Miniature golf that's fun, environmental, educational, accessible arrives in Door County

FISH CREEK - The new miniature golf course in Fish Creek doesn't have a windmill with a opening-and-closing door. If it ever does, it will be there just for environmental and educational reasons.

However, one of the special things that will stay open and won't close is the course's accessibility to those with wheelchairs and physical disabilities.

Tucked into a stand of trees just north of the BP convenience store on the north side of Fish Creek, Evergreen Miniature Golf, which opened this month and is holding a grand opening Saturday, was built with a triple purpose in the mind of owner Kerry Johnson.

First, as with any mini golf course, the idea is for golfers of all ages to have fun.

Second is the environmental side of the course. It was built not just with eco-friendly elements but also with signs and stations around the course to give players, especially children, the chance to learn a little something about the environment while having their fun.

Third, all 18 holes are accessible for people of all abilities, which is especially unique in Wisconsin and a rarity in the U.S.

Here's how it all came together.

The fun (yet educational) part

Johnson said she's spent 15 years working in education as well as with nonprofit organizations, but her family has owned businesses in the Milwaukee area. She and her husband, Matthew, live in DeForest, but she said she's been a lifelong visitor to Door County, and she was hoping to start a business on the Peninsula that would combine her educational background with providing an enjoyable time to customers.

"I always wanted to open a business. It's a family thing," Johnson said. "I had a few different ideas, and this one stuck. I love education, love working with kids, so let's combine that to make a educational miniature golf course."

Johnson and her husband, Matthew, subsequently bought the wooded lot next to the BP, and Johnson knew she wanted to use the educational aspect to provide information about the environment.

"That (combining golf and the environment) came just out of pure interest," she said. "I try and learn more about how to help the environment. I love nature, love the outdoors, it's just purely a passion of mine."

The environmental (yet still fun and educational) part

The course, designed and built by Adventure Golf & Sports of Traverse City, Michigan, follows that company's "Bunkers & Bumps" design option where putting the ball is more like one would putt on a regular golf course, with obstacles mostly being the rolls and contours of the putting surface, shallow faux "sand traps" and heavier synthetic turf to simulate the rough.

The build has some environmental features, too. The panels under the turf that shape the holes are made from recycled plastic and are water-permeable, and the turf is a higher quality that also drains better than the usual mini golf turf, so the holes should be puddle-free following rainstorms.

Johnson said she performed "tons" of research on what people want to know about the environment, and the result can be seen around the course.

There are two rain gardens, a large pollinator garden, a compost garden and a central water feature, with a third rain garden being planted the week before Memorial Day by students from the Ecology Club at Gibraltar High School just down the road.

Informational signs and displays are found around the course on pollinators, water pollution, sustainability, native species and other environmental topics, and Johnson said she might change the signs and displays yearly to provide new educational opportunities.

Also, the back of the scorecards at Evergreen have a kind of scavenger hunt of six questions about pollinators, with the answers found out on the course. Children who find the answers can bring the card back to the golf shop and get an Evergreen Pollinator Pal sticker badge.

That's what Johnson aimed at with the business, that mix of education with a good time.

"Combining it with golf, I wanted (the environmental aspect) to be fun and light," Johnson said. "I think kids learn best when they're having fun."

Like the young girl, maybe 3 years old, who finished her round of golf with her father while the Advocate was on hand and presented their scorecard with the answers filled in to get her badge, which set her smiling.

"That's what we like – seeing kids having a good time and enjoying themselves," Johnson said. "Little kids love stickers."

The accessible (and fun for all) part

Since 2002, federal regulations require that any newly built miniature golf course have at least 50% of its holes – nine holes in almost all cases – accessible to those who use wheelchairs or other mobility devices, and that those holes run consecutively to maintain the flow of play for people with accessibility issues.

While innumerable mini golf courses have been built to those regulations over the past 20 years, very rarely have they offered a full 18-hole accessible experience. According to Access Mini Golf, a website about accessible miniature golf across the country, only 13 courses in the U.S. were accessible for all 18 holes as of earlier this year.

Evergreen Miniature Golf is now the 14th, and apparently the first in Wisconsin.

Along with openings in the walls around each hole where wheelchairs and other devices can pass through, there are no steps or physical obstacles to surmount. Plus, the golf shop has two adaptable putters, one adult- and one child-sized; they're hinged near the putterhead and lock in place so someone in a sitting position can use them without having to swing their feet out of the way or contorting themselves.

That matters to Johnson, who said she wanted full accessibility from the start.

"I just wanted people to enjoy the whole golf course," Johnson said. "If anybody wants to do 18 holes, I want them to do 18 holes."

'A dream to have a business up here'

As a lifelong visitor to the Peninsula, Johnson said she's familiar with its recreational opportunities, including its numerous miniature golf courses. She said she and her family often played at The Red Putter, the longstanding, well-known course in Ephraim, and she's discussed the business with its owners Chris Opper and Tracy Yttri Opper, who Johnson said have been very supportive of her goal.

"It's been kind of a dream to have a business up here," Johnson said. "I just want to provide an outdoor recreational opportunity that families and residents and tourists will love. I used to play the Red Putter when I was a kid. People go back and play there every year. I want to be a place like that."

At a glance

Evergreen Miniature Golf is at 3865 State 42, Fish Creek. It is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Wednesdays and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays through August, with fall hours to be determined. A grand opening will take place Saturday, May 27, with food available from Sergio's Mexican Street Food of Ephraim. The cost to play is $10.50 for adults, $9.50 seniors and military personnel, $8.50 for Gibraltar School students until the school year ends, free for ages 3 and younger. For more information, call 920-868-5060, visit evergreenminiaturegolf.com or facebook.com/evergreenminiaturegolf, or email evergreenminiaturegolf@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Fun, ecology, accessibility join up at new Door County mini golf course