KINGSTON — A new option for family entertainment is now available: putt-putt golf.
Kingston Greens, located off of Highway 4 near the Gamblewood community, opened the first week of June and has already seen a good amount of business, despite the unpredictable weather.
“We’ve been open for a few weeks, and it has rained about half the time,” owner Phillip Hoffman said.
Hoffman and his wife, Carol, own the Affordable Spare Room Storage adjacent to the greens. Hoffman said before he began putting plans together for the course, they looked into expanding their storage units.
Hoffman could not expand the storage units because the land the greens now sits on was not zoned to allow expansion.
There were other options besides a putt-putt course, but once he found out the storage units could not be built he decided to take another route.
Hoffman and his wife have owned the storage facilities for about 10 years and during that time have heard complaints from storage renters about the lack of things to do for families in the area.
“That was quite the stimulus,” Hoffman said. “There’s really a limited amount of things for families to do around here.”
Instead of looking at other development options, Carol Hoffman said, the two thought it was a good idea to give the community something they could enjoy.
“This area is expanding fast and we wanted to contribute something different,” she said.
The two are avid golfers and travel to Arizona three to four times a year to play, Hoffman said. Hoffman began putting together plans for a putt-putt course in 2003, but had no plans to actually start building anything until finding out he had extra land to build on.
“I finally said to myself ‘You know, I think it’s time to go forward with this,’” he said.
The course is a pro-putt design, which Hoffman designed himself after researching and playing on other putt-putt courses, he said.
Pro-putt courses are different from regular mini golf because of the design format. Instead of placing obstacles, such as windmills and fake logs to make the green more of a challenge, pro-putt courses focus on the contour of the green.
“I looked at a number of other courses and there were many things (like obstacles) that I was dissatisfied with,” Hoffman said. “To me, obstacles are frustrating, so I went with pro-putt.”
A course such as the Kingston Greens is designed to help increase a golfer’s putting game as well as to have fun, Hoffman said.
Resident manager Susan Myers said she sees people of all ages coming through to play a round. Myers has lived in the area for about two years, managing the storage facility and now the putt-putt course.
“We get Gamblewood residents coming through all the time tell me ‘Yeah, we really needed something like this,’” Myers said.
Kingston Greens is an 18-hole course with about 5,000 square feet of green. Depending on how large the group is that is playing, getting through all 18 holes takes an average of 30 to 40 minutes, Hoffman said.
The course is also ADA compliant and was built with porous concrete, which helps with sustainability, allowing water to flow into the ground.
Kingston Greens
26909 NE State Highway 104
Kingston, WA 98346
Closed Monday and Tuesday for private parties and maintenance.
Open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Open holidays.
Rates: Adults play for $5.50 during the week and $6.75 on weekends. Kids play for $3.
Second rounds for adults are $3 and kids are $1.
(360) 297-2488
