Outdoor Fun: Backyard Mini Golf Course

How many golfers does it take to have fun in the backyard? FORE! But seriously, it’s easy gather up some recycled materials and things you find in your garage and create a one-of-a-kind miniature golf course in your own backyard!

We raided our recycling bin to find materials that made perfect additions to our DIY miniature golf course, and then checked the garage, the garden shed, and of course, our craft stash to fill in the rest of the course. We picked up a couple of toy golf clubs at our local big box store, but you can also find them in the garage or at a thrift store.

Nearly anything you can find at home is fair game for creating interesting-looking mini golf holes, but here are some suggestions to get you started:

What To Look For To Create a Mini Golf Course:

Recycled Materials:

• Cardboard boxes, large and small
• Milk jugs
• 2-liter bottles
• Cans
• Recycled Kix Cereal boxes

From the Garage or Garden Shed:

• Pieces of wood
• PVC pipe
• Garden hose or extension cord
• Golf clubs and balls (or buy at the dollar store or thrift store)
• Pool noodles
• Pool floaties
• Sand

From the Craft Closet:

• Card stock
• Markers
• Bamboo Skewers
• Tape
• Glue

Other Items:

• Cookie sheet (for sand trap)
• Bowl (for water hazard)
• Building blocks

We used various items to create our “holes.”

You can create any type of miniature golf holes you want, using nearly anything you can find around the house, but our holes had a few items in common:

• The beginning of the hole marked with a numbered flag.
• The end of the hole marked with a matching (but taller) numbered flag.
• Boundaries around the hole (made with pool noodles, PVC pipe, an extension cord, or boards).
• Interesting-looking obstacles.

To make the flags: Cut triangles out of paper, mark the triangles with numbers, then tape flags to bamboo skewers. We taped two bamboo skewers together to make taller poles for the flags at the end of each hole.

Don’t forget to add hazards!

We made a sand trap out of a cookie sheet filled with sand, and a water hazard by placing a bowl of blue-tinted water into a pool floatie toy.

Remember, you can create your own holes out of whatever you have on hand, but here are ours for inspiration:

Hole #1: Pool Noodles, a Sand Trap and Bowling Pins

For Hole #1, we created a curved course with two boards and some pool noodles. We added obstacles: a sand trap in the middle (made from a cookie sheet filled with sand), and a field of bowling balls. The final hole was made of a small recycled box.

Hole #2: PVC Pipe, Cereal Boxes, a Pool Noodle Arch, and a Ramp

For Hole #2, we used PVC pipe from the garden shed as a boundary. We added some recycled Kix cereal boxes as obstacles, along with a half pool noodle arch (bamboo skewers stuck into the ground, then the pool noodle placed on top of the skewers to secure it). We built a ramp out of a couple of boards, and the final hole was a recycled box with four openings in it.

Hole #3: The Ramp, The Windmill, and The Water Hazard

For Hole #3, we created a wavy boundary with an extension cord. You could also use a garden hose, a jump rope, or any of the previous boundaries. We added a half pool noodle obstacle (secured in place with bamboo skewers), along with a ramp and water hazard. The final hole was made of a recycled soda box flanked by two recycled cereal boxes, and topped off with a cute windmill.

We created the windmill out of a recycled milk jug (our milk jugs are square!) with a windmill shape cut out of a square piece of card stock, secured to milk jug with hot glue (parents only). We also added a small door shape to the windmill. Simply set the windmill on top of the box that creates the hole.

If needed, you can add some gravel to the recycled boxes to stabilize them.

Hole #4: Building Blocks and a Recycled Can

For Hole #4, we used some pool noodles and PVC pipe for the boundaries, and created obstacles out of building blocks. Put the kiddos to work building these cool creations to add interest to the mini golf course! The hole at the end of the course was made of a recycled can with both the top and bottom removed so the ball can sail right through.

What items in your stash would you use in a mini golf course?

Heather Mann is the mother of four boys, and is constantly on the lookout for fun games, activities, and recipes to keep her busy boys, well, busy. She designs and shares clever crafts with a frugal twist at her site Dollar Store Crafts and ideas for being the best mom ever (on a budget) at Dollar Store Mom.