There‘s a lot of cool gear in the golf world that doesn’t always fit into Most Wanted Tests or Buyer’s Guides. You still want to know how it performs. In our We Tried It series, we put gear to the test and let you know if it works as advertised.
What We Tried
Playing rounds of miniature golf at PopStroke and Puttshack, two modern takes on a classic family activity.
Your Reviewer
Sean Fairholm, mini golf scorekeeper and self-appointed head of the competition integrity committee.
We Tried It: PopStroke
I will start my review with PopStroke, the Tiger Woods-owned mini golf that opened its doors in 2019.
As of this writing, PopStroke has 17 locations across six states (Florida, Texas, Alabama, Arizona, Nevada, South Carolina). Eight are in Florida.
The PopStroke concept is similar to Topgolf in that it’s a casual place for mini golf that also offers a robust food and drink operation.
Another differentiator between PopStroke and your standard mini golf is that PopStroke looks like a small version of a real golf course. The artificial turf, which includes white areas for the “bunkers” (no sand is involved, don’t worry), is high quality and vibrant by comparison to most mini golf courses. There are no windmills or clown mouths here. In fact, there is not a single obstacle other than the slope of the turf.
Each PopStroke location has two 18-hole courses with one layout being harder than the other. The normal feel of a PopStroke is an outdoor patio/bar area—complete with games like cornhole and pingpong—looking out to the mini golf courses, which are not under cover.
My round took place last month at the Orlando location. It’s about 20 minutes due east of downtown in the Union Park area, surrounded by your normal suburban sprawl like Red Lobster and Kohl’s. I’m sure there is a Bar Louie within walking distance.
Setting the scene
The first thing you notice walking into PopStroke is … an ice cream shop? Yes, there is the option to get ice cream as a handful of flavors are attempting to lure you over to try them.
The second thing I noticed was the price point. When I first saw $25 per adult, I thought it was a little steep. This is just mini golf. You can play for $12 at my local course. And then I noticed that it was $25 with unlimited play—and I was there on a Sunday afternoon as NFL games were in full force.
That’s a pretty fair deal, especially considering that every person gets an actual golf ball. You know how you go play mini golf and they give you a plastic ball that would probably explode at impact if someone hit it with a driver? No such worry here. You get a legitimate TaylorMade Distance+ golf ball with the PopStroke logo.
It’s not winning our testing but getting to play mini golf with a real golf ball? That is a big step up. And you get to keep it!
The putters are standard fare for mini golf. Nothing you would want to be caught using on an actual golf course but they do the trick for an afternoon.
A quick word on the food operation before I get into the mini golf. There are no waiters at PopStroke—or at least there were none at this location. You get to an empty table, scan a QR code and then order on your phone. They know where your table is so you just wait for the food. You pay for it electronically—no signing receipts or anything. You barely talk to any server. I understand why they do that but it does feel a little impersonal. Our food took a long time and then we had to hunt someone down to ask where it was because there was no waiter.
The food was fine. Unmemorable but nothing worse.
It’s not a place you would seek out for the food/drink. You are there to play mini golf and maybe chill out on the patio.
I did appreciate that there were a million TVs with every NFL game being played. And the pingpong table is a great feature.
It was steadily busy throughout the time we were there but nothing close to being packed.
Playing the course
We were a large group so we asked for the easier of the two courses to keep play moving along.
The first thing you notice is how smooth the turf is throughout the course. The greens are fast and roll true for the most part. It does feel a lot more like you are on a grown-up putting course—similar to a place like Streamsong or Erin Hills—rather than a mini golf course.
At the same time, PopStroke’s courses offer a lot of buffers to players of all ages. Behind most holes is a slope that prevents your ball from going into the mulch. Many times, it will bring your ball closer to the hole. Our group had a handful of holes-in-one for this exact reason.
Once again, there are no obstacles or gimmicks. It’s just a straight-up putting course on artificial turf. There are no bricks forming a boundary around the hole but most of the slopes are there to help you.
If you are walking around with a drink, purse or something else, there are stands at each tee box for your convenience. For that reason, I recommend a few people in a group playing at once—if each player finishes out before the next player hits, then you have to go back and forth picking up your drink or whatever else you have with you.
The second course was quite a bit harder than the first one. If you get on the wrong side of a slope, you could easily take four or five putts.
Overall, I would say PopStroke does a nice job of appealing to real golfers while still being fun for non-golfers. We saw a varied group of people—everyone from young kids to elderly couples. You could spend a solid three or four hours there.
We Tried It: Puttshack
There is another example of modern mini golf that is nearly the exact opposite of PopStroke.
