TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — An 18-hole Modular Advantage Mini Golf course was recently designed and installed by Adventure Golf & Sports (AGS) at the Sherwood Forest Campground in Aitkin, Minnesota. Sherwood Forest is a private & gated RV resort on 400 acres of land with over 800 private campsites laid out in six separate “towns” – London, Derby, Banbury, Cannock Chase, Nottingham and Canterbury, all located on the Northwest side of Mille Lacs Lake, approximately 100 miles north of Minneapolis/St. Paul on U.S. Highway 169. At Sherwood Forest, residents own their own deeded RV lot and are members of an association that owns and operates the campground with year-round access available.

According to Andy Bober, Campground Manager at Sherwood Forest, the new miniature golf course replaced a mini golf course built by association member volunteers over 20+ years ago. “It’s one of those amenities where different generations can enjoy it,” says Bober, “but the old course was in pretty rough shape. It wasn’t built in the best location. They built it with wood on the ground and it ended up rotting and becoming a hazard.”

The new Modular Advantage miniature golf course at Sherwood Forest was built using interlocking, flexible, patented panels made from recycled materials that are also permeable to allow easy water drainage. While the looks and durability of the AGS Modular Advantage system can match that of a concrete course, the permeability makes the course eco-friendly and ready for play soon after a rain shower since there is no pooling of water that is common with non-porous surfaces like wood or concrete. The interlocking panel construction also avoids the freeze-thaw surface-cracking cycle that concrete courses often experience in cold climates. Bober says the most appealing features of the Modular Advantage Course were its ability to handle the seasonality of their location, its low maintenance and ease of construction and implementation.

Nine of the 18 mini-golf holes at Sherwood Forest are ADA compliant while the other nine holes feature more contours, sloping and different elevation levels. Faux sand traps are also used throughout the course to make it more challenging with a par-4 and several par-3 holes.

The mini-golf course joins a number of other amenities Sherwood Forest provides its residents, including a half-sized basketball court, two pickleball courts, bocce ball, horseshoe pit, a pavilion often used for monthly dances during camping season, and four pools (main pool, sports pool, wading pool and whirlpool).

Before contracting with AGS, Sherwood Forest had reviewed some local businesses in the area and also thought about building their own mini golf course again. However, Bober says the complexities of mini-golf course design and construction soon encouraged them to engage AGS, especially since the AGS Modular Advantage Course could be designed and installed quickly and easily. Says Bober, “And it appeared to be a good quality product and the membership appears to be enjoying it. They’re having fun with it. I’ve heard a lot of positive feedback regarding it.

“They (AGS) checked all the boxes. They were very easy to work with from the design on. It was pretty seamless. If we had a question, the AGS sales associate answered it in a hurry.

When it came to the installation of it, the crew was fantastic.

“We changed the whole location of where the golf course had been before. We moved it from under trees to an open grass area. We put it in a wetter area, so we built up the land a little bit. And we had our challenges, but with AGS and our maintenance team working together, we got it done…Everybody we worked with was a pleasure to work with. The product appears to be holding up as they said it would, but their service to get it from beginning to end was fantastic.”

Most importantly, Bober says the membership “…enjoys it. It’s a challenging, fun course.”

Adventure Golf & Sports (AGS) is a global leader in the design and installation of fun, interactive, cost-effective entertainment attractions like Miniature Golf, Pickleball, Shuffleboard, Bocce Ball, Duck Pin Bowling and other recreational courts. Besides traditional, permanent concrete  installations, AGS has long term experience installing interlocking panel system versions like the environmentally-friendly Modular Advantage® Mini Golf system and Bunkers & Bumps™ for a variety of  indoor and outdoor applications for campgrounds, RV parks, family entertainment centers, amusement parks, retail centers, hotels and resorts, as well as designing and installing on rooftops, piers and cruise ship decks.

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