off center put you in contact with various wooden obstacles or trapped you under a bridge across the “fairway” made out of barrel staves. The actual hole itself was very shallow and more than one great looking putt lipped out.
HUGE THANKS TO EVERYONE
Everyone was all smiles and maybe a little intoxicated by this time and wandered inside the Local Drive to turn in their scorecards and listen to an awesome DJ courtesy of Redbull. The cocktails flowed and Jay Piper, co-owner of ParHopper, began pulling raffle tickets for our many great sponsor-contributed door prizes. Prizes included several premium bottles of whiskey, beer, tshirts, hats, backpacks, ParHopper beer glasses, and lots more! The overall prize for the best putt putt score was two really cool 3D printed “golf ball” trophies. ParHopper would like to send out a huge thank you to all the sponsors and participants for making this a fun and successful event! See you all again soon!
