Putt-Putt coming back home
It's back! Putt-Putt is returning to its birthplace - sort of.
The iconic brand of miniature golf is coming back to Cumberland County by way of Hope Mills. A Putt-Putt Fun Center is being built at Millstone Village off Camden Road, which also is home to the new Millstone 14 movie theater.
The 6,500 square-foot center will offer batting cages, electric go-carts, indoor bumper cars, games and 36 holes of Putt-Putt. It is scheduled to open in early fall, said David Callahan, president and CEO at Putt-Putt LLC. The center will serve as the prototype for the Putt-Putt franchise.
"We're excited about it," Callahan said. "We're just overwhelmed with the reception the community has been giving us."
The first Putt-Putt in the country opened in Fayetteville in 1954. Don Clayton, a businessman, built the Putt-Putt course near the intersection of Fort Bragg Road and Bragg Boulevard. Putt-Putt courses sprung up around the nation, totaling more than 200 by the time Clayton died in 1996.
But Putt-Putt left Fayetteville in 2001 when the last Cumberland County location closed. The corporate offices moved from Fayetteville to Chapel Hill and eventually Winston-Salem.
Donna Clayton Lloyd, daughter of Putt-Putt's founder, said she is excited about the game's return. Her father created Putt-Putt because he wanted to focus on putting skills rather than cutesy gimmicks.
"I remember meeting people from all over the world who came to Fayetteville to see how my father had mastered creating a game that presented both fun for all ages and skill challenges," Lloyd said. "I am so glad that, at least, there will be a Putt-Putt Golf & Games where Fayetteville folks can create new memories of first birthday parties, first trophies won, first dates, first jobs ... That's just what he would want to see, so that makes me hugely happy!"