I have always been fascinated with the business of running a miniature golf course. In a prime location, you probably don’t have to do too much advertising. People see the course and decide then and there whether they want to play. Or they make a mental note to return.
However, at The Shore, there are probably one hundred such courses, and there’s more than a few towns where you can walk 20 blocks and encounter at least three. What goes into distinguishing each one from another and what does it take to keep it running? I had questions.
Third-generation owner of Beach Haven's Mr. Tees Karen Rosania shared her unique perspective as someone who grew up adjacent to mini golf her whole life.
On Long Beach Island, where Beach Haven is situated, the generational families that call it home - vacation or year-round - would prefer things don't change much.
“If I change something, I hear about it for years and years,” Rosania says. “People hate change. I don’t know how else to say it.”
Mr Tees has two 18-hole courses; one of the courses, Wacky Golf, was damaged beyond repair during Super Storm Sandy. That provided the opportunity to build a new course with a new theme. Even today, she says she still gets people coming in talking about how much they loved the old course. But change is inevitable, she says.
This season she replaced the carpet on the course and made some slight adjustments. She monitors whether people are all struggling with the same thing at a particular hole. If so, she knows she has to change it.
For example, she added some cement to a depressed area that would capture too many balls. She also added a sand trap in an area where seasoned pros who hit to ricochet into the hole. She mused on what the regulars will say, especially those who know exactly which brick to hit to get the right bounce.
On the Enchanted Gardens course
#6: if you don’t get it over the bridge for almost always a hole in one, it goes into the water and floats down a lazy river.
On the Pirates course
The rocky hole, which she says is like Plinko from The Price is Right.
Rosania’s grandparents Hank and Bette bought the place in 1972 and named it Mr Tees after their last name: Tomaino. Rosania, who was born and raised in Hackettstown, NJ, likes to say she has been coming to Beach Haven before she was born.
Rosania’s mother eventually assumed ownership, and, after her mother died tragically young, Rosania became owner.
But she has grown to love running the business, especially the countless number of hugs she gets a season from her “extended family” of customers. She estimates that 80% of business is regulars and 20% are new people.
I asked her what people would be surprised to learn about owning and managing a mini golf course.
“How much maintenance is involved,” she says, citing the earth elements - sand, salt air, sun, and human elements - those taking out their frustration on the course for a bad putt.
“I’m a mom and pop business so I do all the work myself,” Rosania says. But she says that plays into her strengths. “If you give me something, I could build it. It’s a talent of mine to see something and know how to build it.”
When she’s not working, you can find her nearby at Pearl Street Market enjoying a coffee and/or a salad or at Barry's Do Me A Flavor for ice cream with her children and grandchildren.
