Even sober, The Putting Edge is the trippiest mini-golf experience around. A black light fires up the fluorescent neon sea creatures, monsters, and knights on the 18 hole course.
The Putting Edge is perfect for an afternoon kid activity. The course winds through several thematic sections: mushroom forest, under the sea, knights of Camelot, and Aztec jungle. The kids were amazed at every turn. My youngest didn’t even play. She was too fascinated by the fluorescent paintings, which decorate the walls and serve as ball blockers in the course. She could touch the glowing alligators and electric eels. The detailed artwork makes you feel like you’re in a cool, seventies music video. My kids also loved the way the black light made their white clothes and teeth glow.
From a practical perspective, the holes were short and easily doable for my 6 year old. The kids were able to choose the color of their neon golf ball and pick out a glowing bracelet to wear around the course. The Putting Edge had shorter clubs for kids of all sizes–even one for my three year old. It was not too crowded during the day, and we could play through when we ran across golfers who were really concentrating on their strokes. My son also loved the dancy-dance pop music blasting as he played.
After completing the course, you can repeat it for another four dollars, or try out the mini-arcade. The arcade offers the traditional favorites of pinball, air hockey, dancing, and driving. It also has an old school Ms. Pac Man game. It was fun to introduce my kids to a staple of my childhood. And they didn’t even mind that the graphics stink. Games were fifty cents to a dollar per play.
As for negatives, there’s only one course to play. Also, since the holes are short, we were done very quickly. That makes it a bit expensive for a short amount of fun. Everyone over 13 is $10.50 and kids under 13 are $8.50. On Tuesdays, kids are free, which helps.
The Putting Edge is located inside the Bridge shopping center (formerly the Promenade at Howard Hughes Center) on the ground floor next to the parking structure. Lots of parking is available, but there’s a flat fee of two dollars during the week and three dollars on weekends.
After your tee time, there are some restaurants at the Bridge. Souplantation and Islands are our favorites, and there’s some fast food too. The shopping center also has an IMAX theater, but is short on interesting stores.