BIGGEST EVENT SO FAR
The third rendition of the ParHopper mini golf bar crawl was in fact, the biggest and best one so far! Signup for the event’s original format of 125 teams began on March 13th and by April 11th, there were only 12 tickets left! Demand continued, so more teams were allowed and were added right up until the day of the event. The final team count was 174 teams of two! The “crawl” featured 8 locations with 9 different putting challenges. These included The Local Drive, Suerte, Bigsby’s Folly, Zeppelin Station, Branch & Barrel, Vib, Great Divide, Mockery, Ironton & Number Thirty Eight.
Besides the putt putt crawl, there were several closest to the pin challenges and a long drive contest courtesy of the golf simulators at the Local Drive. A closest to the pin challenge was hosted by Tin Cup, Sweetens Cove Spirits & Swig & Sport. Tin Cup was also pouring whiskey samples throughout the day! A long drive contest using a 2 iron was hosted by Long Drink which had pretty much everyone struggling to even get a good drive. It did, however, provide quite the comic relief!
DRINK SPECIALS AT EACH STOP
A purchase of a drink special at the Local Drive bar, gave you extra tries at these various virtual challenges. Drink specials were also available at every location and if purchased, gained that player a stroke off their score at that location. To make things even better, five of the eight locations, through use of Swig and Sport member’s coupons, offered BOGO drink specials!
The cost for a team of two was only $50 and included two free event reversible bucket hats that were received upon sign-in. Sign-in began at 10am at The Local Drive which also housed the 1st and 9th holes. Mulligans could be purchased for $5 and came with 2 ParHopper Vice golf balls and 2 raffle tickets for the many great door prizes! People began piling in and by the 11 am starting time, the place was pretty much full! Wall to wall orange and blue bucket hats, ParHopper swag and golf apparel everywhere! The drinks began flowing and people were getting psyched to begin putting!
The first hole was Suerte Tequila’s and was a straight putt challenge. Only a perfect speed putt, right down the center between rows of tequila bottles, would result in a hole-in-one. Most folks hit a bottle with a nice clink and had to putt again. This was a really fun hole to start the day!
EACH HOLE’S BREAKDOWN
Next, participants rambled over to Bigsby’s Folly for the putt putt challenge at hole three. Their hole was set up right out front and had a dog theme to it. There were small dog figurines and even a dog bowl filled with food as obstacles. If your ball landed in the dog dish, you had to eat a dog biscuit! The play was to navigate through everything and over a couple of humps to hole it. This was a fun little hole as well and added more than a few strokes to most players!
Hole four was hosted by Zeppelin Station and Branch and Barrel. The hole was built in the fancy upstairs dark area and was an exceptional build that was very nicely constructed! Players had the option of putting straight ahead through a small hole in a whiskey barrel or try and bank their putt on either side of the barrel. Most people who went for the small hole, immediately regretting it as their ball missed and bounced right back at them to re-hit! The dim lighting and chandeliers added a great vibe to the hole and everyone really seemed to like it.
For the fifth hole, Great divide built a snazzy little hole with some steep hills to launch your putt over boxes and obstacles. A firm putt straight ahead gave you a great chance at a hole-in-one. This hole was simple but very effective and had a nice design!
Hole six was located at Mockery Brewery. They made a cool hole using their existing turfed area outside. The hole was riddled with barrels and kegs. Because of the slightly thicker turf, you had to hit this one a little firm and hope for the best! Lots of two putts were made.
HUGE THANKS TO EVERYONE
Hole seven was built and hosted by Number 38. Theirs was a western theme complete with a saddle tunnel and horseshoe obstacles. It had a wooden block border that looked as if you could bank your ball off it, but doing so resulted in an out-of-bounds ball! Another cool feature here was a very shallow hole. If you putted too hard, you went in and back out for another stroke!
The eighth hole was built and hosted by Ironton Distillery. It was a challenging hole as there was a barrel centered straight ahead and four bottles laid on their side and strategically placed to stop your putt. Players could line up and putt just beside the barrel and if it went straight with just the right speed, boom hole-in-one!
Number nine found you back where you started at The Local Drive. This hole was very challenging and offered a little different design from all the others. The play here was to hit it firmly, but not too hard, up a slightly tilted ramp which resulted in your ball rolling back down the other edge of the ramp towards the hole. This hole had many twists and curves with little nooks and crannies that could stop your roll. There were a few good lines that you could putt, that if hit just right, would result in a hole-in-one.
ParHopper would like to extend a huge shout out and thank you to these hole designers/sponsors! Every single sponsor really put some effort into their hole design and absolutely killed it!
When everyone completed the last hole outside The Local Drive, they proceeded inside to turn in their scorecard and play the virtual challenges. Meanwhile, when play officially ended at 6pm, ParHopper began pulling raffle tickets and announcing winners of the many door prizes. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves and seemed satisfied with the day’s activities. Most teams hung around for the afterparty and proceeded to socialize for several more hours. The ParHopper Open was a huge, fun-filled success!