The Puttshack, Baby

It was a rainy, cold weekend in Nashville, but that was no excuse not to craft a creative golf experience. My wife found a place called, “The Puttshack” on Instagram; branded as a unique dining and miniature golf space—we decided to book a “tee time” and go for it. As relatively recent transplants to the Nashville area, the past year has been centered on finding family friendly activities around the area, new restaurants and places to have fun. The Puttshack sure sounded like it would check all those boxes, let’s find out…

As a serious golfer, “goofy golf” has the potential to be more frustrating and emotionally painful than a real golf experience; all the obstacles and silly things that can go wrong, can definitely rub us weekend warriors the wrong way. Since it was family time, I had to check my golf spikes at the door and just have fun. No problem. My wife, son and I made the 20 minute drive downtown and found our destination quite easily. For some reason I was expecting to see a warehouse type building, but instead we were looking at a modern, window filled, sleek structure that blended right into the upscale Nashville scene. Cool! Stepping into the “clubhouse” the mood lighting and table tops filled a gigantic room that appeared more like a trendy night club than an indoor miniature golf track. I checked us in and we walked down a hallway toward carnival sounds and neon lights. After my wife beat me senseless the day before at bowling (I was so desperate to win I was Youtubing bowling tips between the 2nd and 3rd frames!) I was now on my turf and a victory was all but guaranteed:) First hole, I make an easy 2—she makes an Ace, here we go again I’m thinking. But, as we weaved our way throughout the 9 hole course it was back and forth the whole time. Instead of keeping score the traditional way, the Puttshack scoring system is point based, high score wins. She wound up beating me by one point, 361-360, on a major technicality—I’ll just leave it at that. Being indoors gives the Puttshack the ability to use more digital and technology based obstacles and experiences. Instead of a windmill there was a casino roulette wheel, no clown’s mouth but a ramp of descending “music city” drums leading down to the cup. There were a few hiccups in getting around, but overall I enjoyed the originality and creativity in all the holes. I’d characterize it as a nightclub/restaurant with a funky miniature golf experience right in the middle.

Off the drums, through the shoot, nothing but net

Once we finished, we walked around town to grab lunch and ice cream, taking note of places to try next time. It was a brisk, breezy day but that didn’t stop us from acting like tourists snooping around a trendy part of town labeled “The Gulch.” We headed home, put our sweatpants on and watched a little playoff football to cap off a great couple of days of family fun. This weekend the grass was greener inside, where the artificial turf and neon lights paved the way for laughter and photo opportunities. On the golf course, we tend to get so caught up in our score that we forget where we are at and with whom we’re sharing the moment with. I had a great time stepping back and enjoying the memories of now, not worried about my next shot, or what my final score will be.

I’m excited to get back out and play golf again soon as the weather warms up , so I can resume sharing and expanding on my on-course experiences. You know where you can always find me though…WWTG(Where the Grass is Greener).

First time ever winning at roulette. Yeah, I got lucky.