Visiting the course on a sweltering August afternoon, Anna and I enjoy the combination of traditional decorations and clever new touches, such as the baseball-themed No. 1 hole, where we putt the ball from a pitcher's mound into a hole shaped like first base.
"Nobody said a miniature golf hole had to be round," Novotny says.
Tom and Julie Wilson of Leesburg play a round of miniature golf with children Ryan, 9, and Erica, 5, at Woody's Driving Range.
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There's not a lot of shade, but water accents on the fourth and fifth holes add a cooling touch. On the obstacle-adorned holes, Anna opts for the most challenging option: trying to putt the ball up a ramp and into a tunnel that passes through the object, depositing the ball in or near the hole. Right away, she's successful, scoring a hole-in-one through the lighthouse. My ball repeatedly just misses the ramp and other paths to the other side of the green, but I manage to reach my destination in four strokes, 1 over par.
We're disappointed to find the normally swaying and crooning Needles the Singing Lonesome Pine silent on hole No. 8 -- a situation Novotny is remedying -- but quick to note the hole's other special feature: a putt-through mountain offering a break from the heat. It proves refreshing: I get a hole-in-one!
Novotny says players especially enjoy the singing tree, a train that whistles when the ball travels the right path and a clown whose nose spins if the ball goes into his mouth. But the hands-down favorite is Novotny's pride and joy, the 19th hole, billed as "the world's longest mini-golf hole."
"They walk up to it . . . and you hear the word, 'Awesome!' " he says of the 189-foot-long hole, a response to a challenge by a friendly competitor in Virginia. A sign instructs us to tap the ball gently, and Anna and I watch as each little orb gains momentum during its long journey down the sloping green. We can't do better than a hole in two, but Anna enjoys trying repeatedly, a benefit of the before-6 p.m. "play all day" special.
Novotny won't name a most challenging hole on the course.
"I think they're all easy -- that's the whole purpose of it," he says. "I'm out there looking at the smiles on their faces -- that's what I consider the challenge."
Players who visited Rocky Gorge as kids now return with their own families, Novotny says.
"She'll remember the course, and when she grows up, she'll be taking her children there," he says of Anna. He's probably right.
ROCKY GORGE GOLF FAIRWAY -- Route 29 and Old Columbia Road, Laurel, 2 1/2 miles north of Burtonsville. 301-725-0888. Open daily 9 to 11. $4 for unlimited play until 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, $6 per game after 6 and on Sundays and weekday holidays. The site also features a driving range, golf lessons, batting cage, supply shop, arcade games, a picnic area and vending machines.
THE WILDS OF FAIRFAX COUNTY
Driving west on Leesburg Pike after dark, we almost miss Woody's Driving Range. Only the simple, barely lighted "Miniature Golf Adventure" sign hints at what's waiting at the end of the long, gravelly driveway. We pick up audible clues as we exit the car and hear a cacophony of monkeys, exotic birds, lions, perhaps, and who knows what else, emanating from behind a tall bamboo fence. We hear people scream!
Rounding a corner, we quickly see the evening's first shock: a dapper fellow suited up for a safari, standing in the ticket booth and looking our way. He blinks and turns his head and . . . wait! He's not an actual person -- just an animatronic creation that looks startlingly alive! Anna is beginning to have some reservations about venturing into what now clearly resembles a jungle setting beyond Sir Nigel Bogey, the realistic chap who periodically cautions visitors "to turn back now before it's too late. . . . You're liable to witness some very strange behavior along the way, which is par for the course."
"Some of the kids get a little scared out there," especially at night, confirms general manager Darren Shaw. But nighttime clearly is the perfect time to take in the course's many special effects and surprises.
