Backyard Mini Golf Tournament

A laugh-filled way to bring neighbors closer

by Catherine Newman 

This neighborhood tee party is more silly than elegant. Players go house to house, and the competition is fierce, at least when it comes to inventing the most hilariously improbable holes.

Planning Tips

Send a save-the-date flyer to give everyone plenty of notice. Later, go house to house to sign families up for tee times and finger foods (beverages are BYO). With 10 families playing, allow 45 minutes per hole. To keep things moving, Karen recommends that the kids play each hole after the adults. Make each hole a par 3 or par 4. Have fun with the scoring; for instance, create a special penalty for hitting a ball into the wrong yard.
Don't forget prizes. On the Jarnagins' block, the winning adult gets a (spray-painted) Golden Putter to display until the next year. The kid with the best score gets a bucket of sidewalk chalk — to share with the neighbors, of course.