Frankie's Fun Park (Raleigh, NC) - Course 1

August 28, 2009, afternoon

It had been a cold summer in Chicago and not much mini golf had been played, but Alma and I were in North Carolina visiting her sister and opted to take in a round of mini golf at Frankie's Fun Park in Raleigh.  The park has three courses, of which we played the first.  From the start it was obvious that approaching par would be difficult - par on every hole was set at 2, and on a number of holes the cup was in a difficult position to approach, such as on a slope.  It reminded me a lot of Putt-Putt, actually, in both ways (not really a good thing).  Nevertheless, I stayed relatively close to par - though I took a max 5 at the fifth, I parred six of the first seven holes and then aced both 8 and 9 to record a 19, a mere +1, at the turn.  I was still one over going to the sixteenth after bogeying #13 but acing #15, and #16 featured an easy look at a hole in one provided you hit the ball on line.  Unfortunately, I pushed it left, and the design of the hole left no look at the cup on the second shot.  I ended up taking a double-bogey four, and bogeyed the 17th and 18th for good measure to finish at 41, a respectable total score on any course in my mind but one that certainly could have been better.  Alma and Arlene both improved on the back nine (Alma went 37-32 and Arlene went 32-29) to finish at 69 and 61 respectively.