#14 - Junkyard Golf re-imagined

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Junkyard Golf, re-imagined

A fellow named Ray Fox wrote me recently about his own version of Junkyard Golf.  A friend of his, he explains: "had given me a copy of Junkyard Golf information more than a year ago. I put it away thinking that there might someday be a way for me to use it as an asset-building activity with kids...The time schedule...did not permit me to do junk yard golf the way the article was written. So I decided to use the name and to develop 3 miniature golf holes using junk."

Ray's interpretation of Junkyard Golf is inspiring, and instructive. He uses junk to transform a playground into a miniature golf course. Gets clubs and golf balls. And invites kids to play. Me, I get the kids, and the teachers and anyone else around involved in getting the junk and in making the entire golf game out of the junk they gather -  course, tees, holes, fairways, obstacles, clubs, balls.

And as different as our approaches are, both Ray and I seem to be succeeding in bringing a little more fun into the world.

Read on:
" Well, the junk became old aluminum cans from soda, old plastic water bottles, some rolled up newspapers and three practice putting cups I got at a golf store. For about a month, I saved cans and bottles. Then I bought some rolls of duct tape and started taping them together. I had about 190 feet of this "junk" in my garage (separated in 10 foot sections, so that I could transport them). I also had some old rolls of carpet for remodeling jobs in my house. This became more important once I found out that my location was on the paved school playground. The golf balls came from my supply of practice balls and were colored with markers. The golf clubs were borrowed from a local miniature golf course.

"...The first hole was the easiest and was all carpet. There were about 4 hole in ones during the day. The second hole was harder because it started on blacktop and had a dog leg to it. Scores ranged from 2 on up. The third hole was very hard because it had several turns and ended up on carpet. Again the best score was a 2 but many scores were much higher. I was surprised by the large number of students who had never played miniature golf before.

"Based on feedback from the students, staff and principal, I would say it was a big hit. Many of them were very excited about this opportunity to do something new and exciting. Some of their comments included:
" Thanks for making this, it's really fun."
" I play golf with my dad and can't wait to tell him about this."
" I'm really good at this."
" This was real fun. Who made this?"
" When my family goes on vacation, we always play this."

"Almost every student in the school stopped by to play each hole. There were a few who played only one hole and left. On the other hand, there were some who either stayed for a long time or came back after doing other activities. I had 2 boys who were not happy until they got a hole in one on the first hole and just kept playing it over and over again."