Sierra Mountain Times

 Of all the seasonal activities that take place within the Mother Lode, there is none more anticipated by children, teenagers and adults then the start of Twain Harte’s Miniature Golf season. For over 50 years tourists and locals alike have been enjoying family fun at this classic course nestled in the picturesque mountain village. From it’s annual opening on Memorial Day Weekend to it’s closing on Labor Day, this mini attraction becomes a BIG summer destination for those passing through the Sierra. Since opening in 1953, the quaint 18-hole course has become a Twain Harte tradition for generations, and next weekend will mark the 56th anniversary of the family-owned and operated establishment. Run by Rich and Marilyn Knudson since 1983, the couple knows that operating a miniature golf course is no small achievement, and the couple is currently preparing for the upcoming summer season. 

“It’s really mini…it definitely fits the name,” said Marilyn of the compact course squeezed into a 1/3-acre lot. “But there is always work to be done.”

As the mini-golf season nears its Memorial Day Weekend tee off time, the couple has been working hard to make sure the course is up to par. Last Tuesday I had the pleasure to stop by the course and talk with Rich and Marilyn and witnessed the behind the scenes of one of Twain Harte’s most legendary landmarks. 

Arriving at 23098 Fuller Road, I was greeted by a gray and desolate landscape of concrete and trees…a mini-golf sneak preview before the “green carpet” had even been rolled out! It was a much different atmosphere without the “greens” and hazards in place, but I noticed color was already beginning to appear as I found Rich and Marilyn working in the back corner of the lot. Both down on their hands and knees, I watched as Rich spray-painted over a stencil that Marilyn was holding against the concrete. Upon its removal, a once faded number 11 had been resurrected into a bright yellow, creating a drastic contrast with the surrounding cement. As we talked the couple continued their process at the foot of each tee-off until all 18 holes were refreshed with a clean coat of paint. 

“We come back and do this every year. We are always painting. Especially the rainbow,” said Marilyn, pointing to hole six where a colorful wave of cement catches the eye. “It only takes one bang and it’s messed up…but there are so many layers of paint on there!”

Yet no matter how many times it’s been painted, each season the couple faithfully ads fresh paint to the cozy property before bringing out the hazards and the greens. 

“Rich will put the carpet out Monday to let it stretch (they need a good stretch after being locked in storage for 9 months), and then he’ll start putting the hazards up,” explained Marilyn. “That really livens up the atmosphere. I compare this time to Christmas because it is exciting putting up all the decorations…but like Christmas, it takes a lot longer to put it up than it does to take it down.”

“And as you get older, each year it seems to take a little longer,” added Rich. “I can’t believe we’ve been doing this for 26 years!”

The Knudson’s mini-golf adventure began after purchasing the course from its former and original owners Charlotte and Al Boberg (now deceased). Both retired teachers from Oakland, Rich and Marilyn became acquainted with the Boberg’s after purchasing a cabin in Twain Harte in 1973.

“A fellow teacher kept telling me about this area because we were looking for a place to buy a getaway cabin,” said Rich. “We eventually bought a cabin up here and would come up during the summer.”

During these trips the couple fell in love with the area and eventually Rich asked Al if he would be interested in selling him the miniature golf course.

“The first time he didn’t answer me,” recalled Rich. “But when we come up to visit several weeks later, he told me that he was thinking of selling.”

In the spring of 1983 the Boberg’s, who by this time were operating two mini-golf courses in Twain Harte, sold them both to the Knudson’s.

“Al kind of hand picked us,” said Marilyn. “He really wanted the courses to stay.”

“They sold everything as a package deal,” added Rich. “The two courses also included their house, which was on the same property as the course on Meadow Drive. At the time I was still teaching in Oakland when we bought everything, and so on the weekends we would come up here and get it all ready before school was out…and then moved up here during the summer.”

By 1985 their move to the mountains was permanent

“I was teaching shop class in Oakland and it was getting rough down there,” recalled Rich. “Basically the writing was on the wall that it was time to get out of Oakland.”

For the first nine to ten years the Knudson’s were able to manage both of the miniature golf courses. 

