Ypsilanti has a mini golf course in the form of Putterz, but it can be a little bit out of the way to go for a college student. To solve this, there's one mini golf course and arcade that is a lot closer to campus.
Located in downtown Ypsilanti on W. Michigan Ave. is Putt-R-Round Mini Golf & Putt Arcade, owned by married couple Jef Jenkins and Jane Weber.
Putt-A-Round Mini Golf & Arcade is a relatively new business that opened up this year in the city. The business officially opened at the end of July and has been steadily gaining traction ever since.
Jenkins and Weber had been playing mini golf for a long time and even gotten married on a mini golf course. They see the value and fun in mini golf, which gave them the inspiration to start their own business. Weber helps run the day-to-day operations of the business, while Jenkins helps with the creation and managing of the games.
The couple has been together for five years and only started getting into mini golf about two years ago. When asked about why they chose Ypsilanti, Jane said that both she and her husband live in Ypsilanti and love the community here.
"We kinda of thought about when we go visit family in Detroit, or different cities, what it would look like if we open somewhere else. As much as that might seem appealing on some level, it was always like no, we seem really at home in Ypsilanti," Weber said. "Everyone seems to really enjoy what we're doing."
They kept an eye out for space available in Ypsilanti, looking for places in depot town, W. Cross St., and downtown. They eventually found a space in downtown Ypsilanti on Michigan Ave.
The couple is also aware of the hardships that Michigan Ave. businesses have been experiencing over the years due to COVID-19, construction and more. Putt-R-Round has its shares of challenges, one of them being foot traffic.
"One of the things that's been hard sometimes is the lack of foot traffic on Michigan Ave. Sometimes it doesn't feel like a walkable downtown area, even though it is set as a walkable downtown area," Weber said.
Even if the foot traffic isn't the best at times, they get creative with bringing people down. One of their areas of strength is marketing. They have experience with marketing ranging from word-of-mouth to social media, so they were able to easily apply those skills to their business and bring in people.
Jenkins helps run and manage the game within the business. His wife also helps with some of the art, and some of the ideas of the mini golf games as well. Jenkins gets inspiration for the creation of the course from his time playing mini golf with his wife, creative group for mini golf, and developing a game during the fall since they were playing putt-putt three to four times a week.
"I found these putting golf billiard balls, and they came with these really crappy, little holes you can put on your carpet and it was very unsatisfying. So I built a pool table to putt on, then I built a volcano out of cardboard and posterboard, and some turf that I had left over. Then, Jane came up with the idea to build these games, and take them to the crafts event she does for her art," Jenkins said.
Jenkins tries to find downtime to develop ideas of potential mini golf courses.
"Basically we come up with an idea, and I just try to keep moving. Just keep going, and keep plugging away if I have some downtime. If I'm sitting down, keep doing something ... keep moving towards the goal of getting things done," Jenkins said.
They've been extremely grateful for the support of the local business community in Ypsilanti. They've partnered with a couple businesses for events and would like to give back whenever they can.
For those curious to check out the putting arcade, their hours are 4-10 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays, 4 p.m.-midnight on Fridays, noon-midnight on Saturdays, noon-8 p.m., and closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Putt-R-Round will have some special events and discounts in the future. The exhibition for the course will change every first Friday from the first Friday artist coordinator Michelle Webster, and local 3-D artists Melony and Dave will bring in fun designs for first Fridays as well. You can find Putt-R-Round on Facebook and Instagram
