Miniature golf on a big scale

CARL E. FEATHER / Star Beacon CADEN USKO, 4, and his father Kevin play the new miniature golf course at Indian Creek Camping Resort, 4710 Lake Road East, Geneva-on-the-Lake. The course cost $500,000 to build, including a concession stand.

By CARL E. FEATHER
Lifestyle Editor

Ed Andrus doesn’t believe in doing things on a small scale.

The Indian Creek Camping Resort that he and his wife Dottie began 40 years ago at Geneva-on-the-Lake has 642 sites and consistently scores high on both the Woodalls and Trailer Life surveys thanks, in part, to the campground’s wide range of amenities: from pools to playgrounds; from a family hair care shop to a lounge and restaurant.

He says these amenities were added to the campground to create a safe, self-contained village where campers can be pampered and entertained for a day or a season.

“The trouble we have here is that our people have no sidewalk to get up town, so we got to provide them with quality recreation.”

The latest addition to the recreation options at the campground is a miniature golf course that is open to both the public and campers. Indian Creek Miniature Golf is a $500,000 project that reflects Ed Andrus’ commitment to doing things big — and right.

“We could have put in a $60,000 or $70,000 course like the others, but we wanted something different,” said Ed as he recently gave a tour of the 1.5-acre site on Route 531 east of Geneva-on-the-Lake.

The 18-hole course winds up and around a 14-foot waterfall built from granite boulders weighing up to 8,000 pounds each. Ed says 550 gallons of water plummet over the precipice every minute and create a rushing stream that flows through the 11th hole, which includes a bridge for both foot traffic and a narrow crossing just for the ball. A ball that doesn’t make it across the bridge falls into the rushing stream to be whisked toward a grate designed to deposit the ball near the green.

Below the falls, granite boulders in incorporated into many of the holes. The boulders were designed into the course and the concrete poured around them to create natural obstacles. The rocks came from a quarry 50 miles southeast of Buffalo, says Ed’s son, Ed II. They were trucked in from New York during a heavy snowstorm back in March. “There are 320 tons of boulders in here,” Ed II says.

His father first proposed the course five years ago, but the family waited until the time was right for another expansion. About a year ago, they contracted with Harris Miniature Golf of New Jersey to design a unique course that would offer plenty of challenges yet be fun for players of all ages and skill levels.

The course was designed so nine of the holes would meet Americans With Disabilities Act requirements for accessibility. Holes one and two and 12 through 18 are accessible by wheelchair. “As far as we know, we the only course like that in northeast Ohio,” Ed II says.

Different types of artificial material simulate features like sand traps, the green and rough. Small ponds are strategically placed near the rough in several areas. Ball retrievers are provided at each pond in the event the ball isn’t stopped by the rough at the edge of the ponds.

One of the most unique holes on the course is number four, which is fashioned in a figure-8 and allows the golfer to take one of two routes toward the hole. Another hole requires the golfer to decide between a fairly straight shot or taking a chance at sinking the ball in a hole leading to a pipe that terminates on the green.

The course is as easy on the eye and tummy as it is fun to play. Annuals and flowering shrubs are planted throughout the course, and a brand new concession stand offers refreshing treats and sandwiches.

The stand, also accessible to the public, offers soft-serve ice cream by Smith Dairy, an Ohio company. The campground purchased a $27,000 Flavor Burst soft-serve machine that allows them to swirl flavors like bubblegum, butterscotch and black cherry in to the vanilla soft-serve ice cream. The stand is open the same hours as the golf course.