The first miniature golf course in Ocean City opened in the 1930s, but the sport really became popular after Herb Schoellkopf designed and built two courses on the Pier in 1963. They were prefabricated and featured the themes of Western (cowboys) and Space (little green men and rocket ships, pictured). The cost to play was 50 cents a round.
The following year, Schoellkopf, who died in May 2016 at the age of 95, opened another course on 23rd Street, which in 1964 was considered “way up the beach.” He recalled that “people thought I was crazy to build that far up the beach — that nobody would go that far to play miniature golf.” They were wrong. As Ocean City moved northward, miniature golf courses grew up along Coastal Highway.
Today, pirate ships, sharks, volcanoes and dinosaurs attract kids of all ages and provide scenic background to one of Ocean City’s most popular forms of family entertainment.
Photo courtesy of Herb and Judy Schoellkopf