Vitense Golfland (Madison, WI) - Indoor Course

January 24, 2011, afternoon

With an indoor course in Madison, I was able to play my third round of mini golf of the month of January (in my second location). I had set a personal best score relative to par at Fiesta Village in California, but it didn't even last two weeks, as I ripped apart Vitense's indoor course, themed after Madison-area landmarks. Ironically, the holes based on the landmarks I'd actually visited gave me the most trouble. After opening with four straight birdies and a par, I came to hole #6, the Olbrich Gardens hole, and decided to aim for a pipe that would carry the ball right to the green (the other option being to putt the long way around). After a layup to near the front of the pipe, I unaccountably was unable to get the ball into the pipe, bouncing it off three times and finally ending up in the water next to the fairway. I had to settle for the maximum 6, a double-bogey. Fortunately, an eagle 2 at #8 balanced that out, but I gave another shot back at the ninth, the State Capitol hole. The ball needed to go through both the model of the capitol and a hollow rock to make a beeline for the cup, but it bounced off the rock and lodged itself in a corner - for a couple minutes I was unable even to locate it! Eventually I found it and settled for a bogey 5 to go out in three-under 30. The back nine started birdie-eagle-par-birdie before a bogey at the 14th, but I closed the final four holes birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie, with a dramatic eagle putt at #17 to bring me to double digits under par. I finished the back nine in just 25 shots - not that impressive on most courses, but with the obstacles and the length of some of the holes at Vitense, their par is 66 (which I think is the highest I've ever seen - it's only a few shots off a full golf course par!). And so I ended up shooting an 11-under 55, smashing my old record relative to par by a full three shots.