DIY Putting Green - Mini Golf

Oh the luxury of thick pure wool felt, I'd wrap myself up in it if I could…wait, I absolutely did. Can you blame me? It's Laura here from @FeltlikeaParty and with Father’s Day approaching, it is time to tee off on creating an Ace of a gift for the golfer in your life.  Personally, summer nights of mini golf with my family are a favorite pastime. I keep all our score cards! So, what is better than your own hole 19 to practice your short game? This putting green can be as simple as cutting a very neat hole, to adding in some “water features”, “bunkers”, and even the mini golf classic: a rotating windmill. Let’s walk the course on how to Felt Like A Par-tee…

Experience level: Par 3 (Intermediate)
Time to make: 1.5 hours, add 2.5 hours for windmill

Instructions

1. Lay out the 5mm felt to allow what was rolled to become flat. You can aid this process by tucking the ends under, opposite of how they want to curl, or by adding weight, like some books.
2. In the meantime, let’s make a golf flag. I drew a 5x9 inch diamond on cardstock as a template and traced that onto a piece of white wool blend felt, then cut with fabric scissors. Feel free to use a cutting machine if you have one.
3. You may opt to use a cutting machine to cut “19” twice onto HTV (heat transfer vinyl). Weed and iron onto the wool blend felt as directed for your specific vinyl. Alternatives to HTV is writing with a marker or hand stitching! Just be sure to align your numbered hole so that when folded over to a triangle-shaped flag, your placement is about the same.

4. Add a small line of hot glue on a 12 inch wooden dowel, just enough to keep it in place on the felt. Then, stick it to the center of the felt flag almost to the top of the diamond. Be sure to leave a small bit of space at the top!
5. Line the edges of one side of the diamond and the dowel with hot glue and fold over to make your triangle-shaped flag. Set aside for now!

6. Let’s get on the green! Using your measuring tape, find the center of the 5mm Olive felt.
7. Place a pint glass or another circular object on the felt and trace around it using a heat-removable pen. My circle is centered and positioned 4 inches from the top of the green felt.

8. Place a cutting mat underneath the felt circle. Using an X-Acto knife, carefully cut out the circle with slow, steady sawing motions. Make sure to cut all the way through the felt and keep your edges as neat as possible.
9. Remove the circle. Clean up the edges with fabric scissors.

10. Find the center of the felt circle and use an awl to carefully stab through it, creating a hole large enough to fit the end of the wooden dowel. Insert the dowel into the hole to attach your flag.
11. Next, cut a square of Cobalt felt. Using a heat-erasable pen, trace the green circle of the flag onto the Cobalt felt.

12. Using a measuring tool, mark a series of dots ½ inch outside the traced circle, then cut along the dotted line. I used ½ inch scalloped shears for a decorative edge.
13. Apply hot glue to the underside of the green circle and press it firmly onto the center of the cobalt felt circle to adhere.

14. Iron away any pen markings.
15. Your flag should fit well into the original hole, but will stand sturdy on its own with the extra felt added.

16. Time to make this course a par 3! Cut a large piece of Cobalt felt to create a 'water feature.' Place it on the green wherever you'd like—feel free to move it around until you're happy with the layout.
17. Use fabric scissors to soften and curve the edges for a more natural look.

18. Repeat this process with the Light Brown felt for “sand traps.” I placed a long and short piece on my green, and again softened the edges with fabric scissors.
19. Iron your water and sand pieces as needed.

That’s one pro-level course! You can take a break back at the clubhouse—or keep the fun going by turning your putting green into a mini golf course. Let’s make a windmill!

1. Grab a large piece of cardboard. Mine was about 24 inches wide by 12 inches tall to start. Then, I used my rotary blade to square up the edges. My final piece was 23 inches wide by 11 inches tall.
2. Once you have a clean rectangle, gently roll the cardboard to break down its structure and make it easier to shape into a cylinder. Use wonder clips to secure the ends, overlapping them by 1 inch.

3. Gently press the cardboard cylinder flat into an 11x11-inch square. Use a ruler to draw a light line down the center—this will help guide your placement for the two openings at the base of the windmill. If your dimensions differ, that center line will still serve as a helpful reference point for evenly spacing the holes where the golf ball will pass through.

4. Draw two vertical lines 2 ½ inches in off each side.
5. Draw one horizontal line 6 ½ inches from the bottom.

6. Cut out the rectangle keeping both sides of the cardboard together so that you have two identical pieces removed from the large piece of cardboard. It is easiest to cut the vertical lines first, followed by the horizontal section.

7. Set aside the removed pieces of cardboard.
8. Unclip the windmill base and lay it flat—you should now see two rectangular openings at the bottom. Next, cut a piece of white wool blend felt slightly larger than your cardboard base. This will allow for clean edges and full coverage when wrapping.
9. Take a moment to lint roll or iron as needed.

