“Wonder Woods Mini Golf at the Morton Arboretum”

“Fore” ! I am not a golfer. But I do enjoy mini-golf and have done almost every course in the greater Chicago area. Of course, Par-King is the one that we have all felt was the epitome of mini-golf. First in Morton Grove, then in Lincolnshire and now only in Lincolnshire. There were several in the Lincolnwood area back in my youth and over the years, with land becoming so valuable, many have gone and are only memories.

While the new mini-course at The Morton Arboretum is not one with gimmicks ( although they do have one hole that can become goofy), the 9 hole course is a lot of fun. Due to other commitments, Frank and I could not attend the “press opening” where it would have been all adults, so we did our game today, on a Friday when the park was very full and the golfers were ready to play.

Before I go into our experience, here are the course facts:

Wonder Woods will continue thru September 2nd

The course is open from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. ( last Tee Time is 5 p.m.)

Max. players -6

Players must be at least 4 years of age. Younger children can walk the course with adults- BUT CANNOT PLAY

Mini-Golf should be purchased online for a specific time slot www.mortonarb.com and the fees are in addition to the Arboretum general admission

Member $6/non-member  for children $8 and $10/$8 for adults

All 9 holes are a journey through the fascinating world of trees and Illinois ecosystems, so while you are having fun- you are having a learning experience.

Frank and I had an 11 a.m. “tee time”, so we started about 11:09 ( Frank is always a little late). We walked to the west lawn, near the Visitor Center ( they have a great dining experience there as well), selected our club and of course the color ball we wanted, received our scorecard and pencil and off we went. Each hole had a “tree theme”, so we did read along the way, but we watched the golfers in front of us to see if there were any special tricks that might help our game. Based on our scores, you will see it didn’t work!

The par for this course is 28. I did end up with 27 and Frank 33. We both had a few holes where we ended up taking 5 shots and I know that I had two where the ball stopped just short of the hole ( maybe an inch) or went right over it, not falling in..

I will tell you that it took us about 39 minutes to play the course as the people ( a foursome) right in front of us gave up when they thought abut ordering lunch. This probably saved us 10 minutes, so I would think the average time is a little under an hour ( if busy).

A day at The Morton Arboretum is now even more fun and educational with the new Wonder Woods Mini Golf!

The Morton Arboretum is located in