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The first public documentation of a putting game with obstacles occurred in the Illustrated London News in 1912. It was appropriately named and patented as "Gofstacle", enjoying instant popularity. By 1916 the miniature golf craze had crossed the Atlantic Ocean and taken a firm hold of North Americans. The Gofstacle kits sold in pine boxes from inventor William Senhouse Clarke were brought overseas for private back-garden use, but in true American style a bigger version was soon in mass-production.
In 1916 the first standardized miniature golf courses began production in bulk, in the town of Pinehurst North Carolina. The whole eastern coast of the US became a hotbed of miniature golf activity, as tens of thousands of courses opened up. Popular Science magazine even reported more than 150 rooftop mini golf courses in New York City. The oldest stand-alone miniature golf course in the US and still in use is the Tall Maples Miniature Golf Course in Rochester New York. It has even earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places.
With such a long history of mini golf in the south-eastern region of the US, it is only natural mini golfers take their hobby very seriously. National competitions have taken place since 1930, unfortunately the Great Depression caused the loss of thousands of courses and a break in competing all together. When economic times improved, the mini golf competitions began once again. In Binghamton, New York a new kind of course was emerging. Brothers Joseph and Robert Taylor departed from the usual banks and curves of old mini golf courses, and introduced actual obstacles including castles and wishing wells.
The Taylor brothers were often commissioned to build their successful mini golf courses, even by the military. Prefabricated courses were shipped to American military bases in Korea and Vietnam, to help morale among soldiers. Taylor-made courses sprouted up everywhere, including South Carolina. Today, one of the most complex, popular, and challenging mini golf courses in the US is Hawaiian Rumble in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Hawaiian Rumble has a fire and lava-spewing volcano that reaches 50 feet in the air. If the volcano isn't a serious enough mini-golfing obstacle, then how about a roaring waterfall and tunnels? The curves, hills and obstacles of Hawaiian Rumble's two courses are so complex, the US ProMiniGolf Association holds their annual world championship there each year. Putting coaches and experts from around the world train their students at Hawaiian Rumble. Even the US mini golf champion, Olivia Prokopova of the Czech Republic perfects her skill on the holes of the Rumble.
