Summer Mini Golf at the National Building Museum

Mini golf has returned to the National Building Museum this summer! Two 9-hole courses have been designed with unique twists and turns you won’t find at a traditional mini golf course.  It is also set up inside the beautiful museum so it is a great way to beat the summer heat!

The 9 hole courses are color coded – blue is slightly more challenging then green. We decided to be brave and try our luck with the blue course.  Some of our favorite stops included “Imagination Powers the Future” and “Tomorrow’s Water,” which was  definitely as hard as it looks.

The interesting designs are very fun but can make it challenging for even the best mini golfers. Traditional mini-golf rules went out the window for our group by the second hole. (Read: If you can’t get over an obstacle, it is totally okay to pick up your ball and move it closer to the hole.) Each hole featured a local sponsor that designed and constructed it with the theme of “Building the Future.” Sponsors ranged from architecture firms, construction companies, government entities, professional societies, and student groups. No two holes were alike, adding plenty of variety and fun ideas along the game.

When we visited the Building Museum on a Sunday, we played mini golf around 2:30 after touring the museum.  The line was short for most of the day (5-10 minutes wait), but tripled in length by the time we finished playing about an hour later.  Though the course is only 9 holes, the interesting designs and plaques explaining them had us moving a little slower to take it all in.  We heard it can get very crowded, so we would recommend visiting on Sunday, early on Saturday, or playing hookie from work (avoid museum closing time – the mini golf line closes 1 hour before the museum and many will choose to jump in line right before!) The museum has extend hours until 9 pm on some weekdays so check the website for days you can visit.