Retail Centers & Other Facilities FAQs

Many reasons:

1. Mini golf is a retailtainment attraction that helps differentiate any restaurant / bar, housing / apartment complex, shopping center, retail store, college campus, senior community and many other establishments from the competition.
2. Miniature golf will help attract and hold guests at your establishment for longer periods of time, helping boost revenue for the primary service and products you offer.
3. Miniature golf can bring purpose and fun to what otherwise might be considered “wasted venue space” since AGS has products that can be installed indoors, outdoors or on rooftops.
4. Mini golf can offer a high throughput of guests: 90 – 100 people per hour.
5. Mini golf appeals to all ages from approximately 6 years of age and up.
6. Mini golf has low operating costs and low maintenance costs, making it ideal as an amenity or revenue generator with an attractive ROI.
7. Mini golf can provide a meeting place for couples, families and groups to reconvene.
8. Mini golf can easily be played while “social distancing,” especially when outdoors.

Everything from custom-designed permanent concrete courses to our Modular Advantage Mini Golf System, custom modular mini golf, Bunkers & Bumps™, SplashGolf® (water mini golf played on splash pad) and pre-designed portable / modular mini golf. AGS offers the largest assortment of mini golf products in the world

Bunkers & Bumps is a fairways-and-greens putting course especially popular with food and beverage retailers and other businesses embracing retailtainment as part of their customer experience to boost per capita spend. It features rolling terrain with “bumps,” contours, undulations, rough turf surroundings and faux sand bunkers to create a more natural-looking putting course.

SplashGolf® is miniature golf played on a special interactive splash pad. Just when players least expect it, sudden bursts of water push the golf balls in crazy directions. Meanwhile, water jets swirl and spray while bridges, a vortex and pachinko obstacles add more unpredictable fun.

Most owners seek to pay off the original investment in a permanent miniature golf course within 2.5 to 3.5 years, which assumes the market will support the size of the investment, the course is designed for repeat play, and it has a good maintenance program to maintain a clean, attractive experience for your guests.

Due to the increase in online shopping, many traditional brick and mortar retail outlets and commercial buildings have become less appealing to the consumer. Vacancy rates have increased. Therefore, more owners and management companies are now either refurbishing a portion of retail or commercial space for family entertainment or trying to attract other operators in the family entertainment space as new tenants, such as: mini golf and game courts like a Puttshack, Swingers indoor golf or other operators; laser tag, glow-in-the-dark mini golf, restaurant / bars, bowling centers, etc.

• Game courts are like traditional mini golf since they are recreational attractions and appeal to a variety of ages.
• Guests can regroup and relax while playing classic lawn games.
• Game courts can be installed indoors, outdoors or even on rooftops.

The design is generally used for the following purposes:

• Provide owner with a visual design on their site.
• Provide owner a routing plan for golf hole positioning and layout.
• Provide owner with specific playability of each golf hole and location of any theme and water elements.
• Provide owner estimated budget to build.
• Presentation to bank or financing sources to help secure funding.
• Presentation to a government zoning or permit office for approval to proceed.
• Use with marketing materials for press releases and opening the miniature golf course.
• Define other construction documents needed to proceed.

AGS offers a variety of game courts, including:

1. Pickleball.
2. Bocce ball.
3. Croquet.
4. Bean bag toss.
5. Shuffleboard.
6. Bimini ring toss.
7. Giant Chess / Checkers.
8. Paddle tennis.

Our GamePark Promenade product incorporates several game courts within the space of a professional basketball court.

Our GamePark Promenade™ product transforms open spaces into relaxing entertainment options for the whole family. Featuring a landscaped park-like setting, it has pathways to access lawn games, putting greens, benches and more.

The classic permanent miniature golf course is a concrete mini golf course. Such a course requires excavation and pouring concrete. However, our Modular Advantage® Mini Golf system, which looks and feels like concrete but isn’t, is an eco-friendly, less-expensive alternative to concrete. The Modular Advantage Mini Golf system features:

• A patented, flexible interlocking panel system that is adaptable to virtually any topography.
• A 100% permeable surface area for water drainage, thus eco-friendly.
• Reduced materials and labor costs compared to concrete, as well as reduced installation and maintenance time.
• These courses can be landscaped as natural putting courses or developed around any theme imaginable like a pirate island, alien planet, western town, lost civilization, circus, etc.

In addition, our custom modular system enables installation of miniature golf courses on rooftops and other places where heavy, concrete construction is not practical.

When all of the factors listed below are addressed, designing and building a typical 18-hole concrete mini golf course can range from $150,000 to $500,000+. We can help an owner discover probable costs as we evaluate your specific needs.

The cost of a course is generally governed by the following factors:

• Size of golf course.
• Number of water features.
• Topography.
• Lighting.
• Landscaping.
• Themed scenes or elements and obstacles.
• Type of putting turf.
• Type of golf hole edging.
• Unusual soil conditions.
• Prevailing wage or union wage requirements.
• Distance traveled for mobilization.
• Related expenses such as housing, and other crew expenses.

The amount of work, if any, to be done by the owner, such as grading, landscape, and lighting.

AGS has designed and built concrete miniature golf courses from 6,000 square feet (9-holes) to 30,000 square feet (18-holes).

• AGS can custom design to any space, theme or budget.
• A typical course with up to 5,400 square feet of playing surface and 2,200 square feet of walkways will average 26,000 square feet.
• The course with the smallest footprint is the AGS U-Build-It Series at 3,600      square feet which includes 1,143 square feet of playing surface.