“Al used to call them “’His’ and ‘Hers’,” said Marilyn. “He said that he would work with his wife until June and then in July he opened the other one where he work in the evening. The second one was an afterthought, which he opened about 15 years later. He tried to buy a piece of land next door so he could have them right next to each other…but it didn’t work so he built the other one down the road a few blocks.”

Like Al and Charlotte, Rich and Marilyn would split their time between the two courses, and in the evening Rich would operate the course on Meadow Drive (which was located next to the current location of the Fire Station).  

“That course was a little bigger and a little harder,” said Rich. “Our youngest son would work there with me while our older son would help Marilyn at the Fuller Drive course.” 

Yet eventually the Knudson’s had enough signs telling them that it was time to shut the Meadow Lane course down. Most of these signs came from the trees on the property.

“When the first trees fell down it took out some of the lights and quite a few runways,” recalled Rich. ”And then another tree fell and trees began to uproot and ruin some more of the holes. And although we had insurance, we discovered that our insurance didn’t cover cement! When I found this out I said, ‘You gotta be kidding me… that is all the course is made of! But I guess it was just time.”

From that point on the Knudson’s focused all their energy into the Fuller Drive course and continued to follow in the Boberg’s tradition by opening the course on Memorial Day Weekend and closing it on Labor Day.

“Sometimes we open in the cold, cold weather and we’ve been rained out and snowed out,” said Marilyn. “You just never know. And we always close on Labor Day. We used to stay open our first couple years, but everyone was waving as they drove past to go on picnics…they were done. People will get mad and say, ‘Why don’t you stay open longer,’ but miniature golf up here has a season. You can’t compare it to skiing…but it has a season. It opens on Memorial Day Weekend and it closes Labor Day. It’s a good amount of time.”

Over the seasons the course has undergone some miniature changes, but it is in surprisingly good shape after over 50 years of wear and tear.

“The layout has been the same, but I’ve done plenty of cement work over the years,” said Rich.” With cement you’re guaranteed to get cracks.”

Yet the cracks ad character to the historic course, as well as the hundreds of circular cement blocks that surround a majority of the property – each with a name carved into them.

“The names began after Al’s four kids came home from school and wrote their names in the wet cement,” said Marilyn. “He wasn’t too happy about it at first, but then he thought it was a great idea and he went to the Twain Harte phonebook and got names to etch into the cement. There is one really long name with an ‘x’ in it, which is an exchange student that they had from Greece. There are some interesting names and people are always searching for their own. It is like a giant puzzle and we have to keep working around the roots that pop up.”

With the trees much taller and bigger than they were 50 years ago, roots have become more of a problem.

“The trees were much smaller back then. Al brought this weeping Birch tree from Tahoe when it was a seedling,” said Marilyn, pointing to the now 20-foot plus tree. “There also used to be a small pond in here, but all the town dogs would come in for a drink, so he took it out.”

The holes have also undergone a few modifications. 

“Hole #3 (The Clock) had a couple different attachments to it over the years, but Charlotte didn’t like them because it would slow people down,” said Rich. “We still have all the attachments, but we have jus stuck with the clock.

Another modification took place on hole six (The Rainbow), Marilyn’s favorite hole.

“It used to be just a plain color so I painted the rainbow on it,” she said. “It really stands out now.”

Another change took place on hole fifteen (The Outhouse), which was once a barn with a door that would open and close. The next hole (The Tire), Rich’s favorite upgraded over the years as well.

“Originally the tire was a skinny Model A tire before it was replaced by the much wider Shelby Sixty racing tire,” said Rich. “It was a lot harder with the narrow tire.”

The course also used to end differently.

“When people reached the eighteenth hole (The Windmill), it would be over and they would just leave their balls in a box,” said Rich. “Yet Al discovered that people wouldn’t always return their balls so after about four or five years he created the nineteenth hole (The Clown) as a way to get the balls back and give golfers a chance to win a free game.”

“He used to give a free game to those who got a hole in one on hole one (The Hula Girls),” added Marilyn. “Every now and then we’ll have an older person on hole one come up and say, ‘I got a hole in one…do I get a free game?’ All I can say is, ‘Boy, you’re dating yourself…that was a long time ago!’”

