Ten Crazy Golf Theme Ideas for Your Business

Choosing a theme for your miniature golf course is a really important step when it comes to design. Your chosen theme will help you to decide what features you are going to need and what your overall aesthetic is going to be. For example, if you had a pirate theme, you are likely to have water features and pirate-themed props and accessories.

Your theme is going to represent your brand as it is the first thing that people will notice when they visit. It is also likely going to be at the front of your business marketing and promotion as well, so it needs to be well thought out and planned. The theme that you choose should be enticing to the public for these reasons.

The vision that you have in mind for your miniature golf course is going to be limited by budget, so you would need to greatly consider this when deciding on your theme. If you plan and design an extremely elaborate theme, yet don’t have the funds to fulfil the ideas, then you are going to come up short. You should consider how much money you have available to you before even beginning to plan your theme.

There are also many businesses that have had a very successful theme which meant that they had the opportunity to expand their company to multiple locations and offer different themes for each course. Choosing a name for your course is important as it is going to convey the idea of your overall theme. It may be a good idea to have one overall business name and then a specific theme related name for the actual crazy golf course, so that you aren’t limiting your potential expansion opportunities by being limited to one theme.

When designing a miniature golf course theme, you should consider:

Colours – Theme specific.
Features – Water fountains, waterfalls, rivers, caves.
Sculptures – People, animals, creatures.
Sound effects – Animal sounds, rumbling, music.
Lighting effects – Strobe lights, fluorescent, flames, LED, lasers.
Special effects – Shaking, animatronics.
Accessibility – Potential wheelchair access.
Additional extras – Café, restaurant, movie screening.

Idea 1 – Pirates Cove

Pirates seem to be a very popular theme in the mini-golf industry. From shipwrecks to water features, pirate themes offer the ability to use some elaborate accessories to go with the theme. Pirate themes are family-friendly and attract people of all ages. You could even install speakers to play adventurous music tracks to accompany your chosen aesthetic.

Idea 2 – Volcano Bay

The theme idea ‘volcano bay’ immediately sparks a vision of creative scenery and visual effects. Volcano replicas combined with rumbling effects would really help to bring this idea to life in a creative manner. You want to create a course that will keep people coming back and so the more interactive you can make this theme, the better. It may be possible to consider creating an almost ‘mountainous’ landscape to make your volcano bay look even more realistic.

Idea 3 – Tropical Safari

A tropical safari provides the creators with endless possibilities when it comes to designing the course. You could create a different animal themed section for each hole. For example, you could have bright, vibrant colours to represent a parrot or leopard print flooring to represent a jaguar. This idea can even be accompanied by life-size scaled animal sculptures to emphasise the theme that you are promoting. It may also be viable to have different animal noises and safari sounds playing through speakers as background noise to make the setting more immersive.

Idea 4 – Jurassic World

Dinosaur themes are also popular when it comes to miniature golf courses. Due to their extinction, people, especially children, are particularly interested in seeing sculptures of them in real life. However, dinosaur sculptures aren’t particularly unique and can be found in many different leisure activities. An idea that would be more costly, but also less common, would be to have moving animatronics incorporated into your miniature golf course. The initial cost would be higher, and it would also cost more for regular maintenance, but it may be worth it to have a unique aspect to your theme that could attract more people. It can also be noted that if your course is based outdoors, passers-by are able to see it, encouraging even more people to visit. Word of mouth is also a great way to get more customers, and if you have a theme that gets people talking, then it is going to be even better for your business.

Idea 5 – Dragon Quest

Dragons, similarly to dinosaurs, are particularly popular as they can only be seen in the imaginary world. The fictional fantasy element is what makes them so exciting to see as fiction can be turned into reality by using dragon sculptures to make your theme epic. This can also be accompanied by artificial flames and sound effects to make the theme come to life in magical ways. Dragon themes, like many others on this list are also interesting and fun for people of all ages. This means that you aren’t limiting your business to certain people and are widening your target audience.

Idea 6 – Movie Themed

There are plenty of movie-themed hotels and businesses, so why not create a mini-golf course? You may have to look at licensing and copyright laws to make sure that your idea is possible, but this is a great way to come up with creative ideas. Golf courses have been made based on Alice in Wonderland, Pirates of the Caribbean, and more. Rather than directly copying a movie, you can take fun aspects from them that may create a unique theme that you wouldn’t have thought of before. For example, an under the sea theme from Finding Nemo, a dwarf village from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, or even a magical ice kingdom from Frozen.

You could also look into obtaining a public film screening licence to screen outdoor movies that are related to your theme. For pirate-themed courses, you could show Pirates of the Caribbean or Hook and for Dinosaurs themed courses you could screen Jurassic Park or The Land Before Time. There are many different film opportunities that can benefit your chosen theme.

Idea 7 – Indoor Glow in the Dark

If the weather in the area you are planning to build on is unpredictable, then maybe an indoor miniature golf course is the perfect solution to your problem. Most miniature golf courses are based outdoors, which in places such as the UK, means that they can only open seasonally. Outdoor courses don’t make as much money in the winter because of the cold and wet weather. Having an indoor course would eliminate this problem as you can stay open all year round. You would need a relatively large indoor area to do this, so it is important to look at the space you have available to you and consider if it is viable.

To ensure that people are spreading the news about your course and even coming back themselves, you need to have a theme that is fun and entertaining. A perfect idea for this is to create a UV or light-based theme. Being indoors is the perfect way to be able to manipulate light and create some crazy colours. A blackout room with coloured UV backlights and light paintings is going to stand out well. You can even have glow in the dark accessories such as clubs and balls that complement the theme.

Idea 8 – Under the Sea

An under the sea adventure may be more effective as an indoor miniature golf course idea. Being indoors allows you to use different lighting effects to your advantage. You could even use specific strobe lighting that mimics the effects of being underwater. You could then add different sea creatures and relevant sea-themed decorations such as seaweed and coral to add to the aesthetic. You could even adopt a more unique approach and incorporate mythical sea creatures such as mermaids, sirens, or even your very own Kraken.

Idea 9 – An Adventure Through Time

A historical approach to miniature golf can be great for both entertainment and even learning too. You can combine different events from throughout history to create your own unique and interesting timeline throughout your course. By providing a historical edge that isn’t typically found in many miniature golf courses, your course could become an educational and fun location for school trips to take place. Another idea would be to recreate your favourite time periods from history like the Egyptians, Victorians or even a spin on Greek mythology.

Idea 10 – Lost Jungle

A theme of discovery, such as the lost jungle, can combine competition and fun to create a unique theme idea. Different puzzles and challenges can be incorporated throughout your theme to add a competitive edge and provide a new element to mini-golf. Placing jungle animal sculptures in their ‘natural environment’ will add to the jungle theme. You could include snakes, monkeys, tigers and many more different animals.