7/12/2007
First- there is no truth to the rumor that I have been let go, due to an incident of me swimming in Mayor Daley’s secretarial pool. A responsible journalist like myself knows better than to compromise my integrity, or my swim trunks.
Speaking of swimming, I was thinking of what used to be one of my prime summertime activities when I was younger- miniature golf! Every summer, my pals and I would end up spending a lot of time playing mini golf (when we could afford it!) I’ve never actually golfed (full-size golf, I mean) and have no plans to- my coordination would guarantee scenes similar to the 3 Stooges’ golf expertise in “3 Little Beers.” However, I’ve always enjoyed the small-scale version.
One of our mainstays was the old “Par-King” golf course on Dempster in Morton Grove- it was always one of the nicer mini-golf places, with great stuff at each hole- a ‘gator that opened and closed its mouth, a windmill (I think that’s a legal requirement- mini-golf courses MUST have one windmill, due to the Holland/Titleist Act of 1963), Mount Rushmore, a version of the Prudential Building where you had to hit your ball so it would take a ride up a little elevator- and the Old Woman’s Shoe House- where you had to time your shot just right to get the ball to go through the door that swung open and closed. The story among my friends was that, one time, one of a pair of small-statured identical twins in the neighborhood, affectionately known as “the Mice”, wanted to see what was inside the show, and stuck his head in while the door was open. Unfortunately, it was also there when the door closed, and it supposedly got stuck! This was the reason, they said, that a small screen was mounted over the door, with just room at the bottom for a ball to get through. I was not there when this event happened, but always accepted it as a neighborhood legend. The last hole was always fun- it was a giant enclosed roulette wheel, and, depending which slot your ball dropped into, you could get three points off your score, or two points, or- hold your breath- if it fell into the right slot, a bell would sound and you won a FREE GAME !!! Every once in a while, we’d get lucky, and win the big one. That course has been gone for years, although there is a second Par King course still in operation in either Prairie View or Lincolnshire.
The original was always the favorite when it came to mini-golf, though my friends and I would often settle for “Fink’s Links”- a lower priced, and much more cheaply constructed course near the Golf Mill shopping mall in Niles. We’d laugh because one of the “hazards” was actually tin cans with rubber balls stuck in their tops.
As I write this, I’m itching to putt a ball into a clown’s nose! Let it be known that it isn’t summer for me without just ONE game of miniature golf…and why don’t they have a miniature “19th Hole” with mini-bottles of liquor like they have on airplanes?
Speaking of swimming, I was thinking of what used to be one of my prime summertime activities when I was younger- miniature golf! Every summer, my pals and I would end up spending a lot of time playing mini golf (when we could afford it!) I’ve never actually golfed (full-size golf, I mean) and have no plans to- my coordination would guarantee scenes similar to the 3 Stooges’ golf expertise in “3 Little Beers.” However, I’ve always enjoyed the small-scale version.
One of our mainstays was the old “Par-King” golf course on Dempster in Morton Grove- it was always one of the nicer mini-golf places, with great stuff at each hole- a ‘gator that opened and closed its mouth, a windmill (I think that’s a legal requirement- mini-golf courses MUST have one windmill, due to the Holland/Titleist Act of 1963), Mount Rushmore, a version of the Prudential Building where you had to hit your ball so it would take a ride up a little elevator- and the Old Woman’s Shoe House- where you had to time your shot just right to get the ball to go through the door that swung open and closed. The story among my friends was that, one time, one of a pair of small-statured identical twins in the neighborhood, affectionately known as “the Mice”, wanted to see what was inside the show, and stuck his head in while the door was open. Unfortunately, it was also there when the door closed, and it supposedly got stuck! This was the reason, they said, that a small screen was mounted over the door, with just room at the bottom for a ball to get through. I was not there when this event happened, but always accepted it as a neighborhood legend. The last hole was always fun- it was a giant enclosed roulette wheel, and, depending which slot your ball dropped into, you could get three points off your score, or two points, or- hold your breath- if it fell into the right slot, a bell would sound and you won a FREE GAME !!! Every once in a while, we’d get lucky, and win the big one. That course has been gone for years, although there is a second Par King course still in operation in either Prairie View or Lincolnshire.
The original was always the favorite when it came to mini-golf, though my friends and I would often settle for “Fink’s Links”- a lower priced, and much more cheaply constructed course near the Golf Mill shopping mall in Niles. We’d laugh because one of the “hazards” was actually tin cans with rubber balls stuck in their tops.
As I write this, I’m itching to putt a ball into a clown’s nose! Let it be known that it isn’t summer for me without just ONE game of miniature golf…and why don’t they have a miniature “19th Hole” with mini-bottles of liquor like they have on airplanes?
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