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Bill and Linda Faletti, on vacation from Ashford, Conn., stopped at Pirates Cove Adventure Golf in Madeira Beach recently because it was the first course they saw. The players at these courses, mostly tourists, don't seem to mind paying more money to play. The courses pay for themselves in two years, Laun said, and only two adventure golf courses have gone out of business nationwide since the concept began. Sheppard said Fiesta Falls has had as much as $800,000 in revenue in a year and can make about $400,000 in profit. The payroll for the courses is small, utility bills are low and most of the maintenance is done by the employees. Pete Beach's Polynesian Putter, a traditional miniature golf course.īut once the course is built, operating costs are comparatively tiny. In contrast to nearby adventure golf courses, players pay only $2.50 at St. The high initial cost of adventure golf courses forces owners to charge higher fees to play. The initial investment on an adventure golf course is well over $1-million, Lobdell said. Then there are "soft" costs, including design and legal fees, that can be hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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His firm, Lobdell Management of Traverse City, is a general partner in the course. Building Fiesta Falls' elaborate rock formations, waterfalls and putting greens took several months and cost almost $500,000, said Wayne Lobdell.
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With an average price of $4.87 per person ($5.45 for adults, less for children and seniors), that's as much as $4,870 in revenue lining up at the ticket booth in a day.Ĭreating these courses isn't cheap. The adventure courses started appearing in the Tampa Bay area about seven years ago.įiesta Falls, the Indian Rocks Beach course, has been open for five years and draws as many as 1,000 players a day during its peak season, January to April. Designers built two courses there in the mid-'80s, and course designers then took their success to other states.Īdventure Golf Design and Development, a Traverse City company, is the biggest adventure course operator in Florida, with six Congo River courses. The city is the mecca of adventure golf courses. Florida was an obvious choice.Īt most area adventure courses, majority ownership is held by one of a number of out-of-state private companies, most of which are based in Traverse City, Mich. After the builders saw the success of the first courses, they began to look for warm locales where players could play year-round. The first adventure golf courses were built in the Myrtle Beach, S.C., area in the early 1980s. There are more than 1,000 courses with adventure golf or similar themes nationwide, Laun said, compared to 7,000 more traditional courses. in Clearwater and Tampa, change the layout and difficulty of the holes so returning players don't play the same course each time. Some courses, like Congo River Golf & Exploration Co. The adventure golf courses have pars around 40, but scores average in the high 40s and low 50s.
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Sheppard, a professional golfer for five years, helped design the Fiesta Falls course, complete with water hazards on the greens. This is the '90s and people want real golf," said David Sheppard, manager and part owner of Fiesta Falls Adventure Golf in Indian Rocks Beach. "I think those windmills (on old putt-putt courses) are luck and chance. Many say the newer courses add a sporting element to miniature golf, which has long been perceived as more of a children's game. "The old, flat, obstacle-laden, rinky-dink courses are passe," said Skip Laun, executive director of Tallahassee-based Miniature Golf Association of America.