Set up a backyard mini golf course using canisters, small boxes and simple building materials to create "challenging" golf holes. It's a great family activity, right in your own backyard!

Ages: Adults and kids 6 and up
Duration: Under One Hour

TOOLS & TEMPLATES


• Click here for mini-golf course diagram
• Click here for mini-golf score card template
• Click here for mini-golf flag template

WHAT YOU NEED
3 Hole Mini Course:


• 3 empty canisters or similar empty round containers
• 3 rubber door mats or 3 squares of green outdoor turf (available at garden centers)
• 3 – 2 foot long wooden dowels
• Several sheets of craft foam or construction paper
• Small boxes
• Large packing tubes (available at box/moving stores)
• 1 garden pail
• 1 wooden board (approximately 12 inches wide by 24 inches long)
• 3 garden hoses
• Marker pens
• Safety scissors
• 1 small bag (5 lb.) of sandbox sand
• Large plastic trash bags
• Small box golf clubs (one for each player)
• Golf balls (real or wiffle balls)

HOW TO DO IT


• Print out our mini-golf course diagram to follow exactly or to help inspire your own course design.
• Place the empty canisters on their sides around the yard to form the holes for the course.
• Make flags for each of the holes.
• Print out the flag template and trace each flag onto a piece of construction paper or craft foam.
• Make a small slit at the top and bottom of the flag and thread it through a 2 foot wooden dowel.
• Use a colored marker to give each flag a number.
• "Plant" your flags next to each "hole".
• Wrap 1 garden hose around the flag area of each hole to keep the ball from going out of bounds.
• Now make the holes challenging by adding the obstacles. For example:
  • Make a sand trap near one of the holes by covering a piece of plastic with sandbox sand.
  • Stack small boxes in front of one of the holes.
  • Place a mailing tube near one hole that the ball must pass through before it can enter the hole.
  • Create a "water hazard" in front of a hole. Fill a bucket with water and prop a piece of wood against it so that the player must roll the ball up the plank with enough force to go over the water-filled bucket.

Golf Club

WHAT YOU NEED


• 1 unopened small box
• 1 - 4 foot long wooden dowel
• Glue

HOW TO DO IT


• Remove the straw from the side of the juice box and set it aside.
• Use glue to attach the dowel to the straw end of the small box. The box is the face of the putter and the dowel forms the shaft or handle of the club.
• Make one club for each player.

HOW TO PLAY


• Print out a scorecard for each player.
• Make a list of all of the players in the order that they will begin play.
• You can go around the course alone, or select small groups to play together as teams.
• At the first tee, everyone will receive 1 score card, 1 golf club and 1 golf ball.
• The player places the ball on the tee mat.
• The object is to hit the ball into the canister that serves as the hole.
• The player must be sure to go through any obstacles that are placed in front of the hole.
• Each stroke made to reach the hole is counted and placed on the score card.
• At the end of play, have each player add his or her total score. The player or team with the lowest score is the winner!