Passion for mini-golf leads to longtime family business

For nearly 35 years, miniature golf has been big business for Steve Hittle.

Hittle was a Wasson High School biology teacher in Colorado Springs during the late 1970s when he fulfilled a childhood dream by opening a miniature golf course. He loved playing miniature golf growing up in Sioux City, Iowa; as a kid, he used old tires, metal pipes, wooden boards and plywood to make a golf course on a lot next to his home.

Now 64, Hittle and his wife, four children and sister preside over a miniature golf empire of sorts ? Hitt?s Miniature Golf along Academy Boulevard and Adventure Miniature Golf & Batting Cages just west of Interstate 25. In March, they plan to open their newest complex ? Legends Miniature Golf & Batting Cages along busy Powers Boulevard.

Adventure has six batting cages and Legends will have eight, but it?s miniature golf that?s the backbone of the business. Legends, like the other two complexes, will have three 18-hole golf courses, with classic miniature golf obstacles such as spaceships, castles, water hazards and windmills.

?It?s something they can do at all ages,? Hittle said of miniature golf?s popularity. ?You can be just a little kid or all the way up into your 90s. And it?s a great family activity. Families can come here and there?s no distractions. They can just enjoy each other, they can recreate and play golf.?

The activity also attracts couples, religious groups, birthday parties and service clubs, while tourists enjoy miniature golf in the evening after visiting other attractions during the day, he said.

Even in an age of 3-D movies, laser tag and video games, Hittle said, he?s found that miniature golf holds its own against the newer and flashier rivals.

?Sometimes,? Hittle said, ?people just like a break from the high tech. This is just low tech. I mean, miniature golf is the same now as it was 100 years ago.?

As successful as the business has been, however, launching it was no gimme putt for Hittle.
He graduated from Iowa State University in 1970 with a bachelor?s degree in biology and physical education; he received a master?s degree in physiology from Colorado State University in 1971, and moved to Colorado Springs later that year. He got his first teaching job at East Junior High before he moved to Wasson.

When Hittle decided to pursue his dream of opening a miniature golf complex, he spent most of his life?s savings, mortgaged his home and took out a commercial loan to buy land; his parents, meanwhile, mortgaged their home to provide additional financial help.

It was a risk he sweated through, Hittle admitted, although he wasn?t married at the time and didn?t have a family to worry about.

In 1978, Hittle opened Hitt?s, southwest of Academy and Austin Bluffs Parkway. There were other miniature golf complexes at the time, one near Academy and Galley Road and another in Manitou Springs. Hitt?s had growing pains at first, but gained a following.

Hittle kept on teaching until 1985, operating Hitt?s while working.

?That was pretty much my life,? he said.

The business did well enough that Hittle expanded. He opened Putter?s Park, another 54-hole complex with batting cages, in 1986 near South Academy Boulevard and Bradley Road.
Putter?s Park did OK, but not as well as Hitt?s, he said. When Hittle had the chance to sell the land, he did. The site is now a veterinarian clinic.

After the real estate collapse of the late 1980s, Hittle followed the lead of a few local real estate developers: He took advantage of depressed land prices and bought property along I-25, southwest of Woodmen Road, where he opened Adventure in 1993.

With good access and visibility, the complex succeeded in attracting a loyal following. Hittle has had chances to sell the land to hotels, but he?s said no.

Along the way, his kids, who also grew up playing miniature golf, became involved in the business. Cary, 27, paints obstacles and makes welding repairs; Tara, 26, a teacher and head volleyball coach at Doherty High School, works as a manager and helps customers; Keith, 25, has done landscaping work; and, Nathan, a 16-year-old Palmer High School sophomore, has helped with trash and maintenance.

Hittle?s wife, Linda, has a financial background; when she?s not taking care of customers, she?s doing payroll, bookkeeping and other office work. Sandy, Hittle?s sister, is a retired school teacher who helps run the Adventure complex. By the time he opens Legends, Hittle will employ 30 to 35 part-time workers, many of whom are students.

Legends will open northwest of Powers and Dublin boulevards; Hittle had eyed the Powers corridor for several years, which is a short drive from tens of thousands of homes in Stetson Hills, Briargate, Nor?wood and other neighborhoods that sprang up over the last 20 years on the north and northeast sides.

Among other businesses, Dion?s, a New Mexico-based pizza chain, is coming to the intersection; apartments are envisioned across the street; and American Furniture Warehouse plans a new store just to the north that?s expected to be a draw for the area.

Legends will be similar to Hittle?s other complexes, where each golf course has a theme. At Adventure, for example, ?Around the World,? ?Old West? and ?Journey thru Time? challenge players with obstacles such as a castle, the Eiffel Tower, a western town, an E.T.-like alien ship and a dinosaur. Hittle conceives and builds the obstacles himself and designs the layout of the courses, although he buys buffaloes, hippos, elephants and other animals from old amusement parks around the country.

Legends also will have an 1,800-square-foot covered concession area, slightly larger than one at Adventure, where snack items will be sold.

But like the other complexes, Legends won?t have video or arcade games. The games are money makers, Hittle said, but he prefers to stick to golf and batting cages.

?A lot of families really appreciate that,? he said. ?They come out here and they know it?s just miniature golf. They don?t have to worry about their kids wanting to come and play more games, more this, more that.

?It?s a happy business,? he added. ?Sometimes you go to a store or something, people are grumpy because (prices) are too high. Most people come here to have a good time.?

Like Rachel McFerron and her 6-year-old daughter, Kirstyn, who were enjoying the Adventure complex recently on a sunny weekday morning.

?I like it because I don?t get to do the real golf,? Kirstyn said. ?This one?s for kids and adults. It?s a lot of fun.?

Added Rachel: ?It?s something to do outside with the kids.?

Or, parents sometimes go it alone. Scott and Theresa Frakes left their two young sons at home recently while they enjoyed the Adventure complex.

?At a movie, you just sit there,? Theresa said. But being outdoors, she joked as she competed for bragging rights with her husband, ?you can talk a bit, you can talk a little trash talk.?

The complexes are open roughly March through October, but will open during the winter if there?s a stretch of nice weather. The down time allows a chance for Hittle and his family to paint and make repairs.

The business hasn?t been problem free. Hitt?s was barely hanging on several years ago in the face of competition from other miniature golf courses, Hittle said.

He began wooing customers with a 25th anniversary special ? dropping prices to $1.75 for 18 holes, just a quarter more than when Hitt?s opened in 1978. The price cut worked, and Hittle now has made Hitt?s the discount complex, charging an even $2. Adults will pay $5 for 18 holes at Legends, the same price as Adventure.

As with Hitt?s and Adventure, Hittle?s family will have roles in overseeing Legends. Eventually, Hittle said he envisions Tara and Keith running Legends, while Cary takes over Hitt?s and Hittle and his wife operate Adventure.

Hittle plans to retire at some point, but probably not for another seven to 10 years ? he says he enjoys the business too much.

?You don?t have to be a great athlete to play it,? Hittle said of miniature golf. ?All you have to do is want to have some fun. And we all need that these days.?
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Contact Rich Laden: 636-0228 Twitter @richladen
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Source: http://www.gazette.com/articles/golf-143332-miniature-hittle.html

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