The Secret of Yellow Springs

I have a secret that I will share with no one else but you. There is a miniature golf course in Yellow Springs, Ohio, that is open right through the winter. Okay, it’s not quite a secret but it’s not heavily promoted either. People forget about putt-putt golf as soon as summer is over.

8 Minute “Tee” Time

But the miniature golf course at Young's Dairy Farm is always open, even when it snows.

Although the course is officially open, the clubhouse door leading out to the barnyard-themed greens is usually locked when we arrive. The clerk spends most of his solitary hours waiting for the few driving range customers who enjoy honing their long irons in the heated tee boxes.

“I didn't unlock the door because I didn't think anyone would be playing tonight,” says the clerk.

Did I mention we play at night? My wife says when it comes to using good judgment “my golf bag is a few clubs short.”

Winter putt-putt is a game of speed. I tell the clerk we will be back in eight minutes. He's new, so he laughs. We're back in seven minutes, 32 seconds &#0151 a new course record made possible by a 20 degree temperature combined with a piercing 15 mile-an-hour wind. But what a glorious seven minutes and 32 seconds it is!

When the clerk flips the switch for the colored lights that shine on each hole and turns on the music piped in through speakers disguised as plastic boulders, the links come alive. We are alone on the course. The cold wind in our faces makes our eyes water. My ears are so cold they throb. We are in heaven &#0151 except for my wife, who stays inside where it's warm.

Creating a Memory

We tackle the course with reckless abandon. My oldest two children and I hit our balls at the same time, sometimes knocking each others' in on purpose to keep our momentum going.

Our toddler is content to hold her pink golf ball and dance between each hole. She bounces and hops to Aretha Franklin's R-E-S-P-E-C-T between holes 10 and 11 and Jingle Bell Rock at the fifteenth tee. It costs me a buck to let her dance and run from green to green while carrying a ball and club. It's one of the best bargains in Yellow Springs &#0151 even better than ninety-nine-cent burger night at the dairy farm's sandwich shop.

Like my wife and the clerk, you may wonder why we play putt-putt golf on cold winter nights. Like Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof, I will tell you: Tradition.

Secret Tradition

We have been coming to Young's Dairy Farm to play miniature golf and eat sandwiches every week for the past five years. While I haven't counted the score cards, I can safely say my seven-year-old has played more than 200 rounds of golf. I'm confident she will receive a full scholarship to Ohio State where she will play NCAA division I putt-putt.

My daughter will also be selected for the 2016 Olympic miniature golf team, where her years of winter putt putt training will pay off as she easily wins the gold medal on a dairy farm course in the frigid mountains of Zabljak, Montenegro. (Coincidentally, Yellow Springs will have lost the bid for the 2016 Olympics. Some will claim bribes were involved.)

Until then, playing putt-putt golf each week, straight through the winter, is a cold, proud tradition that will continue in our family.

But, please don't tell anyone. The last thing we need is golfers driving in from northern New Jersey, where the miniature golf courses are always mobbed, to get an easy tee time on our course.

(c) 2003, Timothy P. Bete

Tim Bete (pronounced “beet”) is married with three children. He has nine combined years as a dad — 63 in dog years — which makes him an expert at answering the questions, “Are we there yet?” and “Why?” To subscribe to Tim’s column or read more of his work, visit his website at www.timbete.com.

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