10. Using a hot glue gun, begin attaching the cardboard to the felt in small sections. Apply vertical lines of glue and press firmly as you go. Avoid covering large areas at once—hot glue dries quickly, and working in small sections helps ensure a smooth, neat finish for the windmill exterior.
11. Continue working the hot glue in small vertical sections, pressing firmly as you work, until you’ve reached the end.

12. With your disappearing ink pen, find the center at the top of the windmill passway. Do this for BOTH cutout sections.
13. Then, mark where 1-inch down from the top is.
14. Draw two vertical lines ¼ inch in from the cardboard sides.
15. Using these reference marks, draw an arch at the top of both passways. These arches will guide your cuts to create a rounded opening.

16. Cut out the passway by cutting out the ENTIRE arch piece, while KEEPING the ¼ inch allowance around the edges.
17. Hot glue that ¼ inch allowance of felt to the inside of the windmill. This will create a smooth exterior.
18. Trim away any large excess of felt surrounding the cardboard. Then glue and fold the remaining felt to the inside of the windmill.

19. Reclip the windmill base and secure the two pieces together with hot glue to making the round shape again.
20. Take a mulligan and see how it looks!

21. Grab a piece of the discarded cardboard and cut to a square that measures 6x6 inches.
22. Cut a piece of Light Brown felt just larger than the cardboard.
23. Glue the felt to the cardboard, but keep this piece of cardboard stiff (no folding or rolling). Trim away any excess felt.

24. Next, on the backside where there is no felt, align a ruler centered on the diagonal and trace down both sides of the ruler with a pencil. Repeat on the other diagonal, creating an “X”.
25. Cut away the four triangle pieces made by your pencil markings. You will now have a felt "X" when you flip it around.
26. Find the center of the “X” and pierce a small hole with your awl.

27. On the windmill base, find the center of one of the passways. Poke another small hole with your awl 1 inch above the apex. Set aside momentarily.

28. Grab one 2-inch headpin, one headpin bead cap, and three 4mm beads.
29. Thread the bead cap onto the headpin followed by two beads.

30. Insert the “X” windmill piece next, and follow that with one more bead. 
31. Thread through the windmill base. This will allow the windmill blades to spin freely without getting stuck on the fabric of the windmill base structure.

32. Use pliers or your fingers to bend the excess headpin to lay flush against the inside of the cardboard windmill base. Secure with a scrap piece of felt and hot glue.

33. I used a semicircle of bubble wrap as a template for the top of my windmill—feel free to use whatever you have lying around! My template was just slightly smaller than my desired finished size of 8.5 inches tall by 16 inches wide. Trace the shape onto Light Brown felt to create the windmill top.

34. Use wonder clips to secure the bottom of the cone-shaped windmill top as you add a line of hot glue to secure the ends together.

35. Check to see how your windmill top fits!
36. Give your new windmill a test spin!

Amazing! I would love to see how you customize your mini golf windmills! While I have always been fond of my obstacle-laden short game, the one hole that always has me inches away from the “Happy Gilmore” classic “putter throw” are the seemingly straight and simple paths that have but a few rocks or unassuming features. In honor of my need to practice a simple straight putt, let’s add some felted mushrooms to swing past…(you could always replace felted mushrooms with felted rocks, or even tiny shrubs if that's your thing!)

1. Pick up those pliers again (if they have a wire-cutter.) Otherwise, grab a wire cutter.
2. Select some felted mushrooms and one 2-inch headpin per mushroom.
3. Use the wire cutter to clip the end of each headpin on an angle, changing the end from dull, to sharp.

4. Decide where on the green you want your mushrooms to pop up and use your awl to poke through the 5mm felt. Insert a sharpened headpin. The flat base of the headpin should be on the bottom of your green, and the length of the headpin should poke out on the course-side of the green. Continue the process for however many mushrooms you would like to use.
5. Take a mushroom and with an awl, make a very small hole in the stem. You will not need to press more than a few millimeters into the mushroom as they will slide onto the headpin with ease.

6. Slide your mushrooms into place.

You now have a very well-kept green right in your own home! Even better, the fun doesn't stop here. Your course can easily be rearranged for endless variety. Add some household items like paper tunnels, weighted down empty tissue boxes, your pet, or even slide a pool noodle underneath to create "hills". You will definitely be able to play a full 18 holes with all the creative possibilities.

Some may have concerns about poking the headpins into your 5mm felt green, but don't worry! The headpins are small and the thick fibers leave no trace of a hole. But, if you have a pet obstacle like I do, it’s important to note that your green can be “mowed” using a simple wet-felting technique!

Let’s pretend you have a kitten scratch…FORE! First trim away any excess wool that is fluffing up. Then, use a small amount of Dawn dish soap with hot water and gently rub the scratched surface in small circular motions. Finally, use your iron on wool setting (high) and press the felt firmly, moving the iron every few seconds. You will only have a small slice to worry about, rather than a scratch! So grab your favorite golf partner and book your tee time—this home course is sure to be a hole-in-one!