TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — During July 5 – 12, the Northern Lights Recreation Family Entertainment Center (FEC) in Harbor Springs, Michigan, will conduct the grand opening of their first mini golf course which was designed and built by Adventure Golf & Sports (AGS). It will be the feature outdoor attraction at “Rocky’s Beer Garden,” which is among several other attractions new owner Bill Lloyd recently added to the FEC, including a fully renovated sports bar & grill (Louie’s Sports Bar & Grill), ValoArena (a mixed reality gaming arena) and Krazy Darts. These new attractions join the 16 bowling lanes, a two-story laser tag arena and arcade games the FEC had been known for over the last 20+ years.
“Their (AGS) value proposition is different than conventional mini golf courses,” says Lloyd who became the new owner of Northern Lights Recreation in December of 2024. There’s a mini golf course in another town nearby, but that’s a windmills and dinosaurs kind of a golf course. That’s what I call goofy golf. And Adventure Golf builds more of a tournament style putting course.
“Our course is something that real golfers will enjoy, yet it’s not so difficult that children can’t come along and play… Ours has fast greens, no different than real greens on a nice quality golf course…It’s a nine-hole mini golf course, fully lit for night play, and it’s got a variety of challenges. Each hole has some unique undulations. A couple of the holes have some obstacles in them…
“… It’s got different levels. It’s got break left, break right. So it definitely will throw a challenge to a person who aspires to sharpen his or her putting game.
“It’s got some (faux) sand traps in it and there is one little bridge you can putt the ball over a sand trap. The sand trap turf is a little denser and the ball can get hung up in it if you happen to have a bad shot. It’s nice that I don’t have to deal with the maintenance of real sand. But the material Adventure Golf chose to make it with offers an experience that the ball will get hung up in it, and you’ll have to work your way out of it to continue on with your round.
“Strictly from online research, I found that other (mini golf) companies didn’t build a course quite like this.
“On top of it all, it’s ADA compliant. That’s a very nice offering to people with disabilities. They can come out and a wheelchair can go through all nine holes with the greatest of ease.”
Adventure Golf & Sports constructed the Northern Lights Recreations course using their Modular Advantage® Mini Golf System. This System uses patented, permeable panels with various degrees of flexibility, along with permeable turf, to provide quick-dry, no mess performance with minimal maintenance. AGS says the system creates a more natural-feeling surface and avoids the costs of extensive excavation and pouring of concrete, as well as concrete cracking and the pooling of water typical of concrete-built courses. “We had torrential downpours in northern Michigan this April,” says Lloyd, “and there was no threat of any washouts. It did a great job of getting the water right into the earth where it belongs instead of pooling up and washing out.
“And I had bought the landscaping package,” says Lloyd, “so they came in with beautiful river rock, those interlocking panels and a paver brick system to connect each of the holes together which would again make it suitable for ADA compliance.
“I was a little bit land-locked. And so I worked with the AGS design team and they, in a very creative way, designed a course that was able to fit right in to the only section of land that I had that I could make work. I’m extremely pleased with what we have to offer. I loved their (AGS) creativity.”
