Putt-Putt Golf is Carolina ‘born and bred’

Putt-Putt Golf was created in Fayetteville, N.C., in 1954 by insurance sales representative Don Clayton, who was following doctor’s orders to take a 30-day leave to reduce the stress and tension in his life. 

He thought a round of miniature golf would provide a sufficient dose of relaxation, but it only led to frustration. 

The International Directory of Company Histories tells the story about the origin of Putt-Putt. Clayton fussed to his family about the condition of the mini-golf course he just paid to play.

 

“You had to hit the ball through spokes and over windmills and through waterfalls. They gave you dirt and goat’s hair to putt on,” Clayton said. 

“Putting is half the game of golf. I could do better than this,” he announced. 

Clayton and his wife, Kathryn “Cub” Clayton, designed 18 different holes that night – without clown faces, spinning windmills, castles and drawbridges. He took a $100, one-year lease on a vacant lot and bought some lumber, hired some laborers and began laying out his first course. 

“Three weeks later, he was in business, charging 25 cents a round,” according to the historical directory essay. 

“Some 192 people showed up at his course on the first night, 344 on the second night and 744 on the third. It took only 29 nights for Clayton to pay off the construction cost of $5,200.” 

The bank teller who helped Clayton open an account reportedly came up with the name Putt-Putt. At the end of two years, there were eight Putt-Putt courses in the Carolinas.

 

In 1969, Sports Illustrated asked Curry Kirkpatrick to cover the first world championship Putt-Putt event. Magazine editors headlined the story: “Everybody Do the Putt-Putt.” 

It’s not a game just for families or something for teenagers to do on dates. Grown men and women have become professional putt-putters, Kirkpatrick said. Not in motorboats but by walking the green carpeted, 18-hole Putt-Putt courses. 

Clayton and Kirkpatrick discovered a common bond. Both men graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They clicked and the article became an instant “SI Classic.” 

Clayton played three sports in high school in Fayetteville and went to Carolina on a football scholarship. As a 6-foot-3 running back, he was selected in the 1947 National Football League draft by the New York Giants. He was the 300th – and last – player picked that year, before the term “Mr. Irrelevant” came into vogue. 

Kirkpatrick said he “went to Chapel Hill to get out of the cold weather.” He finished high school in Niagara Falls, N.Y. He enrolled in the journalism school at Carolina and worked at The Daily Tar Heel. Sports Illustrated hired him right out of college in 1965. 

Clayton had the bright idea of putting Putt-Putt tournaments on television, and he brought in the famous sportscaster Billy Packer, a Wake Forest alumnus, to handle the “color commentary.” Fans were recruited to form the “gallery.” Admission was free with complimentary free soft drinks for all.

 

From time to time, Kirkpatrick wrote, Clayton would get on the public address system and say: “Folks, you’re just a beautiful gallery, but would you please get your shadows off our carpets?” 

Don Clayton died in 1996 at the age of 70. His daughter, Donna Clayton Lloyd, became chair of the company. Donna’s husband, David Lloyd, was president.

Investor David Callahan acquired the business in 2004, and Putt-Putt LLC is now based in Chapel Hill. 

“Buster,” Putt-Putt’s orange ball mascot, is still his rambunctious self.