Puttshack has 21 locations that are either open or are about to open throughout the U.S. It’s spread out across the country including one in my hometown of Nashville, Tenn. Our location opened last year in the Gulch, a trendy area south of downtown.
Whereas PopStroke has focused on outdoor, warm-weather regions, Puttshack has a big presence in northern cities as well as southern cities. Their mini golf concept is exclusively indoors.
Puttshack is tech-infused mini golf that specializes in gimmicks and games. It’s certainly unlike anything I had seen.
There is a chip in each golf ball that records each stroke. It’s kind of like the bowling equivalent for mini golf because scores are updated automatically and shown on screens throughout your round (more on this experience in a moment).
Setting the scene
Man, Puttshack is busy. My wife and I have been a couple of times now and it’s always packed.
When you walk through the front doors, you are immediately in the bar/restaurant area. You check in at a kiosk—reservations are highly recommended if you are going on a weekend—and get told which of the three courses your party will be playing. It would be nice to be able to pick your course because you can easily end up on the same design each time you come back.
There is a big board that shows which parties are playing which course. Once your tee time is ready, you head to whatever course you were assigned. Someone walks you through a little tutorial and then you are ready to go.
While the technology is super cool, the golf ball and putter are merely passable. PopStroke has Puttshack beat on that front.
It cost about $15 per adult to play nine holes. There is a Monday-Thursday option to play another nine holes for 50 percent off so that would be 18 holes at around $22.
I was happily surprised by the volume of the music. It wasn’t too loud which is nice. You are already being stimulated by a lot of lights and screens so having limited noise is appreciated.
The bar/restaurant area is a more traditional sports bar vibe with normal servers. I thought the food was fine. Do any of these alternative golf places have great food? Probably not. You aren’t here for the food.
Playing the course
There are three nine-hole courses and every hole is remarkably different with its own theme. For instance, there might be an air hockey theme where the course looks like a big air hockey table. Once you put the ball down, objects ahead of you start to move—you have to gauge when to hit the ball through them.
You start your round in a certain order based on the screen above you. There is a screen at every hole showing how many points you have. In this game, the most points win.
Each player finishes out individually. The ball knows how many shots you took.
On certain holes, there are bonuses. For example, you might be asked a true or false question while facing two openings ahead of you. Where you decide to putt the ball is how you answer the question. Getting it right tacks points on to your score.
I played one hole that was beer pong-themed. You hit up a ramp into one of the holes and get a certain number of points for going in one of the cups. Then your ball comes out a chute and you finish out to get your final score.
Unlike PopStroke, you don’t get to keep the ball. The final hole is usually a big ramp where you send your ball into a big ski ball kind of board, giving yourself one last shot at points. And then the last screen displays the name of the winner for your group.
The round only takes about 25 minutes given that there are just nine holes and it’s not particularly challenging. It’s worth playing two courses depending on your budget.
One of the holes we played had malfunctioning technology. After reading the reviews of our location, it sounds like this happens occasionally. That’s bound to happen for an innovative concept like this one.
The clientele is families and a lot of kids.
Overall, I think Puttshack is a really fun concept that can be installed anywhere around the country regardless of weather. It’s stimulating for kids and keeps everyone’s attention throughout.
Concluding thoughts
I don’t think one wins over the other because it’s all about what you want out of your experience.
Do you want more of a pure scorecard-in-hand experience that simulates being on a real golf course? If you intend to play 36 holes or more, PopStroke seems like a good deal at $25 for the day.
Do you want to experience the golf version of bowling where you are entertained by the technology and anyone can win the game regardless of skill? Puttshack is the place for you.
Personally, I have more interest in PopStroke. What can I say, I’m a mini golf purist. PopStroke is more repeatable in that you would like to go back multiple times to improve your score. It can be challenging, which is stimulating.
The fun of Puttshack is in the novelty of the experience. Similar to Topgolf, I went a couple of times, got the idea and didn’t feel a strong desire to head back.
If I had a PopStroke in my town, I would be there every other month or so. It’s dynamic in that you could literally go out there on your own and play—or you could go out with a large group of people.
Puttshack is outstanding for a 10-year-old’s birthday party. And it’s awesome for a quick date night activity before or after dinner. But for the amount of time you spend (not much) and the money (kind of a lot relative to the time), I’m not sure it’s a great value as a repeat activity.
Have you been to either of these mini golf experiences? Was it worth it?
Let me know below in the comments.
The post We Tried It: PopStroke Versus Puttshack Mini Golf appeared first on MyGolfSpy.
Article Link: https://mygolfspy.com/alternate-golf/we-tried-it-popstroke-versus-puttshack-mini-golf/