Miniature Golf Course Spans Nation Bumpers Features Geography

Most people don’t expect their children to learn much from a day at an arcade.

Bumpers Fun Center at University City Shopping Center is trying to change that, at least a little.

On June 16, Bumpers will unveil its new 9-hole miniature golf course. Here’s the hook: Pint-sized golfers can putt their way not just from hole to hole, but from East Coast to West Coast. The walls are painted with pictures of such American landmarks like the Statue Of Liberty and Mount Rushmore. The course itself will feature a seven-foot-tall Washington Monument, a shrunken Golden Gate Bridge and even a mock slot machine for the stop at Las Vegas.

Granted, it’s not an honors geography course. But, manager Sherry Montgomery will try and get elementary schoolteachers to bring classes in. Everybody wins, she says. Students get a break, teachers get a giant visual aid and Bumpers, of course, gets business.

But it won’t just be something to see because of its educational value. She says the 11 wall paintings and six three-dimensional models will be reason enough for folks to come and take a look.

“I’d venture to say it’s one of the most original courses in the U.S., and I looked at a lot,” she says. “We want to make it interesting for adults, too.”

Decorating was certainly interesting for painter George Roybal, who owns Illustrated Air at 1511 S. Pines Road. A lot his business is painting jackets, cars or motorcycles. Airbrushing a whole room made him feel like a pop-culture Michelangelo.

“I don’t get the opportunity to work on a large scale like this very often,” he says, standing beside his Luxor Hotel painting near the Southwest hole. “It’s a kick in the pants.”

Roybal went to a travel agency and picked up literally a box of brochures. He looked through them all, seeking just the right scenes to inspire his paint nozzle.

Even if Bumpers moves, a lot of Roybal’s new work can be taken with it. That’s because one of the wall-size murals is painted on removable masonite. That’s not just good for tranportability, but for upgradeablity, too.

“This way, we can add things and a lot of it is easy to expand, too,” Montgomery says.

Carpenter J.D. Warfield will produce all the large models. The Washington Monument is already standing; the others, including a shark head off the coast of Florida, are still in the works.

Adult and children’s admission will be $2.50 per game.

Normal clientele aside, will miniature golf prove to be the next great curriculum addition to Valley school districts? Montgomery hopes so.

“We want to do something good for the community,” she says. “And being a capitalistic operation, we’d like it to do well, too.”