A hole in one is always a thrilling experience (even if it is on a mini course), but there is nothing better than defeating the infamous clown on the 19th bonus hole for a free game!

“Why they picked a clown, I don’t know,” said Marilyn. “A lot of people don’t like clowns so we’ve tried to make a happy face on it to make it a little less scary. The clown has made it a little more interesting, but it has always been a love/hate relationship.”

This love/hate relationship is the same for many of the courses challenging holes…especially hole five (The Volcano/Ant Hill) and hole fifteen (The Gold Mines). 

“You can tell where people have the most trouble by watching their group slow down,” said Rich. “They usually go along pretty well until they hit number five…and then they speed up again until they hit number fifteen. But the thing is you can’t change things. And although people hate these holes when I told some people I was thinking of changing them, they said if I did, they wouldn’t come anymore. They hate them, but at the same time they like the challenge.”

This is why the Knudson’s make tie-game challenges play hole five for a tiebreaker.

“The Ant Hill/the Volcano is the hardest hole,” said Marilyn. “Some people say hole fifteen is, but they can do trick shots and jump it over the mountain.” 

Those who know all the tricks of the course are able to finish each hole with nothing more than a two, resulting in some impressive scores. Currently the lowest (legitimate) score so is a 30 – an incredible 15 under par! 

“It’s so cute seeing these little kids come up and ask what the lowest score is and then they’ll figure out their score to try and beat it,” said Marilyn. “It’s so cute, but so obvious. You just watch them on the first three holes and know that there is no way they could’ve shot that score. I also love it when the little kids say that they shot a 108…because they think the high score wins.”

Yet whether you shoot a 30 or a 108, everyone has one more chance to redeem themselves on the nineteenth hole, and each day an average of ten to fifteen lucky golfers make a hole in one and receive the coveted free ticket.

“We used to print up a 1,000 free game passes per season, but his year I printed up 750,” said Marilyn. “Sometimes we go through all of them! I’ve been here when nearly the whole day will pass without a free game and then all of a sudden it seems like there are ten in a row!”

“From what I can remember over the last 25 years, there has only been one day where we didn’t give out any free games,” added Rich.

Yet in the end, missing a putt on any of the holes isn’t a big deal… after all it’s only mini-golf! For most people it is just a place to hang out with family and friends and have a good time. Because no matter what age you are, everyone is going to have a ball!

“Playing here is a sentimental journey for so many people,” said Marilyn. “As our friend Tim says, “It’s a happy place…people always have fun. We’ve got to know so many people through this. Working here reminds me of Lucy’s box in the Peanuts cartoon where people would pay 10 cents and she would listen to you – sometimes it seems like more people come by to share their stories than people who come to play!  We mostly just listen.”

While the Miniature Golf Course has been a great investment for the Knudson’s, their greatest investment has been in the people they have met and the relationships they have made. 

“Our favorite part is the people…it’s like an extended family,” said Marilyn. “We’ve gotten to know a lot of people and we never hired anyone because we like the personal relationship. It’s just amazing all the relationships we’ve made. No matter where we go we run into people that know us. We got off a cruise in San Francisco and some people came up to us and said, ‘You guys are the mini golf people!’ It’s such a small world!” 

For the past 25 years the Knudson’s have enjoyed their miniature world, but they realize that the time will come when they will have to pass the torch on to someone else. Hopefully this flame will be passed to another couple capable of filling their shoes, and the tradition of cheerful, welcoming hosts of Twain Harte Miniature Golf will continue to live on.

“It’s been good and we’ve been blessed, but we are actually thinking of selling,” said Marilyn. “But you know what, God is in charge. He blessed us with having the mini-golf course and bringing us up here and he has a plan. And hopefully we will find a nice young couple that is interested in taking our place. Until then, we’re just happy to be a part of this little piece of history, and we look forward to seeing everyone this summer.”

Twain Harte Miniature Golf opens Memorial Weekend. From Memorial Day to the 1st weekend in June, they’re open weekends only. From the 2nd weekend in June until the end of the season, they’re open 7 days a week. The hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Cost to play is $3.75 and $4 after 6 p.m. A 2nd game (played in succession) is 50 cents less than the 1st game. For more information, call  (209) 586-5569 or email thminigolf@juno.com.