Eco-friendly Putt-Putt Course Coming to Fish Creek

The course will be located next to the Fish Creek BP gas station on Highway 42.

Mini-golf enthusiasts will soon have a new challenge on the local circuit. 

Kerry and Matthew Johnson have received approval to build Evergreen Miniature Golf on a wooded property that wraps around the Fish Creek BP gas station on Highway 42 north of Gibraltar School, but this course will offer something different than the characters and challenges of typical courses. 

Kerry Johnson said the project is a “combination of my love for nature and the outdoors with my background in education.” She has spent 20 years as a program coordinator and school counselor for schools and nonprofits. 

The theme at Evergreen will be learning about the environment, she said. The course will be fully wooded, in a parklike setting, and feature as much permeable surface as possible. Ecology exhibits such as pollinator gardens and bat towers will be located throughout the course, and Johnson hopes to work with math and science classes at Gibraltar on annual educational projects.

“I’ve always thought about opening my own business,” said Johnson, who lives in DeForest, north of Madison, but has visited the peninsula since childhood. “I’ve played mini golf all over the county, and there are a lot of fantastic courses. Now I play with my 12-year-old twins, and I got really excited about the creativity of it all.”

Fish Creek has not had a mini-golf course since Thumb Fun Amusement Park closed in 1998. Coincidentally, that course was located just a short walk up the road from the location the Johnsons have chosen. 

They hope to welcome their first players by Aug. 1.