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(The Utah Fun Dome has two completely separate courses. The Indoors Blackbeard course is bad, bad, bad. The course outdoors, "Garden Golf" is awesome.)
"Baby's Got Back" glares in the foreground as you align your rubber mallet with your ball to sink your 16th consecutive 2-putt. It's hard to concentrate however, the strength of
teeny-bopper's hairspray odors eat at your brain cells as the mechanical Fun Dome band sings yet another Pointer Sisters' song. As your mallet swings forward you are distracted by the 13-year old couple
making out on hole #9, and you miss the 4-inch putt. Your only consolation is that you were able to sweet talk the course administrator to get in at a half tariff and hey, at least the place in heated on
a blistery winter day.
There's really not a lot to say about Blackbeard's Mini-Golf inside the massive Fun Dome off I-15 in Salt Lake City. It's an old, easy, almost boring course (actually there are two courses) that needs
some reworking. The obstacles are pretty crappy for the most part, but even worse, just don't offer too much of a challenge. The course terminates with the worst #18 in all of Utah-an aggravating
impossible ski-ball hole that wrecks your amazingly (not really) low 17-hole total.
The skinny? The Blackbeard is lame unless you are:
1. seeking shelter
2. 13-years old
3. stupid
Two Fun Dome "Garden Golf" Courses are Utah's newest miniature golf courses and is baby steps away from perfection. Surprisingly, the Utah Fun Dome has constructed an amazing outdoors mini-golf
course that blows away its indoored mini-golf offerings. Garden Golf uses natural obstacles and the use of natural hazards (ruff, sand traps, water hazards) magnificiantly to add to the course's beauty
and challenge. Nets are even provided to help retrieve errant putts that have made their way to the drink. Holes are pinned with market flags that add to the overall professionalism of the course. Metal
putters are offered. The staff was helpful. The location is ideal. Is there anything wrong with the Fun Dome's Garden Golf?
Have you ever been the first to arrive at a big party? I would imagine that at least for the first half hour or so, it sucked. Period. The room wasn't completely decorated. No one was there yet. The punch
wasn't quite yet ready for your guzzling. And well, you just needed some time to get "settled" in. That's the feeling I got at Garden Golf. The potential for this course to become Utah's best
is apparent. It just might be a matter of time to work out the quirks that gave us that 'this sucks' feeling.
Maintenance was below average. The majority of holes had sand traps that lurked for florescent balls at the end of each hole. Problem was, the carpet was often more white that green, too much sand, too
little fuzz. Mud. A more efficient method to keep the course looking clean is a must. And how about that price? Ouch. That is a bite in the rear. It's a great course, but that's a stiff entry fee. A
shack is being built to help with the administration of the courses, but without it, the course was lacking a little organization.
Garden Golf is a must-play. It's gonna require a couple of bones, but is going to make you glad you did. No where else in Utah will you find as good a designed course (50-foot putts, mounds, water
hazards, sand traps) than you will at the Fun Dome.
Paul Hemingway, PMGA 8/2000
Best score reported: 35 - Paul Hemingway 6/98
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