Friday of last week, our family played 18 holes of mini golf – also known as putt-putt. We had become aware of this local mini golf course due to it being advertised by the wife of the husband-and-wife ownership team.
A video, created and narrated by who we would later meet, was posted to a Facebook group called Sulphur Springs 411. We were further exposed to the business because it was a suggested Facebook fan page to like due to the local algorithm. Winnsboro is a town of 3,500. It’s 23 miles from Sulphur Springs, in Wood County. By the looks of the photos on the Facebook fan page, the course was ripe for photo ops, which I knew my wife would appreciate even if she was just learning how to putt. I hadn’t putted in 30 years up until last Friday.
We left for Winnsboro in the afternoon in order to beat the crowd and be able to play when the sun was still shining. We were pleasantly greeted by Stephanie, one of the owners. We could tell this was a passion business project and thus asked her to tell us the story. She warned us that could go on and on, but we were not dissuaded. We asked her to tell us the whole story. She didn’t hold back.
This family was originally from the Houston area. They had enjoyed putt-putt as a family for many years. She had taught gymnastics for many years and her husband was in construction. Purchasing this course fulfilled a multi-year dream of owning a course. They had planned on buying land and starting from scratch, but that wasn’t going to work in or around Houston with the price of land being astronomical.
Then, one night after some intense prayer something told her to search on Facebook marketplace for a mini golf course. Low and behold there was one for sale in Northeast Texas. Her and her husband made contact with the then owners and in short order they had brought and rehabbed a 70-year-old course in Winnsboro, Texas. This all happened in a matter of weeks.
It was an inspiring tale and the fruit of their labor shown through with how much love was put into the unique designs for each green. These green were really mini-art installations featuring pop culture personalities and Texas landmarks – such as Amarillo’s Cadillac Ranch pictured below.
We were able to get out of the house, enjoy ourselves, and experience an inexpensive family-friendly and care-free activity in the state of this economy. We’ll certainly enjoyed this activity will again in the future. One could say it’s par for the course!