The design process for a concrete mini golf course is accomplished in several stages:

• Design conference call with owner defining what AGS will need in order to proceed with the design and to obtain the owner’s vision and probable budget.
• We explore what tasks or scope of work the owner will do, if any. This may include site prep work, dirt fill, electrical and lighting done by local contractors, landscaping, irrigation and point-of-sale (POS) kiosk.
• A conference call can be done in less than one day, however the owner will have to produce more site information, such as a site survey CAD plan with topography, city / county setbacks, environmental issues (if any), etc. all of which can take additional time.
• AGS Concept and Positioning Plan – This is the first design to allow for space allocation of all elements in the plan including golf holes, walkways, water features, theming and anything else. This process can take 7 to 14 business days after it is scheduled.
• Design Conference with owner to discuss and make changes to the Concept and Positioning plan and discuss probable budget range. 1 – 3 business days.
• Final design of miniature golf course and final budget. 7 – 14 business days.

It depends on the complexity and size of the course and mother nature / weather, but a basic mid-range concrete mini golf course can take 6 – 8 weeks to build.

Yes. Our Modular Advantage® Mini Golf system and Customer Modular System are the perfect alternatives to a concrete constructed miniature golf course. These products look and feel like concrete, but are constructed using a flexible, but durable, patented interlocking panel system.

Other products you might consider include:

• Bunkers & Bumps™ for a natural-looking fairways-and-greens course
• The retro-designed AmericanPie™ product can be installed as a temporary or permanent attraction

The eco-friendly Modular Advantage® Mini Golf system is so durable, it looks and feels like concrete, but it is not made of concrete. It is custom designed for your site and features our patented, flexible interlocking panel system that conforms to nearly any terrain. Compared to a concrete build, it:

• Generally is not subject to cold and wet weather conditions like concrete, since concrete courses require the pouring and curing of concrete, as well as applying the putting turf on a dry surface.
• Offers a 100% permeable surface as compared to water runoff with concrete.
• Saves you money in terms of materials and labor costs, as well as reducing installation and maintenance time.
• Can be designed and built for ADA compliance.

Generally, prices range from $150,000 – $200,000 for an 18-hole Modular Advantage® mini golf course, but it can be more if there are water elements and / or theme elements. Concrete courses cost considerably more and take more time to build due to excavation, potential unforeseen ground remediation requirements and pouring concrete.

A typical range would be:

• Pre-designed modular / portable courses of 9 holes to 18 holes may range from 1,200 square feet to 7,000 square feet.
• Custom modular – almost any space but usually 2,000 square feet to 4,500 square feet typically for 9-holes.
• A Modular Advantage Mini Golf 18-hole course may range from 14,000 square feet to 22,000 square feet.

It depends on whether you are interested in a pre-designed course or a custom course.

• For a Pre-designed modular course, we can provide a free basic layout positioning plan in 2 – 7 working days.
• For Custom Modular and Modular Advantage Mini Golf, the design process is accomplished in several stages:
  • Design Conference with owner defining what AGS will need in order to proceed with the design, and to obtain owner’s vision and probable budget. We also explore what tasks the owner will provide, if any, and this might include site work, fill, electrical and lighting, landscaping and irrigation. This conference can be done in one day, but the owner may have to produce more site information such as a site survey which will take longer.
  • AGS Concept and Positioning Plan. This is the first design to allow for space allocation of all elements in the plan, including golf holes, walkways, water features, theming and anything else. This process can take 5 to 7  working days after it is scheduled.
  • Design Conference with owner to discuss and make changes to the Concept and Positioning Plan, and discuss probable budget range. 1 – 3 working days.
  • Final Design of miniature golf course and final budget. 7 – 14 working days. Water features and / or theme elements require additional time.

Yes. Our patented modular system is the perfect product for this application providing a long useful life. It is lightweight, extremely durable, offers excellent drainage features and will withstand heavy foot traffic in outdoor conditions.

Portable / modular mini golf courses are smaller in size, and therefore consume less space and are more economical than permanent mini golf options. In addition, portable miniature golf courses:

• Can be easily assembled, moved, disassembled and stored.
• Can be used indoors and / or outdoors or even on rooftops, decks and piers.
• Provide an attractive way for owners to monetize idle or unused space at virtually any location or venue.
• Are perfect for special events. Our portable RailShot™ Mini Golf system also enables owners to change golf hole layouts within minutes – providing endless options for keeping the game fresh and appealing.

Products range from our portable RailShot™ Mini Golf and totally portable RollOut™ Mini Golf systems, to other products utilizing our patented interlocking panel system such as LittleDuffer®, MiniLinks™ Jr., MiniLinks™ and more.

We can typically ship within 1-3 weeks.

There are several types of theme elements and obstacles used on a miniature golf course:

• Themed Scenes are large scenes such as a lighthouse, wishing well, water tower, pirate ship, volcano, mining carts, tiki huts and much more.
• Themed Obstacles are smaller on-course features that improve playability and embellish a theme, such as a beach water theme featuring a Whale’s tail, a jumping Porpoise or a seashell as examples. 
• Non-themed Obstacles include geometric shapes such as circles, triangles, curved radius, and corner sweeps for bank shots.

In general, theme elements and obstacles can range in cost from basic economical / affordable to easily 1 – 3 times the cost of the base course itself depending upon the size, level of detail and how elaborate the themed scenes are desired.