Play Putt-Putt golf in the state where it was created

As host to major golf championships, including the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open Championships in 2014 and the 2017 PGA Championship, North Carolina is often associated with golf’s biggest game. But it’s also home to the sport’s smallest. Putt-Putt golf was created in Fayetteville in 1954 when businessman Don Clayton opened the first course. Putt-Putt is a specific type of miniature golf that Clayton patented to focus on putting skills rather than gimmicks such as windmills and scenery. Putt-Putt became immensely popular, and though the corporation remained in North Carolina, more than 200 courses now exist throughout the nation. Clayton’s original course no longer exists, but nearby Hope Mills is now home to the prototype Putt-Putt Fun Center featuring batting cages, electric go-carts, indoor bumper cars, games and 36 holes of Putt-Putt. North Carolina also was the birthplace of the nation’s first miniature golf course, built in 1919 in the Village of Pinehurst. Pinehurst Resort now offers a miniature golf course called Thistle Dhu that pays homage to the original. Covering 15,000 square feet of green, Thistle Dhu features 18 holes of mind-bending putts created to challenge and entertain everyone from the youngest family member to the most experienced golfer. Play is free to Pinehurst Resort guests.