Last Friday, Student Activities Council put on a small event in front of Ramaker that allowed students to play a quick game of glow-in-the-dark mini-golf right here on campus.
SAC employees sat at a table at the front of the Ramaker steps facing the campus green and offered a large selection of putters and golf balls of different shapes and colors as well as a basket of scorecards for students to keep track of their performance against their peers in friendly competition.
There were nine holes lined down the sidewalk in front of the building, each with its own gimmick. The variety of these holes forced each player to approach their opening shot with a different game plan in mind.
For example, hole eight began with a large slope up over an artificial river and pirate ship with an equally large slope leading down the other side into a diagonal rectangle that one must bounce their ball off perfectly if they desire any chance at a hole-in-one.
This precise shot is quite different from the multifaceted approach to hole three, which force the player to choose between brute force and almost perfect precision by presenting several iron chains draped over the track that sway erratically with the gentle gusts of the evening wind.
One could attempt to time their opening shot with the chains constantly displaced, or they could just hit the ball as hard as possible to break through the barrier and land it somewhere near the hole on the left side of the back half.
Another quite fascinating hole was hole nine, which had similar rectangles tilted to forty-five degrees like the obstacles as mentioned earlier on hole eight, but they were in abundance and provided the player with an opportunity to do some mental trigonometric estimations to attempt to figure out the perfect angle for a hole-in-one. However, the entire left side of this hole was sloped down so that if one were to mess up or overextend on this skill shot even slightly, they would be punished with an assured extra stroke and, due to obstacle placement, likely another on top of it. This hole was a fun and interesting challenge to end the course on, as it through any lead that a player might have on their friend, no matter how commanding it might be, into question with an extreme skill check with major consequences if failed.
This was a pleasant event to break up the eventual monotony of everyday campus life, and it was reportedly a welcome change for all who attended it.
