Tournament-level mini golf course opens in Montville
Montville — Officials cut the ribbon Tuesday on the region's most challenging mini golf facility at the Nature's Art complex in Oakdale that also includes a dinosaur trail, antiques center and gift shop.
The Copper Creek Mini Golf tournament-level course — with 18 holes, of which nine are handicapped-accessible — was the brainstorm of Linda Phillips of Salem, who owns Nature's Art along with her developer husband, Roger. It includes a mining and mineral theme, with a huge snake, wagon-wheel mill, train depot and other colorful features.
"I do the engineering — she comes up with the ideas," Roger Phillips said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut that featured local officials and business leaders.
"It takes a village to build this," Linda Phillips said later, crediting many of the Nature's Art staff with coming up with the ideas.
The mini golf course was created by Phillips Construction Co., but a firm from Florida specializing in such facilities did the concrete work.
Jake Orenstein, marketing director for Nature's Art, said the course is challenging and adds to the tourist attraction's offerings, especially for the high school crowd that doesn't necessarily come in for the dinosaur park or other themed buildings. It's also educational, he added, with descriptions of the minerals highlighted on the course, adding to the experience.
Linda Phillips said the Opal Outhouse is one of the favorite holes, with the possibility of a ball ending up in a toilet in case of an errant shot.
The golf course had a soft opening about two weeks ago but doesn't officially open to the public until Wednesday, with hours running from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
"Everyone is just blown away by it," Orenstein said.
It takes an average of an hour to an hour and a half to play the course, longer than for most mini golf facilities, he said, and the par score is 49, with most players winding up with a slightly higher number. Each of the holes was set up with several ways to hit the ball, including some trick options.
A round of mini golf goes for $11.99, $10.99 for seniors.
Roger Phillips said the Nature's Art facility started out by selling minerals and fossils but had been failing until the family figured out how to turn it into a destination.
"People don't want something to buy, they want something to do," he said. "That's what we've got — something to do."
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