Josh Clark

And by the 1950s, there was a guy who was playing at one of these courses in Fayetteville, North Carolina, which, remember, is the home of miniature golf in the United States.

North Carolina is.

And he happened to have just gotten a prescription from his doctor saying, you're about to have a nervous breakdown.

I prescribe you a month's rest from work.

And this guy, Don Clayton, said, can do.

And he started playing miniature golf.

But he wasn't quite satisfied with it.

Yeah, I imagine if you're on the verge of a nervous breakdown, then Tom Thumb Golf is a nice salve for that kind of experience.

Sure, if you're charmed by all the whimsical stuff.

And you don't take it too seriously.

Right.

From what I understand, though, Don Clayton was like, this whimsy sucks.

We need something better than this.

And I think I'm just the person to build it.

Yeah, so he had the idea to basically make miniature golf but without all the garbage, no clown's mouths, no windmills, and have a little skill involved.

Like you can go out there, and if you're like a good putter, you can actually compete and have a good time.

And it's still for fun, but it's just not a silly kid's game anymore.

Yeah, like anybody who's been to an actual putt-putt course can tell you that it's, I mean, there's a lot of obstacles and it's interesting and fun and there's some neat stuff.

But it just does not have all of like the moving bells and whistles that you're going to see on like other kinds of miniature golf, like goofy golf.

No, like the obstacles are usually just like some blocks in the way and stuff like that.