<P> While the international sports organization World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF) prefers to use the name "minigolf", the general public in different countries has also many other names for the game: miniature golf, mini-golf, midget golf, goofy golf, shorties, extreme golf, crazy golf, adventure golf, mini-putt, putter golf and so on . The name Putt - Putt is the trademark of an American company that builds and franchises miniature golf courses in addition to other family - oriented entertainment, and the term "putt - putt" is sometimes used colloquially to refer to the game itself . The term "Minigolf" was formerly a registered trademark of a Swedish company that built its own patented type of minigolf courses . Resort towns such as Myrtle Beach, SC, Branson, MO, Pigeon Forge, TN and Wisconsin Dells, WI are known for their numerous minigolf courses . </P> <P> Geometrically - shaped minigolf courses made of artificial materials (carpet) began to emerge during the early 20th century . The earliest documented mention of such a course is in the 8 June 1912 edition of The Illustrated London News, which introduces a minigolf course called Gofstacle . </P> <P> The first standardized minigolf courses to enter commercial mass - production were the Thistle Dhu ("This'll Do") course 1916 in Pinehurst, North Carolina, and the 1927 Tom Thumb patent of Garnet Carter from Lookout Mountain, Tennessee . Thomas McCulloch Fairbairn (inventor), a golf fanatic, revolutionized the game in 1922 with his formulation of a suitable artificial green--a mixture of cottonseed hulls, sand, oil, and dye . With this discovery, miniature golf became accessible everywhere; by the late 1920s there were over 150 rooftop courses in New York City alone, and tens of thousands across the United States . This American minigolf boom of early 20th century came to an end during the economic depression in the late 1930s . Nearly all minigolf courses in the United States were closed and demolished before the end of the 1930s . A rare surviving example from this period is the Parkside Whispering Pines Miniature Golf Course located near Rochester, New York, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 . </P> <P> The first miniature golf course in Canada was at the Maples Inn in Pointe - Claire, Quebec . The "Mapes" was constructed as a summer home in the 1890s but was renovated into a club in 1902, opened to the public in 1914, and had a miniature golf course in 1930 . The popular nightspot burned in 1985 . (See: West Island Chronicle, June 29, 2008 .) </P>

Where was the first miniature golf course built